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Our speakers were the following:
Skip Ellison, ADF Arch Druid! To find out more about Skip please
visit his website. Skip is from New York and has lead the ADF for the last six years. Skip is a very
intellegent and wise man. It is an honor to have him down to our event! His topic is below! We look forward
to this!
Re-connecting with the Earth Mother.
This workshop will discuss some of the deities in various myth systems
that have been considered 'Earth Mothers'. It also talks about what you can do as individuals today to help the Earth. We
conclude with a guided meditation to re-connect you to the Earth. Please come prepared to lay on the ground for the meditation.
Kirk Thomas, ADF Vice-Arch Druid! To find out more about Kirk please visit
his website. Kirk is from Arizona and has many areas of experitise. Kirk will be speaking on "Chaos and Cosmos"!
I have included here a summerary of the discussion. If you have not had the oppertunity to hear Kirk, now is the time
to come!
Chaos and Cosmos: Bringing Them Together: ADF has a very distinct and coherent way of looking
at the cosmos and how it relates to our reaching the Gods, Spirits of Nature and our Ancestors in ritual. Based on the beliefs
of ancient Indo-European Pagan peoples, this cosmology embraces tripartition and such concepts as the Sacred Center, World
Tree, Three Worlds, Three Realms, Fire in Water, etc. This workshop will examine this cosmological system, its origins, and
its use in ADF Ritual.
Rev. Warren and Carolyne Kleinman, Llygedyn Grove!
In 1999, they formed their grove in the Austin area. Both of them at one time were with the ADF and are practicing Druids
to this day. You can find out more about their grove by visiting their website.
Brian Long, Regional Druid for the ADF Central Region! Brian lives in Carthage, in
Southwestern Missouri, with his wife, Rieka, and three children. As many Pagans say, he has always been on
a Druidic path. He just didn't become aware of it until 1991. He first joined ADF in 1998. He was part of a
protogrove in the Denver, CO for several months. He is the organizer and Senior Druid of Hazelnut Mead Grove, ADF. His
family practices Our Druidry with him. Brian talked about Ritual Brewing and how it has changed over time.
Recap of the Weekend:
We got to the camp grounds and wow. The cabins and recreation hall were nice! We could not believe them!
That night we visited and got to know each other. It was so nice to meet everyone!
This is when some of the teaching already started. The guys would hold the most fabolous conversations about things.
For those that came who knew nothing about ADF this was the event to be at! Every conversation taught bits and peices.
Saturday morning, breakfast and all that jaz. Skip and I decided that since all were entertaining themselves, that
we would change up the schedule. We waited on our shoppers to return. It was so nice to not be ruled by time!
Then it was Skip's class. Oh man it was neat! He spoke about the Earth Mother and how she is percieved
thru time and cultures. He also gave us many ways we can help honor her. At the end he led us thru a meditation.
You could actually feel the breath of her. It was very nice!
After a break, Kirk spoke. He broke down ADF Druidism for us. Talking about how ADF developed it's COOR and
why it has in it what it does. Though he said it was not a spiritual talk, it was. Because it had to do with the
meat of our ways.
We stopped for lunch at this point. I cooked up the hamburgers for all. After lunch, Brian spoke on ritual
Mead and Beer. Showing how over time things have changed and are nothing like they are now. He showed us why beer
and mead had more healing properties then they do now. It was very interesting.
Our last speakers were Carolyn and Warren. Well, it ended up just being Caroly speaking on what Warren prepared.
They spoke on spirituality in your daily life. And their chants were neat! Come next year and you may be blessed
by them!
Ritual came. We made it to where half of it was outside and half was inside. We marched over singing a chant.
Then the ritual flowed. Skip led us in the two power meditation and wow. When it came time to open the gates,
Kirk led us in this. We chanted, "Open the Gates." over and over, faster and faster, while he quickly (to this day I
don't know if he was walking fast or running or flying) went around the sacred space and then spinned in the middle with
his staff. Wow, that left us feeling in awe and speechless! Well, Lesley was the one calling Bridgette. Lesley
offered the Whiskey to the fire and poof we almost had burnt up GO! But it was all good. Skip read our omen
for us. The Ancestors said Justice, the Nature Spirits said Wonder of Nature, and the Shining ones said Wisdom.
When the ritual was over, all were happy and blessed.
Some of us up till about 3:30 AM talking. Just having a good ole' time! Sunday came too quickly for us and
now it is time to plan for next year! We hope you too can make it out to our humble festival!
Check out even more pictures of the event! Click here to be taken to them!
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