Dear Friends:
More than 4 decades ago I started down this spiritual path.
In the Lower Mainland in those days the Pagan community was invisible:
Virtually unseen. Truly "occult". Did you know that the word
"occult" means "hidden"? There was no internet. Contacts
were made from obscure notices left on book store cork boards. There were few
books available. People gathered in secret, in darkness, looking over their
shoulders, fearful of how those in the community would perceive them due to the
massive amount of misinformation in circulation. Wicca and other Pagan
religions were recognized by no level of government. Pagans gathered in secret
circles, put up magickal walls to fence out negativity, called on the guardians
of the quarters to protect and shield them, called on their deities to aid
them, all of them turning away from the light.
In the early 90s I travelled to the Memphis, Tennessee, area
to help a group of less than 2 dozen struggling Pagans establish themselves as
a legal religious entity in a hostile environment. In one public talk in
Jonesboro, Arkansas, I required 2 bodyguards, body armor, and he entire police
department in the front row to survive. The next morning an 18 year old named
Charles Taylor asked my advice on becoming a police officer in Tennessee. He
was already public about his Wiccan beliefs. At my talk at the Memphis Police
Academy I was approached surreptitiously by 2 officers who whispered to me that
they were Wiccan and all but ran away. Like a flower, trying to turn their
faces to the light.
A few months later I travelled to Heartland Festival outside
Leavenworth, Kansas. Again, a small group of people struggling to establish
themselves, having signed the mortgage for 136 acres, hoping to create a Pagan
sanctuary, fearful of the reaction of the local populace. 80 percent of the
people that showed up for that festival called themselves Pagan because they
drank until they fell face down. The organizers hoped for something better.
Trying to turn their faces to the light.
A year ago I was invited to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas
to conduct an Armoring ritual such as the one our Order is presenting later
today. 400 men and women in uniform attended that ritual. All of them turning
their faces to the sun.
Three months ago I returned to Memphis. I was picked up at
the airport by Charles Taylor. Remember the 18 year old that wanted to be a
cop? He was now Captain Taylor, a proud Pagan cop. He took me to meet the group
that I remembered from decades earlier. They'd grown to 250 people, 3 generations,
many of them legal clergy from 8 established Wiccan churches recognized right
to the Supreme Court level. Several attendees were active Pagan military
proudly wearing their religion on their dog tags. Every single person there
turning their faces to the sun.
Two weeks later I returned to Heartland Festival. The
original group had grown to 650 people, 3 generations, many of them legal Pagan
clergy, many of them proud Pagans who had defended their country in the armed
services. Their mortgage on their land at Gaia Retreat Center is now paid off,
as of this month. Not a drunk in sight. You couldn't point your finger at a
single person including children and say they weren't full committed to this
spiritual path, all of them turning their faces to the sun.
I’ve just become a volunteer Wiccan chaplain for Providence
Health Care in Vancouver (St. Paul’s, St. Vincent’s, and Mount St. Joseph’s
hospitals). I’ll be conducting a Lughnasad memorial service with Knights of my
Order for a palliative care patient who died at St. Vincent’s on August 5. I’ve
also been in contact with Fraser Health who are signing me up to be a Pagan
chaplain for their hospitals as well.
The Dark Man Trilogy is complete: Dark Water, Dark Fire, and
Dark Storm are available now as both e books (Smashwords.com) and print on
demand books (Amazon Createspace): I’ve written them under the pseudonym Carrie
Bryce.You can check it out at my
Carrie Bryce blog. I’m now
54,000 words into writing Eluned’s Apprentice, the second book of my
Purification Trilogy, a sword and sorcery trilogy which I’ve written under my
mundane name, C. A. Ennis. You can check it out at my
C. A. Ennis Fantasy Blog.
I’m on Pinterest now if you’d like to check out what I’m
following.
Check out the
Order of Scathach’s
YouTube channel for our training videos and monthly affirmations. All of
the lessons of the Order of Scathach’s training cycle have been uploaded as mini
video lessons now. I’ve also been posting monthly inspirational videos.
Hope you have a wonderful Lughnasad.
Kerr Cuhulain
Preceptor General
Order of Scathach
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