Druids In Cars, Going To Festivals

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 Summerla

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 druidsincars@threecranes.org, 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 druidsincars@threecranes.org 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, lo

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 earl

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

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 regi

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!

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, Re

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 w

We're back, and we think the festival season is too! Our first episode was recorded at the end of last year's (super short) festival season, on our way out to Harvest Nights in October... so when we talk about the fall color, this is why. Trillium didn't end up happening this year (it's usually where we start our season), but we're starting our season around the time of Trillium anyway for tradition's sake, in the hopes that we'll have that event again soon. We decided to start with this episode because, with the new year and new festivals coming, we thought some insight into how we prepare our workshops might help you, our listeners, create your own workshops. One of the joys of the festival season for us is being able to go and teach, and we think everyone (including you) has something of value to offer our community. So please, as you listen, think about what you could share with your community, and with us. Are you looking for a festival to present at? Our Grove's Summerland Gathering is accepting pre

How is a magical working like a baking show? Our Star Magicians delve into the questions around "follow the recipe" magic, and how they substitute ingredients and work in old spells. We cover simple rules on how to identify ways to substitute for hard-to-find (or impossible-to-find) magical components. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

We take an autumn detour to the Brushwood Folklore Center, a spur-of-the-moment change in plans that brought back memories and reminded us that yeah, sometimes we give ourselves good advice. We'll describe a lot of the space, but sometimes it helps to see pictures. Check out images of the icons in the space, the Taranis Altar, and the Blue Boat Shrine we mention. If your podcast app doesn't let you see embedded photos in the show notes, hit up our main page at druidsincars.podbean.com, or pop into the Google Photos album of the side-trip for the full view. Reminisce with us as we enjoy our memories of years of camping, ritual, and experience in western New York State, returning to an old friend and sacred site.