The Avalon Center Advisory Board is an informal group made up of interested persons and supporters of ACDS. The Advisory board includes members of the Faculty and advises the Chancellor on matters of general policy and development. Here are some of the members of our Advisory Board. There are over fifty members, but many prefer to remain anonymous.
Donata Ahern, M.S.W. lives in New York State in her grove, Verne Nemeton where she works as a Druid and witch. She is a Druid Companion of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) and serves as an OBOD tutor. She is a shaman of Inka and Huichol lineage, and a Priestess of the Mayan Temple of the Deer. Donata also teaches at the Grey School of Wizardry.
Susa Morgan Black was born into a family of writers, including her Grandmother, Minnie May Morgan (Potter), a nineteenth century poet; her father, Phillip Potter, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun; and her brother John Potter, a poet-philosopher. Bardic storytelling is an art that has been passed down in the Welsh Morgan family for generations. Susa has published poetry, letters to the editors, and articles, several novels and a screenplay. Susa has a BA in Integrated Health Studies from New College of California; is an FSA Scot (Society of Antiquaries of Scotland); a Druid with the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids; and an initiated Witch in the New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn. She has studied history and folklore all her life, and is currently studying Celtic Harp with Diana Stork, from Berkeley, and Scots Gaelic from Tris King in Walnut Creek.
John Michael Greer (Creyr Glas Cynwyddon) is a longtime student, teacher, and writer in the field of Western esoteric spirituality, with ten books on occult subjects in print, including _The New Encyclopedia of the Occult_, the Coalition of Visionary Resources' "Best Nonfiction Book" of 2003. Presently serving as the Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, he is also a Druid Companion in the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids, a member of Ar nDraiocht Fein, and a First Order initiate of the Reformed Druids of North America. Outside the realm of Druidry he is a bishop in the Universal Gnostic Church and an active Freemason. He lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife and fellow Druid Sara.
Alexander Griffith (Aicerno OCathasaigh) has been involved in the pagan world since 1998, when he first became involved with Sassafras Grove ADF. He will graduate with a BA in History and minor in American History from Slippery Rock University in December 2004. A poet, and sometimes writer, he has pursued his druidic studies from the perspective of religions ranging from Catholicism to Taoism, as well as Paganism. Because of associations with the maternal line of his family; he takes a more Irish-oriented approach to his practices, and is a devotee of Brid and Cernunnos. His experiences with the otherworld entail having been possessed by his patron name-sake while involved with a local pagan gathering, as well as having sensitivity for noticing the presence of ghosts and other spirits. Aicerno's dreams have influence his life, beginning with one involving the march of the dead soldiers that led to his becoming involved with Civil War living history.
Jason Kirkey (Solas Idircheo) is a writer, poet, teacher and practitioner of primal Irish spirituality. He is the developer of the Grove of Dana: Online College of Druidism which is hosted by a small virtual order, called The New Order of Druids. His website is www.betweenthemists.org, and he is currently writing a book tentatively titled, In the House of Shore and Sea: Celtic Reflections on Inviting Home the Sacred. He splits his time between the shaded forests of New England and rugged mountains of Colorado, where he attends Naropa University, majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies, combining traditional Celtic wisdom with ecopsychology.
John Owings (Merlyn) hails from the Welsh Owens family, a blood line that reaches far back into Welsh history. Mr. Owings is known as Merlyn, the welsh word for pony, as he is the of the iron horse. A superb and experienced graphic artist, he owns his own business custom painting and restoring motorcycles. A Druid in the OBOD, Merlyn practices his magical arts in the stone circle of the four dragons, hosted by Ovain the magical tree dryad. He is chief druid of the Circle of the four Dragons Grove in Virginia. Maker of the "Full Moon Rite" and other magical rituals, Merlyn is forever working in the world of esoteric balance and insights.
