Druids In Cars, Going To Festivals

How do we take the ancient lore in context of our modern lives? This week again, Rev. Avende and Mike Bierschenk travel home from Trillium 2024 (after a mid-drive coffee pick-me-up), and they talk about squaring their practice with the lore that's out there, leaving things behind, and moving forward from those experiences. Where else will you find a consideration of questionable necromancy, tempered by considerations of how we may be useful to our descendants? About halfway through, the discussion turns to a meditation on places where ancestral knowledge is missing, and what we can do in our experience to honor that tradition, and make it our own. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

Traveling home from Trillium 2024, Rev. Avende and Mike Bierschenk discuss how the omen reading went at the main rite. Inspired by the Spirits, they tried a new omen process, which has since become a new casting cloth in the two years since (you can see a picture of it, as well as the original omen inscribed in the sand, in the linear notes on our Podbean page, if you are reading this description on a service that doesn't transmit images). There's a great discussion about the different sorts of divination we've seen and the hope we have to see more inventive divination methods in the future. We even managed to locate the original audio from the omen in this Trillium rite, so you'll find that spliced in at the end of the episode, before the outro music kicks in. (Spoiler alert: this omen will be referenced in the next episode as well.) Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

Today, we talk about one of the administrative tasks required of us as priest: the reporting aspect of maintaining our credentials is a time-intensive process that brings up a lot of feelings for us, yet it reveals a lot about our work. It rolls back around to the idea of journaling as a practice, which is a different way of looking at these reports than we often experience. We talk a bit about unexpected lessons around divination journaling as part of this as well. You can find Rev. Dangler's "pretty" report on his Patreon (where you can get the answers to the reporting questions he couldn't answer in the podcast), and Rev. Avende's "legible" report on their website. You can also find the Three Cranes Grove, ADF, newsletters in our Newsletter Archive to see those omens we've recorded, and check out Rev. Avende's list of "Things No One Told You About Being a Priest." Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

Today, Jacque and Rev. Dangler discuss their relationships with Nehalennia, a Belgic goddess who is known from a series of votive altars, and a modern working temple at Colijnsplaat, which you can visit! The other one mentioned is in Archaeon, an archaeological park in The Netherlands. You can also see a picture of the elephant on the ceiling of the church at Lucerne. We mention the Crane Breviary and Guide Book, which you can find on Lulu or at The Magical Druid, and the Nehelennia Oracle by Bela Síol, which goes in and out of print; the best link we have today to this deck is the author's Facebook page. You can read our friend Molly's review of the Nehelennia Oracle Deck for some additional context and pictures. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

Recorded in May 2025, right after Wellspring, we have a returning guest, Jacque, who is along for the ride to talk about "Druidry at a Distance." Jacque introduces us to the Virtual Fire Protogrove, which meets virtually via Zoom a couple of times a month to be social and do ritual. This Grove is a way to find conneciton and work together even though they may not be physically close to each other. We talk about different ways of communicating in ritual and over distance, including in our in-person rituals. We talk a bit about ASL in ritual, and the process of taking photos for Rev. Avende's Installation rite, along with many other experiences that either create or bridge distances in our lives. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

This is the episode that would have kicked off Season 7 if we'd released it in 2024. We recorded this one in February of 2024, when we were blessing houses at our annual Anagantios rite. We discuss what we love about Trillium as a festival as we prep for the festival season. If we sound excited, it's because we definitely were, and that excitement was well-founded! We talk a lot about what it's like around the fire, what we hope it will be like when we arrive and help with the work of running this festival. We even talk about what Rev. Avende might do for a workshop... so you should send us ideas about both the podcast and maybe what workshops we should do. Even though this was recorded earlier, do it :) Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

Are we back? We're definitely back. After a couple of years of changing experiences, Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler are making a run at a new season. This episode, recorded in January 2026, was recorded after a few of the ones you'll hear after this one, because this is our real "Back in the Saddle" episode. Rev. Dangler has been writing, and dealing with health stuff over the last year, and has picked up the #TendingTheFlameOfHope work in our current times. Rev. Avende is almost a year into their first term as Archdruid of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF) and a variety of new career opportunities. We'll talk more about those as we go (and there are some previously recorded episodes to touch on those aspects, too), but we want to invite our listeners to send in requests and ideas for future episodes, especially those of you who might have been waiting to hear about things we haven't gotten to yet, or questions you might have about previous episodes. Find Rev. Avende's book about raising children, Kindling Sparks, and Rev. Dangler's books about Divination, High Days, and Lunar Magic (and probably others) at The Magical Druid. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and consider supporting us at threecranes.org/donate.

While headed home from a Dedicant Oath rite, we started talking about what it was like to move on from our current roles in modern Paganism, whether those moves were due to life changes, vocational changes, or just coming to a place where it was time to move on. Mike Bierschenk joins Revs. Avende and Dangler on this discussion again, and we our conversation goes a bit everywhere, but it was a good chat. Find us on Facebook, connect with us at Threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today, on the way out to a Dedicant Oath Rite, Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler travel with Mike Bierschenk on the way out to State College, and chat on a topic we've been meaning to get to for a while: what does it mean for us when our deities are jerks? Myths and legends are full of some really awful things that the spirits do to each other, to humans, and even to animals and plants. How do we navigate those waters? Content Note: You've read the stories about deities and how they interact with others. This episode doesn't stray too deeply into specifics, so we aren't sure a trigger warning is necessary, but we are talking about deities behaving poorly, so be aware. Our audio is a little odd on this episode as we figure out how to mic up three different people in the car, but we're hopeful it comes through well. Sorry if it's a little unbalanced or quiet, but we should have that fixed next episode; it was a good conversation, but we only have one source, unfortunately. Find us on Facebook, check us out at Threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Happy Samhain, friends! One of the great traditions we have as a Grove is that we keep an Ancestor Box. This is a simple box that has been with us for 20 years now, receiving new ancestors and bringing them into our shared community of ancestral family, and becoming a part of who we are. Today, because we were driving home from the Cantlos Druid Moon rite where we opened the box, we reflected a bit on how we interact with it, what's changed in two decades, and the ways we've found to keep the "stuff" in the box connected to their stories. Check us out on Facebook, read more about us at threecranes.org, and find out more about Druidry at ADF.org.

On our way out to a Druid Moon rite, we took a moment to chat about a festival Rev. Avende had been to recently: Harvest Nights! Long one of our favorite festivals, Rev. Avende had made the trip without Rev. Dangler this year, and so you can listen along as he hears all about what he missed. Find us on Facebook, check us out at Threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Today, Rev. Avende and our Grove Bard, Mike Bierschenk, travel out to Harvest Nights and bring you along in the car with them, as they discuss the role of the Bard in Three Cranes Grove, ADF, and in ritual in general. Both have served in the role for our Grove, and both have brought their own magical touch to the work. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

We continue our conversation from our previous episode with how we do magic for others: how we decide what sort of magical work to do, who to do it for or with, and how we divide out our magic by audience and type of work. We also talk about magical work for hire, and the boundaries we set around that. Find us on Facebook, check out our Grove at ThreeCranes.Org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

After Summerland, we're back! Today, we talk about sympathy and contagion in magic: the idea that things that are alike can provide access to each other, either through being alike or containing the essence (Greek: ousia) of a thing. We chat about them as subsets of attraction, referring to the Laws of Magic outlined in Real Magic. We talk a little bit about joss money (AKA "hell notes" or "hell money") as an example, but the majority of this discussion grows out of the need for Rev. Avende to provide access to religious and magical support in their new role as a prison chaplain: how can we provide services to incarcerated individuals, particularly in light of the restrictions that are imposed on them. Rev. Dangler floats his notion of "magic as access" here, probably for the first time publicly, so what you're hearing in the last half of this episode is really an initial oral argument for that definition, and we expect there's more to come on that as it develops. A couple of things get mentioned in this episode, including a collaborative whiteboard image of Epona that we painted in the pandemic, and the Flame of Hope experience in an airport, which we've previously mentioned. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today, we're off to Summerland, and we hope you will be too! We're looking forward to more new content with new friends there! Last week, we recorded an episode on the way to the Dublin Irish Festival for our annual Sunday Druid Service, and recorded a bit with Mike Bierschenk afterwards to review the service and our experience. If you want to watch the service, you can do so here: 2023 Druid Sunday Service. We also talk a bit about things new and old in the ritual, as well as unexpected last minute changes. Mike used a new cosmos creation script as well, which you can find on his blog. We're also making a switch for better accessibility on this episode: we're moving to mono instead of stereo sound, which should aid both people with hearing differences between their ears, and people who just like to listen to a podcast with one earpod in. Either way, we hope this is helpful to a lot of folks, and it'll be our standard going forward. Do let us know if anything weird happens on your end! As always, find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org!

The Summerland Festival is next week, August 17-20, 2023, near Yellow Springs, Ohio! As of publication, you can still register! This week is the final of five episodes we recoded back-to-back about "Managing the Magical," or how we do magical work in certain sections of our rituals. We'll talk about what we consider the "big magical workings" in ADF ritual, the history behind those sections, and how they came to be part of our liturgy, before diving deeply into how we actually do these ritual parts. This week is all about "The Working," which sounds ominous and important: how we do it functionally, and why we do it in ritual. The five episodes are: (Re)Creating the Cosmos (July 13) Opening the Gates (July 20) Taking the Omen (July 27) The Return Flow (August 2) The Workings (today) Find us on Facebook, check us out at ThreeCranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Have you registered for the Summerland Festival August 17-20, 2023, near Yellow Springs, Ohio? You should! Come meet us! This week is the fourth of five episodes we recoded back-to-back about "Managing the Magical," or how we do magical work in certain sections of our rituals. We'll talk about what we consider the "big magical workings" in ADF ritual, the history behind those sections, and how they came to be part of our liturgy, before diving deeply into how we actually do these ritual parts. This week is all about the Return Flow (in all its parts), how we do it functionally, and why we do it in ritual. The five episodes will be: (Re)Creating the Cosmos (July 13) Opening the Gates (July 20) Taking the Omen (July 27) The Return Flow (today) The Workings (August 10) Find us on Facebook, check us out at ThreeCranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Have you registered for the Summerland Festival August 17-20, 2023, near Yellow Springs, Ohio? You should! Come meet us! This week is the third of five episodes we recoded back-to-back about "Managing the Magical," or how we do magical work in certain sections of our rituals. We'll talk about what we consider the "big magical workings" in ADF ritual, the history behind those sections, and how they came to be part of our liturgy, before diving deeply into how we actually do these ritual parts. This week is all about taking omens, how we do it functionally, and why we do it in ritual. The five episodes will be: (Re)Creating the Cosmos (July 13) Opening the Gates (last week) Taking the Omen (today) The Return Flow (August 3) The Workings (August 10) Find us on Facebook, check us out at ThreeCranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

We're a month out from Summerland! Consider coming out to the Summerland Festival August 17-20, 2023, in near Yellow Springs, Ohio! This week is the second of five episodes we recoded back-to-back about "Managing the Magical," or how we do magical work in certain sections of our rituals. We'll talk about what we consider the "big magical workings" in ADF ritual, the history behind those sections, and how they came to be part of our liturgy, before diving deeply into how we actually do these ritual parts. This week is all about good gatekeepers and their attributes, how we work with them, and the mechanics of opening the Gates... along with how we manage the origins of this ritual process. The five episodes will be: (Re)Creating the Cosmos (last week) Opening the Gates (today) Taking the Omen (July 27) The Return Flow (August 3) The Workings (August 10) Find us on Facebook, check us out at ThreeCranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Important Announcement! The Trillium Spring Gathering is back in 2024! Some more details in the episode, but check out the website, and join us early next year! Also, you can check in with us in person sooner at the Summerland Festival in August. This week is the first of five episodes we recoded back-to-back about "Managing the Magical," or how we do magical work in certain sections of our rituals. We'll talk about what we consider the "big magical workings" in Druid ritual, the history behind those sections, and how they came to be part of our liturgy, before diving deeply into how we actually do these ritual parts. The five episodes will be: (Re)Creating the Cosmos (today) Opening the Gates (July 20) Taking the Omen (July 27) The Return Flow (August 3) The Workings (August 10) Find us on Facebook, check us out at ThreeCranes.Org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Today, Rev. Avende reviews their experience at the Wisteria Appalachian Summer Solstice festival in southeastern Ohio. They discuss their favorite workshops, including one on bone throwing by one of the owners of Moon Bees Apothecary and Spiritual Supply in Wisconsin, and a little about open and closed systems of divination. Then, it's on to ritual work and spaces, people that they met, and experiences with queer safe spaces and the amazing drumming circle. You'll also hear some ideas we hope to carry forward into our own Summerland Festival, coming up in mid-August. (Registration is open, friends! Come see us!) For some pictures and a full write up, check out Rev. Avende's written review of this festival as well! Stay tuned to the very end to hear about our plans for transporting hooch across state lines, and the promising return of the Trillium Gathering next year! Find us on Facebook, check us out at Threecranes.Org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org!

A couple of weeks ago, we got to record with friends old and new in the barn at the close of the Wellspring Gathering, 2023. To our great delight, we were able to connect up with Collin from The Crone's Porch, a pagan discussion podcast much like our own, and record a small crossover episode. We also have Jacque (who has been on before) and Stephen with us, providing their perspectives as well. As always, we have a few linear notes and links for you to check out! Crone's Porch Podcast; find them at @cronesporch on Instagram and @croneporch on Facebook, or wherever you listen to podcasts! Jan's previous version of the workshop they did at Wellspring (And Jan's Patreon, if you want to support their work and see more work like this) Summerland Registration is open! Consider coming out and seeing us! Check out Lammas Fest as well! As always, you can find us on Facebook, check us out at Threecranes.org/podcast, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

We set a record for how fast Rev. Dangler can break Rev. Avende's composure on this episode! But the topic was a great one, where we got to speak about unconventional tools and challenge how we thought about the physical things that aid us in the work that we do for the folk. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

A listener question today comes in, asking, "Is there a place for me if I just want to 'show up' to ritual?" And of course, our answer will surprise nobody. We talk a bit about what it means to "just show up," to be part of ritual without taking a part. What is the expected level of participation, and can we make space for it in our Groves and in our broader work? And, if you want to just go to ritual, what do you need to do to make sure that remains an option in your local community? What sort of discipline is it, when you are "just showing up?" Of course, it was interesting to have this discussion on the way to a Druid Moon rite that no one had actually said they were going to show up to, but in the end, people did show up to ritual that night. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

"Good leaders spread everything, from wealth to work." Talking about the commitments we make as clergy and leaders in our work, we turned on the recorder so others could sit in. We spoke about how burnout impacts us, and how we avoid it (when we're able to). In particular, a lot of our discussion talks about our responsibility as current leaders to create space for new blood and how to deal with the parts of our work as leaders that just don't feed us (spoiler alert: it's delegation, boundaries, and trust). Interested in that short video about trust that Rev. Dangler mentions? You can find it here: "One Weird Trick All 3CG Officers Know!" Looking for a way to contact the ADF Mother Grove with an idea or to apply for a role? Do that here! (For those curious, yes, Rev. Dangler took on the name tag project.) Follow our podcast on Facebook, find out more about our Grove at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

We're on our way to the Wellspring Gathering this week and working hard on getting new content, so you get a bonus episode! This week, it's all about roadside divinatory attractions you can find throughout the North American travel landscape, inspired by our visit with a Zoltar machine in a travel plaza in upstate New York. Of course, there are pictures and videos worth looking at here: from each of us receiving our fortune from Zoltar to the creepy dog in Lucas, KS, and The Magical Druid's own divination dispenser, you can find pics and vids in a small Google album... and maybe we'll add more to it soon enough! Send us your favorite roadside divinatory attraction at [email protected]! We're also including a small gallery of the attractions mentioned, which you can check out on Google Photos. Preparing to make your own trip to a festival? Consider the Summerland Festival in Yellow Springs, Ohio, this August 17-20, 2023. We'll be there, and we'd love to see you, too! As always, follow our podcast on Facebook, find out more about our Grove at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

On our way to the Three Cranes Grove, ADF, annual liturgical planning meeting, Rev. Dangler hit Rev. Avende with a random question when they got in the car: do you set goals for your ritual year? We talk about what we expect on the planning side of things as we get into it, ways we look for balance, and things we want to look back on and consider as we move forward. We might have gotten a little ahead of ourselves since this would have been great content for the actual meeting, but hey, at least we recorded it (and we would have gotten kicked out of the library before we finished the meeting if we'd added these 17 minutes to the in-meeting discussion)! Are you interested in one of our rites? You should come! As you'll hear in this episode, we're working hard to become more and more welcoming, to provide space for everyone, and to craft language and work that is as inclusive as possible. Find out more about our Grove at threecranes.org. You can also check us out in person during the festival season at Summerland in August! Follow our podcast on Facebook, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Last week we talked about how Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler were trying to plan out a trip to Greece; this week, we circle back to the trip that Rev. Dangler and his wife took, and how they managed the space between good planning and good luck to find ways to encounter the things they wanted to do on that trip. Rev. Dangler's wife joins in as a special guest to detail her perspectives on the trip as well. Some of the things we mention on the trip can best be illustrated by looking at photos of the experience, we suspect. Confluentia, goddess of the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle Rivers Drachenfals, or "Dragon's Rock," as seen from the late night photo taken while sailing the Rhine. The Vinegar Tasting outfits they had you wear at Doktorenhof, and the shrine to the Vinegar Mother in their cellar. The view of Mt. Pilatus from Lucerne, Switzerland. The Statue of Artio (Facebook comment thread with several photos in it) Wellspring is just a few weeks away, and we hope to see you there, or perhaps at Summerland in August! Festivals are a great chance to get out and see others and learn from your fellow Pagans, and we can't recommend them enough! Find us on Facebook, check us out online, and learn more about Druidry at ADF.org. See you soon!

Early last year, Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler discussed the process of planning a trip in the not-too-distant future to Greece to tour some sacred sites. During the chat, they also talked about other trips they've taken, and upcoming trips that are on the horizon. Some items that come up during the discussion that are worth linking include: The Nautes Pillar MJD saw in Paris' Musée de Cluny [video link] An upcoming trip for MJD and his wife up the Rhine [commercial link] A little Mercury Prayer written after an encounter at the Museum of the Siene [Tumblr link] The view of Cape Sounion [image link] The book "Pagan Holiday: On the Trail of Ancient Roman Tourists" [Amazon link] Stuttard's "Greek Mythology" and "Roman Mythology" books [Amazon links] Next week, we'll be out of our car, but we'll see how that trip Rev. Dangler planned with his wife panned out. Find us on Facebook, check out ThreeCranes.Org for more about us, and ADF.org for more about Druidry.

When we think about rites of passage, we usually think about how they impact the person who experiences the passage directly, rather than the community around them. In this episode, we talk a bit about what it's like to be a part of that community, and explore a bit about how we've experienced rites of passage, and the observations we have about how they've influenced others... as well as ourselves. We recorded this episode on our way to a houseblessing for Anagantios, our Stay-At-Home Druid Moon in February of 2022. Find us on Facebook, check us out at ThreeCranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

We're back for Season 6! At our Anagantios Druid Moon in 2022, we recorded this episode about the advice we would give to ourselves when we were our younger Pagan selves. It turns out our advice is actually still pretty relevant to us these days. We also brought advice from a special guest not in the car, which we gathered at Harvest Nights 2021. If you have advice for your younger Pagan self, we're collecting that advice! Record it and send us a link to the recording at [email protected], and we might feature your advice on a future episode! Find us on Facebook, check out our Grove at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org

One of the things about recording a podcast is that you find yourself passing milestones on the journey, and today, we managed to get in our 100th episode! We talk a bit about how rites of passage have figured into our working life as podcasters, as members of a local Grove, and as individuals, and what it feels like to move through them. Most importantly, we look forward, because what comes on the other side of such a rite is impossible to know until you've crossed the threshold! If you're interested in Summerland, Pre-Registration is open through August 12th (closing very soon!), but you can also register at the door for the event if you'll be camping and are willing to manage food yourself. It'll be a great festival, we know, and we're so looking forward to it. Find us on Facebook, and find out more at threecranes.org. Learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Druidry is not drudgery, and there is an element of joy to all of the work that we do with and for others. We speak of Rev. Dangler's initiatory experience, where joy was gifted to him as a tool of his work. Rev. Avende speaks of joy in their flow experience of ritual. We speak of the difference between joyfulness and happiness, and our aim to use the flow and the joy to bring connectivity to the folk. Our next episode is Episode 100! What are we going to do? We don't quite know yet! See you next week, and find out with us! The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting registration shortly)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today we're talking about what Druidry is, and discuss the impacts of using the word "Druid" as ADF members. Spoiler alert: Rev. Avende hates it. We talk about the terms we could use instead, working both forward from our base practice, and backwards from the terms we have available. If you've ever been annoyed by the way ADF Druids use the word "Druid," this episode is for you. You may also want to check out our first season "Space Druidry" bonus episode. If you have a better word than anything we came up with (or if you like one of our words a lot), we'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line at [email protected] and tell us about it! The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting registration shortly)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

How do you find nature to put in your nature religion? We look at both the mundane and the spiritual aspects everyone has access to, consider that ancient Pagans didn't find a deep issue with lack of access to the "natural world," and talk about how we bring a bit of nature into our practice in visible and useful ways. The Vegetarian Epicure [Amazon link] Rev. Dangler's office "passage tomb" [Facebook photo] We know you're looking for festivals to attend, because why wouldn't you? The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting registration shortly)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Because of the way that ADF is structured as a pan-Indo-European organization, it's entirely possible to come to ritual at your local Grove and experience ritual in a culture you're unfamiliar with, or (if you're clergy or an initiate) be asked even to write a ritual for others. We'll talk a bit about how we research and write the rituals as ADF Priests first, and then talk a bit about how we, as attendees, approach a ritual where we are strangers to the spirits that are honored. For "Circles of Concentration" work, see Rev. Kirk Thomas' paper on the topic. The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting registration shortly)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Have you ever felt that you were in over your head with this whole ritual-and-magic thing? Do you feel like an "imposter" about to be found out? We all have, but it can seem like it's a lonely place to be. You might be surprised that, even with all the experience and work under their belts, Revs. Avende and Dangler both deal with it on the regular, too. We talk a little bit about what our own notions of "being an imposter" looks like, the ways that we personally combat those feelings within ourselves, and how we can help others work through these feelings organizationally and together. Looking for festivals? The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting registration)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

On the way home from Wellspring, though they were not driving together, Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler stopped at a rest stop and caught up to remember the event. Held each Memorial Day weekend in northeast Ohio, The Wellspring Gathering is also the ADF annual meeting and this year, site of our Archdruid reinstallation and an ADF Initiation. We got to meet new people and visit with old friends, and try out new camping gear. The Bards of Three Cranes Grove, ADF, played quite a lot of music at the bardic night, and we even gave our own little workshop based on this podcast (with material forthcoming this season)! A couple of links to people we mention to add to your listening pleasure: John Beckett's "Under the Ancient Oaks" [Homepage | Patheos Blog] Bohemian Hobbit Studio [Facebook | Instagram] This one's short, but it's a good review. We've still got plenty to pull out as we go forward this season! The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting registration shortly)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today we're chatting about the things we do with our hands and bodies during ritual, focusing on gesture and posture in particular, and how we've developed them for use in our personal and Grove-centered work. We'll also talk about how they connect with trance and prayer a bit. We're definitely back on the road (in fact, you are listening to this as you drive out to Wellspring with us, right? because that's where we're going today!). This year, we're going to be working hard to find more voices to bring onto the podcast to increase both our diversity, and our connections. We hope you'll join us for as many of this coming year's festivals as possible, in person if you can. There has never been a safer, more welcome chance to connect with your fellow pagans and Druids. Just this morning, we're on our way to The Wellspring Gathering May 26-30, 2022, and The Summerland Gathering is happening August 18-21, 2022 (accepting workshop proposal and registration)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today, we talk about how we've made group ritual work, including some tips about both online rituals and in-person rituals. We've had a lot of different strategies over the past 20 years here in Three Cranes Grove, ADF, and exploring what worked and what didn't as we've been planning, and what to do when things go wrong (on either a large scale, or a small one). We also talk about how to follow a lead in ritual, the benefits of trusting your fellow ritualists, building enthusiasm, and Rev. Avende's work that they call, "Performing the Bardic Lasso." 3CG Bookends Beltane 2020, honoring Gobnait, the Gaelic lady of the bees [script] We hope you'll join us for as many of this coming year's festivals as possible, in person if you can. There has never been a safer, more welcome chance to connect with your fellow pagans and Druids. Consider, for example, The Wellspring Gathering May 26-30, 2022 (next week!), and The Summerland Gathering August 18-21, 2022 (accepting workshop proposals and registration)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

CW: This episode discusses pet loss and grief surrounding it. One of the strange things about owning pets is that they become an integral part of our lives, our practice, and the spaces we inhabit. And, with limited exceptions, we may be with them for their entire lives, but they are only with us for a part of ours. Both Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler have lost pets, and both have had to find ways to work those pets into their own religious lives, and those of their families. We spend a lot of time chatting about that aspect of our work during this discussion, as well as memorial prayers Rev. Dangler's Prayer for a Departed Pet - Tumblr | Facebook Rev. Dangler's video Prayer for A Pet Crossing Over (#PrayerADay 2019) Rainbow Bridge Poem We hope you'll join us for as many of this coming year's festivals as possible, in person if you can. There has never been a safer, more welcome chance to connect with your fellow pagans and Druids. Consider, for example, The Wellspring Gathering May 26-30, 2022 (open for registration), and The Summerland Gathering August 18-21, 2022 (accepting workshop proposals and registration)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today we're chatting about our portable altars, and what we take with us when we head out on the road (or even when we're just out and about close to home). We discuss the physical things and the spiritual things we bring with us, how we use them, and how they help us. As the conversation evolves, we begin to speak about our prayer lives as well, and how being on the road impacts those things. Rev. Dangler's Altoid Tin Travel Altar (Image) The Shop Altar at The Magical Druid #PrayerADay Bonus Episode We hope you'll join us for as many of this coming year's festivals as possible, in person if you can. There has never been a safer, more welcome chance to connect with your fellow pagans and Druids. Consider, for example, The Wellspring Gathering May 26-30, 2022 (open for registration), and The Summerland Gathering August 18-21, 2022 (accepting workshop proposals and registration)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Today, we're taking a look at the (most intentionally) silly rituals we've done. We cover a lot of ground, and there are a lot of links worth looking at here to give you an idea of what we're talking about, so here's our list of resources for this episode (mostly) in order of appearance/mention in the episode. The Jimmy Buffett Ritual: Text "Beach House On The Moon" (the song) on YouTube The Jimmy Buffett Oracle The Rush Oracle "Dressed Up As Freyja (Goin' Down to Jotenheim)" by Art Shipkowski Rev. Avende's Potato Prayer Rev. Avende's Garnish Prayer Rev. Avende's "How To Write and Invocation" "Hey You Old Guys" Ancestor Prayer (turns out this was just an in-person prayer, not written) Rev. Henderson's "Rainbow Connection" filk (Rob asks us to remind folks that this filk has an extra verse, compared to the original) 2005 3CG 'Soulstice' Ritual (with death metal) Erisian High Mass Script Animal Crossing Rite Livestream Ritual Bloopers Episode: Episode 13 - Ritual Bloopers and Fails, with Rev. Melissa Ashton, Rev. William Ashton, Rev. Lauren Mart, Rev. Kirk Thomas, and Rev. Jan Avende. We hope you'll join us for as many of this coming year's festivals as possible, in person if you can. There has never been a safer, more welcome chance to connect with your fellow pagans and Druids. Consider, for example, The Wellspring Gathering May 26-30, 2022 (open for registration just this moment), and The Summerland Gathering August 18-21, 2022 (accepting workshop proposals and registration at just this moment)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

We've eased back into the festival season by attending the Harvest Nights Gathering in late 2021, and it's worth talking about how good it feels to be back with our fellow Druids in the woods. A small festival has a lot of flexibility, and we were able to get back into the work in a joyful way. Over the last two years, we've done a lot of festivals virtually, and there have been a lot of missing pieces from that; being in the physical presence of other humans magnified what has been missing for the past two years, giving us a chance to really think about and reflect on the joy of the work we get to do at those festivals. We also got to do full group ritual with no tech and no cameras for the first time in about two years, and we get to reflect on that experience as well. Check out the hand-made fire-scrying cards Rev. Avende made at the festival! We hope you'll join us for as many of this coming year's festivals as possible, in person if you can. There has never been a safer, more welcome chance to connect with your fellow pagans and Druids. Consider, for example, The Wellspring Gathering May 26-30, 2022 (open for registration just this moment), and The Summerland Gathering August 18-21, 2022 (accepting workshop proposals and registration at just this moment)! On the west coast, look out for Beyond the Gates in early September; and in Canada, check out Three Rivers Festival June 9-12, 2022! Theme by Mike Bierschenk. Check out his Bandcamp for more awesome music! Find us on Facebook, help us keep the lights on with a donation, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.