LUSTRATION OF THE ANCESTORS
12 - 13 March, Year 5 Aquarius

[The text of this article is taken from the Chancellor's announcements following Lustration weekend]

Greetings all,

This past weekend (12-13 March, Year 5 Aquarius) saw the celebration of the Lustration of the Ancestors in Hoopeston, Illinois. As always Lustration weekend was a most eventful time, and many exciting events occurred in addition to the actual Lustration itself.

Although the first people began arriving on Tuesday, the festivities did not officially start until the Reception, at 7 PM Friday night. 

​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.
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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

​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. 

​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.

Tim Lawless on guitar 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.  

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 ceremonyAfter a pancake breakfast prepared by Rev. Stargazer, we proceeded to the Temple Deeming ceremony

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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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. 

Rev. Cassie casts the Circle prior to the Temple Deeming on Saturday

Rev. Karen Plioplys, Head of Triple Goddess Temple near Chicago (and editor of The Daily Spell) invokes the Goddess

​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.

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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.

Arch Priestess Lady Bitterwind, First Elder of the Tradition, invokes the Beloved Ancestors to guide and Bless the proceedings

​Rev. David Blanken-Webb and Rev. Jason Highcorrell served the Deemsters Court as Paladins, forming an honor guard which escorted the representatives of the Temples being Deemed.

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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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.

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.

​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. ​

​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. 

Rev. Demorae Stands before the Deemsters Court to answer questions about Spiral Goddess Witan Shrine and her experiences Heading it.

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. 

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

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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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 Highcorrell. 

Rev. Reanna Marie, Arch Priestess Bitterwind, Rev. Jason Highcorrell, 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. 

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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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)

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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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 Highcorrell 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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