What crazy kind of church is this, anyway?
Welcome, friend, and thank you for asking. You have found our on-line door, which is always open to people of any faith, or none, or who wonder, as we do, what being a person of faith is. The technical details are in the regular pages, of course, but this may be a new experience.
We are a bunch of people who share an urge to, in the words of an Elder, “Think cosmically; act neighborly“. For most of us, this is the closest we come to organized religion. We gather, physically or virtually, to do for ourselves what brick-and-mortar churches or temples or mosques do for their congregations and for their communities.
Cosmically, our underlying spiritual path is Pagan, owing no allegiance or submission to any particular texts or teachers. Rather, we each bring to this community the fruits of our exploration, experience, and gathered wisdom, and we grow as we share. We have a formal spiritual tradition that provides a default framework and liturgy for our rites, but we are also free to craft ritual from scratch or to adapt others’ rituals to the needs of our guests and the moment.
The BhaktiWiccan Tradition of Sacred Grove is a growing and living tradition, with deep roots in the past and branches growing into the future.
Locally, we have been recognized as one of the northern Virginia faith communities that serves needs outside our congregation, near and far, and participates actively with other congregations to support the wider community.
So who is running this outfit?
Hi, I’m RedBird. I am the Community Faith Group Leader (CFGL) — to use the term derived from the military usage, Distinctive Faith Group Leader (DFGL), for persons authorized to work with the uniformed chaplain to meet the spiritual needs of personnel outside the religious mainstream. I maintain this site and our Facebook page, handle the administrivia, and keep us in compliance with the requirements of Sacred Well Congregation.
I am a Dedicant of the Fellowship of the Sacred Grove, Priestess and Witch. I am also Ordained Minister and Cleric Priestess of Sacred Well Congregation. Locally I serve as hospital on-call chaplain and am part of the Fairfax County Community Chaplain Corps, mother of two, grandmother of one. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Earth Sciences from MIT and a Master of Divinity in Pagan Pastoral Counseling from Cherry Hill Seminary.
How many members are in your congregation?
Hm. Good question. We have not been keeping membership rolls of late, since our rituals are public. People are fairly mobile these days, and we keep in touch through the web. When we need to take more formal notice of affiliation, we handle that on an individual basis and recognize that each of us may be affiliated with other faith groups as well.
Donations
We get by. We are trying this way to receive contributions, which are tax deductible for 501(c)(3) religious organizations, as we are through Sacred Well Congregation.