We sit down to discuss the sorts of things we seek out when we travel: the weird religious sites, the haunted tunnels, and the wonderful hospitality of our friends. And, of course, there's an off-the-cuff prayer to the Spirit of Couch Surfing, a solid contestant for patron of this podcast. We recorded this not in cars, but during a local, non-Pagan travel event we were both involved in. But there's way more to come. So, find us on Facebook, check us out at Threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org. --- For those curious, Rev. Avende's prayer, "Upon Encountering the Murder Ghost" from the #PrayerADay Project, Nov. 9, 2018: Hermes Diactorus, Guide of Souls, As we traveled tonight through the dark, Sleet bouncing off the windshield,  Reflectors marking the road few and far between, I thank you for traveling alongside us.  Hermes Diactorus, Guide of Souls, For holding the ghosts at bay as the fog rose about us, For keeping the shades back as we sped beneath the underpass, For maintaining the boundary and keeping us safe from those spirits who wish us harm, I thank you for traveling alongside us.  Hermes Diactorus, Guide of Souls, Carry those spirits onward to peace, Remove them and their malevolent intentions from this world.  Hermes, I thank you for your important work. 

Druids In Cars, Going To Festivals

Episode 80 - Travel Spirits, Stopovers, and the Spirit of Couch Surfing

Today, we took a listener question from an OBOD listener who wanted to know our take on the differences between spirituality and religion. We start with some dictionary definitions and work our way through our own experiences. This discussion sort of takes off from some of the ideas about orthopraxy in our previous episode, so you might be interested to tune in there as well, though this episode certainly stands alone. If you want to hear more about this idea that "Practice Begets Belief," you can find a 2012 podcast MJD did with BT Newberg over at Naturalistic Paganism. (Fun historical note: this was MJD's first experience on a podcast.) Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 79 - Spirituality and Religion

Today, we get a new vocabulary word in "orthoskhesis," a word meaning "right relationship" (versus "right belief" with orthodoxy, or "right practice" with orthopraxy). We talk a bit about how we might use this in the way we think about Druidry and Paganism in general, and about how we can be not only in a right relationship, but also in a wrong relationship (spoiler alert: it's mostly "can I set healthy boundaries?"). If you're interested in the Greekies mentioned toward the end of the discussion, you can get a look at them at The Magical Druid. Find us on Facebook, check us out at Threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org!

Episode 78 - Orthodoxy, Orthopraxy, and Orthoskhesis

Two weeks ago, in Episode 75 (s4Ep8), we spoke a bit about the sensory experiences of our work as it related directly to our stoles, sickles, and other physical items we work with; last week, we went through a Dairy Queen drive-thru and had a tasty episode. Today, we wanted to dive deeper into how we experience ritual in a very physical, sensory way. We walk through the Five Senses we learned as kids in school (touch, hearing, seeing, taste, and smell), and then we also talk about three additional senses that are less well-known: our vestibular, interoceptive, and proprioceptive senses. To help us in our discussion, Rev. Dangler's wife, Maggie, joins us as our in-house expert to help us build a language around our experiences. Tonight, we're Druids in Lawn Chairs Sitting Adjacent to a Fire (no new theme songs this week, though), with a longer-than-usual podcast episode (48 minutes!), but we really had a good time on this one, and had some great experiences coming around to new understandings on our topic. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. And maybe you'll hear the owl in the background, too. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 77 -The Sensory Experience of Ritual

Today, we take a special break and do a special trip suggested by one of our listeners, and we talk about how we retained our sanity and practice in a global pandemic. There's a lot of chat about tech, ritual and work, and building physical connections in the absence of physical presence. We even talk about some of our favorite Patreons, like DandelionLady, Firesighted, and TheLatestKate (and of course you can also check out Rev. Avende's and Rev. Dangler's as well). We also talk about how we've navigated the reopening process as a Grove and as individuals. If you're interested in the set of Reopening Workings from MJD that he sent out, you can find them on his Patreon. You can also check out the trailer and the stream of Rev. Avende's Animal Crossing Rite and see how we managed that. Special thanks to Mike Bierschenk for our re-written theme for this specific episode. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org!

Episode 76 - Retaining Sanity and Practice In a Pandemic

We took a week off and (virtually) attended Wellspring last weekend, and we had a good time. But we're back! Learn the secret of the Stoles of the Priests of ADF, and why we do the weird things we do with them in ritual when a new priest is ordained. Then, hear us absolutely fail to recall some prayers we speak before every right because we don't have our stoles with us. We talk a little bit about how our physical actions inform our religious work and expression, and about what it's like to work with a sickle as a Druid. You can watch Rev. Avende, Rev. Castner, and Rev. Crawford receive their stoles, along with the toning process, on our YouTube channel to get a feeling of what the ceremony looks like. Find us on Facebook, check out threecranes.org/podcast for more Druids in Cars, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 75 - Drawing Out the Voice of the Folk

We answer some reader mail this week, discussing how we find comfort in the work we do, seek creativity, and come back around to the ways that we worked before the pandemic. How do we manage projects, what processes have we fallen out of (and back into) during the pandemic, and what ways do we see forward as things trend back toward some definition of "normal?" If you want to check out the Virtual Wellspring event this year, you can find it and register at http://stonecreed.org/wellspring Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 74 - Comfort, Creativity, and Comebacks

Today, we talk about our connections to the natural world, to each other, and to the Spirits. We talk about how we build these sorts of relationships, as well as first fruit offerings, and building boundaries in those relationships. We also want to remind you that we'd love to hear from you with topics: shoot us a note at druidsincars@threecranes.org Find us on Facebook, check out our Grove at Threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 73 - Building Connections

Today we take another walk through the woods and speak about healing spirits and deities: how we connect with them, how we experience them, and what it's like to reach out to one. We reference a few external items, so we want to add those to the show notes as well: Episode 23 of this podcast is about "Magic That Works," and it discusses the referenced fertility cheese and teething spells. Episode 48 isn't directly referenced, but it discusses the differences between Theurgy and Thaumaturgy. Rev. Dangler's presentation on Magic and Healing at Ohio State can be found in the form of a paper on his Patreon, or you can link directly to the event to watch the video. Find us on Facebook, learn more about our Grove at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org. 

Episode 72 - Healing Deities and Spirits

Liminal spaces are points or areas that are "betwixt and between" states. On foot today, we wandered past a bog, and it got us thinking about the sorts of places we've encountered that were "in between" different experiences, and what it's like to work through them, and visit them. There's a bit of travel remembrance and a bit of travel planning that goes on, too! A couple of worthwhile notes on this episode: At one point, one of our microphones drops out, so there's a quality change in the last half of the episode. The lyric Michael can't quite recall from Scarborough Fair is: "Tell him to find me an acre of land / between the salt water and desert strand," or some variation thereof (the traditional wording changes). For the mentioned discussion about Cryptids and other "Weird Druidry" topics, check out Episode 28 of our podcast. Find us on Facebook, learn more at threecranes.org, and find out more about Druidry at ADF.org.

Episode 71 - Liminal Spaces

This past weekend, Three Cranes Grove, ADF, took our first steps toward reopening our public ritual practice: we conducted a small, semi-private hybrid ritual, where folks attended in person (masked and socially distanced) and remotely. On their way out to our Cutios (Rain Moon) ritual, Revs. Avende and Dangler discussed their preparations, and the basics of the setup for the ritual, along with what they hoped it would be like. Then, on the way back, they looked a bit critically at what worked, and what they found most interesting about the format after being away from public ritual for so long. Intercut into this episode are a few audio examples of how the rite sounded (an artifact of the recording process), which will let you hear how the priests worked in (and how the folk responded to) the immediate pandemic experience that was at the top of their minds. Our hope, as a Grove, is that as other pagan groups reopen (locally and distantly), some of our experiences might serve to help them build a plan to serve their communities in a safe, careful manner. Find us on Facebook, check our our Grove at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org. We can't wait to see you again soon.

Episode 70 - Hybrid Experimentation: A Pandemic Ritual Recovery

How do we start preparing for ritual, in both physical and spiritual ways? How is it different for us when we do group ritual and persona ritual? How can we simplify it and make it easier to get out the door, even in these weird pandemic times? Today, we take a walk in the woods, as there aren't quite festivals to go to yet in our cars, and go over how we prep for various ritual scenarios. It was a good conversation that has us ready for more. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org/podcast, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 69 - Ritual Preparation

Season 4 is upon us! While there aren't festivals to go to (yet), we're planning and plotting for our coming season. At our Grove's annual Anagantios (Stay-At-Home Moon) rite, Revs. Dangler and Avende traveled out to their members with a slightly altered version of our usual rite. The discussion ranges from experiences of the pandemic year, the updates we've made to our practice, and the joy of doing the work, even in this strange time. This year's Anagantios rite had some last-minute changes thanks to some rather inclement weather (remember that blizzard that flowed through the US in mid-Feb?), but it gave us a chance to chat. There is, as always, more to come, and we expect our regular season to start up in April as usual, even if we aren't actually headed to specific festivals. It'll be lovely to ride along with you again. Follow us on Facebook, learn more about us at threecranes.org, and find out about Druidry at adf.org. See you soon!

Episode 68 - The Flame in the Snow

It's been a year, hasn't it? We reflect on the past year of not being in cars, and pretty much not going to festivals, and talk about our content, where we've been, and where we're going. Mostly, though, we talk about the projects that got us through the past season, and what worked, and what didn't. There's a lot of stuff mentioned in this episode, so this description is going to be a bit of a linkbomb. If you can't click the links in your favorite podcast app, head over to http://druidsincars.podbean.com/ to find this episode's description, and click the links there. We talk about festivals that are tentatively planned for in-person work, if it's safe. You can find info on those festivals, including any updates to their plans, at their websites. Specifically called out in this episode are the following fests: ConVocation Trillium Wellspring Summerland We also talk about a few particular resources and videos we did. Most of these can be found on either Rev. Avende's Patreon or YouTube (where you'll find both the omen sermons and the Little Oaks children's religious education), or Rev. Dangler's Patreon or YouTube (where you'll find the reopening workings and a forthcoming article on the personal magical work). If you like our work, consider supporting one or both of us on Patreon: every little bit helps. There's also the Three Cranes Grove, ADF, YouTube Channel. Other projects mentioned: A "Stay-At-Home Fire Circle" for those missing festivals as much as we do, especially those late night fire drum circles The "Animal Crossing: New Horizons" rite, which was livestreamed and recorded MJD's "Reopening Workings" document A free intro to the "Little Oaks" work Also, if you need some work to do yourself, we can't recommend Rev. Avende's #PrayerADay Project highly enough: a prayer for each day in November. We've talked about it before on this podcast (check out the bonus episode for a refresher), and it's really an awesome way to get some structure and get involved, spiritually. We start November 1, but we're already gearing up for the work. Wanna submit some "listener mail?" Send it to us at druidsincars@threecranes.org. If you want to read your letter yourself, send a link to your audio file in cloud storage (or send audio by Facebook Messenger)! As always, thanks for riding along with us. We know it's been hard, but traveling this journey with you has been amazing. Find us on Facebook, check us out at threecranes.org (where you can also find information about our upcoming rites, currently hosted via Zoom, which you can attend from anywhere), and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 67 - Season 3 Finale: Our Pandemic Year

At Harvest Nights 2019, Rev. Avende sat down with Rev. Pezza, offering a window into some household practices including kids, and the impact of multifaith relationships on how we raise our kids. They also touch briefly on how ritual connects with kids coming into Deaf culture. Find us on Facebook, visit us at threecranes.org, and learn more about Druidry at adf.org.

Episode 66 - Multifaith Families, Teaching Our Kids, and Growing Our Families

Come travel the Pagan festival circuit with us, and enjoy conversations that keep the fire bright!

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Druids In Cars, Going To Festivals

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