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The summer is a busy time for White Mountain Druid Sanctuary.  Covid 19 has cancelled most of the Trout Lake Abbey events (which includes the Mt. Adams Zen Temple), but Kirk Thomas has still been working hard on adding to the grounds.  Much of the work only requires one person, so he has been doing a lot himself. Let’s look at the Shrines to the Dagda and the Morrigan.  They have mostly been complete for years, but there have been some finishing touches added.  About a year ago, signs were added so people could read about who these deities are.

Just before Yule, the statue of Lleu Llaw Gyffes arrived at White Mountain Druid Sanctuary.  The plinth had already been put in place. Here is Kirk standing with the statue in place.

The Terrestrial Way

Oxford Dictionaries defines "Pilgrimage" as a pilgrim's journey, or a religious journey or religious expedition. I have gone of several pilgrimages myself, self-described, most likely, but pilgrimages nonetheless. I ventured to Brittany in France and visited Carnac, with its row and rows of standing stones. I visited a number of off-the-beaten tracks places like "Merlin's Grave" (I am pretty sure he wasn't buried there), the Val-sans-retour, the Fountain of Barenton, the Forest of Broceliande, the odd Celto-Christian Church at Trehuerentec. All of these places were known to others, all of them had some history, a few of them had some authenticity.

Last year, at the OBOD Summer Gathering, I made the trip up Glastonbury Tor, indeed an effort and a pilgrimage all in one. To do ritual in a holy places makes the religious journey or religious expedition even more powerful, all the more memorable. The journeys are all the more memorable because they require a journey of distance, of effort, and of time.

Isaac Bonewits' Vision for ADF has been the guiding thought for the organization since its inception. It guided ADF through its formative stage and continues to be the vision that we all share. In our continuing examination of that vision, we come to the next item in Isaac's Vision: the priesthood. Isaac saw ADF as a church and he saw priests in his church.

Here is what he had to say:

It is so amazing watching a vision become real.  And in our case, it starts in the dirt.  The place has been chosen and cleared for the Goddess Samona’s Shrine.

In much of ancient Indo-European times, deities of waters were worshipped.  Springs, rivers and seas all have gods and goddesses that were prayed to and honored in hopes the bodies of water would remain plentiful and yet at the same time, not flood.  Water was critically important to the life and well being of the village.  So much so that the person in charge of the tribe would be granted sovereignty only with permission of the local water (and surrounding land) deity.