Welcome to the AODA Forums

From the Fond du lac area

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Hello from Los Angeles, CA! Iā€™m trilled for joining the forum. I only recently became a candidate.

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Hello from TN! I canā€™t wait to begin my journey and make new friends with you all!

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Welcome to AODA, @luna and @RynTheWitch!

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Hello, @luna! Welcome! :star2: Iā€™m originally from Southern California. What inspired you to become a candidate?

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Hi from the eastern panhandle of WV.
Iā€™m Josh. my wife and I both just became candidates, although I donā€™t think sheā€™s checked out the forums yet. I have studied various forms of earth based spirituality over the yearsā€¦
Beth came back from Magus super excited about AODA and showed me the curriculum and it seemed to be pretty in tune with where I am currently in my journey.
Iā€™m an EMT (disclaimer: but not your EMT, unless your on my ambo, consult a physician before heeding any medical advice) currently working for a private transport company. Also Iā€™m the houses resident kitchen witch.(allready planning on making some of my changes around the kitchen processes in the house)

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Hello Josh and welcome to the AODA and the forum!

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Hello and welcome to the forum!

Hi! I believe many things one after the other led me to Druidry, without me realizing where I was headed to. :slight_smile:
Iā€™ve felt a connection to trees from the earliest days of my childhood, such as leaves and branches trembling as soon as I get near a tree. I always felt like they wanted to tell me something, but I didnā€™t stop and listen. I hugged and I talked. :)). During my adult years, as spiritual growth became a part of my life, I started to see the value of listening to my intuition, to my guides and to trees and stones and waterā€¦ and as I was looking for a research project on the anthropology of consciousness (Iā€™m a cultural anthropologist), my intuition kept telling me to work with trees. So I did, and they led me to Druidry. :slight_smile: Here I am, happy to have found a community of like-minded, like-hearted people and a safe space to grow with tree wisdom.

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Hey all, my nameā€™s Stephanie or Aisling. Iā€™m cool with both. Been a Pagan druid for quite a few years now and joined the AODA to get a more structured curriculum. Would also like to reach out to some other pagans, as Iā€™ve been practicing on my own for some time. Iā€™m from Kitsap county Washington for anyone curious. Itā€™s good to be here.

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Hello Aisling and welcome to the AODA and the forum. Aisling is my great-nieceā€™s name. Great Irish name :wink: The funny thing is, my great-nephewā€™s wifeā€™s name is Stephanie :joy: All of them live in Ireland :smiley:

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Wow, youā€™ve got quite the family! Is your family originally from Ireland or did that part move to Ireland?

I picked the name Aisling because I heard it from one of my favorite films (The Secret of Kells) and later learned itā€™s also a poetic genre that developed in Ireland during the 17th and 18th century. Iā€™m a big literature buff if you havenā€™t guessed already!

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Welcome to AODA, @Aisling! Many of us join for the structured curriculum.

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The part of my family that is from that neck of the woods was ancestry. I have an ancestor from Ireland called Jacob Applegate and the rest of my lineage from that neck of the woods is from Wales. I am from the US, but I used to chat in MSN chatrooms in the late 90s to early 2000s. I met someone there who lived in Belfast, Northern Ireland. After 4.5 years of chatting, I traveled there to be with him and we are still together. Weā€™ve been together for 18 years :wink: I lived over there for 7.5 years before we had to come back to the States and we were married here in 2013. My children and grandchildren were here. I had to come back for health reasons. I didnā€™t give up citizenship because of family so I didnā€™t have free medical. When you need surgeries (more than one) you must come back.

Still, I got very close to most of my husbandā€™s family, even his extended family. I miss it over there.

Nothing wrong with being a literature buff :wink: My first love may have been archaeology/anthropology, but practically speaking, I wanted to major in literature or linguistics. When I got a little older, then I switched to wanting to go into forestry. I was heavily influenced in the beginning by the Indiana Jones movies :joy: Then I was heavily influenced by my English Lit teacher. She had me reading books outside the curriculum since I read so fast. I was the ā€œteacherā€™s petā€. I totally get the literature junkie part of it lol

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Pren! :green_heart:

I love your energy in this post! :sparkles:

I am on the complete opposite side of the US in Virginia. I joined the AODA 4 years ago, but I am brand-spanking-new to the forum. I am finally in a good place to seek initiation & begin my diligent work :raised_hands:

I am also here seeking connection & exchange of ideas: have you found any virtual AODA Study Groups or Groves that you enjoy? If you have or you do, please let me know :pray:

I am currently on a little camping trip with my husband & our 3 little doggies. Weā€™re in Fairy Stone State Park & weā€™ve found so many fairy stones! Iā€™ll include a link in case you or anyone else is interested in either the science or the legends. Itā€™s definitely a sacred space in that forest :deciduous_tree::sunrise_over_mountains:

Getting renewed this week is what prompted me to hop on here this evening. Ive been ready to begin my druid journey- what better time than now? :woman_fairy::man_fairy:

We hope to someday come out your way & explore the awe-inspiring forests in Washington. Iā€™d be so down for any recommended must-visit spots! :evergreen_tree:

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Fairy Stone State Park in Virginia:

The legend told here is only the Christian version, but the Native Americans had their own legends. The cross has always been a sacred symbol & to them it symbolized the 4 cardinal directions, or the Four Winds. They also believed that it was magical forest spirits who left them in this forest :blush:

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I am grateful to be welcomed here!

I agree with everything stated in the Code of Conduct.

I actually feel much more comfortable now, in this space, knowing that itā€™s well-mediated & everyone goes through a vetting process before being granted the access to comment on othersā€™ posts about very personal & deeply-held spiritual beliefs.

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That is the one thing about this forum that I donā€™t have in my community ā€¦ acceptance of my beliefs. You will not be told that you are wrong here. You will not be told that you are a bad person for how you believe. I dare say that most people in this forum love talking to everyone about their different beliefs. Love and acceptance are hard to get unless youā€™re in this forum! :wink: lol

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Iā€™m so excited by that prospect, Heather :heart:

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Hello all! My name is Wiley and Iā€™m a permaculture practitioner in western Michigan. I heard about AODA from the Hex Positive podcast a few weeks ago and decided to join after reading Land Healing. Iā€™ve spent the last five or six years developing my own land-based spiritual practices informed by reading everything I can find from Anishinaabe authors, since Iā€™m living on their land. But I donā€™t want to appropriate their ceremonial practices, so Iā€™m hoping that the AODA curriculum will give me a non-appropriative starting point to build my own ceremonies from. I agree to the community guidelines, and I look forward to getting to know you all.

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