Hail and Farewell… Where we remember those who have recently passed into the next world after having made this one a better place.
Margot Adler
April 16, 1946 – July 28, 2014
National Public Radio correspondent, award winning journalist, and author of the seminal work, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America Today and her memoir, Heretic’s Heart. Beloved Priestess in the Gardnerian Tradition, a true Elder of the Pagan community and a Woman of Distinction. Ms. Adler recently released Out for Blood, a meditation on society’s fascination with vampires.
Ms. Adler will be very missed by all who knew her in life, through her works and – lest we forget – on the radio. She was a courageous woman who shaped modern Paganism and paved the way out of the shadows.
“Her reporting was singular and her voice distinct,” Margaret Low Smith, NPR’s vice president for news, said in an announcement to staff. “There was almost no story that Margot couldn’t tell.”
Margot Adler On Being Wiccan, interview WNPR’s The Colin McEnroe Show, 2011: https://soundcloud.com/wnpr/margot-adler-on-being-a-wiccan
image: Credit: Wild Hunt Blog
Lady Loreon Vigne
Born on June 8,1932, died July 15, 2014, age 82.
Provided by Lauren Raine and Marylyn Motherbear Scott
(photos courtesy of Thor of Isis – all rights reserved)
Thank you, Lady Loreon. You will be sorely missed. Lady Loreon Vigne, founder of Isis Oasis in Geyserville, California passed away on July 15 at the age of 82. Lady Loreon founded the retreat center in 1978. Before that time Loreon was an artist living in San Francisco. She created a true sanctuary – for the Fellowship of Isis, for the Goddess, for her beloved endangered animals, and for many artists, seekers, healers, and communities. She did so much to create and re-claim Goddess Culture. Another reason Loreon founded the Sanctuary was because of her love for ocelots (and later for servals, the “hunting cats” of ancient Egypt as well). Both animals are endangered species. It was my pleasure to visit Isis Oasis in the beautiful wine country of northern California in 2012. During my visit it was quite a treat to sit with a cat the size of a good sized dog who growled convincingly like a tiger to let me know he wanted his ears rubbed.
Tribute by Marylyn Motherbear Scott
My dear friend, goddess-sister, and colleague of the priestessly Way, Lady Loreon Vigne, has crossed over. In love, honor and remembrance, I offer this invocation for Lady Loreon of Isis Oasis
I cast a circle all around
from Nuit’s starry sky
to thy sacred ground
from Grandmother Oak
to birds-in-flight
from endangered cats
to envisioned sight.
we sing, we dance,
make prayerful art,
spoken words
shaped from the heart
In honor of Isis and
She who has passed,
thy Ka and thy Ba
holding hands at the last
May thy work be raised up
on Isisian wings,
remembrance be sung
in rainbow’d rings.
And so it is.
In peace and love,
Marylyn Motherbear Scott
(Please feel free to share these words aloud
with credit given to me, the author.
If you wish to publish or print this Invocation,
please contact me personally for permission.)
Johnny Winter
Feb. 23, 1944 – July 17, 2014
provided by Tatyanna Wilkinson and Lezlie Kinyon
Texas blues legend Johnny Winter left this world at 70. His legacy as a bluesman who stayed true to his roots throughout his career will live on. In the 1970’s, I was fortunate to have met him in a bar in Old Town Chicago with bluesmen, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy sharing the stage. He seemed so very polite and even shy. They were very kind to a young fan. As the second set began, a thunderstorm also blew in. Behind the stage was a large window which lit up – in time with the beat – with lightning flashes every minute or so. In retrospect: perhaps a harbinger of the career and life of this musician. [-LK]
Read the Tribute to Johnny Winter by Tatyanna Wilkinson
“Made my first record when I was 15, started playing clubs when I was 15. Started drinking and smoking when I was 15.” Winter recalled in the documentary, Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty, “I love playing guitar. It’s the only thing I’ve ever really been great at,” he said. (John Heilprin, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – https://ca.news.yahoo.com/texas-blues-legend-johnny-winter-dies-age-70-113636918.html7/16/14
Johnny Winter: Down & Dirty http://www.johnnywinterdownanddirty.com/HOME.html
Elaine Stritch
February 2, 1925 – July 17, 2014
Broadway’s much beloved sharp-tongued actress. She said to a reporter for The New York Times in 1968: “I drink, and I love to drink, and it’s part of my life.” The Ladies Who Lunch
Lauren Bacall christened: Betty Joan Perske
(September 16, 1924 -August 12, 2014)
Legendary film star
“Her life speaks for itself, she lived a wonderful life, a magical life.” Stephen Bogart.
Lauren
Sultry queen
Lady of mystery
Lady of the smile
Fierce and free
(L. Kinyon – all rights reserved)
Robin McLaurin Williams
July 21, 1951- August 11, 2014
Actor, comic, director, producer, philanthropist. Beloved by a generation.
“Thank you…for gracing my life with your lovely presence, for adding the sweet measure of your soul to my existence … heaven would never be heaven without you.” ― Richard Matheson, What Dreams May Come
Jack Bruce
(May 14, 1943 – October 25, 2014)
Legendary Bassist
…. the very best of a generation.
“Don’t let anything slow you down
You’ve got the time
till the leaves turn brown
Don’t let anything slow you down, down…” (Without a Word J. Bruce, all rights reserved)
Jean Redpath , MBE
(April 28, 1937- August 21, 2014)
Award winning folk singer. An artist who was seminal in bringing traditional Celtic and Gaelic song to an entire generation all around the world.
“Aye wind, I ken them weel eneuch an fine they fa and rise,
And fain I’d feel the creepin’ mist on yonder shore that lies.
But tell me as ye pass them by fit saw ye on the way?”
(“The Wild Geese” Violet Jacob, music by Jim Reid)
Glenn Cornick
April 23, 1947- August 30, 2014
“Glenn was a man of great bonhomie and ready to befriend anyone – especially fellow musicians. Always cheerful, he brought to the early stage performances of Jethro Tull a lively bravado, both as a personality and a musician.” Ian Anderson.