Welcome to Shining Lakes Grove, ADF

Shining Lakes News

A Newsletter for Shining Lakes Grove, A.D.F.

Imbolc 2001 - Vol. 8, No. 3

Growing Wheat the SLG Way

Years ago -1996 if I remember rightly -our then-Senior-Druid Fox took a trip to England. During the trip, he visited Butser Ancient Farm, a research center that studies ancient agricultural techniques. They had been cultivating emmer wheat, the earliest plant ever grown by farmers. It was grown by many of the ancient Indo-European peoples, and was even used in ancient Egypt to make beer! Fox brought back some of the emmer wheat seeds, hoping that we could grow them here and gain a deeper understanding of the agricultural cycle of our ancestors.

Unfortunately, it took a few years for us to find a place to grow the seeds. In the fall of 1997, Jan Henderson bought a farm in Green Oak Township, and offered us a patch of land to grow the wheat. So our first planting was in the spring of 1998. It was risky, since the seeds were a few years old by then, and we weren't sure whether they would sprout! We did manage to grow 20 heads of wheat - and we managed to harvest three of those heads before the deer ate them all. (Obviously, the deer knew a lot more about when to harvest the plants than we did.) 1999 saw a yield of ten heads (after the deer again), and last year gave us 99 heads!

Throughout the year, we tend the wheat. In April, we go out to the patch and plant the seeds, along with an offering of eggs and other fertility symbols. We also place a birch branch in the center of the patch, since birch is associated with protection and new beginnings.

In August, we harvest the grown wheat just before it starts to dry out, and hopefully just before the deer get to it! The first bundle taken by the Senior Druid is spun around his or her head, and thrown to the ground. Tradition says that if the bundle falls to the ground without scattering, then the harvest will be fruitful. We also offer three heads of wheat to Lugh at our Lughnasadh Festival.

During the winter, there isn't much to do with the wheat heads - but we use the straw from the wheat patch to make our Bríd crosses at Imbolc. In previous years, we had to mix our small amount of sacred straw with ordinary straw to get enough for our crosses. This year, we had enough straw to make 17 crosses, without mixing!

At our Spring Equinox ritual, we come together and bless the wheat seeds, with the help of Ana, our local river goddess. And then the Wheel of the Year completes its turning in April, and we go back out to plant the seeds again.

This year's Spring Equinox rite will be on March 24th at the Friends Meeting House in Ann Arbor, from 2 to 5 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. You may bring your own seeds from home to be blessed, and we will be providing flower seeds as well. Please join us as we continue the traditions of our ancestors!

Yours in service to the Kindreds and the Grove,
Rob Henderson, Senior Druid

Here are some useful URLs:

• Butser Ancient Farm: http://www.butser.org.uk/
• Beer Making in Ancient Egypt: http://blavatsky.net/confirm/peb/peb1997/egyptianBeer.htm
• SLG Spring Equinox ritual info: http://www.msen.com/~robh/slg/slgse.html

Seed Blessing Song
© 1996 Marae Price

Seeds hold my dreams,
Carry them to earth
That they may root and grow and blossom,
Blessed by the Sun,
Watered by our Mother,
That our harvest be great and full.

The Pledge Drive Continues!

Our new statues have arrived! Look for our new altar statues for Bríd, Lugh, and Aren at our Imbolc ritual. We are still taking donations to cover the $110 cost of getting them. Any extra money that we collect will be used to purchase containers for the statues (to make sure Rob doesn't break any more of them) and to buy materials for the Producers' Guild to make new altar cloths. Look for the "pledge drive" coffee can at our Imbolc ritual, or you can bring a donation to any Grove meeting, or mail it to us at: Shining Lakes Grove, Attn. Statuary Pledge Drive, P.O. Box 1732, Ann Arbor, MI 48106

Help Bring Back the Snakes on March 17

Join us as we continue our annual party celebrating Irish paganism! It'll be held on March 17th this year, from 6 pm until . . . whenever! Beverages will be provided, but BYOS. As this issue of SLN goes to press, we're still working on the location. Please contact us at robh@cyberspace.org or (734) 487-4931 for details. And don't forget to order your celebratory T-shirt with the order form included in this issue

"Bring back the snakes.
Ireland was better off then…"
(lines from a song Rob heard many years ago)

SLG Seers' Guild Provides Many Services

One of the main goals of the SLG Seers' Guild is service to our Grove members. Over the past year we have provided many members and their families with lay counseling, mediation, referrals to community services, and divinatory services. Our members are trained to provide emotional support and referrals to agencies and professionals that provide long-term counseling, medical services, housing, food, etc. Seers' Guild members are also responsible for receiving the Omen of Return at High Day rituals in order to determine whether our Grove's offerings have been accepted by our God/ddesses. Our members have taught workshops on communication and counseling at the Lughnasadh Festival and have been asked to provide advice to other Michigan pagan groups on providing counseling services to their members.

If you have questions or are in need of assistance, please call on us. We are also seeking new members. Feel free to talk to one of our members at Grove events, e-mail me at mvalayil@voyager.net or call me at (517) 372-5483.

Sincerely,
Maria Valayil
Guildmistress of SLG Seer's Guild

SLG is Invading ConVocation

This year's ConVocation is only a week after our SLG Imbolc ritual, and appropriately, the Grove is hosting a series of events honoring our hearth goddess Bríd-a discussion of the tradition and lore, a workshop on making Bríd crosses, and a ritual.

In addition, several members of the Grove will be leading various classes and workshops. Following is a schedule of SLG-related events (times and dates are subject to change).

Thursday, February 15th
8:00 pm Kids and Psychic Skills / Kami Landy
9:30 pm Patrons / Kirn Greymalkin and Maria Valayil

Friday, February 16th
11:00 am Refining your Teaching Skills / Kami Landy
1:30 pm Bríd & Imbolc: Sacred Fire, Holy Well / SLG
3:00 pm Bríd's Cross Making / SLG
4:30 pm Magical Ritual Structure of SLG's Magicians' Guild / Rod Cox
7:00 pm Receiving the Blessings of Bríd (Ritual: 3 hr) / SLG

Saturday, February 17th
9:30 am Magic in Ancient Greece / Rob Henderson
1:30 pm Use of Sound in Ritual and Magic / Brooke Ratliff
3:00 pm Ancestors / Kirn Greymalkin and Maria Valayil

Sunday, February 18th
12:30 pm Fire and Water / Kirn Greymalkin, Maria Valayil

But that's not all! You also get a set of steak knives! (just kidding) Come visit our table in the Merchants' Area and check out what the Producers' Guild has been up to lately. And if you're really feeling generous, sign up for an hour or two of tending the table and spreading the joy!

Last but certainly not least, be sure to stop by our room party! SLG will be renting a room at the hotel for the weekend, and is hosting these events:

• Thursday night: Video party, including Eddie Izzard's stand-up routine about the Druids
• Friday night: Post-ritual party
• Saturday throughout the day: Hour-long workshops on ear candling, Reiki, psychic self-defense, the history of Shining Lakes Grove, and more!

For our room number and complete schedule, look for our posters at the hotel during the convention.

ConVocation is sponsored by the Magickal Education Council and will be held February 15-18, 2001, at the Northfield Hilton, Troy, Michigan. Hope to see you there!

Questions? Comments? Please contact Rob Henderson, SLG Webmaster. All content copyright Shining Lakes Grove, ADF, or the individual author(s), all rights reserved.