All times are Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4). For those attending remotely, please remember to adjust accordingly.
Thursday 5/23
1:30 PM Social Fire Lighting and Event Opening
This will be a fairly simple gathering of those who are present to light our main event fire, and welcome folks to Wellspring.
2:00 PM Site Tour
Our site, Tredara, has many sacred spaces and shrines. Following the social fire lighting, those who wish to can get a tour of those spaces so they can appreciate all that the site has to offer.
8:00 PM Opening Ritual led by Stone Creed Grove
During this rite, we light the initial sacred fire for the festival, welcome all the folk to our sacred time, and honor the Earth Mother and Gatekeeper that unify all ADF rituals.
Friday 5/24
10:00 AM Cei Serith – Cernunnos of the Gauls
Cernunnos is a prominent deity in modern Paganism. A lot of what people think of him comes from Wicca, while others base their ideas on his appearance in a few images and on a few lines in academic sources. But we have so much more evidence than most people think. What if we look at as much as we can? If we do that, will we find that the Cernunnos the Gauls worshiped is different from the one we think we know? In this workshop I’ll present a more complete picture of the evidence, including images and inscriptions most people have never seen, and from that derive a new interpretation of this god.
11:30 AM Oleg Wildridge – Bogowie: An introduction to the Slavic Gods
By Fire and Water is an introduction to the Slavic Godden, the Bogowie. This interactive workshop will introduce you to some background of the Slavic peoples, and then use core order ritual to bring you closer to the Slavic gods, their myths, and some Slavic practices that you can use for yourself. This workshop will hopefully help open the door to Slavic hearth culture for those who have never encountered it, and be a renewal of interest for those who have. If you wish to leave an offering for any of the Bogowie during the ritual-workshop, please be sure to bring it with you. Na Zdrowie!
2:00 PM Wellspring Bardic Chair Competition – Part 1
Those competing in the Wellspring Bardic Chair will perform their prepared works of song, poetry, and story, and learn who they are working with for Part 2.
3:30 PM Oracular Practice Roundtable Discussion
This will be a panel on different forms of trance oracular practice.
7:30 PM Arlechina Verdigris – Orphic Hymn to Hekate
We will be doing movement, trancework, and chanting of the Orphic Hymn to Hekate to prepare ourselves for the Hekate Oracular Rite.
9:00 PM Hekate Oracular Rite led by Sara Mastros
Saturday 5/25
11:30 AM Rev. Gaarik Hamr – Working with the Welsh Goddess Ffraid
12:45 PM People of the Purple Feather (LGBTQIA+ interest group) luncheon
2:00 PM Wellspring Bardic Chair Competition – Part 2
Contestants in the Bardic Chair will perform a collaborative work that they developed over the last 24 hours with the other contestants. They will also improvise a poem within 9 minutes.
Sara Mastros: The Protogenoi – Primordial Gods of Ancient Greece
In this discussion, we’ll talk about the three Protogenoi (First Born) of Hesiod’s “Theogony” – one of the most foundational myths of ancient Greece. After a brief discussion of the historical and cultural context in which the text was written, we’ll focus in on lines 116-121, and the three Primordial Beings they describe – Xaos – the Great Void at the beginning of everything, Gaia – the Great Mother of Matter – and Eros – the Great Force that draw things together and tear them apart.
3:00 PM ADF Annual Meeting
This is our annual organizational event that presents a picture of what has been going on in ADF throughout the previous year. It includes reports from many of ADF’s officers and leaders, and covers the global reach of ADF.
6:00 PM Potluck Feast
Attendees from near and far share their food in a glorious feast. This is also your last chance to buy tickets for our annual Wellspring raffle.
7:00 PM Musical Performance by Discarded Mischief
9:00 PM Bardic Performances
Sunday 5/26
11:00 AM Jenni Hunt – Crafting Textiles for Worship
Participants will have the opportunity to create a textile creation for their altars or to represent an entity of devotion. Fabric scraps, buttons, trim, lace, embroidery floss, batting, and frames, as well as cutting, sewing, ironing, and glueing tools will be provided. Participants will have the option of fusing or appliquéing fabric elements to a piece of batting that will be inserted in a 6” square frame for display. Ages 8 and up; children under 16 to be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
12:45 PM Artisan’s Guild Gallery Showing
People who have made artistic works with a pagan or druid focus are invited to display those works in our once-a-year gallery showing. Bring your art to enter the Artisan’s Guild show – “your work with spirit” is the prompt.
Chenille Canopy (women and female-presenting) luncheon
2:00 PM Rev. Jan Avende – The HearthKeeper’s Way, 5 years into the work
A look at the long-term impact of the HearthKeeper’s Way and the value of developing and maintaining a regular home druidic practice.
3:30 PM Cei Serith – Pagan Virtue
If Paganism is to be about doing, it just can’t be about worship, it has to affect everything we do. This leads to the question of how we can know what actions to take in everyday life. After a review of theories of morality and ethics, I’ll present a way of explaining virtue from an Indo-European point of view, how practical virtues apply to this, and how we can pass our values on to the next generation.
8:00 PM Main Wellspring Ritual, led by ADF Clergy
Monday 5/27
9:30 AM Farewell Blessing / Closing Ritual