Clans 2009
All of the Clans at Twilight Covening are designed to provide deep and fulfilling
experiences. An asterisk (*) indicates a Clan which requires an application for
admission. These Clans are more likely to induce intense responses.
If you would like to apply to join one of these Clans, please include in your
statement a description of your training, your skills and practice with these
kind of encounters and a description of the kind of support system you have in
place outside of Twilight Covening (coven, therapist, teacher, etc.).
Camel Clan
Named for the intense backbending asana in yoga and for the animal that can at times be an entire eco system within itself, this year Camel Clan will focus on asana practice that opens the hips and shoulders. Poses will be held longer while we turn inward and cultivate our galaxy within. Without open shoulders and hips depression can take over. With open hips and shoulders we can fully create and love. Drawing from nature and cultivating deep breathe, this clan will be physically active each clan time. While the clan is open to everyone, even those with physical challenges, you should expect to sweat through physical activity. (To help the Clan run smoothly,please indicate your physical strengths and weaknesses on your application form as well as your experience with meditation.)
Amanda Brooks-Clemeno, leader
Caribou Clan
Run. Feel. Bleed. Dream. Grow your antlers Coming together as women of magic, the Caribou Clan will focus on women's mysteries- mysteries of bleeding, mysteries of birthing, mysteries of dying and being reborn. Connecting to our goddess archetypes, we will explore our roles as powerful women, women with horns, women who are not male identified, but powerful within our spiraling cyclonic selves. Running with the herd, the drum our beating hearts, we will shape shift, dance with the aurora, and evolve from women of promise into women of power.
Starwind, leader
Condor Clan
The Condor, resourceful and patient, has the ability to stay focused on its goal despite outside influences that try to distract it. Condor can see beyond earthly laws or limitations and reach the strengths necessary for life enrichment. This clan will use various meditation techniques accompanied by writing and other creative outlets, for reflection and inward journeying while releasing expectations. We will have a period of time observing a "noble silence" and will practice silent meditations, mirror gazing, walking meditations using a conscious breath and journaling. Our work will culminate in the creation of a personal expression of our own experiences. This clan offers transformative tools that you can use for your solitary work through the winter.
Darrell Moore, leader
Crow Clan *
Slough off your ego and join a murder of crows. Experience the magic of being the "unseen hands". Crow clan will work with maintaining heightened awareness in connection with others while facilitating ritual energy flow. We will use trust exercises and non-verbal communication to develop a focused but anonymous presence within ritual space, trancing in instead of trancing out. The Crows will provide support for the Fire releasing and Visioning rituals, and will share a sleeping space.
Not recommended for persons with physical touch issues or mobility challenges.
Moira Ashleigh and Duncan Eagleson, leaders
Eagle Clan
In the Eagle Clan, we will explore ways of shaping our lives to live our heartsâ desires. Entering trance with drum, rattle, and ritual, we will use shamanic techniques of vision crafting, empowerment, and manifestation to affirm our true dreams, then learn how to bring them into being in this reality through the support of a personal inner council convened in the unseen realm. In a safe and sacred circle, we will connect with our core sources of inspiration to energize positive change in our lives and our communities. You are invited to bring drums, rattles, feathers, sacred objects for the altar, and a pen and notebook or journal.
Jane LeCompte and Andrew Arthur, leaders
Heron Clan
green leaves and needles
with intertwined roots
on one boulder
With intense awareness and patience, the Great Heron snatches what it needs from the water. There are beautiful, poignant, humorous and magical moments around us every day. Unfortunately, we often barely notice and soon forget many of them. We will hunt for such moments in the woods, by the pond, alone and among people. Then we will capture their essence by writing short poems, especially Haiku, developing skills for what can become a profound ongoing practice. You do not need any experience with poetry.
Eric Leventhal Arthen, leader
Horse Clan
The horse, a herd animal, was held sacred by the heathen peoples of Northern Europe and revered for the special and sacred partnership it was capable of forming with a human. In this clan we will explore the Nine Noble Virtues that are honored in contemporary practice: courage, truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, self-reliance, industriousness, and perseverance. We will examine how the Virtues can help us to integrate ourselves into our communities and the natural world around us through meditation, discussion, and an examination of ancient heathen literature to find the virtues in action. Clan members will choose one virtue in particular and focus on it to discover how it enriches, or could enrich, your connection and value to community and your connection with the earth While the focus of this clan is heathen, it is not required that participants be heathen in order to participate.
Ulf, leader
Mole Clan
The unseen world "talks" to us through our body. Just as blind Mole navigates his world by a highly developed sense of touch, our physical sensations and responses can provide a sophisticated mechanism for communicating with Spirit. In this Clan, we will work to develop that sensitivity and decipher the body's hidden knowledge. We will use applied kinesiology and related techniques as a way of testing our perceptions of reality, and acupressure-based techniques to "speak" through our energy meridians.
Miriam Klamkin, leader
Monkey Clan
Rhythm is a gateway to magical transformation, both as a foundation for personal work and as a tool for creating sacred space between the worlds for group ritual. This clan will share skills and develop techniques for creating strong rhythmic/musical containers for magical work. Our focus is both the strengthening of our personal relationship with rhythm, and the service of percussion to our greater community, providing a framework for deep work.
Mark Girard, Morwen Two Feathers leaders
Nightingale Clan
Music is a powerful vehicle for many of us to express deep parts of ourselves, both with and without the use of words. But where does our music come from? And how often do we have the freedom to really let our musical selves be heard? In this clan we will explore our connection to the earth and all that surrounds us, and allow that connection to be heard through our music, specifically using musical instruments. We will push ourselves, both individually and as a group, to create music that comes from our center, and in doing so, recreate that center anew. Clan members need only be able to play a few notes on a melodic, portable instrument to participate in this clan. (Notes: 1-If you can carry it along or play it outside, itâs ãportableä. 2-This is not the most appropriate clan for those seeking to work on their self-expression through the drum or through vocal music.)
Chris LaFond, Katie Birdi, Leaders
Otter Clan
For many of us our spiritual life feels separate and isolated from our everyday existence. In this Clan we will concentrate on the spiritual core of who we are by focusing on three tools that will help us move among the different aspects of life with as much ease and grace as otters moving between the land and the water: a daily practice, a representation of your personal year-wheel, and an individualized divination system crafted from rocks. Through all three, we will deepen our ability to experience our everyday lives as sacred.
Sarah Twichell, leaders
Phoenix Clan *
Who we are in the world is shaped by our experiences. Some of these events were powerful, ecstatic and nourishing. Others were grounded in loss, grief and anger. If a strand of psychic energy still connects us to one of those events, though we may be healed from it emotionally, it will deplete our core energy and drain us of vital will. Using a specific Tarot card spread we will recover that lost energy. The prerequisite for this clan is that you state in a letter what you have done (therapy, specific magical work, etc.) to heal from the "big" life event you plan to work with since this is not about healing from the event itself but detaching from it. You must also have attended Twilight Covening before.
Susan Curewitz Arthen, leader
Screech Owl Clan
The call of the screech owl in the night is powerfully affecting: disembodied, sweetly mysterious, alluring and eerie. Your voice is a similarly powerful creator of and gateway to sacred space. Working with our bodies, we will free our voices so that we can use them in this way. And we will practice using songs to create community and ritual space. This is for people who love to sing, can hold a tune, have some experience with trancework or meditation, and want to go further in using their voices for themselves and their community. (You will leave with a sheaf of lyrics of useful songs and chants for ritual use.) We will do some moderate hiking.
Sarah Stockwell-Arthen leader
Selkie Clan
We are creatures of language and movement. We flow between the solidity of earth and the fluidity of water, as did the Selkies - the seal people of Celtic legend. In this clan we will dance between the verbal and non-verbal worlds. Through a technique called Authentic Movement (wherein the individual moves from their inner impulses with eyes closed) and other embodied practices, we will explore our pre-verbal inner landscapes. From this primal place, we will reclaim the secret language of the landscape surrounding us - the language of stone, tree, sky and water. We will then emerge to give voice to our discoveries in written and spoken word. Merging our writing and our movement, we will create ritual that speaks from the core of the earth and the depths of our soul. Much of our time will be spent outdoors.
Juniper Talbot, leader
Snowy Owl Clan
In this clan, we will discuss the theories of how various soothsaying methods work and show people how to develop their own if they need to do so. We will focus on various techniques of divination with hands-on practice of some. We will look at not only cartomancy (divination using cards), but also tasseomancy (tea leaf/coffee grounds), physiognomy (palmistry, molography), casting/sortilage (runes, grain, I Ching, salt), numerology, trance Voyaging (seid utiseta), astrology, scrying, psychometry, omens & dream interpretation, dowsing, and a variety of other -omancies. We may even toss in some of the curious and wierd techniques used from the early days of the Roman Empire on through perhaps the 19th century.
Jane T. Sibley, Tchippakan leaders
Wolf Clan *
The wolf pack is a complex and dynamic group of individuals living within a larger community. Community life can be full of conflicts and power struggles. Conflict is simply two energies trying to occupy the same space regardless of whether it is internal or external. Using energy and breath work, service to community, and movement we will explore our awareness of our place in community and develop tools to work with the energy of conflict. Through an all-night outdoor vigil, non-verbal communication and physical contact we will have the opportunity to discover, push and expand our edges as individuals. Join us to hunt the edges for symbols to carry us into our winter work. This Clan is not recommended for individuals with mobility challenges or physical touch issues. This Clan will share a cabin.
Tracy Andryc, Jason Sykes, leaders
The Wyvern Clan *
The Wyvern, the noble winged serpent dragon manifestation has been both feared and revered throughout history. Those who understood its nature embraced it as guardian of honor and victory. Those who have participated in the Gryphon clan in past years are familiar with this duality. The Wyvern clan will take the knowledge gained through the Gryphon work and our lives, and incorporate it into a weekend-long ritual within the ritual of Twilight Covening. We will be working intensely together to manifest the rituals of Dark Eros to gain release or empowerment in a supportive and magical environment. We will be embracing the duality that is light and dark by turning deeply inward to our group, presenting ourselves to our community and tapping into the energy of the gathering. This clan is designed for those who want to work to develop a deeper understanding of the Dark Eros work, and will focus more on ritual than technique, which is why prior participation in the Gryphon clan is a requirement. The work will be both intense and rewarding, but will require a significant amount of trust, and comfort with physical contact --- please choose wisely.
Cerillian, leader
Clan Leader Information
* Indicates a Clan which requires an application for
admission. These Clans are more likely to induce intense emotional or psychic
experiences that may trigger fear, vulnerability or other unexpected responses.
If you would like to apply to join one of these Clans, please include in your
statement a description of your training, your skills and practice with these
kind of encounters and a description of the kind of support system you have in
place outside of Twilight Covening (coven, therapist, teacher etc.).
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