The organization has been prominent in the campaign to permit the pentacle to be displayed on the gravestones of Wiccan members of the U.S. military, and Selena Fox was one of the plaintiffs in the successful action to obtain this permission.
Other major festivals on Circle Sanctuary land include Beltane (near May 1), Green Spirit (Lughnasadh, around August 1) and Samhain (around October 31).
[5] Founded in 1974 by Selena Fox and Jim Alan, Circle's first public event was a Yule ritual hosted at the couple's home in Madison, Wisconsin.
In 1978, a favorable article written by Jacqueline Mitchard appeared in The Capital Times,[6] which marked the beginning of Circle's public outreach.
The following year, Circle was featured in Time magazine[10] on the Religion page, in an article about a handfasting the couple performed at the third Pan Pagan Festival at Demotte, Indiana.
They hosted several appearances at Case Western Reserve University and other Cleveland venues, and on the ABC television talk shows Morning Exchange and Live on Five[citation needed].
[8] During 1984, Circle Sanctuary assisted in updating the United States Army's Requirements and Practices of Certain Selected Groups: A Handbook for Chaplains.
Both of its executive directors received advanced degrees by tying their fields of study into their neopagan experience, with Selena achieving an M.S.
There is no cost to affiliate, and membership is open to any pagan whose path espouses a reverence for nature and holds an ethical structure consistent with the Wiccan Rede.
At first, the festivals were held at Eagle Cave in Grant County Wisconsin, but it outgrew the facilities and in 1997 moved to a location near Athens, Ohio, at Wisteria.
A recent example is the struggle to win approval from the United States Military to place pentacles[13] on the memorial markers for Wiccan soldiers killed in the line of duty.