Blessings All,

It's hard to believe February is already winding down and spring beckons just around the corner! Although the year is still young, it has brought many changes with it and I look forward to the challenges these bring!

My schedule for the first half of the year is in place, and while we are still getting the second half ironed out, there are some potentially exciting locales that are a bit more far afield than I've been able to go these past few years. Between the new baby, some issues with my husband's health, and our imminent move out of NYC to Upstate New York, I've had to be somewhat conservative in my travels. I am looking forward to resuming a more varied presentation schedule once again, and especially to the next SOA Pilgrimage to Wales and Britain in 2009.

Until then, I hope to be able to connect with some of you at the following events. As always, blessings of transformation to you all!

Jhenah's Presentation Schedule - Spring 2008

Upstate New York
Presenting: Calling the Barge
Level One Avalonian Training Intensive
Sponsored by the Sisterhood of Avalon
April 17 - 20, 2008
Open to all women

Upstate New York
Presenting: Parting the Mists
Level Two Avalonian Training Intensive
Sponsored by the Sisterhood of Avalon
May 15 - 18, 2008
Open to members of the SOA who have attended Level One

Pennsylvania
Presenting: The Three Cauldrons
Womongathering - Festival of Womyn's Spirituality
June 12 - 15, 2008
Open to all women


Please contact me if you would like more information on these events. Questions about Womongathering should be addressed to them directly via their website. Intensive registration materials can be obtained by emailing the SOA Intensives Coordinator (intensives at sisterhoodofavalon dot org).

It is always a blessing to connect with sisters in sacred space. Please do drop me a line if you are planning to attend Womongathering this year - I would love to meet you there!

Bendithion Afallon,
Jhenah

Blessings all,

I have enjoyed my time here on LiveJournal, but have decided to change blogging venues. I will be setting up an RSS feed so I won't lose track of the lovely people I have met here on LJ, and I will continue to use this blog for announcements and the like, so please don't feel like you need to leave. With the new year, I have resolved to do more content blogging, and have set up shop here: http://www.ynysafallon.com/blog/ ; as you can see, it is linked through my website.

I have a lot of wonderful projects underway for 2008, and am very excited to share them with you. I will be using my new blog to discuss things relavent to those walking Avalonian and Welsh Celtic spiritual paths, as well as things having to do with Goddess Spirituality and women's issues in general. Too, I will be honoring women who are making a difference in Women's Spirituality in the here and now, and profiling woman artisans and creators throughout the year. I hope you will join me in these explorations, and I am looking forward to hearing your suggestions for inspirational women to feature in my Women of Spirit series. 

Please stop by or email me with your thoughts, recommendations and suggestions.

I wish everyone an abundant 2008, filled with love, joy, and transformation!

Bendithion Afallon,
Jhenah

I am happy to share that Circle Magazine has published my piece The Keening in their Fall/Winter 2005 Issue - Sacred Healing. The issue is on the stands now, so keep an eye out and let me know what you think!

The Amazon.com entry for Avalon Within now features a Concordance of the book's 100 Most Frequently Used Words. I found it somewhat poetic and thought I'd share it ( here )

The PanGaia website now features some articles from their recent issue on Celtic Spirituality. Voices of Modern Druidry, the interview with Isaac Bonewits, R.J. Stewart and myself, is now available to read online, so do check it out and let me know your thoughts, especially as concerns the concept of a Woman-Centered Celtic Path such as the Avalonian Tradition.

The Autumn 2005 issue of PanGaia (#42) is just hitting the stands and it's a special issue devoted to Celtic Spirituality. Along with R.J. Stewart and Issac Bonewits, I was interviewed for the cover story entitled Voices of  Modern Druidry, conducted by PanGaia managing editor Elizabeth Barrett. I am pleased with the way the interview worked out as it gave me an opportunity to talk about the Avalonian Tradition within the context of today's Druidic movement. Pick up a copy, and let me know what you think!

Just as we did with the Asian Tsunami, the Sisterhood of Avalon has made a donation to the American Red Cross to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Individual sisters are making a difference both in the disaster area and in their local communities, hoping to alleviate the suffering and to help save lives. I am proud of my Sisters and others in the Pagan community who are mobilizing resources to help others in this dire time of great need.

My intention is not to blow our own horns about this, but it makes me angry when sweeping generalizations are made about Pagans not being involved in charitable activities -- this has simply not been my experience. It has always been an important part of the Sisterhood to become involved in some cause or charity -- Sisters have worked at soup kitchens, built homes with Habitat for Humanity, raised money for Cancer research, donated time and resources to Women's Shelters, adopted roads for clean-up, collected food for food pantries -- the list goes on. I know other groups and organizations do the same -- so why are charitable Pagans invisible? I think it's because -- aside from being a relatively small political demographic -- by nature, we do not aggregate into large umbrella groups the way other religions do in America. I've seen several attempts at creating Pagan-specific charitable organizations, but sadly they all seem to peter out eventually. There have been some attempts at bringing Pagan charitable works into the public eye, but the community has yet to find a banner to rally around.

This said, I've seen several posts around the net in the past few days about a new Pagan Charity  called Avalon Cares that was set up for Hurricane Katrina victims. I have mixed feelings about donating to an intermediary group instead of directly to an established organization like the Red Cross, but I do feel that we need to start somewhere as a community, and the person who is spearheading this project -- Kerr Cuhulain -- is someone with whom Ive been on Pagan Leadership e-lists, and Ive never felt that he was anything but on the level. Follow your heart, but whether you choose to give to Avalon Cares or directly to the Red Cross, please do give. Even a small amount of money can make a big difference in this devastation.