Letter of Intent

1. Why do you want to be a Priest, and what is your plan for making that goal happen?

Like any form of vocation, I don’t think being a priest is something you plan or make happen.  I think it’s a call inside you and the planning is for the training that allows you to better serve the people who already depend on you and look to you for leadership.  It’s not something one undertakes without significant deliberation, or on a whim, but because you already ARE a priest.  The training that makes it happen is merely the formal process to hone skills, gain additional knowledge, and provide structure in the chaos that is the attempt to be a leader in any community (but maybe especially in a pagan one).

That said, the question is why do I want to be a priest, and I believe the answer is that I am and have been doing the work for some time.  It’s not easy work, sometimes I struggle with it and feel out of my depth, but it’s fulfilling and needed.  So I want to be a priest so that I can do this work better. 

Some of the ways I am already doing this work is through prison in-reach programs for Heathens.  I currently correspond with ten inmates on a regular basis, and write additional ones as needed for a group that was created to fill this need.  I have in the past also been a religious volunteer at two different maximum security men’s prisons before moving from Michigan.  I served for two years as the Steer for Michigan Trufolk, a state wide Heathen organization that puts on eight high days a year, and when no one else stepped up, I and my kindred hosted those high days, leading public rituals for relatively large groups (25-100) and for Pagan Pride Days.  Since moving to Wisconsin, I have been working on starting a protogrove here in the Northwoods and working with other local pagan groups to help them build the pagan community.  While I do have some natural qualities that moved me in the direction of taking on those roles, and while some of the roles come easily to me like building a network and public speaking, some I struggle with.  Becoming a priest would give me a better tool box to do this work. 

Making this happen would take two forms.  The first and foremost by applying myself to my studies and making the sacrifices necessary to get the training that I need.  Secondly, by continually and constantly building and strengthening my relationships with the Kindreds and the Community.

2. Why do you want to be an ADF Priest in particular?

I think that the answer for that question lies very closely to what an ADF priest is and does.  At the 2009 Clergy Council retreat, the priests present determined the roles of ADF Priests to be:

·        Priests have an obligation to ensure that sacrifices are made at the proper times and in the proper way.

·        Priests have engaged in training, and provide training and service to others.

·        While we acknowledge that our members can establish their own relationships with the Kindreds, Priests can, through their training and dedication, aid members in developing and maintaining those relationships.

As I said in part one, this is work that I already am engaged in, working both in my physical community and with inmates. 

The reason that I chose ADF as the Church I want to represent, though is twofold.  First, while I honor the Norse Hearth, I like that I can work and build relationships with people from various paths within a tradition that is truly polytheistic.  I have learned so much about my own hearth from my studies so far of other cultures, that it has truly deepened my relationships with my chosen gods.  Second, having looked at the training available through different organizations, I think that ADF offers the best training for what I, personally, need.  The combination of rigorous scholarship and practical approach to magic and ritual strikes a balance that I did not find in any of the other organizations I looked at that were also true polytheists and engaged with the Germanic gods.  Coming to ADF felt like coming home, and I want to share it with the world and help others find their path whether it’s with us or not.

3. What does being a Priest mean to you in the cultural context of your Hearth Culture?

Much like in ADF, the Germanic people tended to have their own relationships with the Kindreds.  While some people were known for having a particularly strong relationship with a Deity or a particularly powerful ability with magic, there are few references to a priestly class.  Most rituals were performed in the home with the family.  Public ritual was usual for a civic purpose and led by the local lord or the king.  In the context of this culture, I would see being a priest as being one of the leaders, one of the teachers.  Like those in the past who were known for having magical abilities or strong relationships with gods, a priest is someone who could be called on in a time of need to help, strengthen, and deepen the connections between the people and the Kindreds.

4. What has been your experience of the Work of the ADF Dedicant, and what do you expect when you begin the Clergy Student Discipline?

I had been a practicing Heathen for four years before joining ADF, and so there was much in the DP work that was familiar to me.  It was a world view I had assumed for some time.  That said, much of my previous experience as a heathen had focused on reconstruction practices.  While I think that this is an important part of the work to be done, I think that this needs to be tempered and balanced with the idea of things that work today.  Our morals, ethics, and daily life have changed significantly in the last thousand years, and so, too, have our gods.  Scholarship is important because it can show us not just the what, but the why, and the why is what allows us to having a living, breathing practice today.  Books are important, but we have to also have something that works.  In the work of the Dedicant Path, I found that balance, which is the reason I have stayed with ADF and continue to. 

I expect that my work as a Clergy Student will be a continuation of this, but one that will deepen the relationships with the Kindreds and my fellow Druids that began in the DP.  I expect that I will be challenged and confronted and have to work through things, but doing so will give me a new perspective when I am later helping others.