Fieldhaven Coven hosts a variety of events as described in this topic page and its subpages. If you're interested in attending our activities, feel free to get in touch. You can reach us via email at: greenhaventradition (at) yahoo (dot) com
At rituals in the Greenhaven Tradition, all attendees are expected to stand in the Circle, although not everyone necessarily has to take an active role in the ritual. Most of our rituals are designed for mature practitioners, and the covenstead is not childproof. We have hosted some family rituals in the past, but right now none of our members have small children so that's not a current focus. Fieldhaven covenstead is a dry site, so our rituals are customarily alcohol-free.
Dress mode for ritual varies. Open rituals often use street clothes with thematic colors or motifs, augmented by symbolic tabards for officiants. Coven members do have ritual robes as well, and sometimes wear those, more often for esbats. We have done a few skyclad rituals, but not for open sabbats; we tend to reserve this for rituals where it will add power to the theme. Sometimes we use fancier ritual garb, such as Renaissance or fantasy style. Dress mode for open rituals is customarily announced to interested parties along with other planning details. Participants are expected to follow the dress mode for each ritual they choose to attend.
Like many traditions, we have our own form of circle casting. If you attend one of our rituals, you may see it; we use it often, though not every time. If you're reading one of our rituals posted online, and you want to perform it yourself, that's fine. Some rituals have specific instructions tailored to their themes, but others just say "cast circle." In the latter case, just use your own favorite version of casting.
If you look at the ritual texts provided for sabbats and esbats, you may notice that they vary in complexity. The number of roles in a given ritual depends somewhat on the number of people we had available when it was designed; the size of our coven and local Pagan community has waxed and waned over time.
Also, some but not all rituals have "extra" parts such as a schedule and/or a list of materials. Those are things we learned on the job. Sometimes we do just a ritual, but other times we host a half-day or day-long celebration with multiple activities; in the latter case, a schedule helps keep things on track. The breaks give us a chance to rest and to catch up if we're running late. Scheduling setup and cleanup makes it more likely for those things to happen than to go astray. The materials list is handy for any ritual, but essential for those with a lot of props; it serves as a checklist to make sure we've assembled everything. It's pesky to get out to the ritual meadow and then have to send someone running back to the house for a forgotten item.
Most rituals in the Greenhaven Tradition are partly or wholly original, and we have hosted dozens over the years. We highly encourage those who want to write and host their own rituals to do so. For this purpose we recommend the books Composing Magic: How to Create Magical Spells, Rituals, Blessings, Chants, and Prayers by Elizabeth Barrette (magical writing) and Covencraft by Amber K (ritual design & coven dynamics).
Sometimes we do extra activities for coven members and other folks in the community, such as rites of passage, workshops, and magical work outside of the holy days.
For brief personal comments on some of our events, see "Activities in a Nutshell." Some longer essays appear under "Our Voices" and are also mentioned below.
Classes
Fieldhaven Coven offers classes at various levels of experience.
Spiritual seekers and novice Pagans may want to check out our Year-and-a-Day Class, a series of twelve sessions presenting the basics of Pagan spirituality and magic. This class is open to Pagans and Pagan-friendly folks when there is enough interest to run a cycle of classes; we have done several rounds previously. Experienced coven members share in teaching the sessions.
We are currently running a series of slightly more advanced classes on particular techniques and styles of magic, available to practitioners who already understand the basics. For an example at this level, see the "Stone Magic Class."
Cooking Feasts
Learn more about cooking Feasts. Pagan events often include snacks or a potluck meal. Most of the sabbat celebrations at Fieldhaven include a Feast. This section offers tips on planning a successful potluck, along with subpages listing recipes for each of the eight sabbats. If you don't find what you want for a given sabbat on its own page, try checking other sabbats -- some of these recipes are suited to more than one.
Crafts
Creative activities are popular in Paganism. Fieldhaven Coven often incorporates a craft project in sabbat celebrations or other events. This section includes instructions for craft projects by various coven members.
Fieldhaven Coven customarily observes esbats on the Full Moon. We have also done a few esbats for other phases of the moon. Esbats are usually for coven members only. This gives us time to bond as a small spiritual group. Coven meetings are usually held before or after the esbat ritual. In this section you'll find an overview of our activities and a sample esbat ritual.
We observe the eight sabbats in the Wheel of the Year: Litha, Lammas, Mabon, Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, and Beltane. (Our coven was founded on Litha, 2003, so that's where our count begins.) Sabbats are usually open to Pagan and Pagan-friendly folks outside the coven, as long as they’re known and welcomed by the hosts. This keeps our coven in touch with the local Pagan community and allows our newer acquaintances to get a taste of what Pagan celebrations are all about. Sometimes a sabbat observance features a ritual alone. Other times it extends to a half-day (or rarely a full day) including such things as a Feast, crafts, games, etc. relating to the theme.
For recipes suited to a particular sabbat, see the "Cooking Feasts" section, which has a subpage for each of the eight.