Friends, Ash and I are so excited to share some big news with you. People who are local to the Western Maryland area know us as a team. Although I’m the one with a media presence, Ash and I are partners in pretty much everything. We write songs for Kindred Crow as a team, develop and lead rituals as a team, support each other’s classes and workshops (frequently by handling the tech side for each other), and Ash is always the first person who sees the first draft of my blogs, columns, and sermons. We are both founders of our Heathen Kindred, Elk Ridge, and Ash is our Gothar (spiritual leader or priest). Sometimes one of us is more visible than the other, but we are almost always working cooperatively when it comes to the various ways we serve the Pagan and Heathen community. A deep connection to spirituality and the call to service are things that we share, and it’s part of why we’re so crazy about each other.
So, it feels like a natural outgrowth to allow our co-creative tendencies to express themselves in a new way. We recently signed a contract with Llewellyn Worldwide to co-write a book on Heathenry. Heathenry is our home practice and shared spiritual focus. Ash’s interests draw them to history and myths, mine draw me to the esoteric and magical sides of Heathenry, and both of us love the devotional and ritual practices of our faith path. Together, we hope to offer a comprehensive manuscript that welcomes people into Inclusive Heathen practice.
We’ve been hard at work on the manuscript and will continue to be for some time. It’s part of why we wanted to tell you what’s going on. I will continue to honor the writing obligations I’d taken on prior to signing the contract (this is why there’ve mostly been sermons rather than blogs on the Cottage website of late), but my “free” writing hours will continue to be spent on this new book until it is finished. Ash works full-time at a large nonprofit, which means their own contributions must happen in the evenings and on weekends. There may be times when we turn down events in order to make space for the creation of this manuscript. We hope you will be patient with us.
We are so excited, friends. We are so incredibly grateful to the team at Llewellyn Worldwide for offering us this opportunity. We will keep you in the loop as much as we’re able to throughout the process and look forward to sharing our first co-written book with you.
