CedarLight’s faithful worship of the High Rites for the OldOnes during each of eight Old Holidays, became from the first, as it endures to this day, the primary commitment of our Grove. Since our High Rite of Summer in 1990, we’ve found many splendid sanctuaries for our worship. Over the years, our worship of the OldOnes took us from the suburban banks of the Patapsco to the forested shores of the Susquehanna, to the pine bogs of the Severn and the highland springs of the Codorus Creek Headwaters. Free Spirit Alliance honored CLG with an invitation to conduct our Summer Solstice High Rite for FSG. Occasionally we ventured out to worship a High Rite with a neighboring Grove, rather than celebrating our own services. In those early days, Waters of the Brandywine lay to our northeast. Mugwort Grove grew up to our southwest. In this past year, we’ve seen the birth of a new Grove to the north- Crann Bethadh Grove of Highland Farms. Always, whether celebrating our own liturgy or on pilgrimage to join in the worship of one of our kindred Groves, we held fast to our dedication to regular, public worship of the OldOnes.

In the fall of 1996 CedarLight undertook a pioneering effort in the service of the OldOnes by establishing a real and physical sanctuary in Their honor. This sanctuary we call CedarLight Center. CLC is a residential, teaching and sanctuary facility located in suburban Baltimore City. This center’s existence establishes CedarLight as a leader positioned well in the fore of those working to re-establish religious worship in the Old Ways as a recognized, vital, and viable contribution to the earth-based community of religions, both locally and nationally.

CedarLight Grove struggled, endured and grew. Recognizing the strength of our faith, the OldOnes kept us strong. We became widely known as a strong, faith-based congregation. In our commitment to the worship of the OldOnes we also became known as the congregation that invited all to join in our worship of the Old Relgions. CLG attends particularly to the spiritual lives of our Grove’s members, but also serves the whole of the Pagan community. Indeed, CLG serves the whole of our wider community and world without regard to faith. Many people joined CLG along the way, sharing in the adventures, joys and burdens of our religious community for a few months or a few years as the courses of their lives allowed. We’ve shared many fond moments, found many beloved friends and even fought a few battles.

CedarLight, your local Baltimore area affiliate of Ar nDraiocht Fein, stands today as one of ADF’s most enduring groves. CLG began when Susan, Annora, and Will convened their first meeting during the Free Spirit Beltane Celebration in 1990. Soon after that first meeting in Green Belt Park, just outside of DC, CLG began regular meetings in downtown Baltimore. Throughout our first summer, we held biweekly meetings on the front steps of the Baltimore Art Museum and the adjoining areas of The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus. We celebrated our first High Rite over the Summer Solstice Holiday at Will’s house on the banks of the Patapsco River. A few days after we celebrated our fifth High Rite over the Winter Solsctice, we formally met, signed, and sealed our ADF Grove Charter during a visit to the Columbia UU Fellowship for a Wiccan Winter Circle.

So began CedarLight’s history that now stretches back more than a decade and embraces hundreds of friends. Our regular meetings soon became a weekly gathering for fellowship known then as they are today, as the Rites of Caffeina. We explored diverse venues, both public and private; and diverse protocols and structures for those early gatherings. Our meetings moved from the Homewood area of Baltimore, first out to suburban Columbia, then back into Fells Point. We moved for a time to a cafe in South Baltimore before settling into our own facility at CedarLight Center.

Now without forgetting the past nor losing its lessons, CedarLight steps forward into a new era stronger than ever. Strengthened by our tested and proven faith in the OldOnes and buoyed by Their grace, we greet with enthusiasm the many new and unexplored wonders awaiting us, even as we cherish all that remains. Now, as it ever has been, the visions and inspirations that fire CedarLight well up in the hearts of our members. The wisdom of the OldOnes speaks to our community through each of you. The sustenance that nourishes CedarLight and empowers our continued service to the OldOnes, indeed to the whole community, flows through you. The belief and faith that will fire CedarLight to remain a real and vital community sanctuary burns bright within you, even as it burned in those who’ve gone before.