Posts Tagged ‘fire’

New Officers, an Anniversary, and a New Crane!

Sunday, September 20th, 2009

Over the past seven years, it has been my deepest pleasure to work with the members of this Grove. Today, it was a deep pleasure to hand over the “reins” of leadership to a new Executive Committee: we have elected a new Senior Druid, lees, and a new Secretary, Irisa. Our Treasurer remains Maggie, but we find ourselves in new territory: not only is this the first time all our officers have been women, but this is also the first time they have all been redheads!

The ritual today included the oaths of two of our officers (Irisa was visiting the Pittsburgh Grove, and will be installed at the next Druid Moon rite), but it also included the retirement of our old statue of Garanus and the presentation of a new statue. Our old statue was honoured one last time, and presented to the folk and to the new statue, allowing each to acknowledge the other for a moment before I gently kissed the old wooden statue and placed it on the ritual fire, a sacrifice to the patron of this Grove, Teutates.

It was a moving experience, taking the old statue around the fire: Garanus had seen so much through those eyes, and watched over so many of our rituals. While the Garanus statue is not considered to be the Crane himself, it is an icon that represents the Crane to many of us. I saw tears in the eyes of many of our members, and felt my own eyes sting with joy and reverence as I carried the statue around.

When I lifted the statue, I uttered a prayer:

Garanus Crane,
You have guided us,
Walked with us,
Watched over us.

Garanus Crane,
See now this statue of wood,
The icon we have gazed upon so long.

Garanus Grane,
See through its eyes the new statue.
Know that we honour you with it as our new focus.

Garanus Crane,
For guiding, walking, and watching,
We honour you.

We offer this icon now to Teutates,
God of our Tribe.

I then kissed the head of the statue, knelt, and placed the wooden statue on the fire. I reflected on this Grove, on how it has grown and on where it has been, and I smiled.

One day, we will retire this new statue, too. And I pray that we will do so on land that is ours, in a permanent nemeton.

As the statue of the crane went up in flames, I knew: we have and will continue to pray with a good fire.

    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

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Honouring the Center of our Rites

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

What a group focuses its rituals around says much about what is important to them. While our Grove’s sacred center certainly is made up of the Fire, Well, and Tree, and while we always have an altar set up, looking spatially at our ritual space shows a very interesting aspect of our liturgy.

Over the last several years, we have moved our central focus of ritual away from the center that we always speak of, and made the Fire, Well, and Tree (and particularly the altar) peripheral to our actual focus in ritual: the members of the congregation that gathers to honour the Kindreds.

While the Fire, Well, and Tree are never outside our focus and center, we show with every ritual that what we are concerned with as a Grove is the well-being of the others who have gathered, physically and spiritually, in our space.

Most of our prayers and evocations take place in front of the altar, at the center of the Grove. Our Fire is often in a fireplace or grill, the Well is often on the altar, and the Tree is often further away from the folk than either of these other two centers.

What our rituals do is bring our members and guests together, without barrier, with the Kindreds and Spirits in ritual. We meet and converge in the same point, directing our focus away from the center of the folk only long enough to make an offering, locate something on the altar, or do a working or make a Praise Offering.

Our center truly is a shared center, with the Folk and the Kindreds coming together and standing shoulder-to-shoulder, arm-in-arm. It is a powerful place, this Center of the Folk, and we are all welcome within it.

The festival season within ADF has also begun, with the Trillium Spring Gathering happening last weekend. The Groves that put on the festival were amazing hosts, and the weather was incredible: warm and dry!

For those interested in future ADF festivals, view the events page on the ADF site! And remember, Three Cranes Grove, ADF, is sponsoring the Summerland Festival this year, so please come out for it!
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

Edited to add: Apparently, this entry was “saved” rather than “published,” which explains the fact that it’s showing up on Monday but time-stamped on Sunday. Sorry about the delay!

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The Fire from across the Ninth Wave is here

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

The Fire from the waters is here.
The Fire from the land is here.
The Fire from the heavens is here.
Born in the Waters, Kindled on the Earth,
and with a pillar of smoke that supports the Heavens,
this light is the Grove’s own Fire of Sacrifice.

February, on the Coligny Calendar, is Anagantios, which (loosely translated) means “stay-at-home-month.” That is just what our members did for a ritual that lasted all day.

As the weather in February is noticeably worse than it is at other times throughout the year, it made sense that with a chance of ice, snow, and all manner of other nasty weather, a bunch of people getting on the road to converge in a single ritual space was not a good idea. Instead, we decided to have our Grove Priest (myself) travel to each Grove Member’s house and bring a blessed flame to warm the dwellings of our members.

And wouldn’t you know it, the weather cooperated wonderfully by making the roads amazingly unsafe and icy just in time for me to drive from one end of Columbus to the other, and back again.

At the Imbolc ritual, our Grove took the flame brought across the ocean from Kildare with the intent of making use of the flame in this Druid Moon Rite. As I went from house to house with this light, we lit the house with the fires from Kildare, speaking a blessing over each room in the dwelling and over the house as a whole. I did entire houses, one room apartments, and dorm rooms. Roommates I had never met joined in the blessing. I received excellent hospitality from the Grove on this cold day.

And with each of them, I left a candle that held the Grove’s flame.

The rite was a wonderful experience, and being welcomed into so many homes and hearts was the best part of the trip for me. I must extend a hearty thanks to the members of Three Cranes Grove, ADF, for their welcome and the warmth of their ghosti.

A copy of the ritual will be posted to the ADF-Liturgists list, and will appear in our forthcoming devotional book.
    -Rev. Michael J Dangler

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