- Glas Celli

Litha 2010 marked the tenth anniversary of Glas Celli. Although we did not choose our name at that time, we did choose to form our grove of formerly solitary eclectic pagans then.

At present we have….

one Celtic/Eclectic witch who has taken Elder status, but has gone back to her studies…

one Wiccan dedicated to the Greek pantheon who is currently serving as High Priestess…

an eclectic Wiccan…

a ‘dark pagan’ witch…

and three students of varying paths, but look to be mainly Celtic or Greek.

We all seem to get along quite well, despite our differing views of paganism and witchcraft. In fact, we’re becoming quite the little family – as you’ll read below… Oh, we mustn’t forget our non-religious yet rock-worshipping fossil expert. Although not a member per se, he is our quiet head of reason, lighting our fire before the doors of Xanadu. No, seriously – the fire is usually right in front of the doors of Xanadu. *sigh* don’t believe then… I’ll post pics at some point.

I would just like to take a moment to introduce us, so that the rest of this posting makes a little more sense. I’m going to introduce you in order of my first meetings with the rest of the folks.

I’m Morrighan – Celtic/Eclectic witch. I am the founder of this little group – in many ways it’s like being a High Priestess, only without the ritual. So far I’ve gotten away with organizational work, occasional hostess duties and general ducking of anything else. I’ve been wandering the pagan paths for over 20 years.

Mort, the ‘dark pagan’ witch, is the first local I met who had similar interests. Mort is probably the best male friend I’ve ever had, and has been a rock through a lot of stuff. He’s the guy I call when something goes wrong with anything that requires a handi-man. Either he can tell me how to fix it, or he’ll do it.

About 9 months after first meeting Mort, another local witch contacted me. Ariadne is an older member, a grandma and Wiccan following a Greek path. She has the most amazing library encompassing a good half of the second floor of her house – a place in which I could spend hours and hours in, and have. She’s also got an immense wealth of knowledge on paganism in her head, which I probe at all opportunity. She keeps us all pretty much level-headed and calm and to quote someone talking about someone else “She gives great ritual!”. It is to Ariadne I turn for any public rituals, particularly after having done the 2004 Pagan Pride Ritual myself and bursting into tears (sssh…). Ariadne does not burst into anything, and remains calm at all times. Thus, she has become our High Priestess when one is needed. She and her hubby (the rock-worshiping fossil expert and Guardian of Xanadu) moved into Miami over the summer of 2004.

Wren is Ariadne’s daughter, Mort’s wife and mom to Glas Celli’s official first baby. Wren was away for the first several months of our beginnings so we forced her into this in absentia. Not really forced, more like we did it and told her later… Even after she moved closer, her work hours permitted little participation, now however, she’s moved in with and married Mort. That is something Ariadne and I are most pleased with, as they are our one and only matchmaking attempt. They moved into town in the fall of 2005. Since the last update to this missive, Mini-Mort has grown from a scarily intelligent toddler to a far-too-cute kindergartener who reminds me more and more of Stewie Griffin. Seriously, I have a feeling when we need to vanquish someone, Mini-Mort will be the one on whom we call.

Finally – we have our students. Dobhailen did a wonderful job stepping in as Acting High Priest (heehee) for Samhain 2004. Yes, we let a student act as high priest, and nothing exploded. Imagine! He moved into town the fall of 2005, and has now moved away again…but still comes to visit for Sabbats and lessons. Draco joined our little family in August 2006 – even though she was already part of the family as she is my overly-precocious earth-child. Artemis joined us at Samhain, 2007 – having sought two other religious paths in her short life, my eldest daughter settled with the one she sees every day.

As I was newly involved with the Pagan Pride Project when Glas Celli was formed, we were the sponsoring group for the Miami-Manitoba South PPD since 2000. I have since stepped down from the International board of directors and Glas Celli has chosen not to continue with hosting a Manitoba event. We’ve also remained closed to new students and are no longer hosting open rituals… although we do entertain the idea that we will once again do open Samhain someday…

It is our combined knowledge of our many paths, and how they converge pleasantly at Holy days that I believe is what holds us together. It amazes me in that we’re all of different thought on our paths in life, and yet we can get together without the usual strife that seems to accompany so many groups. Perhaps it is our diversity that saves us!
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Blessings from Glas Celli!