Yesterday was amazing. I had coordinated to bring three of my Grovemates, Joe, Jeff, and Mike to ORW as volunteers for Beltane. I wanted to make it kind of like a mini-festival day for the inmates. So we had a morning of workshops and then an afternoon ritual.
Continue reading “Beltane Behind Bars”reflection
Reflecting on the ‘Total Eclipse of the Heartland’
This past week I had the privilege to travel to Tredara with my family and many other pagan (and pagan-adjacent) folks to experience the totality of the solar eclipse that stretched across the United States on April 8th. “Tredara is a 22-acre facility owned and operated by druids of Stone Creed Grove. It features multiple nemetons, an Ancestor Mound, a shrine to the Nature Spirits, and many other sacred spots” (Stone Creed). Every time I have visited Tredara has been amazing, especially because they always seem to have new shrines each year (this year was a lovely Hekate shrine), but it was especially wonderful this visit because experiencing Totality is absolutely awe-inspiring, and then to see it on sacred ground amongst my spiritual community was ineffable.
Continue reading “Reflecting on the ‘Total Eclipse of the Heartland’”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:
Continue reading “Annual Clergy Report for 2023”A Winter Solstice Reflection: Passing the Light
I wrote this brief reflection/working for the Winter Solstice Rite I’m running at ORW this year. I really like the imagery of passing the light. It gives us time to honor the holy dark, but also look to finding hope. If you’d like to do this working, you’ll need a candle (or electric candle) for each person present, and the overhead lights turned off.
Continue reading “A Winter Solstice Reflection: Passing the Light”Reigniting Your Devotional Practice
For many people, including me, November and December are so busy with family obligations and other social functions thanks to the over-culture, that our own personal devotional practice tends to fall by the wayside for awhile. Devotional practices, whether they be daily or weekly prayers, meditation, or magical workings, ebb and flow. They go in cycles like the seasons, and that’s okay. A dormant season is necessary for a fruitful growing and harvest season. So, as we’re coming out of the dormant season, it’s okay that our practice may have been dormant for awhile. Now is the time to reignite it.
Continue reading “Reigniting Your Devotional Practice”2022 In Review – Clergy Council Priestwork Report
Clergy Council Member Annual Report Form
Priest Name: Rev. Jan Avende
Time covered: January 1 2022 – January 1 2023
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.
Continue reading “2022 In Review – Clergy Council Priestwork Report”Use the Fancy Art Supplies
I’ve been thinking lately about the Winning of the Waters myth. In brief, the Winning of the Waters is when one deity hoards all of the blessings and other “good stuff” for themselves. They are often described with imagery relating to dragons, and the hoarding of wealth. Then another deity acts as the hero who fights on behalf of mankind to get the Waters (the blessings, good stuff, the hoard) for us. The hero deity fights the hoarding deity, with the former ultimately winning, and thus allowing the Waters and blessings to flow once more from the realms of the gods to us.
Continue reading “Use the Fancy Art Supplies”Teaching Ritual Performance
Teaching Ritual Performance was designed to assist students to instruct others in ritual performance. In this course students are required to journal their work directing several rituals. Students do not necessarily need to write the rituals, nor do they need to write all the parts for the rituals. In fact, students may find it more challenging to allow others to write the ritual and then simply teach others how to work with the text they are given or come up with on their own.
The primary goal of this course is for students to enhance their skills for directing group ritual performance.
Course Objectives
- Students will increase their knowledge and skill in celebrant selection for assigned ritual roles and develop an awareness of how their selection impacts ritual performance.
- Students will enhance their skills for effectively directing ritual performances.
- Students will develop the skills necessary to effectively instruct the celebrants in working with ritual text, as well as specific elements of ritual performance, including movement, voice, and the internalization of text.
Theater for Ritual 2
Building on the theories in Theatre for Ritual 1, this course delves deeper into the practicum of how we work in public ritual.
The primary goal of this course is for students to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively utilize physical techniques, such as voice, internalization of text, props, etc., to enhance ritual.
Course Objectives
- Students will increase their awareness of the importance of internalization of text and effectively apply this technique in ritual.
- Students will demonstrate knowledge of the importance of voice in ritual to include developing an understanding of projection and diction.
- Students will demonstrate increased knowledge of physical techniques, such as internalization of text, the use of space, props, theatricality and movement in ritual.
Juggling Roles – Priest at a Moment’s Notice
This month is Pride Month, which means I’ve spent a lot of time at various Pride events. This is my first year where I’ve really felt deeply embedded into the community.
Continue reading “Juggling Roles – Priest at a Moment’s Notice”
Mist to Open. Mists to Bind. 