Board of Directors – The Society of Elder Faiths

An Open Letter to the Membership

SEF Board Member — Sun, 08 Sep 2024 13:17:04 +0000

An open letter to members of the Society of Elder Faiths

Merry Meet,

We hope this finds you and yours well.

We are writing because we miss you and want to update you on the state of the Society of Elder Faiths.

Since the founding of the SEF, we have offered in person, public events to celebrate the cycles of Nature and facilitate connections among the greater Pagan community. Attendance and support have waxed and waned over the years, but, since COVID, have remained low.

We now find ourselves at a crossroads. Energetically and monetarily, we cannot proceed without greater participation by the membership. If the SEF and her work is something that you wish to see continue, we need to hear from you. Ideally, we need to see you at upcoming events.

Please be in touch. Let us know what events you would physically attend and bring others of similar mind. Unfortunately, if attendance does not improve and response to this message is tepid, we will close next year.

Best regards,

The Board of the SEF

Whatever your thoughts, please send us a message at:

societyofelderfaithsma@gmail.com

Cameron

SEF Board Member — Thu, 26 May 2022 16:17:43 +0000

Cameron has been a Wiccan for over 3 decades, initiated in the Chthonioi Alexandrian tradition , and a member of SEF from its earliest day. He shared a leadership role on SEFs cycling team which benefitted HIV/AIDS charities. A classically trained percussionist with 50 years of experience, he places an emphasis on music and rhythm in ritual. Cameron has a … Continue reading

Cynthia

Morwynna — Fri, 15 May 2015 00:30:15 +0000

Cynthia works as the Director of Education for three Unitarian Universalist Churches in Central MA. She serves these spiritual communities by providing family ministry and pastoral care, developing faith formative programming for all ages, and assisting in the planning and leading of UU programming and worship services.

Cynthia has been a practicing Wiccan for over 30 years and finds her deepest spirituality in the natural world. She joined the SEF in 2007 and was initiated into the Chthonioi Alexandrian tradition in 2013.

As clergy and a board member for the SEF, she has assisted with the creation and coordination of numerous public and private Sabbats and Pagan events for over 7 years. She currently serves as the Pagan Family Coordinator, offering family-accessible programs and rituals focused around the Pagan Sabbats.

Cynthia is available as Pagan clergy for spiritual events and support. She offers assistance with Pagan and non-denominational services, rituals, and life transitions including Weddings, Handfastings & Civil Unions; Funerals, Memorials & Deathing; Naming Ceremonies; Coming of Age Rituals; Wiccanings; and Custom Rituals.

For more information about clergy services you can contact her at: cynthia@inkwoodtarot.com

Back to SEF Board of Directors Page

Barbara, Clerk

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 03:15:10 +0000

Barbara has been a member of SEF since 2002. She assisted in starting and running the Pagan Family Connection and the earlier Pagan Teen Group (before the current esbat series was started). Barbara has enjoyed attending and participating in many SEF rituals and retreats. She is a member of the SEF Clergy. She has been on the Board of Directors for a number of years. Barbara was a member and Coven Maiden of Llwyn Bedw Arian, receiving her third degree in 2011.

Back to SEF Board of Directors Page

Morwynna

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 03:14:52 +0000

Morwynna began a self-dedicated neo-pagan practice in 1971, and attended her first group ritual at The Temple of the Pagan Way in Chicago at Imbolg 1974. Her solitary practice continued another 12 years; partly because she didn’t know anyone else to practice with, and partly out of a philosophical dislike of “organized” religion. In 1986 she met a magickal partner and resumed her research of group practice. They began helping out at Harvest, a local pagan periodical, and there met members of the greater Boston Wiccan community. This led to study and initiation with Amaltheia Coven. She started her first coven (Grove of the Mists) in 1999 and her current coven (Llwyn Bedw Arian – Grove of the Silver Birch) in 2006.

Always passionate about outreach, she started leading public Esbats and Sabbats (as well teaching classes about the Sabbats) with her ritual partner in 1994 at Arsenic and Old Lace in Cambridge, and later at Arsenic and Old Lace in Brookline, Taproot in Worcester, Open Doors in Brighton and in Weymouth, as well as larger Sabbat events at the Brigham Hill Barn in Grafton. The photo above right is from our Beltain 2011, with covener Mannanan.

Currently, Morwynna lives north of Boston with her husband David. They met in 1994 at the Woolman Hill Quaker Retreat Center, during a regional meeting of the Covenant of the Goddess, and they married there in 2005. She continues to do public outreach, by volunteering with Wiccan groups in prisons and also through involvement in the Unitarian-Universalist church. She has represented Earth-Based clergy at large interfaith services, led services for Samhain, Yule, Imbolg, Midsummer, and Lammas, and spoken at various UU venues (including Religious Education classes) about our religion.

She enjoys lifelong passions for music (especially early music), folklore, and historical research; she continues to work on a book about the history of Sabbat practices, a Coven Cookbook, and a historical novel. (Writing seems like a multi-lifetime endeavor!) She founded the Æring Early Music Ensemble in 2009. Although she is new to the Board, she joined SEF in 1997 and has been the official Administrative Witch since 2001.

Back to SEF Board of Directors Page

Hunter

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 02:13:30 +0000

Hunter joined the SEF board a few years ago. He has been a member since 2011, but started helping at our events a few years before joining. This photo is from Samhain 2013.

Hunter is still working on his SEF bio – more info to come!

Back to SEF Board of Directors Page

Greg

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 02:12:15 +0000

My name is Gregory Savage, and I started looking into Paganism while I was still part of the Lutheran church in the mid 90’s. I started as a solitary practitioner in 1996. I met my now wife in 2000, and discovered that she was also a solitary practitioner. We married 6 years later and started to attend the Pagan Family Connection events with our son in 2007. Later that year we attended our first Public Society of Elder Faiths Ritual, and we have been coming back ever since then. I officially joined the SEF in 2013 and was elected to the board in 2014.

I was raised a Lutheran but have become a very active member in the Unitarian Universalist church since 2007. I have taught Sunday school in both faiths as well as being a youth group leader for both.

Over the last few years, as well as becoming part of the board, I have also become one of the people to help run the Pagan Family Connection as well as our Teen and Tween group. It has been an honor to become part of this group, and to make so many new friends some of which have become family to myself and my family as well. I look forward to being part of the SEF for a long time to come and meeting new people and making new friendships.

Back to SEF Board of Directors Page

Cynthia

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 02:11:07 +0000

Cynthia is one of our newer board members, and is still working on her Board Bio. She and her family have been participating in Pagan Family Connection events for several years. She also brings her musical talents to our Beltain celebrations and our annual Coffeehouse and Auction!

Kara, Religious Education

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 02:10:06 +0000

Kara Nilson has been an SEF member since 2003, and has been a co-leader and leader of the Pagan Family Connection since 2007. In response to the needs of the pre-teens in the PFC, she started the Tween and Teen Esbat Group that meets once a month at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Hudson, MA.

Discovering the craft in 1986, Kara was unable to find any resources or events friendly to young teenagers. She kept her solitary practice until discovering the SEF in 2003, then dedicating to Mnemosyne’s Well of the Spawn Far tradition in 2006. In 2010 she dedicated to Llwyn Bedw Arian coven. Kara has written and co-faciliated public rituals for adults at Taproot, in Grafton and Hopkinton and for Pagan families in Grafton since 2006.

Back to SEF Board of Directors Page

Karen, President

Morwynna — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 02:08:49 +0000

Karen Selznick has been an SEF member since 2003. She joined the Board in February of 2012. In addition to being the official photographer for the SEF she worked with Mnemosyne’s Well to co-facilitate public rituals for adults at Taproot and has also held supporting roles in numerous rituals at the Barn in Grafton and the Hopkinton YMCA Camp.

Karen began her practice and first dedicated to Dion Tir in Orlando, Florida in 1996. After moving back to Massachusetts in 2002, she began attending open SEF events She is presently a member of the coven Salacia.

Born in Brooklyn NY, Karen relocated to Massachusetts at age 5. After 18 years in the Northeast, she decided a change was in order, and moved to sunny Florida. Having had enough sun, and missing her family, she came back to Massachusetts in 2002. She now resides in Franklin with her husband Shawn and teenage daughter Chloe; a cat named Homer; a bird named Mousse; and two guinea pigs named Flubber and Weebo.

She is a Summa Cum Laude Graduate of Becker College holding a Bachelors Degree in Business Management. Karen is currently working as a cosmetologist in Franklin, MA.