Scribe's Report 04/99
ohhhh... what has Green Man Grove,
in East Jersey, been doing?
Its hard to believe
its been a year since we last published theMetroDruid Nuz Dispatch!
We trust all our local fans have been receiving our flyers and e-nnouncements,
so you all know whats been going on. As for the rest of you- lets
start with Beltane last year: (Actually, much of this was written up and
sent to Oak Leaves, ADFs natl publication, but never printed
there... In spite of this, were happy with ADFs new Chronicler,
and liked the last All-Isaac-Bonewits edition of Oak Leaves. Good in the
Spring to remember your roots before you start sprouting flowers, branches
and leaves. And, the thing looks nice.)
Beltane 1998- We travelled to Princeton NJ to watch local Morris Dancers
wake up the earth at dawn on Beltane morn, and danced around
and splashed dew on our faces. (This has become a regular Green Man tradition!)
Our own Beltane in Morristown was well attended in spite of the rain. (Actually,
it seems like it rained all spring and summer out here.) We shared Beltane
with White Horse Grove, our sister Grove. We danced two rounds around the
maypole (in the rain), made flower garlands for our heads, created a Cretan-style
maze in torches and walked it in the dark (in the rain...), performed an
ADF ritual with beautiful invocations and praise offerings, rolled a cheese
down a hill, and held a spontaneous Hindu pooja to Lakshmi in the evening.
The rain forced us to cancel our dramatic rendition of the story of Culhwch
and Olwen. A good time was had by all.
Maria Raven held an herbal workshop in May, where we played in her muddy
garden and learned to make tinctures.
A whole bunch of us attended the Free Spirit Festival (rained every day),
and had fun floating on our air mattresses in the giant puddles inside our
tents. Norma ran a Henna workshop (with Patties invaluable help!)
on one of the few nice afternoons, and Chuck ran a great workshop on Body
Modification
Méan Samradh, the Summer Solstice, was in Jersey City. I dont
remember, but it probably rained.
Five of us made it up to the Starwood Festival, where, yes, it rained nearly
every day. (Were starting to take it personally now.) Skip Ellison
saved us with his tarps and hospitality. Thanks, Skip! Still, Starwood was
great, rain
or no rain.
Moishe Shenequa came down to New Brunswick NJ in August to teach us some
West African drumming rhythms. We had a tremendous time, and the workshop
went so well weve talked her into doing another one with us.
We had a Labor Day business meeting at Bryan & Sues hideaway cabin
up by Woodstock, NY, where we discussed the Grove, ADF, Druidry, and the
nature of fear to the sound of the rain on the cabin roof.
Méan Foghamhar found us up at Woodstock again, as the storm clouds
passed overhead... We were delighted to get re-acquainted with our original
Bard, the inimitable Peggy Kaan Bauman, (also formerly of Stone Creed Grove
and co-founder of Green Creed Grove) and our old friend, her new husband
John, whom she met through Green Man! (Congratulations, Peggy & John!)
Peggy remembered all her songs, and sung em with style and verve!
The ritual was dedicated to the spirit of the land we were on, a natural
grove in a truly sacred site in the Catskills. The omens we received were
excellent. Peggy and John also came down from Albany for Samhain. And it
looks like well be holding our Lughnasadh up Albany way.
In October we had another business meeting, and a Samhain planning meeting.
Our Samhain Ritual was held November seventh through the eighth, the midpoint
between the Equinox and the Solstice. We performed a special version of
the ADF ritual: creating a liquid potion, a food ogham, adding in
different ingredients at each of the invocations and stirring throughout
the ritual. And then we divined omens from the effect on our own entrails.
(Strangely, it turned out to be pretty good!) (And we also drew runes carved
from apples floating in the Punch of Potentialities.) We had
a nice crowd- about 30 people- but 30 very talented people. The praise offerings
were amazing. We also had a special altar dedicated to the Ancestors, a
group divination jam, a pooja at midnight to the maternal aspects of Kali,
and a vigil to dawn.
(It didnt rain.)
Our next Business Meeting was held before Yule.
Yule itself was held in Jersey City, in Suzans house. This turned
out to be a crazy, raucus Yule, with jazz musicians, artists and rainbow
folks from all over North Jersey and Manhattan. A lot of people. These folks
took our ritual to a whole nother level, musically. We ended it by
tossing a ball of yellow yarn around the room, unravelling it and tangling
everyone up. We got to meet Jody and Jennifer Kennedy, and there very cool
son Falan, ADF Druids from Alberta, Canada. Jody flew into Newark that night,
got off the plane and drove directly to the ritual! He invoked the Goddesses
and Gods for us, and Jennifer, a natural storyteller, told the story of
Phaeton to a rapt audience. It was very special to have little Falan there
at Yule. We wish them much luck and happiness with their Grove in Alberta!
We visited Lady Sue Wolfsons house in January with a special ritual
to Wassail her apple tree and blessed her house to bring it joy in the coming
year. And our second Wassail was in Morristown, with White Horse Grove,
to bless Pattie & Ericas tree.
Another Business Meeting. And then Imbolc. See the separate article detailing
the Imbolc happening.
In February Norma and I represented ADF and Green Man Grove on a Pagan Panel
Discussion run by the Rutgers University Pagan Students Association. This
was our second time at this; we had done one four years ago. Bard Dafydd
of Red Oak Grove joined us on the panel, and we Druids had to work not to
overwhelm the Norse and Wiccan representatives.
Another Business Meeting, and then the Spring Equinox- in which we travelled
up to Nature Friends Farm, in Bloomington, NJ, and ran an ADF ritual in
their fire circle, at the top of a lovely hill, a light rain falling gently
from above. (And we thought wed lost the rain!)
A Rainbow Tribe work council was in progress there, and we attracted a number
of Rainbow folks. Nature Friends Farm is a intensely magical place (as Bryan
and Suzan and Marcia have been telling us all along...) and well be
doing Summer Solstice there, from Friday to Sunday, in conjunction with
Bryan & and fellow artist and Pagan Suzans handfasting, after
their high society wedding at the National Arts Club in NYC.
The ritual and handfasting will be on Sunday, the 20th of June.
Well be at the Rutgers Pagan Spring Thing in April, where Norma and
Pattie will be dying people with Henna.
Everything cycles around and soon well be in Morristown for Beltane
again!! See the enclosed flyer for information and amusement.
Weve got some neat stuff planned for the summer- call 732-249-6680
or e-mail eternalansw@earthlink.net for information.
With any luck- (and fewer life interruptions- besides buying a house, losing
a job, cleaning and selling Normas parents old house, and settling
their estate, Norma and I spent a lot of time in the Yucatán last
year- in fact, we were even considering starting Green Mangrove Grove; Bryan
moved in with Suzan and out of his studio and prepared for married life;
Pattie and Erica were in Egypt and England; Chuck was working too hard;
as were Peg and John- and Peg had a starring role in a musical; Marcia and
Maria Elena prepared for Marcias trip to Ghana....)--- as I said,
with any luck, well have another MetroDruid Nüz out for Lughnasadh!
Your humble scribe
Edwin Chapman