The day after Imbolc (2/10/08) I went out to Bass Lake Park and checked on the grove we planted in December. I was greeted by the new growth of our little saplings!
All five Bald Cypress trees had added quite a bit of growth and were looking really healthy. They had each added about 6 inches of new growth.
I hope everyone is having a promising and bright January!
This time of deep sleep for the Earth is a time to reflect and prepare personally for the days ahead – bursting with life and promise as we approach Spring. I get myself mentally and physically prepared each Winter for the year ahead. Sometimes that means reviewing my diet, going for a nature walk (yes, even in the dead of Winter) or just re-evaluating my habits and values to ensure that I’m living the life I want, rather than just going with the flow. We all have a purpose for this incarnation, what’s yours?
How do the seasonal ceremonies fit in to personal growth for the Modern Druid? John Michael Greer, in the book The Druidry Handbook says:
“Self initiation into the Druid Tradition, however important its effects may be, is a process you’ll pass through only once, but the wheel of the year will carry you from season to season as long as you remain a Druid. There’s a sense in which the stations of the year are your real initiation, repeated at ever deeper levels as one year leads to the next.”
I hope that you connect with each station of the Sun, enjoying and being fully present with our Earthly home. Take the opportunity this year to practice your values and be a ‘Priest(ess) of Nature’ by finding ways to lessen your impact on the environment. Let your blessings shine through you on a personal level.
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At our last Grove meeting Monday, we had tentatively set a practice for Imbolc this Sunday. With the projected bad weather coming in, I propose we move that to Thurs, January 24 at 6:30pm. We will then be prepared for our formal ceremony on Thurs February 7th @ 7pm here at Wilderness Grove. There are 91 days between Winter Sol. and Spring Eq. so the mid point between the two falls on Feb 6-7. Thanks to Matt for bringing this forward from the shadows!
I have not had the opportunity to visit our new Peace Grove this month. The rain is perfect for our new planting – this should ensure a strong, healthy Grove that will be off to a fast growing start in April.
Don’t forget to visit the group calendar should you want to check on upcoming events. You can find it here.
As we close the final weeks of 2007, I want to thank everyone who has made ALG a wonderful place to belong!
I remember the first few months of the year, sitting by myself at the coffee shop, wondering if anyone was interested in building a Druid Grove. Little did I know that we’d make such a strong foundation and create Awen’s Light Grove and have such success! We’ve closed the year with each of our 4 directions filled in our ceremonies and even a Herald to boot!
What we’ve accomplished this year:
With the OBOD program at the core of our Druidry, we also share the flexibility to grow our spirit the way each of us needs, while having enough in common to make a group that genuinely enjoys spending time together in ceremony or learning Nature’s spiritual lessons. Free from dogma, but yet having common spiritual landmarks, ALG can journey forward into the growing light offering something unique to each member that helps them connect with their own personal divinity.
What’s in store for 2008? Growth, exploration, making a difference the way only Druids can! I see us providing help and mentoring to those continuing on the OBOD correspondence course. We have new Bards, Ovates and perhaps even a Druid in the next 12 months. We have a group that is interested in making a difference on the environment, expanding the awareness that Earth is our home and it is alive and needs our stewardship as well as our respect. We are also leaders and examples of religious tolerance and acceptance of all faiths and creeds, and extend a warm welcome to all that can come together with open minds, leaving judgment and prejudice behind.
We are more than our individual spiritual parts, and all connected within the vast fabric of the Universe. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season, full of Yuletide merriment!
We had a full turn out for our first ALGNC Samhuinn celebration October 28th. We started the evening with relaxation and final prep for the ceremony, then began the evening with a meditation prepared by Jeremy around a patio fire bowl. The evening was crisp with a fall chill and the sky was clear.
Our ceremony was conducted by all the members of the grove filling the roles in the 
OBOD Samhuinn ceremony. The event was moving and full of wonderful magic, invoking all the seasonal energies of the night! The ceremony ended with blessings and offerings, finishing with dinner prepared by Wendy and Ken of roast, salad and drinks with desserts brought by Amanda. Matt provided wonderful sachets of herbs for the members during the ritual.
After eating, we spent a couple of hours sitting by the patio fire, talking and enjoying the night air.
Thanks to all the members for their participation and making this a perfect night!
We had a wonderful Mabon ceremony and ritual Thursday. The misty evening lit by the torches in our Grove added a wonderful atmosphere to this magical night and the OBOD ceremony was performed wonderfully. Special thanks to Matt for his work in helping me put this together for the grove! Additional thanks to Wendy for filling the role of ‘Lady Ceridwen’ – she’s a natural.
Samhuinn is around the corner. We have our ALG ceremony planned for Friday evening, October 26th at 7:00pm at Wilderness Grove. I really get excited this time of the year! This is a wonderfully magic time of year ends, and year beginnings and will be the first ALG ceremony to mark its passage. We will perform OBOD initiations for those who are interested and further work on developing ALG’s “inner plane grove” as well. We will be doing some practice runs in October to prepare for this event.
I’ve had a request to have ritual time to ‘charge’ items for members during the ceremony. This is an opportunity to bring something that you would like to imbue with deeper meaning and influence in your life, perhaps oghams, a talisman or some other item of importance. Also, take time to think about what thanksgiving or offering you would like to make to that special God/Goddess/Spirit/Ancestor in your life during the ceremony.
I’ve started using the Groups calendar tool too. You can review what’s coming up, and it will be sending out reminders as well to help you in your planning <here>
We will have a pre-grove planning meditation in October, date and time to be announced. The goal will be to review the site of the proposed Sacred Grove planting at Bass Lake park and to receive any special signs or instructions from the land. If all goes well, we hope to schedule this for November. We have a ‘green light’ from the park manager and he will provide a bench for the grove. We will be able to have a plaque added to the bench – I propose this:
“It is wise to listen to the voices of the trees,
for they tell us much that we might otherwise forget.” – Tacitus
Sacred Grove Site 2007 – Awen’s Light Grove – algnc.org
I look forward to working with everyone in what is turning up to be a busy October!
Awen's Light Grove 
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