Leaves of the Willow

Last week, there was a discussion about “bad omens,” which had an end result of being a wake-up call. This weekend, our Grove spent our time from Friday at 8:30 AM until Sunday at 10 PM staffing a booth and doing ritual for the public at ComFest. In that time span, Three Cranes Grove, ADF, ran (or, in one case, participated in) fourteen rituals, including the intertraditional service for the Pride march and a Summer Solstice ritual.

During all this, we made many new friends and saw many old ones. We answered questions about Our Druidry and talked long into the night with people who were interested in ADF or the local Grove. We passed out pamphlets and free coffee. We listened to jazz and death metal.

At one point during a discussion with our Senior Druid, Seamus, he pointed out that no one gets to rest on their laurels, particularly when it comes to ritual. There is often a feeling of complacency that comes from doing good ritual, getting good omens for long periods of time, and having strong support. That feeling cannot be allowed to win over a Grove.

So this weekend, we fought back.

The first and most important job was to be prepared for the Pride service. It has always been important to us as a Grove that we support Pride, but marching has proven difficult since the march coincides with times we need to staff our ComFest booth. The opportunity to participate in the Pride service was an excellent alternative for most of us, and it was my job to close out the service with a blessing in the Earth Mother. While this was not a difficult part, it was a vital part, primarily because it was the part that would have the most lasting effect on the crowd (coming at the end) and the part that would reflect how “seriously” Druidry should be taken by the interfaith community. To put it simply, we represented ourselves well.

Also this year, our Solstice ritual at ComFest was different. Rather than offer invocations and praise offerings (praise offerings are too difficult when roughly half the group you started your ritual with are exchanged for another half who wandered in part-way through the rite and have never heard a pre-ritual briefing before), we honoured the gods of sun and thunder with a mythic story about the strength of the sun to overcome the thunderstorms.

For anyone who was there this weekend, they will seize on the impetus for the story’s theme. We made offerings to the Kindreds and then offered this story of praise to the god of thunder and the goddess of the sun. The story was an excellent addition to the ritual, and seemed to set a new bar for the Grove rites.

All told, we have listened to our omens. If the omens from this weekend are any indication, we are following the example they have asked us to.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

For the first time in a year and a half, our omens today showed us that our offerings were not accepted.

This isn’t a cause for worry, but a call for our Grove to take a good, hard look at what we are doing, both as individuals and as a community, and to ensure that we are moving along the right path.

For a couple of weeks, we have been watching our omens as they have changed from highly positive to slightly less so. While today we found that our offerings had not been accepted the first time through, after our second round, they were strongly accepted. It seems to me that we are being asked to take a good, close look at our omens and seek to find the roots of the issue.

This coming weekend, the Grove is going to be highly involved in ComFest: we have a booth, a main ritual on Sunday morning, and we’re participating in the Pride ritual before the Pride Parade. Not long ago, we started looking at the omens and wondering if perhaps we were doing too much, if maybe we should take a break and a breather. This is one idea to discuss in depth when we talk about our omens.

We have also been fortunate to hear from other members of our community: we might want to think about the ways we present ourselves to the community, as well as think about how we act.

As we look to the personal side of these omens, we need to remember to distribute them more widely as a Grove, so that our members can take these omens more to heart and determine what needs should be met.

Omens are only truly bad if you ignore them: they always appear for a reason, and watching for them is key to understanding them and interacting with the Kindreds on many levels. So watch them we shall, and we will pay a deeper attention to them in the very near future.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

This past week, Three Cranes held our first Dedicant Path Study Group in several years. While the turnout was small, the conversation was very lively, and we spent the hours working through the first three Virtues (Wisdom, Piety, and Vision), as well as discussing the Shining Ones, Summer Solstice, and our first book. In all, it was a discussion packed evening.

We returned time and again to the idea of piety: right action. What did it mean to us as a Grove and as individuals? Piety, of course, is simply action, done in a context that is agreeable with the cosmos and which maintains the order that is the Ghosti relationship, or the relationship of reciprocity between guest and host.

By making offerings and offering praise (two things that are inextricably linked together), we delve ever deeper into a world where each of us has a personal link with the Kindreds. Each action of praise tells them how much we care for them, and each act of offering shows them this. With these two actions, we show that we care.

In the end, it is not only right to exchange gifts and praise, but it is the only way that the cosmos can continue to move in an ordered fashion. As we continue to seek to build cosmos from chaos, we must remember that the first step in doing so is the building of relationships where previously there was none.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

Three Cranes does not own land, but we have been given the opportunity to help be good stewards on some land, and to use the land often for ritual. The UU church in Reynoldsburg has offered us some space to work our rituals (so long as they don’t conflict with theirs, of course) in exchange for aid keeping their land in good order.

Of course, if you’re going to keep your land in good order, calling the Druids does seem to be the logical thing.

Today, the Grove gathered together in the hot, humid weather to clear brush, improve the fire pit, and improve a trail to the circle. As we pulled back the border of the tall grass and weeds, we found ourselves working together and enjoying our time as a single Grove, working in a Grove of our own.

This land holds the site of our first permanent altar, which has been mostly erased in the five years since we first made sacrifice at it. Now, though, that location is beautifully placed within the sacred precinct of the fire circle, and we are thinking of (and finding) ways to make use of the impression left by that altar. When we stand in this circle, we have an ancestral connection to the land: sacrifice has been made here before us, and it will be made here again.

At the end of the day, we also sank two stone posts into the earth, marking the ceremonial entrance to our space. Two symbols of the triplicity of the realms and those who reside in it were placed there, and prayers were said over them as silver and herbs were offered to them.

While this is not land that we can call our own, it’s clear that we have established a link with the land: this land can call us its own.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

As last Sunday, Three Cranes Grove, ADF, was at the ADF Annual Meeting, no update occurred. This week, we’re back to let everyone know how it went!

Wellspring, the festival at which the ADF Annual Meeting has been held for the past several years, is at Brushwood, a large, Pagan-owned and operated camp that plays host to many of the major Pagan festivals throughout the year, including Starwood and Sirius Rising.

The weekend most often involves organizational meetings, but it is also a very social weekend as well. Gathering at Wellspring means seeing old faces and acquainting yourself with new ones every year.

Especially of note, our own Shawneen brought home the Warrior’s torc, being crowned Champion of the Warrior Games at this Wellspring. Shawneen is the first Crane to win this award, and we are amazingly proud of him.

This Wellspring saw the addition of a new ADF Dedicant Priest, as well: Rev. Cheryl Angst joined the ranks of our Clergy as our first Canadian Priest. With her consecration also comes the first real steps in the formation of ADF Canada, and a new chapter in ADF’s international work.

We also spent an evening gathered among friends, praying for one who has passed recently.

In matters of what’s upcoming with the Grove, we are planning two rituals for Summer Solstice (it’s beginning to become a tradition), and we will have a booth at ComFest. We will also be participating in the Interfaith Service supporting the Columbus Pride Parade.

We have also put together a new calendar, so please check that out, too!
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

As the Grove was at Wellspring on this day, no post is available. See next week’s post.

It may be obvious that no entry was created for last Sunday (though there’s a placeholder now pointing to this entry on that date). That is because last week, several of our Grove members went to the Desert Magic Festival in Arizona. So today, a double-issue of this blog is in order.

Desert Magic is hosted by Sonoran Sunrise Grove, ADF, a wonderful Grove that has hosted this festival for five years now. The festival is full of good food, good friends, and good hospitality.

Our Senior Druid, Seamus, was asked to present on warrior spirituality and its applications in today’s world. His workshop called on us to take action, to not simply sit on our hands. He also introduced the new First Circle of the Warriors’ Guild Study Program.

My presentation was on Vedic hearth culture within ADF, offering a simple outline of the deities of Vedism and how they can interact with ADF and our worship structures.

Throughout the weekend, we Cranes enjoyed the company of many of our West Coast brethren: people that we just don’t get to see often enough, and people that we often wish would come out to visit us, too. As a hint, Summerland is just around the corner!

The real work, it seems, was done on the night after Desert Magic, though, when a small group of us gathered together to help work out more of the Clergy Training Program and to nearly complete the Liturgist Guild Study Program’s remaining courses. We hammered out basic exit standards for nearly all the courses required for the Liturgist Guild, and most of the courses required for Clergy within ADF.

ADF may soon see more Ordained Priests. I pray it happens soon.

This week was spent preparing for the Komen Race for the Cure, a breast cancer run that the Grove has done for years now. It is ever a joy to know that our Grove is committed to this particular bit of community service: so many of our friends and family are affected by breast cancer, and this is such a small thing that can help so much.

While the Columbus Komen Race broke new records and shattered the goals that were set, I’m proud to think that Three Cranes Grove, ADF, was among the many who helped make this possible.

Truly, this Grove is blessed with folk who wish to help with our service, and truly we are all blessed by our actions as a community.

Next Sunday, our Grove will mostly be attending Wellspring, so while we will try and update on Sunday, another double post may also be required in two weeks!
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

Please see next week’s post for a Desert Magic review!
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

Three Cranes Grove, ADF, has always focused strongly on the image of a gardener, largely unknown in terms of form and identity, who tends this Grove, encouraging new growth, culling damaging weeds, and introducing new and exciting things that seem to fit just right after a time of wondering how the heck it’s ever going to fit with the whole.

Of course, there’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes of the Grove’s rather smooth outer-workings that make it look like it’s running without a single hiccup, much as a beautiful garden belies the work the gardener put into it.

The nuts-and-bolts of renting space, finding meeting places, creating agendas, collecting dues, and keeping all our paperwork in order is what really allows us to show up on a Sunday afternoon, unpack some gear from a rubber tub, and bring some magic into the lives of the Folk while offering the Kindreds a place at our shared table. The lion’s share of this is done by the Grove Officers: the actual legwork of booking a room is done by our Scribe, and our Senior Druid puts our agendas together and makes sure we’re all going to show up at the same place.

But it’s the Grove Members who come to the meetings, who voice their hopes and concerns, their ideas and their thoughts that really make this Grove tick. A business meeting isn’t just a place to find out how much money is in the account, but it’s a place to determine how the Members want it spent. When we go to schedule our rituals, it’s not about what the Officers can make it to, but about what the Members can come to as a whole.

Grove business meetings aren’t just about business; they’re about fellowship, too. That’s why we start every meeting with a prayer instead of a roll call, and why we have occasionally turned to omens when a really difficult decision came up. Doing what is best for Our Fellowship, though, requires Our Fellowship to be there, and to voice their opinions.

We have been blessed recently in having a larger turnout at our business meetings than we did in the past: we’re averaging closer to 6-7 people instead of three Officers and the occasional fourth Member. It’s a pleasure to see our membership taking such an interest in the way our Grove is run, and I hope to see more members in the future.

Each of us is a gardener in this Grove. Each of us lends a helping hand to another, or whispers encouragement and love to the others. Each of us helps to maintain this Grove. Sometimes, it involves the joy of watching it bloom at a High Day rite, but other times, the joy of tending a Grove is in caring for the small sprout that breaks through the surface of the soil, stretching for the sunlight, months from blooming but ever so fragile and beautiful.

And each of us is watched over by the other gardeners in this Grove, and by the gentle hand of the Gardener who guides us all.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

As Three Cranes comes off a wonderful Beltaine celebration, with 78 participants, 91 canned goods collected, and an amazing drumming circle, it’s clear that there are some lessons learned.

We weren’t expecting to break new records today with the number of participants, though we were expecting a slightly larger crowd than usual. Our last-minute change of location also complicated matters, moving us from a traditional site for our Beltaine rituals to one that none of us had ever been to before this morning.

Despite that, our Grove has always (unofficially) operated on the Boy Scout motto: “be prepared” is a statement that we have taken to heart, often leading to excesses of ritual gear that we don’t need being brought along. Today, though, it led to our Grove having not only enough Waters to go around for the blessings, but also being able to offer each person the chance to drink the Waters, instead of aspersing the blessing across the entire crowd.

Because of the way the ritual space was set up, with tables and benches located in the middle of where the Folk would generally stand, most people ended up sitting at a table, so we ended up with a large crowd of parallel lines that sat almost perpendicular to the Sacred Center. When we were distributing the Waters, it was more like pouring drinks for a party in a crowded bar than a solemn, ritual atmosphere.

This, of course, suited Beltaine just fine.

We also chose a Fool by lot to lead our procession out through the purifying fires and back into the ritual space. Our fires stayed lit throughout the rite, and the nine sacred woods we burned in each fire purified and again blessed the folk who had joyously partaken of the Waters. Our method of Fool selection was originally designed by Anna Banana, who last year had us pick M&M candies out of a jar, making the Fool the one who chose the red candy. As we drew these lots this year to the sound of drumming and clapping, our Senior Druid began to chant:

    I want my M and M’s!

The immediate response was:

    Jim wants his M and M’s!

And this call-and-response was repeated several times until, as the one united and sacred Grove that we were, we simply couldn’t stop laughing in the collective joy we experienced.

In all, as Beltaine celebrations go, this was a wonderful one. We had many new faces and a few old ones that we hadn’t seen in a very long time. The Grove did a wonderful job of leading the rite and maintaining the space, but the thing I took home from this ritual is that our rituals thrive on the energy of the participants far more than on the energy of the sacrificers. Each person who comes to our rites adds spice to the experience and the joy of doing public worship.

And it is this spice our guests provide that makes us grateful to each and every one of them.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler