Acting as ECRM's representative, I attended the Covenant of the Goddess Merry Meet 2001 festival in Dallas, Texas on August 24-26th. The Covenant of the Goddess, one of the largest and oldest religious organizations for witches, has members in North America, Europe and Australia. Merry Meet is The Covenant's annual national conference. This is ECRM's second year to attend.

The workshops I enjoyed included a lively session on handfastings, a candle making workshop, and a discussion of Ellen C. Friedman's As Above, So Below: A System of Value-based Ethics for Wiccan Clergy. I also sat in on some of the Grand Council meetings and delivered ECRM's contribution to the silent auction fundraiser for the Covenant of the Goddess national fund -- a basket of handcrafted and blessed Samhain Soaps.

Saturday night's ritual, presented by the American Tradition of the Goddess, was an elaborate masque titled "The 13th Goddess." The ritual was followed by the T-Dance and Talent Showcase. For the talent show, I did a short retelling of the corn mother story I had prepared for Lughnasa (see "The Corn Woman's Blessings" on our Mythology page).

I met a number of interesting people during the extended weekend (including a nice witch from Roswell, New Mexico, who offered to show us the real crash site when we're in town). I also heard about Cherry Hill Seminary, a Pagan seminary offering classes in pastoral counseling. The weekend ended, ironically, with a storm that kept me stranded at the Houston airport for most of Sunday (where I had a statue of George Bush to keep me company). Still, the trip was worth it, and I'm looking forward to next year!