While the Witches’ new year is Samhain, I’ve always felt the time between Samhain and Yule is a time between, a time before the new solar year for resting, reflecting, dreaming, and planning before the solar and secular New Year.
Now we enter into the new and we want to share with you some plans for the year. Our plans to celebrate Yule in-person here in New Hampshire were cancelled by bad weather and looming concerns about the omicron variant. Temple leadership continues to keep a close eye on recommendations and best-practices to keep everyone in our community safe. We have continued our online Sabbats for those not near any local Temple of Witchcraft community and plan to move forward offering sabbat rituals both online and (eventually) in-person. You can find more about our sabbats and other events here.
We are nearing the time of our second annual online gathering of TempleHearth, with an online Imbolc ritual included. Registration is still open to enjoy our many presenters, specifically from our community. Our hope is TempleFest will be in-person again this coming August.
We obtained bids for the approved plans to build our Community Center and will be unrolling our ambitious multi-year fundraising efforts for it, as the price of modern town-approved structures is estimated as 1.7 million dollars, but this fulfills our mandate to create accessible community resources that will last for generations of Witches and Pagans. Those who want to make a direct donation here can do so and mark the donation “community center” in the note. A video presentation at TempleHearth will unveil some of the designs for the Community Center.
Plans continue with our development of the land, trails, and future ritual and healing sites on the property and we have Dominique Susani and Karen Crowley-Susani coming out to New Hampshire in April to educate us more on the sacred geometry and energetic forces of the land. Workshop is open to the public and can be found here.
And for those interested in starting or continuing their education in the Temple online, we continue to offer courses and classes, such as the upcoming Path of the Moon year-long course. The current session of the Temple Mystery School ends in March, with registration opening for the September 2022 session soon thereafter, in the Spring of this year. The Temple of Witchcraft series of books continues to be updated with 20th Anniversary Editions, including a forthcoming The Outer Temple of Witchcraft, and I know the Mystery School staff and I look forward to entering a new era of our education with you all.
Looking forward to an exciting new year with everyone as we move into 2022! 2022 is a six year (2+0+2+2=6) and in the Tree of Life six is the number of the Sun. Together let’s invoke a year of health, happiness, harmony, and prosperity for all.
Blessed be,
Christopher Penczak
Co-Founder of the Temple of Witchcraft