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Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com
Divine Circle of The Sacred Grove ***SCAM**
Office of the Preceptor
P.O. Box 66311, Seattle, WA, U.S.A. 98166
THE FOLLOWING IS FOR PUBLICATION;
To the Pagan Community:
In July of 1991, ADF sent out a Druid Alert about an
organization called the Divine Circle of the Sacred Grove. ADF
began investigating this group because they were using ADF
letterhead, membership forms, advertising copy, and other
materials with their names substituted for ours. Prior to raising
any public issues, ADF's Preceptor, Domi O'Brien called the group
and talked to their Scribe, Kal Mannis. Mr. Mannis told her that
if she had questions, she could come to a public meeting on July
2nd, 1991, in Seattle, and ask them there.
Domi, Bwca, Erynn and members of 4 other Traditions and
organizations attended their talk. We noted with increasing
amazement their claims and their views of the interrelationship
of Druidism and Wicca, and after they mentioned Isaac Bonewits,
Domi challenged some of their staements, as the ADF Preceptor.
The DCSG literature going back to 1988 was examined, along with
other staements which have been made to us or others. Janette
Laverna Garcia a/k/a Gordon a/k/a Copeland, born 2/9/1942,
Houston TX,; Richard Norman Ian Garcia a/k/a Gordon a/k/a
Copeland, born 8/12/1940, Prescott, AZ; Jerry Eugene Everett
Wayne Reamer a/k/a Prophet, born 8/12/1948, Pottstown, PA; Kalman
Mannis, Nancy Brown, Brenda Matarazzo, David Trippey, Donovan
Cotton; Dr. Jay Tibbles, Mary Ernst, and others affiliated with
their group were examined for legitamate mundane and magickal
credentials. The only person whose credentials we were able to
verify was Dr. Jay Tibbles.
Janette's claims, as given in her various peices of
literature, and as made to us, or to persons whose credentials we
were able to verify, include: Hereditary Witch and Druid; Pipe
Carrier for the Lumbee, the Sioux, the Cherokee, and the Chumash;
member of the MotherGrove and Board of Directors of the ADF, as
well as group marriage to the entire ADF Board of Directors;
membership and 3rd Circle status in the British Circle of the
Universal Bond; training by Ross Nichols, 3rd Degree Celtic and
Egyptian Priestess; 3rd Degree Alexandrian Priestess, New York,
1973; 3rd Degree Gardinarian Priestess, New York, 1965;
incorporation of her organization in 14 states; training by
Rhuddlwm Gawr, and training by Grandmaster Eli (Barney Taylor, of
the Druidic Craft of the Wise), marriage to Eli, as well as being
both Eli's daughter and graddaughter. She has also claimed to be
a registereed nurse, a cosmetologist; a paralegal; a professional
writer of romance novels, and a Vietnam Veteran. Ms. Copeland (?)
claims that she has 10,000 people on her mailing list, groves all
over the United States, and that she was born in London during
the Blitz, although she has alos claimed that she was born in
Houston TX. Ms Garcia (?) claims that her father, a U.S. Army
Major on Eisenhower's staff during WW II (not, by the way,
Grandmaster Eli), and her mother, a nurse now resident in
Atlanta, were both members of the Circle of the Universal Bond.
She claims that she was raised by a Cherokee grandfather. She
claims to have been teaching Wicca, which she says is a
simplified version of Druidism for the masses, since 1954, when
she was 12 years old.
1508
Ms Gordon(?) took Lady Sabrin's course from Our Lady of
Enchanment in 1987 and 1988, giving totally different information
about herself then she gives now. According to Lady Sabrina,
Janette has been selling Sabrina's courses as her own ever since.
We have examined lessons from Janette's and Sabrina's courses,
and they are indeed substantially identical, except that Sabrina
can spell.
Janette joined ADF in 1987, giving yet another set of data
about herself, claiming no leadership positions, newsletters, or
other affiliations. A check of the material on her application
shows it to be substantially false.
In checking Janette's claims, we contacted the Secretary of
state, and Board of Nursing Registrations in the 14 states in
which she claimed incorporation. Her organization is incorporated
only in Washington and California. She is not listed as a
registered nurse anywhere we checked. She and her group were
offering BA's, MA's, and PhD's in Washington State until directed
to cease and desist by the Higher Education Coordinating Board.
They later obtained a religious exemption by saying that they
were offering degrees only in Divinity and Theology. Former
mebers of their organization state that most of their claims in
their catalog as to available courses and faculty credentials are
false.
In examining their other claims we contacted over two
hundred persons and groups in this country and abroad in an
effort to authenticate their initiations and organizational
affiliations.
No one we contacted verified any of the DCSG's claims. All
stated that they had never trained or initiated any known
officers or members of the DCSG. Most had never even heard of
them. Furthur, former members of her organization have mentioned
paying thousands of dollars for courses, and additional thousands
paid out on "tithes" -- 10% of their annual income to support the
work of the Order of Melchizadek (demanded in the middle of their
initiation or elevation rituals). We have also been contacted by
Social Serrvices, Education, Law Enforcement and other
authorities for other information about DCSG, and/or its members.
ADF and some other Pagan groups and organziations are
cooperating fully with these investigations, and have made it
clear to the investigators that we do not regard these people as
legitamate members of the Pagan community, since none of their
alleged training and initiations can be verified, and may have
been directly disproven. As Pagans, whatever our path, we can
ill-afford to remain silent while groups knowingly steal and sell
courses written by others, claiming training ties to the most
senior and respected members of our community that they do not
have, and engage in questionable behaviour presenting themselves
as our kin, elders, and representatives to the world at large.
Domi O'Brien T. Bwca Erynn Darkstar
DTG Priestess Elder, NECTW Greenleaf Coven
CWO Priestess Inis Glas
Preceptor/Vice ArchDruid, ADF
1509
By: Domi O
To: Lewis Stead
Re: Details, please.
Lady Sabrina was initiated by Bob Moshier and Dorothy Trion in
Tuscon Arizona in 1978, according to what she says. She was in
Danville, California for a
while, near San Franscisco; and was in COG (I have not checked
this); she then studied with Gavin and Yvonne in New Bern for 1 and
a half years; then moved to Billerica, Mass; then to Hudson, NH;
then Nashua, NH. I was in Epping, NH when a Gardnerian friend and
fellow NH College administrator, Gerry Reilly, introduced me to
Sabrina. Since I am Daughters of the Triple Goddess and Celtic
Wiccan Order trained, Gerry's brand of witchcraft and Sabrina's
struck me equally weird.
I talked to Gavin and Yvonne last week; they feel Sabrina has
borrowed heavily from them but they don't have an issue with it and
they don't consider their organisation and hers to be connected.
In 1987 Geraldine Gumm aka Gerri Garcia aka Queen Druid aka Laura
Copeland aka Janette Gordon aka Janette Copeland aka Laverna Gordon
aka Laverna Copeland aka Gerry Garcia aka Gerri Gunn aka Gerri Teah
Garcia aka Jerry Leah Garcia took Sabrina's course; in winter of
1989 she began advertising a coorespondence course in Wicca, which
according to Sabrina is Sabrina's. I've looked at them; they are
very much alike. The Frosts and Sabrina both teach non-mainstream
Wicca and charged for Craft when no one was doing that. I have
heard far more negative things about some far more mainstream
figures; both the Frosts and Sabrina are very public and really
seem to have nothing to hide. What they teach isn't my Craft, but
I will defend their right to practice their version and teach it
as they see fit. Or did you mean something else ?
Domi of ADF
By: Domi O
To: Corwynt
Re: ADF letter
Indeed it is from us. Since then, we have gotten "Janette's" arrest
and conviction records from New Mexico and word from a usually
reliable source that her real name may be Geraldine Gumm, and real
date of birth may be 2-9-40. I am also informed by a law
enforcement source that she has other records in several states.
These range from child neglect to unlawful touching of dead bodies
to kidnapping.
Her group was investigated in 1975 in Arizona for dead bodies and
missing persons, moved a bit over a hundred miles as the crow
flies, and she and her husband were arrested in New Mexico in 1978.
The children involved were returned to their parents, two being
kept in social service custody while it was determined to whom they
belonged, and two members of the group were "deprogramed" by Ted
Patrick. She was calling herself "Queen Druid" then and initiating
folks as "WI" or "witch one". I have a lovely pile of court papers
and newspaper clippings I will gladly share with anyone who'd like
to send me $4 for photocopying and postage...
Domi O'Brien
Box 66311
Seattle, WA 98166
1510