April 17, 2002

Funny. I had almost forgotten that this page was here. It has been greatly out of date for a while, so let's update it.

Basically, there are two ways people find this site. One is that they've found a bit of our literature laying around. If that's how you got here, check the back page. At the bottom, there will be contact information, and that will tell you everything that you need to know.

What will you see? A snail mail address, actually, for you to send requests for more information, and maybe listings for a few events. These won't be "Pagan" or "Traditionalist" events. They'll just be things like philosophical discussion circles, literary events where one of us is a reader, improv classes which we're taking (and recommend to the reader). You shouldn't go to one of these, just to meet us. Go because the event looks fun, and is worth your time, on its own merits. But, it would be a good idea for you to send us a letter of introduction telling us that you're coming, and maybe a photo. This reduces the likelihood of us just missing each other, which has happened before. Whoever is there, will try to find you.

To be blunt, the virtue of this approach is that it does screen out a lot of very unpleasant, marginal individuals. Before inviting you to anything, we're going to have to get to know you in "the real world", and see how well you function there. Please appreciate that what we hold here are symposia, not psychological encounter groups. (The former is a sort of mixture of a discussion group, a dinner, a poetry reading, a wine tasting, a little theatre, and whatever else we toss together that night). We're not going to limit or distort our own discussions in order to accomodate the neuroses of a few of our visitors, the way some groups do. If you're a little on the brittle or overreactive side, we are not the group for you. If, on the other hand, you've been dying for an intelligent conversation with decent, well educated individuals with more than a little common sense, in a wholesome, free-spirited atmosphere, we know how you feel. Drop by, and let's see how things work out.

I mentioned that there were two ways people find this site. The other way, is that some will find it through the search engines, or via links, online. If that's how you got here, then, please accept our apologies, but observing the misadventures of other groups has lead us to an unavoidable decision. We don't give contact information out, online. We don't go to "Pagan networking events", either. Between the Hacker Underground online, and the Neopagan community, there are far too many unstable or shady individuals available for a small group to deal with. We hope that you'll see one of our flyers, or some of our literature lying around (usually under an alternative name for our group), but, no, on consideration, listing venues here didn't seem like a good idea. That's like giving trouble a map to our front door, and yes, problems have arrived that way in the past.

We live and learn.

One thing that you can do is take part on our mailing lists, which won't lead you into the Shrine per se, but perhaps to a sister group in formation which may be to your liking. (Note: this is still how we do things, here, as of March 17, 2004). Click here to return to the article about why there have been so few updates here on the Almond Jar and what you can do to help change that, or here to go to the main page.