I was reading “The Wildhunt” today and I noticed that the ADF has elected a new Arch Druid.

I’d like to add my congratulations to all the other wishes of well to Rev. Kirk Thomas, the new head Druid in the ADF.

How does this affect me as an independent druid? Well, it really doesn’t, except that the leadership of one of the major Druid groups is going to swing a huge club and shape how not only the ADF, but Druids in general are seen in the future.

I’ve known Isaac for a couple years, had the honor of talking to him via email once or twice. I’ve reviewed books by Skip Ellison and also talked to him via email a couple times on websites and email lists that we shared. I have found both men to be very intelligent and open to new ideas, while still maintaining the highest standards for themselves and their Order. Kirk has a HUGE set of shoes to fill.

That said, I don’t know Kirk at all. I’ve never talked to him, nor have I had the honor of reading any of his works. I am going to have to take it on faith that he will be as good as Isaac and Skip have been.

I hope that with this changing of the leadership, some of the problems that have kept me at arm’s length with the ADF will be corrected and worked with. The next few years are going to be very interesting for Druids of every Order.

Originally posted 2010-06-09 16:10:40.

Okay, given the whole kerfluffle over Z Budapesht’s transphobia and the similar blow up with the Temple of the Goddess I’ve come to a decision.

I’m going to start a new Temple that is trans-inclusive. One that not only welcomes Trans women and Trans men, but one that works with them to celebrate their new sex and their needs in a spiritual sense. This group won’t ignore the Intersexed, the Genderfluid or the Asexual person either, I just need to figure out ways to incorporate their unique energies into the overall format.

Now, this is going to be a hell of a task. I’m going to need everyone who is a reader of this website to help.

1. I’m going to need publicity.
2. I’m going to need rituals.
3. I’m going to need those who want to head up local chapters to come forward.
4. I’m going to be doing ceremonies to advance this idea and temple in the Astral world, and I need energies to do so
5. I’m going to need your ideas for things that would bring on inclusiveness.

While there are many out there who don’t need another group “helping” them in their self discovery, or in the spiritual implications of that discovery, there are MANY who will need it. Not the least of which is the people who have already been traumatized by those groups named above, the ones who have shunned and humiliated the QUILTBAG of sexes because the equipment is missing or they don’t bleed.

Now, please say you are with me on this? And let me know if this is something that would be of use to you and the people you know in your circle?

It’s done! Chapter one is finished.

The first five people who email me at davensjournal @ davensjournal.com get a copy for free. After that, it’s $2.

Be aware that this is 3.5 MB, so it’s huge. It will take some time to download.

Originally posted 2005-05-13 16:02:01.

I was having a dream.

In this dream, the Goddess came to me. She spoke to me about the mysteries and about the whole of creation.

She showed me a dance. The Great Spirial Dance, the one with the connections to Creation, all the steps, where stomping created a lake, and a pirouette made a mountain and a shout brought clouds to be. She showed me the greater dance and helped me to understand that there was dances throughout the multiverse, each dancer working on his or her own place in the universe, all of them treading measures connecting to each other through the dance. Bringing to fruition the complete creation of the universe, making planets and suns.

She told me one of the secrets. She told me that not everyone was ready for the Dance. That there were many who ignored the call to the dance for what was safe, what was calm, what brought them no responsibility. The Dance brought peril, since whatever you made in the Dance, you were responsible for evermore. You had an obligation to make the dance as perfect as possible since that would ensure that the creation was perfect.

YHVH erred in his steps in the Dance. Other deities erred as well. They were looking after us. From time to time it would show itself in direct action to help us humans, since we were not perfect.

But to those who cast off their own inadequacies, who decided the creation was more important than the fear of error and who could think ahead and creatively visualize what could happen were allowed to take their first tentative steps in the Dance, with the goal of becomming like the deities who tread it as their life.

And the universe opened for me. I knew things I had wondered about and speculated on, I understood why suddenly. Why the stars moved, why death was part of life, why the Gods didn’t show themselves, why we were abandoned, why humanity was struggling. All the whys I had wondered I knew the answers to.

All I had to give up was my fear.

My fear of failure, my fear of mistakes. I had to sacrifice them to the Gods to join in their ecstacy and their dance of life. I had to finally understand that if I made a mistake, so be it. The trick was to not make that particular mistake again, to learn from it and grow beyond it. To keep going despite failure. And to understand that we learn as much from our failures as we do from our achievments. And I had to let that fear go.

And once it was gone, How Beautiful The World Is.

EDIT: This wasn’t a dream that you have when sleeping, it was a dream that you have as a waking dream. I was sitting at my desk and suddenly I had this vision. Don’t ask me why or where, but I did. One part of it was to show others who were reading it that the Gods aren’t perfect and that WE can create.

Originally posted 2006-03-20 13:10:06.

This is way too neat! I want one, but too bad it’s not for sale.

I may have to make me one on my own time.

Originally posted 2007-07-13 03:40:29.

Astute readers of my Journal will have already noticed that the name has changed.  That’s what should be.  But let me tell you why.

As you may have read in earlier entries, I’m transitioning from Male to Female.  Well, in recent months I’ve made some major strides forward in that regard, namely I’ve come out to everyone I know that I’m transitioning, and I’ve legally changed my name from my male moniker to a more female name.

With this change came a LOT of soul searching, a lot of meditation and a lot of discussion with the Gods.  Finally after a long time, we all determined that I am Their daughter just as much as I was Their son.  I am Their Priestess and still Their Priest.

Confusing?  You bet you.  About as confusing as being female, dressing as female, being called “She” and “Her” and “Miss” and still being called “Dad” by my daughter.  But that’s okay, things take time, and I’m only partway through the hormone treatment.

So, with the new name, new gender and the acknowledgment of the world at large, I rededicated myself one morning near Samhain.  I abandoned the name Daven and took the name Erin to be my magickal working name.

You may be able to see some of the changes.

Juliet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”

So, the name of the Journal is changing to Erin’s Journal.  But the content is not.  It will still have the same content as any you have come to expect.  The look and feel will be the same.  It may have more personal focus and changes based on crossing gender lines and still being a representative of the Gods.

I am going to be taking time over the next months to find and change all references to Daven’s Journal and replace them with Erin’s Journal.  I am going to do this gradually since it will take some time for you, the reader, to adjust to this change too.  Everyone knows Daven’s Journal, but it will take time to realize that it is the same site as Erin’s Journal.  Thus the “new and improved” logo upstairs.  Hopefully by keeping something the same, it can become normal, then we gradually phase out the various elements of Daven and replace them with Erin.

But also, like the Shattered Tower, this is a change that has happened and cannot be undone.  But also like Death, it’s one that has been a long time in coming.

All of the information on this site is what I have found valuable to me, and only me.  If you find it of value as well, well and good.  But I must stress that this is what has either worked for me, or these articles are what has prompted my thinking along different lines. I do not have all the answers, I’m looking for answers.  These are the answers I have found that work for me, and only me.  If you learn something, wonderful.  I’m not perfect, nor is what I say the only way to be.  I am only sharing the paths that I tread to get to where I am now.

DISCLAIMER: Let me be perfectly clear here, and I know I have said this before, but for those who can’t read I need to repeat myself. I am NOT saying that what I say is right and everyone else is wrong. In fact, I am saying that the information contained in this site is one of many ways of doing things. It is ONE way, not THE way. I don’t know it all, I only know what I have learned. I am sharing this with all of you in the hopes that my blood, sweat and tears can be of use to someone else who is just starting, or that it can make those who have been traveling this path for some time think of different things. Everything in this site could be wrong and I know it. If it helps you, well and good. If not, that’s fine too. I hope that is clear enough for the nay-sayers. If not, learn to read what is written, not what you think is written.

For those of you who found me through Something Positive I need to share my disclaimer with you:  NO, I am not Davan McIntyre, I am not a cartoon character, I am not based on the cartoon character, the cartoon character is NOT based on me, I am not Randy (the author of that comic), I don’t know Randy, and other than the fact that I advertise on his site, there is no connection (besides serendipity) between Randy and Myself.  This is a serious site, not a satire, and I am very serious about my spirituality.  Capiche?

I also see this site as a location where one can come to learn deeper aspects of Wicca and Druidism, in fact, just about any spiritual Pagan path.  I try not to discriminate with any of this information.  Things like deeper discussions on ethics, Magick, teachings on Astral Projection, and so on.  In many ways I see this site as a “Wicca 201″ site, and in some cases a “Wicca 301″ site.  which means that there is Intermediate and Advanced information here, rather than the basics that everyone else seems to be throwing up and forgetting.  There is some of this basic information as well, but only enough so that you can reference it in case you need some part of this site defined in more basic terms without having to go to another 50 sites.

You can navigate this site via the frame to the left. I have tried to have series of articles linked in a ring so that you can read from one page to another.  All of the hyperlinks, regardless of the page, are in Green or Brown if you have visited it and will have an underline when you put your mouse cursor over top of it.  As a lifeline, the “Daven’s Journal” graphic, the top frame up above, will not change, no matter how deep you go into this site.  Clicking on that will bring you to the Home.

Originally posted 2009-11-06 22:07:15.

It’s hard living in the grown-up world of life like this. Compromises and times when your pride and honor are called into question, you are assaulted and insulted and there are times when a self-evaluation will make you truly believe that you are a coward.

There is a hope however. There are many kinds of courage.

It’s easy to yell and scream at some one who calls you a coward and implies that you are a gutless spineless good-for-nothing. It is one kind of courage, the courage of a stung pride. But it takes an entirely different kind of courage to stay right where you are, take the abuse because it means you will be able to retain your job and
bring home another paycheck and save your home and allow your family to eat.

I call that the Courage of Consequences.

The impulse in the human being is that you retract and hit back when attacked. It is the ability of a reasoning person to be able to look forward to the future and see the results of actions. Logic is not something that an animal is able to do and they may be able to understand that there are consequences after having them occur multiple times, but that’s simple learning. But to be able to notice that your family may be affected by your actions and to allow someone to demean you to prevent your family from coming to harm, that’s real coruage.

There is the courage to stay silent when you are in pain or ill because there is nothing that anyone can do about it, but you don’t want to mess up other’s enjoyment of whatever activity is going on. Like when Grandma doesn’t talk about how much the winter weather is hurting her joints while the family is gathered together for the Thanksgiving meal. That’s a very different kind of courage as well.

Just becuase you don’t run ito situations that angels would avoid does not mean you lack courage or that you are spineless and a wimp. So don’t think that again. You HAVE courage, it is simply determining which kind you have.

Originally posted 2005-12-23 15:25:44.

Welcome my friends to my Sitemap!

Here you will find an alphabetical index of all the pages on my site, including all the blog posts. There are a lot, so I hope you aren’t using this as your primary means of navigating my site.

If you want to navigate this site by topic, the index to the left is where you need to be. THAT group is broken down by category, where as this is just an alphabetical listing. So if you know the name of the article you want to read, this is probably the place for you.

If you want to jump to a specific page, without doing the “Next Page/Previous Page” thing, in the address bar in the top, add /[number] to the address, and it will “warp” you to that page.

The way this sitemap is displayed is that all the pages are listed first, the articles. The WordPress posts are listed last and they are broken down by category. Thankfully any additional posts/pages will be added here without much ado.

Regardless, take a look. I hope you can find what you are looking for. Lord and Lady know I’ve needed it before.

Originally posted 2009-11-23 09:33:39.

It’s starting again, the debate about the term “Wicca” between the Traditionals and the Solitaries/Eclectics.

I’m so sick and tired of seeing this debate.

I’m writing an article on it.

Originally posted 2005-11-21 12:57:29.