Author: Rev. Jan Avende

Vice-Arch Druid Bio Statement

I’ve accepted the nomination for Vice-Arch Druid of ADF for the 2022 election. The VAD is one of the two Mother Grove positions reserved for clergy, but beyond that doesn’t have a lot of specific responsibilities. This opens it up for the VAD to help define their role according to their specific talents.

According to the ADF Bylaws: “The Vice Archdruid (VAD) is the Vice President of the Board of Directors (the Mother Grove). The VAD exercises the functions of the AD in his/her absence. The VAD would replace the AD in the event of his/her recall, death, retirement, or permanent incapacitation. The VAD may perform all those duties that would otherwise be performed by a non-profit corporation Vice President.  The VAD must also be an ordained member of ADF Clergy in good standing.”

I’ll be answering candidate questions at the upcoming virtual meetings (March 13, 2022 @12pm Eastern, others are TBD), as well as posting them here on my blog once I’ve composed them. If you have additional questions for me (or others) I’d encourage you to submit them to the ADF election officers (adf-election-officer@adf.org) so all can answer them, or send them to me directly. In the meantime, here is my biographical statement that will be going on the ballot:

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2021 In Review – Clergy Council Priestwork Report

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.”

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3CG Bardic Performances

I’m part of Three Cranes Grove Bardic Group. I was the Grove Bard, until the position was passed over to the very talented Mike Bierschenk in 2017. We are a collaborative group that writes and performs songs (outside of any solo work), both liturgically in ritual, as well as in concerts organized for livestreams or festivals. So, while I’ve tried to post some of my songs separately, I would be remiss to exclude the contributions to my creativity and my work. Besides, I like to promote the good stuff that others are doing.

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Talking About Winter Holidays in School

It being December, lots of schools are talking about winter holidays with students. I’m pretty open about being pagan and raising my kids pagan, and live in a decently diverse district, with generally really accepting teachers. So each year up to this point I’ve emailed their teachers with some info about Winter Solstice so that they can include it in their “Winter Holiday Unit” and my kids can feel included. I thought it may be useful to share my email so that others can just steal it, modify it to fit their situation, and send it to their kids’ teachers. Obviously make your own decision as to whether this is safe for family and/or wanted by your kids. But, feel free to steal if you want:

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Being Non-Binary in Druidry

One of the things I do each year is present at a local college’s world religions class as part of a panel on paganism. I talk about how ADF Druids practice and believe, while others on the panel talk about other pagan traditions. Following this year’s presentation, which looked a lot different because it was recorded via video call, I got this question from one of the students:

“How do Druids incorporate non-binary people. So much of what we have seen [in our studies during class] is divided into male and female (goddess/god, sacred forces/energies), so how do non-binary people practice?“

I responded and invited the professor to share my response with the class:

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Five Years a Priest

As of this past weekend I’ve been an ADF Priest for 5 years.  It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long.  The journey has been wonderful thus far, though definitely with its ups and downs.  Sometimes this priesting thing is hard 😉.  I like to occasionally reflect on the things that I’m doing, and decided this would be a good time to kind of do a round up of my accomplishments. Continue reading “Five Years a Priest” →

Little Oaks: A Religious Education Program for Young Pagans

This year has been rough in a lot of ways, but through those difficulties some opportunities have opened up. One of the really hard decisions folks have been making right now is what to do about school for their children. The likelihood is high in my part of the world that we’ll have some or all eLearning this year, and many are considering pulling their kids out to homeschool entirely. With schooling at home, whether it’s full-on homeschool, school provided virtual school, or supplemental activities, there has been a lot of momentum about how to provide the best learning opportunities for our children. I’ve looked at homeschool curriculums, and plan on at least supplementing my daughter’s experience with one, and my son (who would have started preschool this year) will be doing homeschool completely.

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