Awen Grove Canada

- Athelia Nihtscada quoted in OBOD web article on Ethics and Values

The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids has recently done some beautiful renovations on their website, making things easier to find. Some new articles have been posted under “The Druid Tradition” section. One of these articles, entitled “Ethics and Values”, features a reference to Athelia Nihtscada’s web based article “The Brehon Laws: Defining Ethics and Values for Modern Druidry”. The article is quoted and a link is provided. According to the author, little has been written about ethics in Druidry except by Brendan ‘Cathbad’ Myers and Athelia Nihtscada. The Article can be viewed at: http://www.druidry.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=PagEd&file=index&topic_id=1&page_id=50

July 9, 2005 - Awen Grove Adopts a Wolf Pup! In February 2004, we blessed the founding of Awen Grove and committed ourselves to the Path of Service. While things have been slow, we are now branching out to the mainstream community. To start, we have decided to sponsor a wolf pup through the Northern Lights Wolf Centre in Golden BC. Aspen and Athelia paid a visit to the Northern Lights Wolf Centre and learned all about wolves and their importance in the food chain. Sadly, their numbers are diminishing but the Northern Lights Wolf Centre is doing what they can to prevent their numbers from dying out completely. They also got to meet a few (including a lovely female wolf named Aspen!). There will soon be a page in the Social Events section under Community, dedicated to our adopted pup, Moab (who is now a leggy and awkward ‘teenager’!). Please visit the Northern Lights Wolf Centre at http://www.northernlightswildlife.com/ In September, we are planning on going out to BC again and perhaps even getting to go on a hike with Moab and the rest of the pack!

May 8, 2005 - Athelia Nihtscada ordained into the 3rd Order Priesthood of the Reformed Druids of North America After approximately 3 years of study and an all-night vigil, Athelia Nihtscada was ordained into the 3rd Order of the RDNA. She is the first Canadian to be honoured with this title and is looking forward to being a contact point for RDNA members in Canada. For more details about the all-night vgil, please visit the Lughnassadh 2005 edition of the Druid Miscellany.

March 18, 2005 - Awen Grove streamlines its mailing lists More and more Druids from around the world are inquiring about membership to Awen Grove and sending in membership forms. To accommodate this, we have eliminated the Awen Grove Calgary and Awen Grove Global lists and streamlined them into one list: Awen Grove Outer Grove. Please see our membership page for links to the new mailing list.Current members of both lists have been informed of the upcoming deletion of the lists today at 4:00 PM (MST) and have been sent invitations to join the new list. We are confident that this streamlining of our mailing lists will make things a lot less confusing and segregated for all of our members in Alberta and around the world.

March 17, 2005 - Awen Grove Affiliates with the British Druid Order and the Reformed Druids of North America At the end of last year, it was decided among members of the Inner Grove that it would be beneficial to increase our networkability around the world. After looking at several options in Grove affiliations, we decided to affiliate with the British Druid Order (BDO) and the Reformed Druids of North America (RDNA) because we find their philosophies and practices to be more closely in synch to our own. Both groups are well established and have been around for over 30 years. RDNA was founded in 1963 and has grandfathered such respectable groups as Ar’nDraoicht Fein (ADF) and the Henge of Keltria. The BDO has been in existence for 31 years and is the parent group of the Druid Network. It also has close ties with the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. As with the Druid Network, affiliation with the BDO and RDNA increases our networkability with Druids worldwide, allows us to retain our autonomy, allows us to be open to membership and gives us the chance to serve on a more global level. To learn more about the British Druid Order, please visit their website at: http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk To see our listing on the BDO Groves page, please visit this link: http://www.druidorder.demon.co.uk/bdogroves.htm To learn more about the RDNA, please visit their website at http://www.geocities.com/mikerdna/index.html I highly recommend reading the Reformed Druid Anthology, which is basically a history of Reformed Druidry and general North American Paganism, all neatly archived with lots of little known facts about groups and individuals in the United States. http://www.geocities.com/mikerdna/arda.html Well worth the read if you want to learn more about certain aspects of Neo-Paganism’s history in South of the border! Our affiliation with RDNA officially starts after Beltaine of 2005, although we have been an unofficial affiliate since Samhain of 2004. We are looking forward to getting to know more of our friends around the world!

February 1, 2004 - Awen Grove Ritually Dedicates to the Path of Service. Although Awen Grove has been up and running since September of 2003, we performed the ritual of Dedication of the Grove to the Gods, the Greater Community and to the Path of Service at Imbolc. Since Imbolc is the time of new beginnings, we felt this would be an opportune time to perform this very important rite.

December 6, 2003 - Awen Grove has officially affiliated with the Druid Network as an Affiliate Grove. What does affiliation with the Druid Network mean to us? Affiliation with the Druid network does not change the operation of the Grove except that we have positive global exposure through the Network. The Druid Network allows groves to affiliate if they meet the following requirements:

• Open sincerity and honesty of communication is to be an integral part of the relationship between the Network and the Group, as well as in the Group’s presentation of itself and within the Group amongst its members.

• Those running the Group to be paid-up members of the Network. (Not all members of the group need to be paid members of the Network, just the person running the group)

• Awen Grove has been approved by the Administrators of the Druid Network for affiliation based on these requirements

Some key benefits are:

• A listing on the Druid Network’s Open Pages with the added bonus of being backed by the Network and its Support Team with no regulations or limits as to how we practice. We retain 100% of our autonomy while getting support and positive exposure from the global Network.

• The opportunity to be a part of a larger community of groves around the world. This allows for interaction with groves around the world and allows for the sharing of ideas and concerns among other groves.Our own page in the Druid Network’s members only section. This allows for Awen Grove to present itself to its peers, ancestors and Gods. The page allows us to link to this website and promote our grove within the Network.

• The Network provides us with a way of being found and contacted by folks looking for a Grove in their area.

• The Network is a great forum to gain support, ideas and/or resources for major or minor projects.

What is the Druid Network?The Druid Network is a well organized network of Druids around the world, with regions in Brazil, Australia, the UK, the USA, Germany, France and Canada. It bridges the miles between regions and allows for Druids to connect and gain valuable contacts, fellowship and great ideas from each other. Not only does it benefit the members by providing an internal network, it also provides a public network that can be viewed by anyone. This allows for groups and individuals to post information about their groups or themselves for all to see.The Druid Network website features articles about aspects of Druidry, open listings of Groves and individuals, listings of courses (UK and distance learning), the Environment and Druidry today, Ethical Living, an area for Young Druids (The Lighning Tree), and more. The Druid Network is not an order, nor does it restrict its’ members practices or beliefs. Membership is only denied if a group or individual has a criminal, violent or an overly negative record. They hold no responsibility for the actions of groups listed in the directory, nor do the beliefs of the groups equal their own.

This is a very positive step for Awen Grove as we begin our journey!

September 17, 2003 - Athelia Nihtscada became North America Regional Coordinator for The Druid Network in Western Canada.