I just moved to the twin cities in Minnesotta because they have the second largest Pagan population in the nation, and I want to be a part of a large Pagan community.

For the past year and a half or so (ever since I had Mono) I have had chronic fatigue syndrome. Health-wise, this has been the worst year of my life. Every day has been a struggle with pain. Yesterday I went for acupuncture for the first time in my life. She stuck 20 needles into me, and I've got to admit that the process totally freaked me out. I could feel some of the needles, and at least one left a little bruise. But I got through it, with much support from my sweetie. Today, for the first time in a long time, I feel human again. I don't feel like I did before I got mono, but I feel pretty darned good. Hooray for acupuncture!

I often wonder how many Pagans there are in my area. I would personally guess that there are about 160 Pagans in Siouxland -- a conservative estimate.

In researching the Pagan population, I keep running across a study which claims that there are 433,000 Pagans in the United States. Witchvox has just over 50,000 personal listings in the United States. That's almost 12% of the total Pagan population. I found 21 Pagan listings in Siouxland on Witchvox. If that's 12% of the total Siouxland Pagan population, then there should be 175 Pagans in Siouxland.

There are aproximately 300 million people in the United States. 433,000 is about .144% of the population. According to Wikipedia, there are 143,053 people in Siouxland. If the percentages are consistent, then we can expect there to be 206 Pagans in Siouxland.

There will be a Siouxland Pagan gathering the second Sunday of the month, beginning March 11 at the Morningside Village Inn.

When: Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 7:00 PM

Where: Village Inn
5030 Sergeant Road
Sioux City, IA 51106
712-276-1973

Please join with other Siouxland Pagans to socialize and build community. Look for the table with a candle snuffer to know that we are the Pagan Meetup group. Given that we might be running on Pagan time, please bring a candle snuffer to set on your table in case you are the first one there.

This event is organized through http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Sioux_City_Pagans/
and http://pagan.meetup.com/1090/

I just got back from taking a plane ride, and had fun with airport security.

We were in Omaha and my bag went through the scanners, when the inspector indicated that my bag needed to be opened for examination. I knew that there was nothing inappropriate in the bag, so I had to think, and then I said, "Oh, I bet it's the singing bowl."

"The what?"

I reached into the bag and pulled out my singing bowl and mallet, as I explained, "I rub a mallet around the outside of the bowl and it makes a soothing tone." I had a hand towel stuffed into the bowl, presumably to deaden the sound of the bowl in transport, but actually because I prefer to have a towel with me when I travel, and always know where the towel is.

The guard running the inspection machine called out, "No, that's not what I saw."

The inspector who opened the bag said, "Ooh, I want to see you do this."

I played the bowl, and all the security people stopped in awe of the beautiful tone. I explained that it was a meditation device. They let me go with their thanks for playing it for them.

I'm not sure what it was that they actually were looking for in the bag. I know for sure that their equipment couldn't have seen through the bowl to see if there had been anything in the towel. We laughed about it for the rest of the trip. From now on, I will always travel with a singing bowl.