clergy

Remembering the Dead: Sarah Wotanstochter Carey

Obituary Card with picture of Sarah

Sarah: my friend, my community member, my D&D player… I will miss her a lot. I was asked to officiate her funeral (which I’ve included below). It’s really hard, though truly meaningful, to officiate a funeral to someone you were close with. It meant that my own grieving took the backseat. I grieved while writing this service. I grieved privately. I grieved at Summerland.

Sarah gave so much to the world. She loved fiercely and cared fiercely. And I will miss her.

If you’d like here’s her obituary.

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Annual Clergy Report for 2025

This report is designed to be a reflective process for each priest.  This is an opportunity to reflect on the year.  Each priest’s work is as unique and individual as they are, and as such we expect the responses to this report to be just as varied.  

Covering January 1, 2025 – December 31, 2025

Categories of the Report include: A celebration of and reflection on our accomplishments; detailing and reflecting on how we’ve kept our Clergy Oath this past year; detailing and reflecting on continuing educational opportunities we’ve done this past year; a reflection on our cClergy Order Work; and a general reflection on how we met goals from last year and what we plan to do in the coming year.

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On Community, in Times of Horror

From the Archdruid of ADF, regarding the atrocities of ICE in the USA

Hey y’all.  I recorded this as an internal message as Archdruid for my ADF folk, but I know that many in my various communities look to me as their Priest/Spiritual Leader regardless of whether or not they’re part of ADF. It’s taken me awhile to find the words as I’m struggling with my own horror, but I wanted to reach out to folks and offer what I can.

I’ve cleaned up and expanded the transcript for this post, but initially I needed the authenticity that comes with actually speaking, and not trying to write.  Also, I think actually hearing someone verbally say these things can carry more weight than the written word alone right now.  So have a listen, and then read the expanded bit below:

(The link is unlisted, since I was mostly addressing the ADF community in this, though you are welcome to share it with whoever you think needs to hear it)

Together we can shoulder this heaviness, share the load, and survive.

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When Caring for Others is a Calling

A large part of my Call to clergy, and my vocation, is focused on caring for others.  I have felt myself drawn to this kind of work across the story of my life.  Growing up, all the way through high school and college, I was often the confidant for friends going through a hard time.  In my first profession teaching high school, that vocation of caring for others dovetailed with my other primary vocation of teaching & mentoring others.   Then, while working on my Initiate work, the Call to priesthood hit me like a freight train, and I came to understand that I could blend those vocations, caring and mentoring and teaching, together in my priest work.  I continue to lean into that blend in my current occupation and education as a chaplain working towards board certification.

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Annual Clergy Report for 2023

I’ve gotten away from posting these on a monthly basis, but we’re still required by ADF to compile our report for the year, and I shockingly find it fulfilling.  

I tend to suffer from imposter syndrome, and one of the best ways I’ve found for me to fight that is to list out all the things I’ve done and reflect on them.  So, this report, in the way that I fill it out, helps me combat the feeling that I don’t know what I’m doing.  So, without further ado, here’s how I fulfilled my oath last year:

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“Reflections on Prison Chaplaincy”

It’s amazing how serendipitous life changes can really affect your spirituality and the ways that you interact with the world.  Since becoming ordained in 2015 I’ve had an interest in pursuing professional chaplaincy, but as a minority religion there are even more barriers in place that there would be otherwise.  Even then, I thought I’d like higher education or hospital chaplaincy, and was pretty sure that prison chaplaincy was not for me.  But then this opportunity to work at the local women’s state prison fell into my lap, and I have found myself spirituality reinvigorated and deeply humbled in this work.  

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The Value in Recognizing the Work of Others

The beginning of the year is a time in ADF when a lot of the administrative tasks happen.  While we have quarterly reports that are filed on a more frequent basis, by February we’re also ramping up to the compiling of the ADF Annual Report, Priests are filing their annual reports, and organizational elections are in full swing.

One of the really cool things I’ve been able to do this year as Vice Arch Druid is read a whole bunch of the reports that people have sent in. Everything from SIG, Guild, and Kin reports, to Grove and Regional Druid reports, to Priest reports. Now, I know what you might be thinking: “Reading administrative paperwork? Ew!” But honestly it has been really fulfilling and has helped me feel more deeply connected to the membership as a whole, as well as to my peers in leadership.

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