Moondancer

Moondance iconeI shall go into a hare,
With sorrow and sych and meickle care;
And I shall go in the Devil’s name,
Ay while I come home again.
~~ Isobel Gowdie, 1662

 

Some personal background:

The family stuff –  Growing up in New Mexico, I had a mother, a father, and a sister and, over the years, several dogs, cats, birds and fish. We later moved to California, from there to Nevada for a year, and promptly back to California, where I spent too many years before escaping permanently.

I was brought up in a nominally Christian home, and attended the First Baptist Church (both Southern and American Baptist Conferences) for many years. At the age of 16, I was selected to be a Deacon in the First Baptist Church of Boron California, and shortly after that left Christianity for good. I looked at Catholicism (if they had kept the Latin Mass I might have been more interested), Judaism, and several other religious paths, both Eastern and Western.

I had always had an interest in the Occult and Metaphysical, largely due to some childhood events. Eventually I found my way back to the Craft, which I had first encountered at about age 10 when I read Gerald Gardner’s Witchcraft Today and discovered a name for all those ceremonies I had been holding in my back yard while praying to Diana, Pan, Athena and Hekate. In high school, I discovered Paul Huson’s seminal work, Mastering Witchcraft, which formed the basis for much of my teenaged practice of the Craft. In college, I met the Georgians and was eventually initiated into that tradition on the Eve of May, 1973.

I’ve been married to Raven, who is the Lady of Nemed Cuculatii, since 1981; she is my wife, my lover, my soul-mate, mother of our three daughters, my shoulder to lean on, my … well, I tend to get carried away sometimes. Truth is, she’s probably the only other person who could put up with me for as long as she has, and I thank her and the Deities daily for it.

The astrological stuff – Virgo Sun, Moon, Mercury, Ascendant and a bunch of asteroids…only one planet (Pluto) in a fire sign (Leo).

The Witchcraft stuff – Although I was originally initiated into the Georgian Tradition of Wicca in Bakersfield, California, at Beltane 1973, I haven’t worked in it for nearly 30 years. I still have a certain fondness for the Georgians and until the end of 2004 I was the webmaster and primary email list keeper for it.

When the Georgian coven I had originally been trained and initiated into dissolved, I began working with a Georgian priestess in a coven we called the Sacred Grove of Vril. This coven was signatory to the Charter that established Covenant of the Goddess in 1975 and I remained affiliated with the Covenant for many years. While in the US Navy, I worked in what I called the “Rath of Vril”, a Celtic-focused practice deriving in the main from the teaching of Lady Gwen Thompson and materials I had received from Joe Wilson. Upon returning to the United States following my military service, I reunited with the priestess from Sacred Grove of Vril and we began development of what is now called StarBorn Sothis and Blue Star Cuveen.

In 1981 I met (and married) Raven, and we established StarMist Cuveen as part of theStar StarBorn Sothis line. However, we shortly began refocusing into a more traditional working, drawing upon a combination of lore and ritual from NECTW, the NY Welsh tradition, 1734, Brittic and similar sources.  Beginning in 1984, the focus of the coven narrowed even further as we met and connected with a descendant/collateral line from Lady Gwen’s NECTW. StarMist worked in this manner until relocation to Washington in 1987, hiving one coven, ShadowMist, which decided to leave our line and rejoin the Georgian tradition as Shadow Dragon Coven.

Following the move, we continued as StarMist Cuveen until 1990. Reconnecting with the parent line of NECTW, we were formally brought back into it. As a result of this we formally closed StarMist and reformulated the coven as Nemed Cuculatii, the Sacred Grove of the Hooded Ones. It is within NECTW that our practice continues to this day.

I’ve been “out” as a Witch since 1974 (and wasn’t very well closeted before then); family reaction has varied from “you’ll burn in hell” to “so what”; I’ve only had issues with it at one place of employment, and that was largely my own fault. Learning that you can be “out” and not beat others over the head with your religious beliefs was a good lesson. In 1975, I was one of several co-founders of Covenant of the Goddess, and have served twice on its National Board of Directors as Membership Officer, as well as having held several offices in the Southern California and Northwest Local Councils. I was also a co-founder of the Earth Religions Cultural Association (ERCA) in the Puget Sound area.

Like many others who have been in the Craft for an extended period of time, I have chosen to take degrees of initiation in Traditions other than the one I normally work. One reason for this is so that I can discuss certain facets of the Craft with those not of my Tradition (and vice-versa), that would otherwise be considered “oath-bound.” I am a person who values their word very highly, I do not give it freely nor easily, and each decision to accept another layer to my Oath of Initiation (which is one way of describing how I perceive the process) has been a long and involved process. I must weigh any benefit of gained knowledge with restrictions placed upon me by that knowledge. It isn’t so much a matter of “I’ve got a secret” as it is “here’s another piece of the puzzle”.

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with and within several other forms of the Craft, both traditional witchcraft and traditionalist Wicca; from the Georgian, “New York” (or “Brooklyn”) Welsh and NECTW Traditions, to the Gardnerian, Order of 1734 (which is not the same as the Clan of Tubal Cain), Plant Bran, and many others. In all that time, I’ve found only a very few that I felt were worth pursuing for myself.

In 1997, I became a Gardnerian initiate (first degree); this was result of several years of meditation, negotiation and work, both on my part and that of the people from whom I accepted that initiation. While I no longer am actively studying or working in that particular tradition, I may, at some point, resume those studies and advance to the second degree of that Craft.

Through working with the NWCOG ritual team (Tribe of the Big Cats of the Serengeti), in the N.R.O.O.G.D. Tradition, I worked towards taking my White Cord, which is roughly equivalent to First Degree  in N.R.O.O.G.D.

While I have many friends and acquaintances who are Initiates of 1734 and discussed it often with Joe Wilson, I have never taken initiation into it, for personal reasons.

Each of these decisions was arrived at after long and due consideration of the ramifications of each, and I do my best to honor each of these steps along my Path.

Beginning study of any “new” form of the Craft is a serious step, and should only be undertaken after due consideration. To accept initiation into several traditions without thought is akin to “degree collecting” and means very little, especially to the person doing the collecting. The Craft, whether Wicca, Witchcraft or simply Paganism, is a serious subject, and should be treated as such on all levels.

Other Things

Current activities – genealogical research. Over the years I’ve managed to make a bit of headway with the help of some relatives who have walked that path before me. I have also written for The Witches’ Almanac and other publications.

I can sometimes be found in the following forums and websites:

More stuff – You want to know more about me? You need to ask me.

I’m also a occasional member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, and known as Alaric Wulfgar of Amberwood. Our SCA Household site can be found here. While we are not greatly active within the SCA at present, we have very fond memories of our time spent in the Current Middle Ages.

A place that I spend a lot of time just playing around is Neopets.com

Acknowledgements
The Moondancer icon at the top of this page was made for me specifically, and is copyrighted by the artist, M.M.Mitchell. All rights are reserved and it may not be duplicated or used on any other site without the express permission of the artist. The SCA badges for House Amberwood and Alaric Wulfgar of Amberwood are my own designs, and are registered with the Society for Creative Anachronism as such. The Neopets logo and banner is copyright www.neopets.com and is used in accordance with their policies and terms of service. The Triple Hares/Tinners Hares at the top right of this page is a photograph of a stone carving in Devon, England



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