Druids In Cars, Going To Festivals

Episode 43 - Season 3 Intro: An Essential Mission

You may have heard by now that most of the early season festivals have been cancelled, including the Trillium Gathering, where we usually start our season.

Well, it turns out that even though we can't actually go to festivals, we recorded a large number of episodes on the way to Harvest Nights Gathering late last year. So, we have a back catalog from a simpler time that we can all enjoy listening to during this rather difficult period.

This intro was recorded during a mission to obtain the constituent parts of a garden for Rev. Avende, during which we maintained our social distances and respected the space of others. But we happened to be in a car, going to a place, and so we were able to record this short intro to the coming year.

We're both doing a lot of work to help bridge the physical gap, from a recent Spring Equinox Rite on Facebook Live, to Zoom rituals and individualized works on Facebook and Patreon. We talk about some of that work in the podcast episode today.

If you're looking for our Patreons, you can find them here: Rev. Avende's Patreon | Rev. Dangler's Patreon

If you're interested in donating to Three Cranes Grove, ADF, while we all get through this together, you can do that at threecranes.org/donate.

Festivals will start again (we're still hoping Summerland Gathering will be on in August, though it might look different than it has in the past), and we'll be back on the road together eventually. This podcast, so far as we can tell, will continue. Our hope is that by starting to put out episodes a little early, we'll all get a bit more time together, and a bit more joy in the work.

As always, follow us on Facebook, listen to us on Podbean, and learn more about Druidry at threecranes.org or adf.org.

We're here for you. Stay safe, stay home, and stay (virtually) together.

S2 Bonus Episode 3 - A Festival Code of Conduct - Beginnings

If you've never been to a festival, it's the time of year to start planning your season out. Whether you make it to just one festival, or you make it to a bunch like we do, it's good to know what you're getting into.

This year, Three Cranes Grove, ADF, is picking up the mantle and hosting the Summerland Gathering near Yellow Springs, Ohio, on August 13-16, 2020. If you've been riding along with us for a while, you'll know that we're big on consent, inclusivity, and cooperative work. So, before we put up any registration pages, we began developing a code of conduct for organizers, presenters, and participants.

But of course, we have to build it first!

After our first in-person meeting to work out the Code of Conduct, Rev. Avende and Rev. Dangler chatted about the process the Grove is going through, how it felt to engage, and what it's like to workshop a code like this.

We're not done, but our start was promising, and we thought there was plenty of value in sharing our conversation.

There are a few festivals mentioned in the introduction, so here are their links:

• ConVocation (Detroit, MI) - Feb. 20-23, 2020
• Pagan Fire Seminars (Columbus, OH) - April 4, 2020
• Trillium Gathering (Cross Junction, VA) - April 16-19, 2020
• Summerland (Yellow Springs, OH) - August 13-16, 2020

Summerland doesn't have a direct registration page yet, but you'll know when it does. Also, Pagan Fire Seminars will have a remote attendance option!

We hope to see you soon. Consider subscribing at https://druidsincars.podbean.com/ or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to subscribe to our YouTube feed, that'd be awfully cool, too: youtube.com/3cgvideos

Learn more about us and our podcast at threecranes.org/podcast and learn more about Druidry at adf.org

S2 Bonus Episode 2 - 360 Video and Tech In Ritual

What is it about talking about technology in ritual that makes us do weird things? I dunno, but come and (literally) ride along with us this time!

While we're usually audio-only, on our way to Harvest Nights Gathering in Connecticut, we decided to try something new. With a 360 camera in our back seat, we experimented to see what it might be like to sit and listen in. With the topic of tech in ritual, this seemed like an obvious opportunity to try something new and different out.

You can check out the 360 video (and even put on a VR headset and watch as if you're in the car with us!) on YouTube! (You can also navigate the 360 video with your mouse pointer, or on a phone by moving the device in full screen.)

The video carries the same audio podcast episode, so you won't miss anything if you watch this instead of listening to the pod, or vice versa.

Find this episode on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/Mj4FzQVFDhk

Consider subscribing at https://druidsincars.podbean.com/ or wherever you get your podcasts. If you want to subscribe to our YouTube feed, that'd be awfully cool, too: youtube.com/3cgvideos

Learn more about us and our podcast at threecranes.org/podcast and learn more about Druidry at adf.org

S2 Bonus Episode 1 - Initiateness vs. Clergyness

Here's a slightly special bonus feature: you can watch the conversation from a camera on our dash as we drive out to the Harvest Nights Gathering in Connecticut in October 2019. Check out the video on the 3CG YouTube page... and maybe consider subscribing, because there's another video we're also working on to release shortly!

In this episode we talk about the similarities and the differences of being an ADF Initiate and an ADF Priest, how the direction we came at each role affects our experiences, and how those experiences manifest in our daily work and lives.

This is one of the (many!) requested topics we received at the end of last season.

The video is the same as our podcast episode, so you won't miss anything if you listen to this instead of watching the video, or vice versa.

You can, of course, subscribe for a lot more content on our YouTube channel. We do all sorts of neat things there.

Learn more about us and our podcast at threecranes.org/podcast and learn more about Druidry at adf.org

Episode 42 - Season 2 Conclusion

We're at the end of Season 2, but we have plans for hiatus and Season 3! We'll tell you all about them, and give you an idea of what it's been like for us to do this podcast for the past two seasons.

If you have ideas for future episodes, please send them to us, either via our Facebook page or via email. We really want to hear about what you're interested in, and we'll try and hit as many as we can on our trips. Plus, the trip we're taking to Harvest Nights next week is a pretty long drive, and we'll have our recorders!

If you're looking for a great festival to start the year with, consider the Trillium Spring Gathering, an ADF festival in Northern Virginia. We'll be there, and the first episode of Season 3 will land on the Thursday most of us will be traveling to Trillium, so give a listen while you drive!

Learn more about Druidry at adf.org and check us out at threecranes.org.

Episode 41 - Social Media Resources, Diversity, and Work

One of our big things in Three Cranes Grove, ADF, is that we love to create. After Rev. Crystal Groves' discussion of marketing and social media strategies at Trillium 2019, we had a discussion about the creative process, what it means to connect people to others, and what it's like to produce the words for the really hard things that happen in our lives.

We also talk about ensuring that people approaching Druidry are able to see themselves as valid, joyful participants in Druidry.

If you're interested in Rev. Avende's book, "The Spiraling Sun," you can find it on Amazon or at The Magical Druid. While Rev. Avende works on that Greek Oracle book (hint, hint), you can check out another awesome project that was just released, "The Hearth Keepers Way: An ADF Hearth Keepers Guide!"

Find us on Facebook and check out threecranes.org/podcast. For more about Druidry, check out adf.org or threecranes.org.

Episode 40 - (In)toning For Ritual

What is toning? How do you do it? What's it good for? What's the lamest joke you've heard all day? We have the answers to all these questions and more in this episode! This episode was recorded at Trillium 2019, on the way home (we very much recommend Trillium if you're looking for a festival early next year).

We're closing in on the end of our season, and running out of recorded material. But that's okay! We're developing an off-season plan so that you get more episodes and different content, plus new guests. And, we're headed to Harvest Nights in a few weeks, which is about 12 hours up and 12 hours back, so we'll have a lot of time to record and get new topics in.

If you have topic suggestions, we'd love to hear them. Send us email or shoot us a message on our Facebook page. As always, find us at threecranes.org/podcast and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 39 - Multifaith Household Religion

Sometimes, Druids flying to festivals get picked up by Druids in cars, and that's where this conversation comes from: Rev. Avende was picking up people on their way to Summerland 2019, and took Melitta Stafford with her, which led to this conversation about creating family traditions in a multifaith household.

There's a wide-ranging conversation covering different ways we come to Paganism, how our virtues interact with householding, different family structures, and the ways that polytheism and Paganism lend themselves to creating structures that aren't traditional but are still amazing.

Find more of Melitta's work at Druid in the Grove.

Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 38 - Founding and Disbanding a Druid Grove

We had the pleasure of interviewing Arthur at Trillium 2019 about his experiences with starting, and then disbanding, a Grove that never took firm root. Hemlock Vales Protogrove, ADF, lasted for about three years in State College, PA, before it was disbanded. This interview is a sort of post-mortem on what happened several years ago.

Too often, we talk about what works for getting a group off the ground, but we don't always remember to talk about when it's time to close that group down and move on.

This conversation is about reflecting on what went right, what didn't go right, and what lessons we can take from those experiences, years on. The creation, maintenance, and disbanding of Hemlock Vales can help us all as we look at where our own Groves and groups are going... and help us decide if they are thriving or if we're just being overly hopeful.

If you want to dive deeper into the discussion, we recommend his blog: One Pagan Group - Some Assembly Required.

Find us on Facebook, check out threecranes.org/podcast, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 37 - Summerland 2019 Review

On the way home from the 2019 Summerland Festival, Rev. Dangler spoke with Jacque of The Pagan Peddler about the weekend and what went well, ranging from ritual to the setting of god post in the nearby woods. The festival was great, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

You might remember Jacque from our interview after Wellspring 2019 (Episode 26). We're happy to have her back!

We're starting to wrap up this season, but we hope that you're enjoying these episodes. If you do, consider rating our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, or whatever service you listen on.

Learn more about Druidry at adf.org, check us out on Facebook, and learn more about our podcast at threecranes.org/podcast. Thanks for riding with us!