The following interview appeared in Crane Chatter #7, just after Seamus was elected Senior Druid in 2007.
Crane Chatter: Congratulations on becoming the new Senior Druid.
Seamus: Thank you, I am both honored and humbled at the same time. This Grove has some amazing people in it and they push me to be a better person. I feel really blessed to have found ADF and Three Cranes Grove.
CC: How long have you been involved with ADF and Three Cranes?
Seamus: For a while now. I was looking through old meeting notes and didn’t realize that the Grove hadn’t really been around long before I joined. It was around about a year, but they were only getting together about once a month and High Days, now we see each other about twice a week on average. So to answer your question about 4 years now. I have served for two terms as the Pursewarden. I joined ADF and the Cranes at the same time. I am also active in the Warrior’s Guild as the Guild Scribe and I have a seat on the Guild’s Council of Honor.
CC: What did you do before ADF?
Seamus: I am also a member of an Asatru organization called the Troth. I also did some Pagan/Wicca things with a local group called Stone Soup Circle. Before that, I read a lot and have also done some Native American-type stuff. My great grandmother was full-blooded Navajo. So I guess I was searching.
CC: What do you like most about ADF?
Seamus: The structure. We are a Neo-Pagan church. We are heavy into lore and historical data. It’s the religion with homework. Some people are afraid of the word “church” and some people want to run around in the woods basing their entire spiritual experience on unsubstantiated personal gnosis. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I like the fact that we care about the history, the facts etc. . . “Why not excellence?”
Also, the fact that we are a church helps bridge the gap between mainstream and the Pagans in the woods. The Pagan community needs to understand that we need recognized clergy with credentials. We need somewhere to look when we get sick, need healing, last rites, or whatever. We, by the very nature of being Pagan, think that we have a personal relationship with our deities and have no need for clergy except for marriage, but I think we forget the wise men and women of old and their place in the tribe or village. So I feel ADF is or will be in the future fulfilling that need for non-Christian clergy. . . not to mention so many other things, but I could ramble on forever. . .
CC: So what do you like least?
Seamus: Well I think we need to strike more of a balance. It’s important to be scholarly, but I sometimes think we do things to much from the head and not enough from the heart. Most recon Neo鳳agan groups spend too much time looking back and very little time looking ahead. It is very important to gather knowledge and to know your history lessons, but we need to adapt those lessons to today. So “once more with feeling” would be my battle-cry.
CC: What is your vision for Three Cranes?
Seamus: To not screw up what Mike started. . . No, really, I am very serious: we have created something wonderful here and I want to make sure that we continue to grow and tend our garden. There is so much we can do in the greater Columbus community; not just the Pagan community, but all of it. I am excited about the people in my Grove and what we can do. We can really service the Pagan community with public rituals; the outreach programs we have done thus far are only the beginning. The Comfest booth, Pagan Pride Day, next year we want a booth at ULE, we want to do PPD again. . . it just stretches out before us. I want us to be a shining example of the ADF virtues and for people who see us to go, “Wow those Druids are cool, they know their stuff and are really good solid people that are walking in their Truth. . .”
CC: Thank you for taking a minute to talk to us, any final thoughts?
Seamus: Thank you. Be good to each other. Make one person laugh every day. Remember your blessings. Make lasting memories and leave nothing but footsteps.
