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Winter Solstice, Endings and Beginnings

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:

  • Established monthly meetings to visit and plan events.
  • Began seasonal ceremonies as a Grove beginning Alban Elfed/Fall Equinox 2007.
  • Establish first Peace Grove planting at Bass Lake Park.
  • Officially ‘aligned’ with Arbor Day Society for tree plantings.
  • Consecrated our Wilderness Grove site with sand from Iona, Scotland.

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!

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Samhuinn at the Grove

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 ALGNC 2007 SamhuinnOBOD 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!

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Mabon behind us – looking to Samhuinn

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!

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The Deadliest Item at Your Grocery Store?

Somewhere in the northern Pacific floats a non-biodegradable petrochemical blob that’s twice the size of Texas. Much of this deadly mess originated when someone innocently took home their shopping in a plastic bag.

In the U.S. alone, we throw away 100 billion plastic bags each year — the equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil. Yikes!

What can you do? Tune in to Orli Cotel’s Sierra Club Radio interview with Katherine Mieszkowski, of Salon, to find out.

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Bass Lake trash cleanup

Trash crewALG member Ken, with his 3 children, collected a full bag of trash Sunday at Bass Lake Park, Holly Springs NC. Walking along the 1 mile stretch of shoreline, there were plenty of items that needed cleaning up, including mono-filament string, plastic bottles and aluminum cans. Trash is unsightly, but the mono-filament string can also be directly harmful to wildlife, such as cranes and fish.

ALG will be working to make ‘clean-up outings’ a regular, planned activity. If you’d like to participate, please refer to ‘About ALG’ page for contact info.