Learning Circle descriptions and presenters biographies will be displayed here as they become available.

Friday Evening

Hiking in the Winter Landscape - Staff
Fairy Stone has many trails to hike. One of the ways to discover the divinity within and surrounding each of us is to take a leisurely hike through the winter landscape. It can be a veritable walking meditation in silence. Join us and enjoy the Zen of the winter world.

Becky Starr considers herself an "eclectic Egyptian pagan". She is a training manager by profession and a teacher by passion, finding herself a now frequent learning circle leader for Celebrate the Circle and Carolina Spirit Quest events. Becky is currently the president of the board of trustees for CSQ and Ritual Coordinator for Spring Quest 2005. Becky is a Priestess of Isis, member and frequent ritual team-member of CTC, serious Quest addict and lives in Durham, NC.

Bob Tuggle currently works as an Information Services Manager for a local government and is co-owner of a successful Holistic Health Center in Martinsville, VA. He holds a degree in business and a masters in Computer Science and is a Nationally Certified Bodyworker specializing in holistic health and shamanic healing. His passion for working with people of many cultures has lead to the formation of Holistics, a center for health freedom, which has become the largest alternative health center in Southside Virginia. Bob has been facilitating multicultural awareness sessions since the spring of 2000. He served as a member of the Mankind Project Internationals Multicultural Resource Team. A bisexual white man, walking a shamanic path, Bob's mission is creating a world of joy, balance and strength by sharing, teaching and healing.

Dick Merritt, a retired professional member of the American Massage Therapy Association, led massage workshops for many years. Dick grew into paganism through the influence of eco-feminist spirituality in the 80's. It was a natural fit, given his agrarian background. He is an eclectic neo-pagan and Unitarian Universalist. Dick characterizes himself as a Joseph Campbell pagan because of his conviction that religion is metaphor. Strongly influenced by the Creation Spirituality movement, he describes himself as a panentheist. He enjoys frequent rituals and purification ceremonies. A techno-pagan, he is a retired UNIX technician.

Fire Lily is an Earth-theist and daughter of the natural world who honors and celebrates all the ways of the Earth - from natural health care, nutrition, & exercise to heal the body; through the use of magick & Runes coupled with the use of logic & intuition to guide the heart and head; to fiercely searching for the light of truth and warmth of love - within & without - to bring growth, peace, and wholeness to the spirit. She is the Director of Religious Education for the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Shenandoah Valley, the Facilitator for EarthWays (the church's CUUP's group) and DarkMoon, (a women's Goddess circle) and treasurer for Northern Shenandoah Valley Pagan Alliance. In her spare time, she is the Head Kitchen Witch at Harvest Moon, a local health food store and can often be found concocting delightful potions to tempt the palate.

A Librarian, Eclectic Pagan, Devotee of Venus, and many other things, Eric "Fritter" Riley is also a Radical Faerie from Washington, D.C. In his local Faerie group, Fritter is one of the Circle Keepers and he has led and participated in heart circles for the last three years. He also writes a quarterly column for White Crane: the journal of gay men's spirituality. This will be his third Winter Quest (2nd time teaching).

Gryphon Rosemead has been practicing the craft since the early 70's and has given Workshops and done Rituals at many public and private gatherings across the southeast. She is a public Pagan, High Priestess and Elder and is active with Carolina Spirit Quest, Inc., CUUPS, International Pagan Pride Project and Pagan Wilderness Weekend. Gryph has earned a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture and a Masters of Education from the University of Georgia. A National Board Certified Agriculture Teacher, she has been listed twice in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. She lives with her cats, Grandmother and Josh and her K-9 companion, Skye. A syndicated columnist, she has turned her attention to writing full time. For more information, including her schedule and upcoming publishing projects, visit her website at http://www.angelfire.com/nc/gryphon. She can be contacted at gryph@pobox.com.

Patricia A. Duplantis aka Teasane, OLoT (Our Lady of Tea), has been a practicing pagan for over ten years. Her current path is that of a Water Witch. She is an avid tea lover and professed tea snob. She is a Librarian who is currently working with computers and automation issues. She loves sharing her knowledge and love of tea..

Sharron Hill.

Tigre (Ron Cruz) is a Drum Mage, drum instructor, and drum circle facilitator. He is a Circle Keeper of the DC Radical Faeries, a member of the Church of Four Quarters, and a third-degree initiated High Priest in Wicca. In his thirty years of drumming, studying, training, and/or instructing classical and modern percussion, he has acquired a wealth of experience in band, orchestra, marching band, and competitive drum corps. He is immersed in traditional West African Djembe drumming and technique. He studies drumming and drum circle facilitation with Jaqui MacMillan. He has performed with and learned from Daveed Korup, Aesa Grayson, and Jim Donovan of "Rusted Root." Tigre facilitates groups to shape intentions and drum circles for a variety of reasons: ritual, meditation, inspiration, trance, healing, and enjoyment. Tigre has co-created formal and informal ceremonies for various organizations such as The Pagan Leadership Skills Conference, The Mid-Atlantic Men's Gathering, the Sacred Space Conference, and PagaNet, Inc. He resides in Washington, DC.

For more information, contact Becky Starr (Director) at LukyStarr@aol.com.