Witches Across America Tour
 September-October, Year 4 Aquarius



Above: Rev. Don Lewis
In September of Year 4 Aquarius I, Rev. Don Lewis, was privileged to begin a nationwide tour that would take me and my companions across the continental U.S. and back.

Sponsored by Witchschool.com, the trip was reported on in the Daily Spell newsletter (www.TheDailySpell.com), then edited by Rev. Karen Plioplys.

In these pages I will include some of those reports, as well as photos from the trip.
 

Pg 1,  Fellowship of Isis Convention, Chicago (below)

Pg 2, Traveling West - Karla Summers and the Circle of Friends

Pg 3, Nephthys Set and Mystic Moonlight Grove

Pg 4, Harvest Mysteries at Saltwater State Park

Pg 5, Pete Pathfinder, Oberon Zell, and Abby Willowroot

Pg 6, Isis West -The TOILA Isian Convention

Pg 7, Mystic Athenae and Los Gatos


I - Our Journey Begins
 Friday, September 17th, 1 AM
The Transportation Building, Chicago,
 

Well, its that time of year again -time to hit the road with the Witchschool Fall tour. We have a number of stops this year and hope to get out and meet as many of our Witchschool students as we can. We have posted announcements on the Daily Spell (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dailyspell) of all our stops and also asked any of our students who live on or near any of the routes to contact us and make arrangements if they would like to meet us.

 We will be sending back regular reports to Rev. Karen Plioplys, the new editor of the Daily Spell, to keep people informed of the happenings on our tour.

As always our trip is supported by Witchschool.com. We will be putting an emphasis on lifetime memberships in the hope that students who have been thinking of buying a lifetime membership or purchasing books or supplies will choose this time to do so, as their purchase will help support the trip as well. Lifetime memberships will no longer be available after the end of the year so those who want them should get them now –they are a great investment because we are adding classes all the time. Also, we will have CDs, books, and other supplies with us which we will be offering for sale at our various stops.

We began our trip today, traveling from the Witchschool campus in Hoopeston, Illinois, to attend the Fellowship of Isis convention in Chicago. Myself and my Herald Rev. Jason Mycroft piled into the Witchschool van and hit Rt. 57 north. 
 


Above: The Rt. Rev. Deena Butta, AU		 The first event of Chicago's annual Fellowship of Isis convention, now in its eleventh year, was a reception for Fellowship of Isis founder and Chancellor the Most Reverend Hon. Olivia Robertson, of Castle Clonegal Ireland. Lady Olivia, now in her 87th year, founded the Fellowship of Isis together with her late brother Lawrence Baron Robertson of Strathloch and her sister-in-law Lady Pamela Durdin-Robertson in 1576 Pisces (1976 AD). Each year Lady Olivia travels to Chicago for the convention as part of her annual tour of the USA. Lady Olivia is truly a most remarkable woman, not only as a spiritual leader but also as a person who dedicates countless hours each year to the service of the Fellowship of Isis and spiritual people everywhere.
 

The reception was held at the home of Arch Priestess Rt. Rev. Deena Butta, AU, of the Fellowship of Isis Chicago. A magnificent feast had been laid by the Arch Priestess and the members of the Eleusis of Chicago Lyseum, which included such wonderful delicacies as spinach pie, a variety of fine cheeses, a seafood quiche, home-made humus, corn pudding, buffalo wings, and much more in the main room, and a whole separate room beyond full of scrumptious deserts of all kinds and a punch not soon to be forgotten (especially by Rev. Jason who had a bit too much of it).

Lady Deena, her husband Ray, local Isians including Sarolta de Faltay, Kiel Ankh-Nemti-Ra, Jim Nertsheimer, Sophia Windfire and Karena, Demetria Nanos, Joan Forest-Mage, welcomed out of town guests Lady Amber Dawn of Baltimore, and of course the conventions special guests Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary and Lady Olivia.
 


Lady Selena is best known for her magazine Circle Network News, and for the annual Pagan Spirit Gathering which Circle has run for many years, but she is also one of the great civil rights workers of the Pagan movement and is deeply involved in the Parliament of Worlds Religions. It was a great pleasure to see Lady Selena again -I had last seen her a decade ago, but she recognized me immediately and recalled recalled the very first time I had contributed work to Circle Network News back in the early eighties.

Right: Lady Olivia and Lady Selena enjoy the feast at the Friday evening reception at the home of ArchPriestess Deena Butta, AU

  


After a pleasant social time Lady Deena called everyone together so that Lady Olivia could lead one of her famous visualization sessions to officially begin the weekend. Lady Olivia is known for her wonderful meditations and pathworkings which have been compared to a "flying carpet" which carries participants to deep realms of inner consciousness. Everyone sat and joined hands as Lady Olivia led a meditation involving the convention's theme for the year: Native American First spirituality. When Lady Olivia finished everyone shared their experiences.

Many people misunderstand the nature of the Fellowship of Isis and assume incorrectly that it is some sort of Egyptian reconstructionism -it is not. The Fellowship of Isis is about the future, not the past, though it draws inspiration and strength from ancient traditions. Rather the Fellowship is devoted to Isis Myrionymos, Isis of Ten Thousand Names, and venerates the feminine aspect of Deity found in all religions -represented as in ancient times by Isis.
 
Consequently each year Lady Deena and local Isian Priesthood and members have chosen a different theme from around the world, to illustrate the universality of Goddess. Although the convention has had an Egyptian theme in some years it has also drawn themes from the Middle East, Greece, Africa, and now Native America. Lady Deena hopes to be able to complete the circuit of all the continents in the next several years.  

Left: Rt. Rev. Deena Butta, AU, with Rev. Don in 1599 Pisces (1999 AD) at the reception for Rev. Don's 20th anniversary as a High priest.


After the meditation followed a series of champagne toasts, and then we broke up for further socializing. As Lady Deena saw to everyone's comfort, Lady Olivia and Lady Selena fell to discussing old times and their long years of association -Lady Selena was one of the first members of the FOI- and Jim Nerstheimer found his way to the piano and entertained the assemblage with a series of classical selections.

I took the occasion to catch up with my old friends in the Fellowship, most of whom I haven't seen in the year we have been working to build the campus here in Hoopeston. 
 

It was particularly nice to see the lovely Lady Amber Dawn again. Lady Amber Dawn of Lotus Pyramid Temple in Baltimore, is working on a series of Vodun classes for Witchschool which we are all looking forward to. At Witchschool it is our commitment to constantly expand our schedule of courses with quality offerings for our students, so that your Witchschool membership will constantly grow in value.

All in all it was a lovely evening and a most auspicious beginning to our trip.

Right: Joan Forest Mage at
the Friday night reception
 


After the reception ended we traveled into the Chicago loop to the home of our good friends Mike Ervin and Rahnee Patrick, with whom we were to spend the night. Mike is a noted disability activist, columnist, and playwright whose plays include and the highly successful "History of Bowling". The story of a paraplegic college student, his epileptic girlfriend, and his blind-deaf machiavellian roommate Cornelius, the "History of Bowling" was a hit in Chicago and has been performed around the US.

Mike and Rahnee welcomed us graciously, and their attendant Derek made sure we had everything we could desire. We spend several hours discussing the developments with the Hoopeston and Albany campuses, and the itinerary of the tour, as well as Mikes latest adventures -which seemed to mainly revolve around a certain twenty year old couch. Mikes previous adventures have included taking over the State of Illinois building as part of an army of wheelchair warriors, being involved in the campaign which forced the Chicago CTA to become disability Accessible, and journeying to Cuba in the early '90s as part of a group studying the Cuban medical system despite official opposition (he will show the home movies if asked nicely). Always fascinating and with a sense of humor large enough to crush a lesser soul, Mike is always a delight to visit and Rahnee is his perfect counterpart.

When at last exhaustion overcame us all we retired -Rev. Jason to an air mattress and myself to a fold out couch. Thus ended the first day of our tour, high in the towers of the Chicago loop.

If you would like to learn more about the Fellowship of Isis go to their home website at www.fellowshipofisis.com. To learn more about the Fellowship of Isis in Chicago and the annual FOI Chicago Convention go to www.foichicago.org. You can also join http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fellowshipofisis, the unofficial Isian chat group which I moderate with Laura Janesdaughter of the Iseum of Isis Pelasgia and the Temple of Isis Los Angeles.

 Future stops on our trip include Circle of Friends Shrine in Box Elder South Dakota (http://members.fortunecity.com/circleoffriends2/), several stops in Washington State, the Iseum of Isis Pelasgia in Los Angeles (www.toila.org), Mystic Athenae Temple in San Diego (http://thetempleofmysticathenae.org), Astral Light Temple in Albany New York (contact Rev. Davron at www.astrallight.org), and Sacred Arts Temple in Washington DC ( www.correllianwiccasacredarts.com).

 


II - The Love of the World

 Saturday, September 18, 2 AM
Victoria Carlson House of Contemplation, Chancellor's Chamber
Gray Elephant Building, Upstairs, Hoopeston, Illinois
 

Today we attended the eleventh annual Fellowship of Isis convention in Chicago. Rev. Jason and myself somehow managed to struggle into wakefulness all too early in the morning, and managed to get ourselves from Mike Ervin and Rahnee patrick's home in the Chicago Loop to the Best Western in Evanston, Illinois, where the convention was being held.

This is the second time that Lady Deena has held the FOI convention at the Evanston Best Western, and of all the different places the convention has been held over the years this one does seem to be the best. We parked the Witchschool van in the Best Western's convenient parking garage at a special Fellowship of Isis discount price (complete with placard for the dashboard) and made our way to the hotel's second floor where the festivities were commencing.

The first thing we did was rendezvous with our young friend and Paladin Zack Parker, who had arrived before us. Zack had been eager to meet with Rev. Jason -also a Paladin, attached to the Correll Mother Temple- to discuss details of the emerging Paladins Order.
 


Above: Rev. Jason, Renee Baute,
and Paladin Zack
I first met Zack at Infinite Light bookstore in Evanston Illinois when he was a gangling thirteen year old wanting to become my apprentice. I told him he had to get his parents permission -he did. Then I told him I didn’t have time to take on a personal apprentice and that he should study through Witchschool -he did that too, and did well. Finally I gave in and made him my apprentice, and he's done well at that too. Tall, thin, black-clad and Byronesque, young Zack cut an enigmatic figure amid the myriad colors of the Isian convention.
 


As it happens we had arrived just in time for the opening procession. Led by Lady Deena the opening procession is an annual tradition of the convention in which the Isian Priesthood formally process with drums and noise makers to cleanse the ritual space, together with the convention attendees, then give their blessing for the convention. Led by Lady Deena, with Lady Olivia and Lady Selena, the procession snaked its way in a spiral through the convention area, the sound vibration of drums, sistra, and other instruments cleansing the space of all negativity. 

Then the Isian Clergy gave their Blessings for the weekend -I had the honor to go first, being an Isian Priest separate from my role as Head of the Correllian Tradition. For those who do not know, in Pagan religion there is (in most cases) no problem with belonging to more than one Tradition, and many people do.

I duly gave my Blessing. Then in turn the Isian Priesthood came forward each with their Blessings for the weekend, beginning with the beautiful Lady Sarolta of the Iseum of Sekhmet the awakener. Then came Sophia Windfire who gave her Blessing to the assembly.
 


Then Lady Olivia, resplendent in robes of red and violet, gave her Blessing, with a special note of thanks to Lady Selena, who was among the Fellowship's earliest members. Then Lady Selena gave her Blessing, using powerful intonations which foreshadowed the conventions emphasis on song and sound. Lady Selena, like myself, holds an Isian Priesthood while also heading a major Wiccan Tradition -for Lady Selena Heads the Circle Tradition, which maintains Circle Sanctuary, publishes Circle Network News, and manages many national and international activities.
 

Above: Rev. Don with Lady Olivia at the
Chicago FOI Mystery Convention '04


Next came Kiel Ankh-Nemti-Ra in robes of flowing gold lame and serpent headdress, who invoked his Blessing upon the convention. Then Lady Amber Dawn, of the Lotus Pyramid Temple, took her turn. Finally came Lady Deena herself, who does such a wonderful job with this convention year in and year out, who gave her own Blessing and then declared the convention officially begun.

After a quick break the first workshop began. The themes of this year’s convention drew upon Native American spirituality, stellar energies, and the power of sound. The first workshop was therefore extremely apropos as it was a workshop on song. Different members of the Isian Clergy taught the assembly different chants and songs which all sang together. This raised tremendous energy and really started the day off on a high note.
 

Then in the second workshop Lady Deena led an FOI question and answer session in which different aspects of the Fellowship were discussed as well as the nature and purposes of the FOI Chicago convention and its center-piece Mystery Play. The center piece of each years convention is a different Mystery Play from the Isian liturgy.

Left: Rev. Don prepares to invoke the Goddess Mayahuel into ArchPriestess Deena at the beginning of the Aztec-themed Mystery of Mayahuel at the FOI Chicago Mystery Convention of Year 1 Aquarius (2001 AD)

The Mystery plays expound on deep theological and philosophical subjects through ritual, the enacting of sacred myths, and meditation -as well as the delivery of oracles, a very important feature of Isian ritual. This years play was the Mystical Awakening of Ursa Major and dealt with themes of Native American spirituality and stellar guidance. Lady Deena explained how the FOI Chicago has been in the process of presenting Mystery plays each year which tie into a different geographical region, with the intent of covering every continent over the next several years. Finally, Sarolta DeFaltay presented a glossary of terms she had prepared which explained the more exotic terms from this years Mystery Play for those who might not be familiar with them.

Lady Olivia also took this occasion to expound on her delight at the outing which Lady Deena had arranged on Thursday to Chicago's haunted Butler Woods. Here dwell the lovely deer which are said to be the spirits of the Robinson family, a half-blood family who are said to have been transformed into dear during the difficulties between the Native population and European settlers in the early 1400s Pisces (1800s AD). As it happens the Robinsons are distant cousins to Olivia's own Roberston family (when your family is over 1000 years old you have a lot of cousins) and she was absolutely delighted when a deer appeared and a bystander exclaimed "Look! There's a Robinson!"

We then broke for lunch. Rev. Jason, Zack, and I adjourned to the merchant's room to see what interesting things were to be found there. 

This year Lady Deena had asked Mike Smith's Crafty Crafters (www.CraftyCraftersExpo.com) to manage the merchant's room for the convention, and they had done an excellent job for the merchant's room offered every kind of metaphysical supplies and paraphernalia you could ask for: robes and cloaks, incenses and oils, swords and Athames, decorative Witches' hats of every description (wildly popular ever since Minerva Mac Gonegal's [Dame Maggie Smith] pheasant decorated hat in the Harry Potter movies), wonderful jewelry, books, Witches' Mirrors, statuary, chain mail, and all manner of Egyptian inspired items including golden statues of Egyptian Deities, canopic jars, miniature mummy cases (some with miniature mummies), altar objects, and much, much more.

Above: Janet Berres, Head of the International Tarot Society, noted spiritual artist Joan Riise, and Rev. Don in the merchant room of the Chicago FOI Mystery Convention '04


There were many familiar faces in the merchant's room including Artemis Moon, Mike Seeber of Project Mercury, and of course Mike Smith who runs both Crafty Crafters and Witch and Famous cruises.

We joined Renee Baute for lunch across from the hotel, then picked up the always-necessary coffee without which I run out of steam on days such as this, before returning to the convention.
 


Above: Rev. Don with Lady Olivia at the Chicago FOI Mystery Convention in 1599 Pisces (1999 AD)		 When we had reassembled Lady Olivia led us all in one of her famous meditations, this one an Astral journey to the stars.

Lady Olivia is famous for her meditations. She loves to tell the story of how a woman once came to Clonegal Castle asking to see the "flying carpet". After some discussion Olivia realized that the woman was referring to her habit of spreading a carpet on the castle lawn and leading meditation in the open air, journeying Astrally to many locations.

Next Lady Selena led a workshop dedicated to nature spirits and the power of place. She told the story of the original Blessing of the Circle sanctuary land, then passed out wild turkey feathers she had gathered from the woods surrounding her home. She described how the wild turkey is a symbol of wisdom, unlike the dimmer domestic turkey, and led a powerful meditation to attune to this totem.

Lady Selena is a most remarkable woman -as publisher of Circle Network News Lady Selena has been one of the most influential leaders of the Pagan community for decades, and her annual Pagan Spirit Gathering is one of the USA's most important festivals. Even more importantly, Lady Selena has been and remains among the most important civil rights leaders in the Pagan movement and is deeply involved, as we Correllians have also been, in the Parliament of World's Religions.
It was wonderful to see Lady Selena again, as I last saw her at a Pagan Spirit Gathering in 1595 Pisces (1995 AD). I also spoke to her about the possibility of doing some classes for witchschool.com on the subject of the civil rights work in which she is unexcelled. Although Lady Selena's schedule is extremely busy she allowed as she would like to discuss formulating such a course -which would be a tremendous addition to our Witchschool curriculum.

Right: Selena Fox, Rev. Don, and Lady Amber Dawn at the Chicago FOI Mystery Convention '04

After a brief break Joan Forest Mage led a workshop on Soul Retrieval. Soul Retrieval is a Shamanic technique of spiritual healing, very powerful for restoring spiritual wholeness.

Finally, we approached the moment of the Mystery play. The Mystery play is the center piece of each years convention, and every year Lady Deena and the Isian Clergy work very hard to make it a memorable experience.
 


The Mystery play always begins with an elegantly choreographed dance by Lady Deena and the Chicago Isian Priestesses. Described as a "prayer through movement" this dance uses symbolic gestures and actions to enhance the meaning of the play and reverence the Quarters and Deities. This year the reverend ladies danced in maize-colored dance shawls with colorful swaying fringes whose movements reinforced the power of their ritualized gestures.
 


Above: The mystery play begins with a dance. Here Sarolta de Faltay invokes the South with dance. To the left we see Lady Olivia and Lady Selena seated in the place of honor.


Then the Priesthood entered in procession, carrying tall staves and wearing robes of yellow and gold. The play unfolded in all its liturgical magnificence, layering itself upon our consciousnesses like a spiritual web of thought and understanding.

It was particularly interesting for me to attend this Mystery Play since it is the first time I have not been one of the celebrating Priesthood. In the eleven years of the Chicago Isian convention this is the first one I have not been directly involved in -and I must say I miss it.

The last event of the day was a prayer circle. As the prayer feather was passed around the circle each person offered a prayer and a pinch of tobacco to Spirit. Many of the prayers included a thank you to Lady Deena, Lady Olivia, and Lady Selena. One prayer in particular I will remember for it praised Lady Olivia as being "The Love of the World" -and so indeed she is. This wonderful lady is truly a gift from the Gods.

The convention ended as it always does with a joyous spiral dance, this one led by Selena Fox. In and out, around and about, the dance snaked its merry way through the hall, then ended with cheers and applause.

What a wonderful day it was!

After the end of the convention we broke for more socializing -it will be a long time before some of us see each other again.
 


Above: Artist Joan Riise poses with some of her
art in the FOI Convention's merchant room


 
What a pleasure to see Lady Olivia -her energy and insight never fail to amaze me. Lady Olivia confided that she had been disappointed at the thought that I might not be present this year (for I had not been expected in advance) and we agreed that we wished we had more time to talk. But we will be seeing the holy lady again in Los Angeles at the Iseum of Isis Pelasgia, run by our good friend Laura Janesdaughter.

It was hard to leave the convention, with so many friends there, but it was necessary for us to return to Hoopeston to finish the final preparations for the trip. So sadly we bade farewell to our Isian friends and took our Witchschool-blue van back onto the express way and headed south.
 


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