Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Columbia Grove, Many Gods West, David Suhor and more!

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TROUT LAKE, Wash. — Over the weekend, Columbia Grove, ADF hosted its first Pan-Pagan camping festival at White Mountain Druid Sanctuary in Trout Lake, Washington. The festival, called Beyond the Gates, was attended by 35 people, and featured a variety of workshops and rituals. For example, ADF Archdruid Emeritus Reverend Kirk Thomas, who co-owns and operates Trout Lake Abbey on which the sanctuary is located, offered two lectures: Celtic Arthur and The Ancient Celtic Religion. Phaedra Bonewits was there to host a workshop on Ritual Participation and the Life and Times of Isaac Bonewits.

News

Ár nDraíocht Féin elects Rev. Jean Pagano (Drum) as new Archdruid

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TWH – This month, the Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship membership voted on a new board of directors. Included in that process was the election of a new Archdruid. This position serves as the president of the ADF board and is considered to be both the organization’s administrative and spiritual leader. This year, members chose Rev. Jean Pagano, also known as Drum, to take the organizational reins from outgoing Archdruid Rev. Kirk Thomas. In a press release, Drum said, “I am touched and honored that people have chosen me to be their Archdruid – it is not a challenge that I take lightly and I promise to be Archdruid to all members.”

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Florida Pagan Gathering, Ár nDraíocht Féin, Voodoo Spiritual Temple and more!

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FLORIDA – While putting the final touches on its upcoming festival, Temple of Earth Gatherings (TEG) has found itself, once again, at the center of community controversy. TEG’s Florida Pagan Gathering (FPG) is a popular festival and has been one of the most well-attended Pagan events in that state since its inception in 1995. But, in 2014, the TEG board hit a snag, when it invited Yvonne and Gavin Frost, two teachers considered controversial, to present at that year’s spring event. Since that point, FPG has be staged biannually without incident until recent months. In January, the Frosts announced that they would be returning to the festival circuit and attending FPG 2016, but the couple made no mention of offering any workshops.

Culture

“A Legacy of Druids” collects modern insights into ancient religion

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AMHERST, Mass. — Ellen Evert Hopman first collected the interviews in her new book, A Legacy of Druids, in 1996. She did so using methods that might seem antiquated in today’s fast-paced world: by having conversations in person, and by asking questions by mail. The fact that it took twenty years to publish the results of her work echoes the words of the late Isaac Bonewits, “as fast as a speeding oak.” Some things simply should not be rushed.

News

Proposed shrine to Cernunnos breaks ground in spring

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TROUT LAKE, Wash — This coming spring the Cascadia Grove of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF) is planning to break ground on a fourth shrine. This one will be dedicated to Cernunnos. Cascadia Grove is located in the Seattle, Washington area and plans to build the shrine next to the others that it has built at Trout Lake Abbey. According to ADF, an international modern Druid group, Cernunnos is a horned God of liminality, commerce, and the forest. The Grove hosted an online fundraiser in December for the proposed shrine and raised just under $3500 toward their projected costs of $25,000.