Frequently Asked Questions

• Are you an online group? Are your rituals in person?
• What are your discussions?
• What can I expect to do/see at a ritual?
• What should I bring to ritual?
• Can I bring children to the ritual?
• Do you offer childcare?
• When do you do Zoom?
• Why don’t you post the Zoom link on the website?
• How does Remind work?
• Should I respond to Remind?
• What is the time zone of the meetings?
• Can you email me the links outside of Remind?
• What tradition does your group follow?
• Why don’t you ever have a ritual in (whatever) tradition?
• Can I have a copy of your ritual to use with another group?
• Why don’t you publish your rituals online?
• Why aren’t you responding to Remind before a ritual or discussion?
• How can I help?

Are you an online group? Are your rituals in person?
No, we are not an online group. We meet in person 8 times a year to celebrate the seasonal points. Our in-person meetings take place at the Coastal Virginia Unitarian Universalist congregation (of which we are a part).

What are your discussions?
Midway between our seasonal celebration we meet to discuss various occult topics. We are happy to tackle any topic, and are even happier to have you share your knowledge. Our discussions are currently on Zoom, but may move to in person. If you want to submit a discussion topic, use the form at Discussion Topics

What should I bring to ritual? Our rituals are held outdoors, weather and temperature permitting. Bring a chair if you need one. We also follow every ritual with a potluck. Bring a dish to share (please label it as vegan, vegetarian or not) and serving utensils.

What can I expect to do/see at a ritual? We do a family-friendly inclusive ritual. Ritual activities can include writing things down, blowing bubbles, making masks, eating food (not the potluck), cutting string and more. You do not have to participate in any activity that you do not feel comfortable with.

Can I bring children to the ritual? Yes, as long as you supervise them. Children running around or making noise disrupt the ritual. If you need childcare, let the coordinators know at least 2 weeks ahead of time.

When do you do Zoom?
We host discussions on various occult topics approximately midway between our seasonal celebrations. These discussions are on Zoom for now, but we may start meeting in person to do these again.

Why don’t you post the Zoom link on the website?
This group was Zoom bombed early in the pandemic. We worked with the church to formulate policies that would keep our members as safe as we can. So we send out the link to the Zoom through our private communication channel, Remind.

How does Remind work?
Remind is a program that allows you to control whether or not you belong to a group. Your phone number and/or email address is hidden from the group moderators as are ours from you. When you respond to an email/text we send, it doesn’t give clues as to who you are other than the name you signed up under.

Should I respond to Remind?
Unless you have a specific question, please don’t respond to the Remind notifications.

Why aren’t you responding to Remind before a ritual or discussion? If you send a response or question to a Remind announcement within an hour of the event, you will probably not get a response. We are busy setting up, not checking our phones and email.

Can you email me the links outside of Remind? No. We use Remind not only for ease of communication, but to allow our email addresses to remain private.

What is the time zone of the meetings? We are an in-person group in Virginia. All of our meeting times and dates are in the Eastern time zone. No, we won’t put time zone information in Remind. It’s unnecessary and takes up characters.

What tradition does your group follow? We are UU before we are anything else. That means our rituals will draw from various sources that we are comfortable with (to avoid appropriation). We do not follow a set schedule of rituals, and our rituals do not repeat from year to year. Each ritual is designed to be family friendly as well as participatory and inclusive. Our primary aim is to create community, not to celebrate a specific tradition.

Why don’t you ever have a ritual in (whatever) tradition? We seek to not appropriate things of which we have no knowledge. We seek to expand our knowledge in our discussion groups. If you want to see a tradition incorporated into a ritual, work with the coordinators to help write the ritual.

Can I have a copy of your ritual to use with another group? Our rituals are written by our members for each celebration. If the person who wrote the ritual is willing to share, you can get a copy from them. You must give full credit to the person who wrote the ritual during your enactment of it.

Why don’t you publish your rituals online? See Can I have a copy of your ritual to use with another group?

How can I help? We are always looking for people to help set up/clean up the potluck, as well as read during the ritual. If you would like to help, please email cuups@c-vuu.org