ADF’s Clergy Council developed a new form for us to fill out each year to report on our activities.  This report (well, the activities) is required for us to maintain our clergy credentials.  It is divided into sections based on the oath we take as clergy:

“I pledge to love the land, serve the folk, and honor the gods.  To this do I dedicate my hands, my heart, and my head.”

Clergy Council Member Annual Report Form

Priest Name: Rev. Jan Avende

ADF Number: 5589

Time covered: January 1 2021 – January 1 2022

This report is designed to illustrate how each individual priest has chosen to fulfill their oath to love the land, honor the deities, serve the folk, and continue in their studies as best suits their individual vocations. The reporting time frame is no greater than one year. This form also provides an option for receiving feedback on your performance in the previous year. You must opt in to receive feedback.

Loving the Land

This section is for you to record your continuing relationship with the land. The below items are suggested activities for those seeking ways to enrich their relationships with the natural world. No sections are required and those not applicable to your activities this past year may be left blank.

Nature-Based Community Service Activities (List):

• Individual and group park clean-ups (some of these overlap with Cub Scouts)

Nature Awareness Work (List):

• Planning and Planting Garden –  learning more about what plants are native here, how to better seed start inside, and how to plan a square foot garden based on size of plants and sun requirements
• Raising Meat Rabbits – being connected to our food sources, knowing where our food comes from and ensuring that it is sustainably and ethically harvested
• Making an effort to go hiking at least once a month

Advocacy Work and Environmental Activism (List):

• Educating others on meat rabbits – benefits and sustainability, how to get started raising their own, dispatch process, and laws surrounding raising them and selling them both as breeders and as meat

Additional Activities:

• Nature Walks & Journals as part of our family’s religious education

Serving the Folk

This section is for you to record your continuing relationship with the folk. The below items are suggested activities for those seeking ways to enrich their relationships with their grovemates, local communities, ADF members, and global pagan presence. No items are required, and those not applicable to your activities this past year may be left blank.

# Special Occasion Services Led:

• 1 Wedding – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m58jRornii53xRkaAgfrWxgtkftXpg87CPTrf6SzfjY/edit?usp=sharing
• 1 Funeral
• 1 Memorial Service
• 1 Unity Rite (Summerlands) – https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gh5hNlynha6a9LvjSW8RhbROvIrYsil5tr23TxRu8EA/edit

# High Day Services Led:

• 9 (extra Summer Solstice)

# Lunar Services Led:

• 12 Druid Moons (6th Night rites)

# Pastoral Visits/Consultations:

• 3 in-person
• About 6 per month virtual (some months heavier than others.  October had nearly 25!)

Digital Media Created (Videos, etc.):

• Prayer Cards during the November #PrayerADay Project
• “Druids in Cars, Going to Festivals” podcast episodes https://druidsincars.podbean.com

Sacred Art Created:

• Homemade divination set based around fire scrying started during Harvest Nights

Community Service Activities:

• Spoke to college class about Druidry, and Paganism in general
• Interviewed by librarian about Spring Equinox for an elementary presentation
• Spoke about the role of Women in Druidry

Events attended (list ADF & community-sponsored events and festivals):

• Wellspring 2021
• Summerland 2021
• Beyond the Gates 2021
• Harvest Nights 2021
• Krampus Walk in Columbus
• November Clergy Tea Time Roundtable
• Dawn Summer Solstice Labyrinth Walk
• Rev. Selnes Ordination Rite & First Mound Journey

Additional Activities:

• Led DP Study Group for 3CG (others outside the grove are also welcome to attend, since we’re virtual)
• Began work as an Affiliate Chaplain at Otterbein University
• Met with Selena Fox about professional chaplaincy

Honoring the Deities

This section is for you to record your continuing relationship with the Deities. The below items are suggested activities for those seeking ways to enrich their relationships with the gods, goddesses, and deities. No items are required, and those not applicable to your activities this past year may be left blank.

# High Days Observed:

• 8

# Personal or Communal Retreat Days Observed:

• 6

# Order Work Journeys:

• 6

Frequency Regular Personal Practice (Daily, Weekly, Monthly):

• Varies, but probably averages out to weekly

# Shrines, Sanctuaries created or maintained:

• Personal home shrine
• Animal Crossing Virtual Nemeton (which others are welcome to schedule visits at)
• 3CG Grove Nemeton at the UUCE

Bardic Compositions:

• none this past year (that’s unusual)

Additional Activities:

• Prayers and Praise written during #PrayerADay Project

Continuing Study

This section is for you to record your continuing relationship with the Deities. The below items are suggested activities for those seeking ways to enrich their relationships with the gods, goddesses, and deities. At least one of the below items is required to fulfill our obligation as an organization to provide trained clergy to our church. Remaining items not applicable to your activities this past year may be left blank.

# ADF Study Program courses reviewed:

• 2 (1 Pre-CTP, 1 MGSP)

# ADF Study Program courses completed:

• none

# ADF Study Program mentored:

• 2 mentees in the Initiate path
• Serving as IP Preceptor, which often includes mentoring and fielding various questions
• Serving as MGSP Preceptor

# Articles/Works published in Oak Leaves (list titles):

• none

Research Activities:

# Articles/Works published outside ADF (list title of works and link/cite publication):

• Kindling Sparks: A Religious Education Program for Young Paganshttps://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/jan-avende/kindling-sparks/paperback/product-5n4v4e.html?page=1&pageSize=4
  • Additionally, weekly posts were made on Patreon for the beta readers https://www.patreon.com/skylark913
• “Celebrating Heliogenna” https://www.patreon.com/posts/celebrating-59479027 (also published to adf-hellenic list)
• “Monthly Priestwork Report” detailing clergy activities for the previous month: https://www.patreon.com/skylark913?filters[tag]=priestwork%20report
• “Wedding Modules” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nfYonGHi_ZuNxLGkvBtgr7Ja3sMuWAqX_6bR-_tPBPU/edit?usp=sharing
• “Talking About Winter Holidays in School” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fsypuXm29l7YlM5FA0e-VguXj0Bs2jaGlEsAUGuwojk/edit?usp=sharing (and shared to adf-parents list)

# In-person or Virtual Courses/Workshops taught (list names and venues):

• “A Voice at the Fire: Writing Invitations to the Spirits” workshop presented at Harvest Nights 2021
• “Children’s Religious Education” workshop at Wellspring 2021 – https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_ZWqBQB2bWvxa-0S6_PATFiJdMYU2cen/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=107364035899125068141&rtpof=true&sd=true

# In-person or Virtual Courses/Workshops attended (list names and venues):

• Wellspring 2021
• Summerland 2021
• Beyond the Gates 2021

# Books/Articles Read:

• “The Power of Ritual” by Casper Tur Kuile
• “A Guide to Preaching & Leading Worship” by William H. Willimon
• “Trance-Portation” by Diana Paxson

Additional Activities:

• Organized annual #PrayerADay Project, and wrote personal prayers through November

Self- Reflection

Reflect on the previous year. Discuss what you intended to accomplish, what you did accomplish, and what you learned from this year of service, what your plans are for the upcoming year.

This year I started really looking into professional chaplaincy.  I continued to attend the Field Guide sessions provided by the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab.  I joined the ADF sub committee on Chaplaincy (though there has been nearly zero communication for months on that front), and presented them with the paperwork to become an endorsing organization.  I spoke with Selena Fox about how Circle Sanctuary has gone through the recognized endorsing process.  I also began looking into pursuing an MDiv in order to further these goals.  I’ve chosen a program through United Seminary of the Twin Cities that I’d really like to do, however I’m struggling to make that a reality due to finances. I have also become an Affiliate Chaplain at Otterbein University, and look forward to working more with those students and the other fatih leaders in the coming and subsequent years.  I’ve also taken on the bulk of the pastoral care work in our grove and the community that extends from it, as well as been a point of contact for other ADF members in this area.  It is work that truly fulfills me.

As far as grove work goes, I think we really settled into a virtual format that works for us this year, and were able to expand to hybrid ritual during the warmer months.  I learned to adapt my ritual voice to include those both at a distance and in person, and lean into the language that would help connect us at the same sacred center.  While I am hopeful that we will soon be able to move back to more fully in-person rites, and I also expect that we will offer a virtual component for the majority of our event for the foreseeable future.  This will give me the opportunity to continue to polish this voice.

I finally published the religious education book that I’ve been working on! This is probably my biggest accomplishment of the year, and one that I hope will have lasting impact as a resource for parents.  I wish I were better at marketing it, since getting materials out there where those who are looking can find them is a huge thing, and one that the pagan parenting community has struggled with in general.  I would love to form a children’s group for ADF families, but I suspect that is further down the line for me simply due to time constraints.  I have stepped up to head the Parenting SIG when our previous Coordinator resigned.

Overall I’m am pleased that my work this year has really reflected my vocation.  I had fears that being so people focused, that work would diminish with the ongoing pandemic.  But it hasn’t, and has simply adapted to meet those needs in this new format.

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