We would like to introduce you to the core members of
the Ancient Cauldron Covenant of Arrianrhod:
Rev. & Elder High Priestess - Gail Dettmar a.k.a.
WinterSky
Rev. & Elder High Priest - Richard Howard a.k.a. Aryel Greencraft
Elder High Priest & Advisor - AJ
Rev. Elder Priestess - Teddy Penrose a.k.a. Jade
Priestess - Monique
Priestess & Webmistress - Myque
Priestess - Tracie
Priestess - Angie a.k.a. Morganlefey
(Pictures and Bios of eachof our core members will be posted soon)
Reverend and Elder High Priestess
This picture was taken of me when I was
participating at a local Halloween event held on Sutter
St, in Folsom CA.
A friend had a small business there and the several years
I participated I would set up an altar and I would carry
a basket full of apples and candy to hand out to the children
coming by. I had little flyers that said: "Trick
or Treat on Sutter St.?" and had other flyers full
of information on Witches, Halloween & Samhain, to
help dispel the the negative myths and superstitions surrounding
Witches and this beautiful Sabbat. I have a very fond
memory of the day this picture was taken too, it was when
a group of children with their parents came walking by
and one of the little girls stopped, staring at me, as
the rest of her family and friends kept walking. I told
her to hurry and catch up with her mommy when she just
stood there, with a finger hooked on one of her lips,
still staring at me, as her mom walked back up to us.
The little girl told her mommy to wait, then looking up
at me, she tugged at my gown and when I looked down at
her she asked, with her finger still hooked at her lip
"could I hug you?"
Well, let me say, I was so please to tell her "yes,
of course, and its good luck to hug a Witch!" and
at that she ran into my arms, as her mother and friends
happily watched. Then of course the rest of the group
she was with returned and all started asking other questions,
while I happily handed out shiny red apples and candy.......now
more about me:
Greetings & Merry Meet!
I am a Witch, and the High Priestess of
the Ancient Cauldron Covenant of Arrianrhod.
I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, student,
teacher, minister, friend, and neighbor and I live my
life openly as a Witch. I honor the old Pagan Gods and
Goddesses, and I am proud to wear my pentacle, a symbol
of my race and faith.
I am a Witch, not a Wiccan. I do not follow
any specific tradition; I am eclectic in my beliefs. Since
a very small child, I have connected with the sun, moon,
elements, and all of nature, watching, learning, and feeling
the energy and magick in and of all things. I am sensitive
and intuitive, and have what I call a natural "knowingness";
things usually come to me very easily, naturally. I believe
that nature is "the greatest teacher".
I celebrate the 8 main holidays which make
up the "Wheel of the Year", follow the moon
phases, perform magick in ritual, cast spells, and respect
all nature.
All wisdom, knowledge, and life experiences
I have gained, I pass on to others who seek me out. I
strive to help others along their spiritual path and to
bring them together with others of like interest.
I am a hereditary Witch, from my father's
side. My father chose not to follow his mother's way;
instead he chose to become Catholic. My mother, on the
other hand, loved and believed in her mother-in-law. They
were very close. She respected her ways and beliefs. In
her own way, my grandmother shared her knowledge and ways
with my mother. My mother, having a very scientific mind,
loved knowledge and would read and study as much as she
could, especially both religion and evolution and, of
course, she would question everything. My mother taught
me many things of witchcraft, a.k.a. the ways of the wise,
and we shared the beauty and wonders of nature in all
its forms. My mother never called herself a Witch, yet
she would describe herself as such.
My family allowed me to follow my chosen
path, and thought it was "cute". When I was
but 6 and 7 years old, they would find me sitting, chanting
under the full moon, always so serious with what I did.
They would be amazed with my premonitions and predictions.
They didn't mind when I would dress up at Samhain (Halloween)
as a cute witch and go around blessing people and telling
them that witches were good, not evil.
I am very thankful to my mother for all
she taught me and what she shared, especially on witchcraft,
mysticism, and other spiritual paths.
My grandmother was known as a Witch, and
she was very, very psychic. She was ridiculed, told she
was crazy, and locked up in a mental hospital for observation
and many people feared her; in spite of all that, people
still came to her for advice and her accurate predictions.
Unfortunately, I don't remember much of my grandmother,
only what stories my family told, because we moved from
the East Coast to the West Coast when I was only three
and I never saw my grandmother again after that move.
During my teen years, many witchy things
began happening to me; my magickal and psychic gifts seemed
to be sprouting more and more. I needed to know how to
work with and control these gifts, energy and magick.
This is when I wrote a letter to my grandmother and asked
her for her help and guidance. To my surprise, she did
not reply to me at all. Instead she sent a letter to my
father, advising him to tell me to "stay away from
it all". Naturally, as a young teen, this was a very
big disappointment and made me mad, but also, at the same
time, put some fear into me. I asked myself why she felt
that way. Why would she not help me? Did she know or see
something psychically that made her warn me away from
it? A few weeks later, I was told by my father that she
had died days after writing that letter to him about me.
It wasn't until many years later that I
was told my grandmother had refused to help me learn more
of witchcraft and psychic development and had told me
to stay away from it, because she didn't want me to go
through what she did.
Did I give up and stay away from my desires
as my grandmother had advised me to? No, I did not. Instead,
I became more cautious in all my thoughts, words and deeds.
I paid more attention to my feelings, and I listened to
my gut instincts. I read and studied all I could on the
subjects of witchcraft, spirituality, religion, and psychic
development. I was open, even then, about being a Witch,
just more cautious about it.
Being young and still learning to control
my magickal powers and gifts, I would still slip now and
then. Especially in school, when I would find myself bored
or daydreaming, things would just start happening, such
as levitating pencils off my desk, during class where
other students saw this happening. Incidents such as that
frightened classmates and some of my friends. I then knew
exactly what my grandmother had warned me of.
Being known as a Witch, especially in junior
high and high school, both helped and hurt me. It helped
me in a way that kept others from picking on me. They
were cautious around me, afraid of what I might do; after
all they had seen movies about "Witches" and
had been told about "Witches" being evil, they
left me alone and kept their distance. It helped me to
know my true friends, those who accepted me as I was,
for who I was, for what I believed in, they stood by me.
How did it hurt me? Well, it frightened some of my friends.
They were just plain afraid of me or, because of their
own religious beliefs, they kept their distance or ignored
me after that. Either way, what happened during my school
years made me more independent, a stronger person, a stronger
individual, a stronger witch. I was proud of who I was
and what I believed in; I held my head up high. I was
and still am proud to be a Witch.
Let me back up a bit here. As I mentioned,
my father was a Catholic and when my parents decided to
get married, my mother, not being catholic, had to agree
to raising any of their children in the Catholic faith
until each child reached first communion. My mother agreed,
and both my sisters and I were each raised as such. Although
in so doing, our mother never forced us to solely stick
with the Catholic religion, she taught us to have an open
mind and encouraged us to learn of all other religions.
My two sisters were each gifted with the "ways of
the wise", yet they choose not to follow their hereditary
path. They were frightened of it and so both chose to
stay of the Catholic faith.
When I met my husband, I told him I was
a Witch on our first date. He told me he was an atheist.
We were married three months later and that was almost
four decades ago.
I devoted myself to being a wife and mother,
worked on and off part time, and still followed my beliefs.
I was still a Witch, a solitary Witch who read and studied
as much as possible, worked magick, and sat in my circles
with the God and Goddess. I longed to be with others of
like interests and beliefs, to share in circle together,
to be part of a coven. Then, as my children were in their
mid-teens, I found I had more free time and began to reach
out into the community to find others to share with. This
was not such an easy task. Thus, another journey had begun
for me.
At that time, I was very much into the Tarot,
and so I asked of the God and Goddess to help me in finding
a spiritual teacher, one who could teach me the Tarot,
and it came to be. From that teacher I was able to see
how one path is part of all paths. I learned the Tarot
and so much more of the path of Witchcraft from this teacher.
He guided me to a very special lady who owned a little
magickal shop of oils, lotions, potions, candles, etc.
I talked with this woman and expressed my desires to find
a "coven". Then, from this very wise woman,
I was told that I was on the right path and that I was
guided to reach out and gather others myself, to lead
a group. She told me I would both learn and teach of the
positive path and that it was time, it was needed in our
local community. Of course my first thought was, "Who,
me? I don't think so." She also told me of the path
I walked and both the dark and light side of all paths,
the positive and negative of all. She told me to walk
in balance on my path and that I would lead, guiding others,
and that of which I seek would be created. I was told
to go forth and gather others and it would be right. She
then walked over to her book shelves and picked out a
book for me and as she handed it to me, she told me it
would be all I needed to get me going as I did seek. Then
she went back behind her counter and our conversation
ended just like that. I purchased the book and went home.
From that day forth I thought much on what
the wise woman had told me. I had other questions and
when I went back to the store to see her, I was not really
surprised to know that she was no longer there. She had
sold the store and moved on. This I found out was something
she did many times, opening her magickal store somewhere,
making it successful, then selling it and moving on. I
never saw her again.
I did follow her guidance. I started up
a weekly gathering place for those seeking the mystical
and magickal paths. Eventually this brought me into more
and more contact with others of like interests. I started
doing lectures and discussion groups with other groups
and organizations. I have been on local television and
radio stations, even getting involved with local police
in helping to educate others on what Witchcraft really
is and dispelling the myths and superstitions of Witchcraft.
I became well known throughout our community, especially
our pagan community and many people would seek me out,
wanting to learn from me, and thus they labeled me a High
Priestess. Eventually, several of my students were ready
to be more committed and thus a coven was formed. Thereafter,
I was known as High Priestess of Ancient Cauldron.
Ancient Cauldron's tradition of witchcraft
is eclectic in both old ways and new. Our ancient ways,
our roots, must never be forgotten. As times change, so
too does our ways. I teach of the old ways and about honoring
our ancestors. I also teach the science of witchcraft,
a.k.a. "the craft", a.k.a."the ways of
the wise", and how to incorporate the new and ever
expanding ways of magick. I teach the Tarot and all forms
of divination and psychic development. I am always thankful,
especially for my gift of teaching. I love helping others
awaken to their natural gifts and to walk the path of
beauty, love and honor.
My goals have been and always will be in
uniting and educating others on the path of Witchcraft.
I stay active and open in our pagan community. I am founder
of the Sacramento area's annual Mabon harvest festival
and founder of the local Sacramento Pagan Pride Day events,
during which I was able, for the first time, to bring
many of our local pagans and pagan groups to work together
during these wonderful events and thus our pagan community
grew by leaps and bounds. In 1998 I founded and still
host several pagan online groups that have members from
all over the world.
I enjoy sharing and especially bringing
together others of like interest and so I continue today
to lecture and hold discussion groups as often as possible.
Look and you can probably find me at any
of our local pagan events!
Magickal Blessings,
Gail, a.k.a. WinterSky
Elder High Priest & Advisor
I am a web programmer and designer, 44 years
old, and was conceived in the mystical New Mexico region
near White Sands. Transplanted to sunny Northern California,
raised around rocket scientists and psychics: it was an
unusual upbringing to say the least.
Now working as a professional webmaster
and site designer and practicing Witch in Northern California,
I enjoy the outdoors,my friends, sharing ideas and laughs.
Favorite movies: Young Frankenstein, The Holy Grail, Highlander
and Armageddon.
The Craft for this Guy:
Speaking in first term now, I have been
involved in the Craft for over 15 years, most of this
as a solitary.
My earlier spiritual searchings were spent
for 3 years on a spiritual trek that lead me from my old
roots of the Xtian religion to Taoist philosophy, and
finally, home to the God and Goddess. It has not been
an easy road, but I would not trade any of the experiences
I've had for any other path. I've been graced with some
technical gifts that allow me to express myself and offer
help to others out there who are also on the path.
Not everyone agrees with my work or decisions, but I live
with the outcomes, and work from a new spirit of strength
and faith in those who created this wonderful universe
we live in.
I've been lucky to have some of the best teachers a person
could have, and to have sufficient daily challenges to
keep me focused and happily (and sometimes not so happily)
moving forward. Each lesson leads to another, and it is
certainly something I hope I am improving upon with each
new "class". And mistakes? You bet I still make
'em ... It isn't easy to face some of them either, but
I'm working each one out ...
The deal is to keep getting up, and not giving in. Movement
is what makes up the universe, and that is the secret
of surviving.
AJ
Priestess & Webmistress
My name is Myque and I help run AncientCauldron.com
for WinterSky. I have studied witchcraft for six years.
A friend introduced me to the craft by being both a witch
and a kick-ass person. Like many who may be reading this,
I searched the web to find out more. I read a few books,
the first of which was Raymond Buckland's Complete Book
of Witchcraft. Let me tell you, it made this witchcraft
thing all sound a little too stylized for me. A lot of
stuff I had read on the net sounded more like things people
had just made up, not claiming it had come from a great
past but from their own souls. I liked the idea of tradition,
but felt the need to follow my own intuition if I was
going to make this my new belief system. So, I went looking
for a teacher that would see the world the way I did,
but could teach me more about it.
In my searchings, I came across a group
called Ancient Cauldron that looked fairly active on the
web. They didn't have much on their website yet, but they
had a Yahoo Group going, so I wrote the High Priestess,
WinterSky, to see if she was taking students. She wrote
back and was not at the time, but I met her at the second
ever Sacramento Pagan Pride Festival and she rocked. I
liked her immediately. I was even willing to fill out
the little questionaire she had for those who seemed interested.
Already, she began with a test of endurance. I finished
it and still have it to this day, including her notes.
I ended up meeting her at her home for an interview and
from there it just went. Her group is a masterly mix of
the eclectic tradition, a hallmark of modern witchcraft,
and teachings that instill your natural abilities in the
craft. I have learned a great deal with her and the group,
although in general I tend to keep behind the scenes.
Now, I'm even more behind the scenes because
I moved away from Sacramento to continue my education.
Yet another reason I am grateful for the internet. This
wonderful group is a true presence on the internet, connecting
people around the area and the world. Its feeling of community
is only stronger when you meet these people in real life,
for which they provide many opportunities. I am very proud
to call Ancient Cauldron my home.
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