A wonderful buffet of home-made cakes and cookies had been prepared for the
Reception. These were set out on a large table in the library.
Everything was delicious but the ice box cookies were the
hands-down favorite of the crowd, and disappeared very quickly.
Right:
Rev. Jason Mycroft, Chancellor's Herald, Debbie Dysinger, Herald of
Heritage Witan Shrine, and Rodney Eclipse Dysinger, Co-Head of Heritage
Witan Shrine, relax in the Library during the Friday night reception
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During the Reception we announced the results of the Witchschool Student
Council elections. This was something which people had been eagerly
awaiting –and it was all the more exciting because two of the election
winners were present at the Reception: Rev. Vera of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, who won as
Representative for Canadian students: and Liz Hamilton from Pennsylvania, who won as Representative of students in
Rev. Eclipse’s class. Rev. Oak Rhapsody who won as Representative of
students in the Shrine of Gaia had intended to be at the Lustration but
had to cancel at the last moment because of events beyond his control
–we all thought about Rev. Oak throughout the weekend, and hope things
are going well with his situation.
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The full results of the Witchschool Student Council election can be
found at the school.
Many thanks to
Lisa Tuit, Head Witchschool Programmer, for a great job facilitating the
elections –and for all of her hard work keeping Witchschool going!
After the announcement we were entertained by a local band which played
a number of popular selections –the first time we have had a band at
the Lustration Reception. The music was very nice, and everyone really
enjoyed it.
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Above: Tim Lawless on guitar during the
Friday night reception
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Arch Priestess Lady
Bitterwind, Rev. Reanna Marie and Rev. Joy Fry
enjoy the music during
the Friday night reception
Also during the Reception we began the
raffle of a lovely ritual robe created by Rev. Dotty Demorae Sweeting of
Spiral Goddess Shrine, and donated for this purpose. The robe was a
beautiful black robe with black satin and silver trim, and an attached
hood –a fine piece of work. People began buying raffle tickets almost
at once.
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Left:
Now you can call him Bagel, or you can call him Remy, or you can call
him Samson, or you can call him Yeller, or you can call him Yellow, or
you can call him Or-an-gee, but you doesn't have to call him Office Cat
(akk, I'm really dating myself here!)
The
Lustration events began in earnest on Saturday morning. After a pancake
breakfast prepared by Rev. Stargazer, we proceeded to the Temple Deeming
ceremony
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Above: Posing in front of
the Gray Elephant just before the procession into the Deeming ceremony.
L to R: Rev. Darius, Rev. Joy Fry, Rev. Pixie, Rev.
Nimue, Rev. Bitterwind, Rev. Debbe Tompkins, Paul, Rev. Karen Plioplys,
Rev. Reanna Marie, Rev. Virginia Powell, Rev. Peter Hertzberg, Rev. Don, Rev. Janet
Schmidt, Rev. Cassie, Rev. Mark, Rev. Demorae Sweeting,
and Rev. Vera.
Past Temple Deeming ceremonies have been held in late evening after the
initiations: this year we have decided that we should reverse the order,
and have the Temple Deemings in the morning, because the number of Witan
Shrines being considered for Temple status continues to grow and the
proceedings have consequently gotten much longer.
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Above: Templar Grand Deemstress (in the Apex headdress)
forming up the
procession prior to the Temple Deeming ceremony.
The
Deeming was held upstairs in the Mother Temple precincts, where chairs
had been arranged for the spectators and for the panel of Deemsters.
This was the first time that the Deemsters Court has been conducted as a
full blown religious ceremony, with Circle cast and Quarters
called.
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Above: Rev. Cassie casts the Circle prior to the
Temple Deeming on Saturday.
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Goddess
and God were invoked, as were the Beloved Ancestors, to Bless and guide
the ceremony, and to inspire the Deemsters to make the right decisions.
This more ceremonial format added greatly to the proceedings and will be
continued in future.
Left:
Rev. Karen Plioplys, Head of Triple Goddess Temple near Chicago (and
editor of The Daily Spell) invokes the Goddess
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Lady Ruthann chaired the Deemster’s Court in her
capacity as Templar Grand Deemstress. Rev. Mark and Rev. Janet Schmidt of Thousand Mirrors Temple joined Lady Ruthann as
Deemsters for the occasion. Rev. Virginia Powell and Rev. Joy Fry acted
as Heralds to the Deemsters Court.
Right:
Arch Priestess Lady Bitterwind, First Elder of the Tradition, invokes
the Beloved Ancestors to guide and Bless the proceedings.
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Rev. David Blanken-Webb and Rev. Jason Mycroft served the Deemsters
Court as Paladins, forming an honor guard which escorted the
representatives of the Temples being Deemed.
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Above: The High Priestess
Lady Green Owl, Member of the Witan Council and Head of Trianna Temple
in St. Louis, stands before the Deemsters Court representing Rev. Ing
Witch and Our Lady of the Sylvan Wood Witan Shrine, of New Boston Texas.
This photo reflects the actual lighting of the Temple precincts -the
other photos have been illuminated via flash bulb.
Four Witan Shrines were up for Deeming on this occasion: Alexandra Witan
Shrine in Calgary, Alberta Canada, Headed by Rev. Vera:
Our Lady of the Sylvan Wood Witan Shrine in New Boston Texas, Headed by
Rev. Ing Witch and Co-Head Rev. Thora: Swedish Wolf Light Witan Shrine
in Landskrona Sweden, Headed by Rev. Wolf Ciara: and Spiral Goddess
Witan Shrine in Clayton Illinois, headed by Rev. Demorae Sweeting.
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Above: Paul, a Dedicant of Heritage
Witan Shrine, stands before the Deemsters Court to represent Rev. Wolf Ciara
of Swedish WolfLight Witan Shrine in Landskrona, Sweden. Rev. Ciara was
unable to attend the Deeming in person, but held a ceremony of
attunement in Sweden timed to coincide with the Deeming.
Both Rev. Vera and Rev. Demorae had come to the Deeming in
person, and it was very nice to get to see them both again.
Left:
Rev. Demorae Sweeting of Spiral Goddess Witan Shrine. Rev. Demorae has
journeyed to the Mother Temple several times now and we are always very
glad to see her.
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Rev. Ing Witch was represented at the Deeming by Lady Green Owl, Head of
Trianna Temple, St. Louis: Rev. Wolf Ciara was represented by Paul from
Heritage Shrine.
The Deeming went very well, and all candidates acquitted themselves
excellently. The results of the Deeming of course were not released
until the Lustration itself.
Right:
Rev. Demorae Stands before the Deemsters Court to answer questions
about Spiral Goddess Witan Shrine and her experiences Heading it.
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Above: Rev. Demorae before
the Deemsters Court
Before
the Deemsters Court was dismissed I took the occasion to
announce the implementation of some new Temple policies.
Several changes in policy have been made.
Perhaps
the most important change is that Deeming is no longer to be automatic.
From now on Shrines which hope to be Deemed as Temples must contact the
Deemsters when they feel ready: the Deemsters will no longer
automatically contact them.
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Secondly, a new step has been added to the Temple making process. Where
before a Witan Shrine was considered to be also a Proto-Temple, now
these will be considered two separate things: thus the Temple making
process now runs from Witan Shrine to Proto-Temple to Temple. At each
stage Deeming must be requested when the group feels ready to move on to
the next stage in the process.
Right:
Tradition Chancellor and First Priest M. Rev. Donald Lewis announces new
Temple policies after the Deeming ceremony. With him is First Elder Rt.
Rev. V. L. Bitterwind
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Above: Rev. Don leads a
workshop after the Deeming. With Rev. Don are Debbie Dysinger, Herald of
Heritage Witan Shrine, and Liz Hamilton of Heritage Shrine (Ninefold
Shattered)
After
the Deeming we broke for lunch, then reunited in the library for a three
hour workshop in Temple management. This proved to be an interesting and
wide-ranging workshop which focused on the practical aspects of running
a Temple or Shrine.
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Above: Another view of the workshop. The library is still not fully set
up, being in the process of being moved to the ground floor from its
former room upstairs, so it was a tight fit
Also
Saturday afternoon was the first physical meeting of the Paladinal
Council consisting of Rev. David Blanken-Webb, Rev. Rodney Eclipse
Dysinger, and Rev. Jason Mycroft.
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Above: Rev. Reanna Marie, Arch Priestess Bitterwind, Rev. Jason Mycroft,
and others at the workshop
Saturday
night, as is our custom, we opened the Mother Temple for initiations and
initiatory confirmations. There are always a number of people seeking
initiatory confirmation during the Lustration. Although we as a
Tradition recognize self-initiation we always encourage anyone who can
to have a real-time initiation or initiatory confirmation when they can
as it is an experience not to be missed.
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The ceremony was
held in a specially prepared side chapel.
This was a great
idea and made for a much more intimate ceremony.
We were very sorry that Rev. Cheryl (Nimue), who had traveled a great
distance to attend the weekend and have her initiatory confirmation,
became ill and had to leave.
Officiants for the ceremony included myself, First Elder Rt. Rev.
Bitterwind, Lady
Ruthann, Lady Green Owl (Head of
Trianna Temple), Rev. Dave, Rev. Cassie, Rev. Mark, Rev. Casey, Rev. Karen Plioplys (Head of Triple Goddess Temple), Rev. Janet
Schmidt (Head of Thousand Mirrors Temple), and Rev. Aine Massie (Head of
Crystalline Star Temple).
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Above: Some of the initiates
pose together after the initiations. Those pictured include L to R: Back
row Rev. Stargazer (Second Degree), Rev. Debbe Tompkins (Second Degree),
Rev. Pixie(First Degree), Rev. Demorae Sweeting (Second Degree),
front row Jennifer (Dedicant), Mike (Dedicant), Tim Lawless (Dedicant),
and Liz Hamilton (Dedicant)
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Second Degree initiates included Rev. Vera, Rev. Reanna Marie (Head of Enchanted Realm Shrine),
Rev. Stargazer (Selu Shrine), Rev. Virginia Powell (Selu Shrine), Rev.
Demorae Sweeting (Head of Spiral Goddess Shrine), Rev. Rick Schmidt
(Thousand Mirrors Temple), and Rev. Debbe Tompkins (Head of Heritage
Shrine).
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Above: Clergy and new
initiates pose together after the rite. Some of those who took part in
the ceremony had already departed before the picture was taken. Those
who remain are L to R: Rev. Stargazer of Selu Temple, Jennifer, Mike,
Rev. Jason Mycroft of Selu Temple (Kneeling), Rev. Cassie (kneeling), Rev. Debbe Tompkins Head of
Heritage Witan Shrine, Liz Hamilton (Ninefold Shattered) of Heritage
Witan Shrine, Rev. David Blanken-Webb of Triple Goddess Temple, Rev.
Darius (Kneeling), Rt.
Rev. Ruthann Amarteifio, Arch Priest M. Rev. Don Lewis, Rev. Pixie
(kneeling), Rev. Mark, Rev. Joy Fry, Rev. Demorae Sweeting Head of Spiral
Goddess Witan Shrine (partly obscured), Rev. Rodney Eclipse Dysinger
Co-Head of Heritage Witan Shrine, and Tim Lawless.
First Degree
initiates included Rev. Pixie and Rev.
Peter
Hertzberg.
Dedicants included
Liz Ninefold Shattered Hamilton (of Heritage Shrine), Tim (of Selu
Shrine), Jennifer and Mike.
It was a beautiful
and touching ceremony –and many of us were brought to tears. Many
congratulations to all of the Initiates and Dedicants!!
Sunday morning came the Lustration
itself!
(Continued on next page)
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