From the Fond du lac area
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Hello from Los Angeles, CA! Iām trilled for joining the forum. I only recently became a candidate.
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Hello from TN! I canāt 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! 
Iām originally from Southern California. What inspired you to become a candidate?
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Hi from the eastern panhandle of WV.
Iām Josh. my wife and I both just became candidates, although I donāt think sheās 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.
Iām 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 Iām 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. 
Iāve 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 didnāt 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 (Iām a cultural anthropologist), my intuition kept telling me to work with trees. So I did, and they led me to Druidry. 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 nameās Stephanie or Aisling. Iām 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 Iāve been practicing on my own for some time. Iām from Kitsap county Washington for anyone curious. Itās good to be here.
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Hello Aisling and welcome to the AODA and the forum. Aisling is my great-nieceās name. Great Irish name 
The funny thing is, my great-nephewās wifeās name is Stephanie 
All of them live in Ireland 
Wow, youāve 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 itās also a poetic genre that developed in Ireland during the 17th and 18th century. Iām a big literature buff if you havenāt guessed already!
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Welcome to AODA, @Aisling! Many of us join for the structured curriculum.
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. Weāve been together for 18 years 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 didnāt give up citizenship because of family so I didnāt have free medical. When you need surgeries (more than one) you must come back.
Still, I got very close to most of my husbandās family, even his extended family. I miss it over there.
Nothing wrong with being a literature buff 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 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 āteacherās petā. I totally get the literature junkie part of it lol
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