Beltaine/Samhain Greetings!

Let me begin by welcoming our two newest Priests, Rev. Lauren Mart from Texas and Rev. Chelly Couvrette from Ontario. Chelly is our second current Canadian Priest. Both of our Canadian Priests are from Dancing Lights Grove. Lauren is from Nine Waves Grove.

Chelly is the first recipient of the new stole bags that look remarkably like the old stole bags but with the addition of some different embroidery stitching between the ties. Lauren was the recipient of the last of the original bags and I have found a Pagan-based seamstress in Wisconsin who I have commissioned to do ten stole bags, along with patches.

The Clergy Council Officers are currently voting and discussing a number of topics. The first topic is adding verbiage about Priest Regalia to the SOP. This addition discusses the different kinds of regalia and the costs associated with each. This will help people to understand which item represents which circle of the priesthood. The second topic is adding verbiage about Priest Emeritus to the SOP. While the information is located in the By Laws, the addition to the SOP will assure that the information is found in multiple places. The third topic is to delineate some of the tasks for the Clergy Council Officers, namely website and clergy pages updates and a Regalia Coordinator, to be selected from the existing Clergy Council Officers.

There has also been discussion on the Clergy Council list about making mentors available to incoming and existing priests. This type of discussion represents the Clergy Council Officers approach of coming to the Council to discuss new ideas before formulating a motion for voting.

I put out a call several months ago for materials for a series of books for prayers for Beginnings, Endings, Unions, and Dissolutions. I am pleased to announce that I have received some excellent submissions from Clergy – please keep them coming!

The Western Retreat will be held in Denver from 6/29 through 6/30. Meeting space will be reserved for the Saturday portion of the weekend.