There are rites of passage that happen throughout our lives, and sometimes they pass without much fanfare, but other times they are spiritually significant and marked as such through ritual and community engagement.

At Wellspring this year I was installed at the 7th Archdruid of ADF at the main rite.  I planned most of the rite and scripted portions of it, but there was also a very real sense of “this is something that I need to let happen to me, and not control the experience.”  That’s hard to do for a very liturgical and spiritwork focused Priest. 😉 I’m used to making these experiences meaningful for others, but in this case I trusted others to make it meaningful, not just for me, but for ADF as a whole.

Throughout this process, as I thought about who I am as a priest and a leader, and who I wanted to be as Archdruid, I kept coming back to this phrase from our liturgy: “As our Ancestors did before, so we do now, so our descendants may do in the future.”  I feel very aware that as an organization we’re growing up.  We’re moving beyond our founders, some of whom I’ve never met, and into the future, where if we hope to continue growing, we need to look to what comes after us.  So, in planning both my own pre-installation work, and the work of the Installation Rite itself, I knew I wanted this idea of growth across generations to be reflected.

For me, the ritual experience started several hours before the main Installation rite, where I selected three people to conduct an armoring, or blessing, of sorts to guide me as I stepped across the threshold into this new role.  With the idea that I wanted that liturgical phrasing reflected in my process I chose Rev. Michael J Dangler (my mentor), Rev. Kathleen (my peer), and Mike Bierschenk (my mentee) to conduct that pre-ritual work.  I gave them very little direction, trusting that together they’d come up with something meaningful and powerful to prepare me for the transition.  All three of them know me well, and so in prayer and song and art they empowered and steadied me before I approached the threshold.

After that pre-installation work, I went to the physical Mound at Tredara (the site of Wellspring), where I went into trance to visit the Mound in the Otherworld, where all ADF Clergy do our regular work with the Ancient Wise.  There I sang and called to the spirits, who gathered and shared their anticipation and support for my taking up this mantle of service.

This liturgical phrasing of “As our Ancestors did before, so we do now, so our descendants may do in the future” was reflected again in the Installation Rite following the Working.  In planning the rite, I wanted to ask for blessings from the Past, the Present, and the Future.  For the Past, each of the Archdruid Emeriti shared a piece of wisdom or advice to guide my tenure.  For the Present, three groups offered a blessing: one from the Folk (spoken from the heart by Karen Clark), one from my Grove (composed & led in plain chant by Mike Bierschenk, and sung by my grove members who were present at the rite), and one from my family (written by my partner & eldest child, and spoken by them).  For the future, I had asked Rev. Kathleen to wrangle the children of ADF to provide a blessing.  In the pre-working she gifted me a beautiful rainbow overgarment embroidered with symbols of my allies, and in the Blessing from the Future, she designed with her own children small ribbon dragonflies with beaded words on them. Then, during this Blessing portion, she invited the children present at the rite to choose which of those Dragonfly-Words they’d like to gift me with, and assisted them in pinning them onto the overgarment, so I can wear them always close to my heart. 

For the ritual itself, I entered the circle slightly after everyone else had processed in, sitting on the outskirts of the gathered Folk.  I had assigned out the parts for the rite, but again, had not given much in the way of guidance for how those parts should look. As I was able to just be a participant as the rite began, I found myself filled with such joy as I watched those selected to do parts take the basics of what I had suggested and make it truly blossom.  A highlight for me was when Rev. Kathleen & my grovemate Wes signed the Cosmos Prayer in American Sign Language.  No one spoke words over it in translation: just the dance of their hands, bodies, and expression conveying the prayer.  

When I called up my allies during the Key Offerings section of the rite, I felt each of them become more present with me in a very somatic way.  There was reverence and mirth in my calling on them, because that is how I interact with them.  My offerings concluded with a prayer to Helios to watch over the Oath I was about to take.  

The Installation working within the rite is made up of three connected pieces.  The first is the Lineage Stone, where I stood with one foot bare and on the stone, and the other shod and on the land.  The Lineage Stone is only used in the making of an Archdruid, and represents the foundation that supports and sustains me in the role I’m stepping into.  It represents the foundation from the former Archdruids, from my mentors & teachers, and from others who have guided and shaped me.  The Stone also symbolizes the place of liminality that I occupy as Archdruid. I stand between the Otherworld and the mundane world, and need to remember to listen to the words of not only my peers in this world, but also the words of the spirits in the Otherworld.  As I stood on the Lineage Stone, and Rev. Skip Ellison spoke of my foundations anchoring me and the liminality I’ll be walking, there was a chill that emanated from it that seemed to go beyond a merely mundane cold.  It had a similar feeling to the chill that washes over me when I feel the presence of the Spirits, and stayed with me for days afterwards.  

The second piece of the working is the Cauldron of Transformation.  As I continued to stand on the Lineage Stone, balanced between this world and the Otherworld,  Rev. Ian Corrigan instructed me to go into trance while he lit fires all around me to represent the Cauldron of Transformation I was in, to heat it, and to draw me out changed: tempered, strengthened, fortified, and ready to take on this new role.  As Ian spoke while I sank into trance, I felt the Waters rising up around me and filling the Cauldron.  With each candle lit Ian spoke a virtue, and I felt them flow into the Waters of the Cauldron like starlight, wrapping with a golden glow around the streams of water.  Each stream of water and starlight coiled around my limbs, and then, when entirely spiraled around each limb, the stream sunk in and embedded into my skin. With each flame added, the Waters grew brighter, and soon my whole body was encircled in those streams of starlight, the Virtues called forth sinking into my skin.   I can feel them resting on my skin even now.  They’re clearly otherworldly, and seem to mark in some way how I am bound to the Otherworld, not in a restraining way, but more like a piece of it always with me.

The third and final piece of the Installation working is the Oath itself.  There is no set Oath that the Archdruid takes, but rather it is composed to fit the way that they intend to serve.  I wrote mine ahead of time, and spoke it as Rev. Jean ‘Drum’ Pagano held the Archdruid’s sickle to my throat, representing the seriousness of this Oath.

And so, not only do I share with you this reflection of my experience, but also, the text of the Oath I spoke, and my joyful anticipation of the work we have ahead of us:

I, Rev. Jan Avende, have answered the Call to serve as ArchDruid of Ár nDraíocht Féin.

This is not my first call to service, as I have come from the Fire at the Center of Worlds, and I have offered my hands, head, and heart to this work long before this moment. But this is the Call I answer now, to further the ways I love the land, honor the gods, and serve the folk.

Stepping into this role:

• I will pray with the Good Fire and illuminate the dark places, drawing folk of good will to our shared sacred center.
• I will listen for the hum of the spirits, watch for their signs and omens, and act as a liaison between this world and the otherworld.
• I will assume positive intent. We all tend the same tree; we all work toward the same goal.
• I will model inclusivity and kindness, listening to those on the edges, and giving voice to the voiceless.
• I will sit in fellowship with the Folk, for this is the Fire we share, kindled within each of our heart shrines.
• I will allow our virtues to guide my words and deeds, letting my actions speak as often as my words.
• I will be humble enough to receive criticism, and brave enough to implement changes based on it.

If I should falter in this work:

• I will seek help as necessary, and should the role prove beyond my abilities or if my life’s circumstances should prevent me from fulfilling these duties I will step aside to allow another to take my place.

So now I, Rev. Jan Avende, offer my hands, head, and heart once more, to uphold the office and responsibilities of ArchDruid of Ár nDraíocht Féin.

May the Land ground me in my values.
May the Sea wash away my insecurities.
May the Sky kindle the flame in me.

So be it!