Announcements

The Ritual Series, sponsored by Myths and Maidens and The Temple of Witchcraft, provides opportunities for all people regardless of faith to explore their spirituality and to encourage ecumenical collaboration with other spiritual groups. There is no cost to attend, but voluntary donations are welcomed to help defray the costs of preparing and performing the rituals.

High Priestess Aurielle Nazro has performed rituals at Myths and Maidens since 2007 with the assistance of the Ritual Team. Rev. Aurielle is Deputy Minister of the Pisces Ministry of the Temple of Witchcraft, initiated in the Temple Tradition by Christopher Penczak, and an Ordained Minister in the Universal Life Church. Aurielle, a chemistry teacher at a local high school, has served on the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahai Faith of Nashua, on the Board of Nashua Area Interfaith Council and the Board of Uncannunuc CUUPS of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Manchester. She has followed the Mystic’s Path all of her life and her Ministry is to help others experience the Call of the Divine Spirit.

To help make the events inclusive, members of the Ritual Team change for each ritual to include different people in the community and encourage participation of various local spiritual groups. To receive information and updates on the Rituals and other events, please visit Aurielle’s Ritual Series on Facebook or see the Temple’s online events calendar.

The Temple’s Mystery School is pleased to announce open registrations for in-person Witchcraft I & II classes in Porter, Texas, taught by High Priestess Virginia Ann Villarreal. The Witchcraft I class will begin in November of 2016, while the Witchcraft II class will begin in January of 2017. Interested students should visit the Witchcraft I and Witchcraft II class pages, or contact Virginia directly via email at [email protected].

Since very early on, Templefest has been strongly associated with the Faerie Court of Queen Aroxana and King Aubrey, allies of the Temple and its community. A part of Templefest is to honor our faerie allies and they, in turn have offered blessings and insights to us. A part of the planning process for the festival each year is a journey in vision to the Faerie Court to commune and seek guidance on the themes for the year, embodied in the beautiful artwork Leo lead minister Mark Bilokur has created.

Over these past years, and Templefests, many different members of the Temple community have had their own experiences with the Faery Court, including two years ago when priestesses and priests of the Temple offered a Faery Quest ritual, allowing members of the community to visit and commune with representatives of the Court directly. Many of us have precious bits of personal experience and lore, and we would like to offer the opportunity to bring all of it together. Therefore the Temple is pleased to announce the creation of The Book of the Faerie Court, a collaborative community project, headed by our Priestess Dragon, who is a book-binder and has been working in cooperation with the Court for this work.

In essence, we will offer, at Templefest 2016, a collection of pages and various artistic tools, and allow community members who have had experience with the Faerie Court of Aroxana and Aubrey, either previously or at this year’s festival, to record their lore, through the written word (in prose or poetry), through art, or whatever combination they wish. As curator and keeper of the Book, Dragon will select and organize pages and bind them together. Our hope is that The Book of the Faerie Court will be an ongoing project at each Templefest gathering, adding more and more pages each year and expanding our shared collection of lore.

There are, of course, some guidelines:

• First and foremost, this project is limited to experiences and lore involving the fae within the context of the Temple and its rituals, and specifically the Faery Court of Aroxana and Aubrey, not simply the fae as a general concept or outside of this context. If you’re in doubt, you’re welcome to contribute, but be aware that the Book is curated (see below).
• Secondly, contributing to the book is a part of the Templefest experience and may only be done (and must be completed!) at Templefest—no sending things in from afar or taking them home to finish later. We regret that may require some lore to wait to find its way to us in person, but that is a requirement of our allies.
• Dragon, advised by the Temple’s founders and council of ministers, shall be the curator of what pages are included in the Book, and offering pages and lore does not ensure their inclusion. Again, while we hope that all correct offerings made in the spirit of Love, Will, and Wisdom will see inclusion, this is a collaborative effort with the Court, and not everything will necessarily be accepted.

The Book of the Faerie Court will be held in trust for the community by the Temple and housed at the Temple’s home in Salem, New Hampshire, although it will be available for viewing and reading, both at Templefest and by appointment and prior arrangement with the Temple for members. We hope for the Book to be a powerful touchstone and symbol of the prosperous relationship between the Faerie Court and the Temple.

Apart from announcing our plans, the main purpose of this article is to allow time for interested parties to gather their thoughts, notes, and any materials for a possible contribution this year, and to have time and the opportunity to ask questions. Blank pages and writing and art materials will be provided at Templefest. Although you are welcome to bring your own materials, there is no assurance that we can accommodate every form of media. In particular, please do not bring finished pages with the intention of including them, as we need to provide the paper for pages, sized and prepared for the bookbinding process. “Scrapbook” style media for pasting onto pages is acceptable and may be included.

For questions, please email [email protected] and we will do our best to get back to you. Please inquire well before Templefest, as volunteers will be quite busy immediately before, during, and after the festival!

Location: Kinney Hill Farm (the location of Templefest), 96 Woodman Rd, South Hampton, NH. Please Note: Only use Google Maps/GPS to get here otherwise you will not be directed to the correct location! Street numbers are not in order. The driveway is long and steep, class location will be to the left at the top of the drive.

Class Dates:
2016: May 4, June 1, June 29, Aug 3, Sep 7, Oct 5, Nov 2, Dec 7
2017: Jan 4, Feb 1, Mar 1, April 5, May 3, May 31, June 2 – 4 (certification weekend)

Required Text: Taking Up the Runes by Diane Paxon, ISBN 13: 978-1578633258

Cost: $39 per Class; Initiation Weekend; $103 (Includes camping) or $604 includes all classes and initiation weekend you save $45 (This offer good only prior to the second class). No refunds.

The Temple’s Scorpio Ministry has updated its page with a variety of references and resources on death and dying, the grieving process, and end-of-life discussions. Just click on the link or visit the page from the “Ministries” sub-menu of the “Structure” menu of the site to view these resources, and email [email protected] with questions and follow-up.

The Temple Mystery School is pleased to announce that registration for the 2016–2017 sessions of Witchcraft I–IV online is now open. Registration will be open throughout the Spring and Summer, with the online classes beginning in the Fall of 2016 and running one year to the Fall of 2017.

Visit the Temple Mystery School page for an overview of the class structure, responsibilities, and payment information. Then visit the individual class pages for details on those classes and a link to the online registration form. After completing the form, you will be provided with a link to a page with payment information.

Note this announcement applies to the online sessions of the Witchcraft I–IV classes only. Individual class pages also have information on in-person Mystery School classes with currently open registration.

Please review all class information pages carefully. For questions not answered by the Mystery School web pages, please email [email protected]. For technical issues with the website or online forms, please email [email protected].

For the most up-to-date and immediate information about all open registrations and Temple events, please visit the home page of our site and click on the “Get Our Newsletter” button and sign up to receive our email notifications.

The Temple is happy to announce that registration for Christopher Penczak’s year-long Mystery of the Tarot class is now open. The class is offered in-person at the Temple in Salem, NH, as well as online via email and audio download.

• Click here to go to the class home page

Explore the Royal Road of the Fool on the path of initiation through the twenty two gates of the Major Arcana. Study the traditional images and symbols of the Major Arcana tarot cards, including their number, letter, astrological correspondence, magickal images and place upon the paths of the Tree of Life. Understand the meaning and spiritual lesson of each card, alone and in relationship to each other through the Eleven Gates and Keys and the Three Ladders of the Seven Operations.

Registration for Witchcraft II with the Temple Mystery School, with High Priestess Silver Lyons in Salem, NH, is now open. The year-long class begins in May 2016 and ends in May of 2017. See the Witchcraft II page for dates and details, as well as a link to the online registration form. You can email Silver with questions at [email protected].

This week, Temple founders and volunteers will be making the trip to San Jose, CA, to attend PantheaCon, where the Temple will offers a hospitality suite, and several Temple ministers and members will offer workshops. The theme of this year’s PantheaCon is “Change Makers”. [continue reading…]