Who's Giving the Orders 'Round Here?
Orders are the newest form of sub-groups within ADF. But what are they? According to the ADF website they exist to provide rituals and training to ADF members in a specific Indo-European mythic or symbolic complex. Orders maintain training programs focused on their respective mythic/symbolic complexes, under the oversight of theClergy Council, and also periodically publish a number of rituals to the ADF community.
What is actually expected of ADF Orders? They must maintain a minimum membership of 9 people who have had their Dedicant work approved as well as one member of ADF Clergy at all times. They must publish a number of rituals including a Home Shrine rite, a rite for joining the Order and at least one additional liturgy per year. While Orders may engage in private or mystery work, their activities must be open to the officers of the Clergy Council and the Board of Directors (ie: Mother Grove) and may not exclude the Order's leader or Advisor. There is an assumption that Orders will engage in training their members and may even develop materials to support the Dedicant work of their members (though all DP submissions must still go through the ADF Preceptor). The full scope of what Orders may become is yet to be seen.
Currently Our Druidry boasts only one Order, the Order of the Crane (OotC), but there is a real possibility of seeing an order focused on death rites and the attendant issues in the foreseeable future. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rev. Seamus Dillard about the Order of the Crane and gained a better understanding of what this new current of spiritual work brings to ADF.
Orders offer the members of ADF the opportunity to deepen their spiritual work. Currently the OotC offers members a place to explore transformative work through connection with Garanus, the crane. Seamus and Rev. Michael Dangler separately engaged in meditative and devotional work with the crane and when the compared notes, found some compelling similarities in their experiences. That is a trend which seems to have continued. Before one can join the OotC, one must take a journey to meet the crane in meditation. It seems many people report connections and communications much in line with each other though the work has been done individually. Early on, such confluence dovetailed nicely with the chatter about Orders. Once Seamus and Michael had an idea of what directions Orders were taking, they immediately recognized an opportunity to, as Seamus put it, “offer a lot of people a place for transformation.”
To begin they brainstormed and asked some very general question of people. From that and from the form it seemed Orders would take, they cobbled together a working plan with the expectation of tweaking it after it was up and running. They adopted an attitude of, “do the work, from the work the system will develop.” It seems to have been a process that worked. Currently the OotC not only is operating and drawing members, it has already generated a book of devotional material.
In conversations about Orders, both existing and potential, this notion of doing The Work is central. Perhaps this is the most exciting aspect of Orders. Fanning the flames of the hearth fire and deepening personal practice seem to be the sweetest fruits presented by the development of Orders. Additionally, we may finally see the wholesale creation of Rites of Passage. OotC members have been inspired to create many such rites and it is reasonable to expect more from future orders, particularly since Orders are required to produce rituals yearly.
Where Guilds offer scholarly or technical support and training and SIGs and Kins offer community, Orders provide a place for spiritual expression and expansion in Our Druidry thus fulfilling a need that many have felt for some time.
Orders are the newest form of sub-groups within ADF. But what are they? According to the ADF website they exist to provide rituals and training to ADF members in a specific Indo-European mythic or symbolic complex. Orders maintain training programs focused on their respective mythic/symbolic complexes, under the oversight of theClergy Council, and also periodically publish a number of rituals to the ADF community.
What is actually expected of ADF Orders? They must maintain a minimum membership of 9 people who have had their Dedicant work approved as well as one member of ADF Clergy at all times. They must publish a number of rituals including a Home Shrine rite, a rite for joining the Order and at least one additional liturgy per year. While Orders may engage in private or mystery work, their activities must be open to the officers of the Clergy Council and the Board of Directors (ie: Mother Grove) and may not exclude the Order's leader or Advisor. There is an assumption that Orders will engage in training their members and may even develop materials to support the Dedicant work of their members (though all DP submissions must still go through the ADF Preceptor). The full scope of what Orders may become is yet to be seen.
Currently Our Druidry boasts only one Order, the Order of the Crane (OotC), but there is a real possibility of seeing an order focused on death rites and the attendant issues in the foreseeable future. I recently had the opportunity to speak with Rev. Seamus Dillard about the Order of the Crane and gained a better understanding of what this new current of spiritual work brings to ADF.
Orders offer the members of ADF the opportunity to deepen their spiritual work. Currently the OotC offers members a place to explore transformative work through connection with Garanus, the crane. Seamus and Rev. Michael Dangler separately engaged in meditative and devotional work with the crane and when the compared notes, found some compelling similarities in their experiences. That is a trend which seems to have continued. Before one can join the OotC, one must take a journey to meet the crane in meditation. It seems many people report connections and communications much in line with each other though the work has been done individually. Early on, such confluence dovetailed nicely with the chatter about Orders. Once Seamus and Michael had an idea of what directions Orders were taking, they immediately recognized an opportunity to, as Seamus put it, “offer a lot of people a place for transformation.”
To begin they brainstormed and asked some very general question of people. From that and from the form it seemed Orders would take, they cobbled together a working plan with the expectation of tweaking it after it was up and running. They adopted an attitude of, “do the work, from the work the system will develop.” It seems to have been a process that worked. Currently the OotC not only is operating and drawing members, it has already generated a book of devotional material.
In conversations about Orders, both existing and potential, this notion of doing The Work is central. Perhaps this is the most exciting aspect of Orders. Fanning the flames of the hearth fire and deepening personal practice seem to be the sweetest fruits presented by the development of Orders. Additionally, we may finally see the wholesale creation of Rites of Passage. OotC members have been inspired to create many such rites and it is reasonable to expect more from future orders, particularly since Orders are required to produce rituals yearly.
Where Guilds offer scholarly or technical support and training and SIGs and Kins offer community, Orders provide a place for spiritual expression and expansion in Our Druidry thus fulfilling a need that many have felt for some time.