A
Ahimsa
Guest
Raised in: “I was not raised in any church, but began attending and eventually joined St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Plainwell in my senior year in high school. I later joined St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Battle Creek while I was a student at Olivet College. Then I went to seminary at Virginia Theological Seminary to become an Episcopal priest and served for almost five years in New Hampshire and Michigan.”
Now a member of: “I now serve as the minister of the Sacred Birch Society, a legally incorporated Wiccan group of nearly 40 men, women and children in the Lapeer area. I say ‘minister’ because that is a term people can relate to, but any Wiccan is his or her own priest. I am often the group’s ‘ritual leader’ — maybe that’s a better name for my role. I have had several teachers and have been ordained by the people of Sacred Birch. As a result, I can legally marry people and conduct funerals. And I can get into hospitals more easily to visit the sick.”
Now a member of: “I now serve as the minister of the Sacred Birch Society, a legally incorporated Wiccan group of nearly 40 men, women and children in the Lapeer area. I say ‘minister’ because that is a term people can relate to, but any Wiccan is his or her own priest. I am often the group’s ‘ritual leader’ — maybe that’s a better name for my role. I have had several teachers and have been ordained by the people of Sacred Birch. As a result, I can legally marry people and conduct funerals. And I can get into hospitals more easily to visit the sick.”
