NEPPS (NorthEast Philly Paranormal Society)

I started NEPPS back on November 4th of 2007. I was a member of another Paranormal Research group whose idea of research was researching ideas of what they were going to do but never did anything or argued about who plagiarized what in papers that were submitted to Research Journals. I came up with an idea for an Investigation for a Ghost Hunting expedition, but since nobody could decide where to meet to discuss it, the idea went nowhere. I also suggested that if the group was going to successful, 1 meeting from 6pm to 8pm on the 2nd Sunday of each month was not going to cut it if the group was going to be successful or go anywhere. So, I decided that if I wanted to be a successful Investigator, I would start my own Group, and NEPPS was born.

I vowed that Paranormal Research is not just inclusive to Ghost Hunting alone. Paranormal Research consists of:

• Ghost Hunting
• Psychic Abilities
• Parapsychology
• Extraterrestial Life
• Crop Circles
• UFO's (as well as USO's, unidentified submerged objects- Deep Sea UFO's)
• Near Death Experiences
• Astral Projection

While a vast majority of Paranormal Research Groups just focus on hunting ghosts, that is just the tip of the iceberg! Sure, Ghost Hunting is a very important part of Paranormal Research, but there all the other avenues to pursue! There are a lot of UFO sightings not only in the tristate area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, & Delaware, but Philadelphia and the surrounding area as well. Who is out there investigating them? I can tell you this, not many people. The National UFO Reporting Center lists 2,142 UFO sightings since the 1950's. There are also numerous Crop Circles as well as lots of other Paranormal Activity to investigate.

NEPPS has grown to 10 members since I founded it and along with my other Lead Investigator, Lisa, the other 8 members consist of people from other Groups as well as friends and a few of my Coven Mates. We all have one thing in common (oh boy you are thinking now, Bob & his similarities, LOL), we all believe in the unexplained. The main thing you have to do when especially Ghost Hunting is to go into an investigation with an open mind and be ready to debunk occurrences to possibly natural occurring events. Not everything is due to ghosts or Martians in Flying Saucers (even though it would be cool!), some things could be due to ordinary events. Anyhow, we have an investigation scheduled for middle of April with training and organizational meetings/sessions to take place in February and March. As things start to take place or occur, I will let you know, but until then, keep your eyes, ears, and mind open and if you ever have an experience don't be afraid to let us know because we are here to help.

b.0.b
Case Manager & Lead Investigator
NEPPS

Pagan Diversity within my Coven

All that I can say about my young growing Coven is that they are a bunch of GREAT FUN LOVING DIVERSE PEOPLE! What started out as 2 people who started something based on a dream, turned into 8 people with 8 different demographics. We have:

• Different age groups (we range from 22 to 54, with the average age being 35)
  
• Different years involved in the craft (we range from a few months to 24 years, with the average being 7 years )
  
• Different sexes (5 females and 3 males)
  
• Different Religious backgrounds (Catholic, Methodist, Non-Denominational Protestant, & Pagan)
  
• Different sexual orientation (straight, gay, & bi)
  
• Different relationship status (3 married, 4 single, & 1 long term relationship)
  
• Different family composition (3 have kids & 5 don't)
  
• Different Craft experiences (2 were in Covens before, 6 were Solitaires)
  
• Different means of divination (Runes, Tarot, Tea leaves, or nothing at all)
• Different neighborhoods (4 city dwellers & 4 suburbanites)
• Different jobs (3 Disabled, 1 Masseuse, 1 Baker, 1 Librarian, 1 Teacher, 1 Retailer)
• Different places lived (Philly, Pittsburgh, NJ, Upstate NY)
  

As for our similarities:

• We all came together for the same reasons!
• We all are Eclectic Wiccans.
• We all want to come together to learn from each other.
• We all want to come together for the comradery that is found in a Coven.
• We all apply the Wiccan Rede in our lives.
• We all want to grow together as a Group.
• We all want to be part of a Community.
• We all get along very well with each other which is very important!
• We all have a great time when we get together.
• Our energies all jive together which is also very important!
• Everyone accepts each other for who they are.
• We are Family!

Well there you have it, we are all very different unique individuals while we are all very similar individuals. We all bring something different to the table while we all have a lot of common bonds. We are a Coven that is made up of a little of this and a little of that, and that above all things is what makes us rich in diversity and full of Love. And after all, Love is what makes the world go around.

Peace & Blessings,

Caedmon
High Priest
Coven of the 13 Moons
NE Philly

Enter the Minister ..... Introducing ..... Reverend Bob!

Yes, It's true, this man is now a Man of the Cloth! I have been contemplating this for some time now. Since I am a High Priest of a Coven, why not become official, so I went and got Ordained!! I am now Reverend Bob!

Back on January 4th of this New Year, my good friend, Diana, sent me the Link to Universal Ministries which is based in Illinois (http://www.universalministries.com/index.html). This Ministry is a non-denominational Church whose mission is to spread the word of God without any prejudice or discrimination to all faiths. Ordination is free & most importantly LEGAL! All I needed to do is read over a set of Vows and fill out a form and press send. I received an email confirmation a few days later that served as my Proclamation of Ordination. I then ordered from their store my official Ordination Certificate (like the sample one I put up top) along with some Minister Credentials. The Universal Ministries website offers a training section that has some basic mini courses in such subjects as weddings, funerals, and baptisms, etc., with more courses to be added in the future. There are some advanced books to purchase if you choose to do that.

I am just very excited about this and feel that this is my true calling as the Gods have guided me to taking on this role. I was accepted to their Yahoo Group and already contacted this nice woman Patti, also a fellow Wiccan, (Patti also happens to share the same surname as myself!) who has offered to help me in any way that she can.

What comes next is as soon as I get my credentials, I will then find out where I need to register at within the state or at least in Philly and the surrounding counties. That's all for now, so if anyone needs a Minister that can for now do any Christian (since I was Catholic for a majority of my life and am familiar with Christian rites) or Pagan Handfastings, Commitment Ceremonies, or Weddings, and God forbid any Funerals, and also I am available for counseling if you just need someone to talk to, please contact me. Thanks and God and Goddess Bless You!

Peace and Blessings,

Reverend Bob/Caedmon
High Priest
Coven of the 13 Moons
NE Philly

PS: I also posted that I am Clergy on Witchvox, so you can check me out on there as well. I am listed under Caedmon or Coven of the 13 Moons.

Coven of the 13 Moons Update 1/16/08

It has now been 4 months since our Coven has been formed. What started out as just a High Priest (HP) and a High Priestess (HPS) has now grown to 4 Dedicated members plus 4 members working towards their Dedication to the Coven for a Grand Total of 8! In the beginning we had our trials and tribulations with people wanting to join us because they just wanted to be a Witch without the necessary work that comes with it, but they were weeded out and what we were left with is an awesome group of people that I am proud not only to call my Covenmates, but my Family!

We had people wanting to join us because they thought it would be cool to be in a Coven, but again when faced with the amount of work that came with it, stopped participating. We had people try to join under assumed identities just to be assholes & start trouble, but their IP address (their fingerprint of the Internet) gave them away. We had people wanting to join because they thought that a Coven would solve all their issues, but they also were denied because that's not what a true Coven is suppose to do, that's why there are wanna be Covens and Covens for "Fluffy Bunny Pagans". We had people sign up to join, their applications looked great, but they must of gotten cold feet because they never showed up at any meet & greets that we had or once they were accepted, they never responded to any emails or never posted anything, so they were let go. And finally, we had the True Seekers, as Gavin Frost put it as quoted in Ray Buckland's book, Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, "the shining ones--if you are lucky you will find (one or two) who are candidates for a real coven." And Buckland continues to say "These will make it all worthwhile." In our case we have found 6 besides us for again a total of 8!

We have come to a point where now we are going to have the members of our Coven take on certain roles such as Bard, Purse Warden, Wayfarer, and so on. We already had our Maiden, Papisa step up and assume her role to take the place of the HPS for our last Dark Moon Ritual because our HPS, Berkana, was sick. Papisa did a great job leading the Ritual for her first time. This is a direct reflection of the training that she has received, so Kudos goes out to all!

Our Coven is a great mixture of people who said that what drew them to us was the no nonsense approach that we have posted in our description on the various sites that we are on, the DVPN, Witchvox, and Yahoo. It was said to me in the beginning by a former colleague that in my description where I said what kind of person we were looking for was too harsh and very negative. I stood my ground and said that you run your coven your way, and I will run my Coven my way! I don't want or need the drama of people wanting a quick fix to their lives, people that are in this classification only bring negativity to a group. The people that are here now with our Coven again said that the no nonsense approach and the fact that we will accept only people 21 and older was a major plus and that we don't accept people with issues was what they were looking for within a Coven. True Seekers are here to learn, not to be members of an on going Soap Opera. I love the fact that everyone is on the same page and that we all jive. If problems do arise once people are in a Coven, then we will deal with that as it occurs because we are a family now and that's what a family is for.

We are now approaching full capacity. Where a true Coven has 13 members, the practical number lies between 8 and 10 due to space constraints. If all our functions were outside or I owned a huge mansion or a large piece of property that I could build a physical temple on or have enough room for outside Rituals, then we could operate with 13. My hopes are that down the road, I will have enough money saved so that me and my wife could buy some property up the mountains, then we could have a retreat house for the Coven and then we could possibly grow to 13 because all the Rituals would be outside, but for now, I think we will cap off at 8, possibly 10. If we get a person who does knock our socks off, then we would have to figure out a way to include them. In a couple of years when members start to hive off and form their own Covens, then we will have room because our Tradition will have grown and then could start accepting more members, but until then like I said, we will be pretty much at capacity and will literally have a full house. Also before I get attacked with questions about what if a person in the Coven has kids that want to be a part of things, that point is covered within our By-Laws, and in order to see the By-Laws, well you just need be a Coven member to find out.

Blessings of Darkness and Light,

Caedmon
High Priest
Coven of the 13 Moons
NE Philly

New Years Handfasting/Commitment Ceremony

New Years Eve started just like every other morning. I get up, take my meds, pour me a cup of coffee, go brush my teeth, go get my coffee, and go to the basement with my coffee & open email just before I do my morning prayer dedications. I opened my 1st email on New Years Eve and it was from one of Sunnie's long lost friends whom I have become friends with through several emails due to several Goth Groups I belong to. The email was asking me if I could perform a Handfasting preferably that night. I was like....WOW! Our friend Lynnea had just become it turns out reconnected with the father of her daughter Faith, named Jem, and well they wanted to be Handfasted ASAP. I told her that as a High Priest I can Handfast couples, but since I am not ordained, it would not be legal. She was fine with that because they would use this as more or less a Commitment Ceremony, and what then occurred was about a dozen or so emails back and forth and it was decided that we would do it that night. I started to prepare because I had alot of work now ahead of me.

I made a mental list of what needed to be done: first I had to ask my wife, Sunnie if it would be alright to do everything at our house that night since we were staying in, second was that I needed to get a hold of my HPS BerKana, third was to write a Ritual, fourth was to get the necessary Ritual supplies, and fifth and final was to make a Handfasting Ribbon. I asked Sunnie and called my HPS and both were fine with the day and location. It took me about an hour, but I found a Ritual that I liked on line and tweaked it a bit by adding some things and getting it where I liked it. I emailed a copy to the bride to be and she loved it. I went out to the dollar store to get some more ribbon on top of what I already owned and a pink candle for the Ritual. When I got home, I grabbed my son Bobby to help me with delivering Christmas cards that we never delivered before Christmas to our friends around Pennypack. I talked to Lynnea while we were delivering the cards and it would be that night and she would call me when she got home from where they were. Then things took a turn for the worse.

I started to get busy with other things & forgot to make the ribbon! After I finished doing what I needed to do around the house, I got a shower, ate, and was ready to get started, but by now it was 8pm & I haven't heard anything of what was happening. Finally around 8:30 pm I got a hold of Lynnea & she and her son to be hubby and daughter had an exausting day and decided that we would do it on New Years Day around 8 0r 9 pm. I was reprived and had another day to make the ribbon & be more nervous! I made a beautiful ribbon out of 3 wide ribbons with 10 knots of different color ribbon tied on it symbolizing different good things.

Anyhow to make a long story short, it is now 9:30pm on New Years Day, the HP & HPS are patiently waiting along with the photographer (Sunnie) and no couple to Handfast! The couple was relying on their witnesses to bring them to my house, but something happened and they were stuck for a ride. They were going to call for a cab & Sunnie said, "Why not go pick them up?", so I did and after Sunnie & Lynnea rapped for a bit, we went down to "Man's World" aka our basement and the awaiting Altar. I'll explain "Mans World" in another post, but the couple and their little princess were ready, the photographer was ready, the presiding HP & HPS were ready, and the Gods were ready!

We did a beautiful Ritual & topped it off with another beautiful Ceremony called the Rose Ceremony which Sunnie & myself used when we were Handfasted. When all was said & done, the couple was happily Handfasted and jumped the broom, all before midnight! The couple got their wish for a New Years Day wedding, we Handfasted our first couple as a HP & HPS, Sunnie found a log lost friend, my son Aidan found a new friend Faith, and I was happy that everything worked out!

We ended the evening by grounding our energies through food & drink. Sunnie broke out a bottle of Asti and we all toasted the Handfasted Couple! We all hung out, ate cake, laughed and had fun celebrating the Handfasting. I took the happy couple home and came home to just relax and reflect on the evening's events & how happy I was to be there to share in the Handfasting!




It is alot different when you are performing one as the presiding representation of the God & Goddess than the one being Handfasted and it did take me a while to go to sleep, but before I went to bed, I thanked the Gods for the opportunity to be able to serve them in this capacity. I knew that this was one down with many more to come! Congratulations Lynnea, Jem, and most of all Faith for becoming a happy family this New Years Night & wishes for many happy years as a family!





New Years Blessings,


Caedmon
High Priest
Coven of the 13 Moons



ps: The couple chose Eternity Ankh rings form Sandman/Death comics by Neil Gaiman for this Ceremony as a sign of their devotion for each other. I did print up a Commitment Certificate & signed it as well as giving the couple the pink Altar candle as a momento of the Handfasting. They are planning a big wedding at Disney World in the near future. A couple of days after I did this Handfasting, I started the process for me to get ordained as an official Minister so that I can officially marry people sign an official marriage certificate going forward.

Happy New Year

Hey, I know like I am a Day Late & a Dime Short (You can blame it on PST.............Pagan Standard Time), but HAPPY NEW YEARS ONE & ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! The new year started with a bang already, I Handfasted a couple last night, which was suppose to be done at midnight the night before, but due to the hectic Holidays, it was pushed back to last night & went off great! Before anyone leaves a cheesey comment or Blogs or has fun talking about me on their Private Groups (and you all know who you all are), about me not being ordained or a legal JOP, the couple all ready knew this because I was completely upfront with them and this Handfasting was binding between only them & the Gods & it was more of a Commitment Ceremony of their Love for each other until they could have a Big Fat Victorian Style Wedding. One of the couple was friends with me, my wife, Morgana (who was witness & Photographer), & my High Priestess, Berkana who assited me already & I was recommended to them by a third party because of my reputation of being totally down to earth, a really nice dude, and most of all upfront. Anyhow, I will discuss this in the next Blog. And before I leave, no I did not make any New Years Resolutions because it is very hard with the way Life comes at you anymore to keep them 100%, but I will say this, I do promise to get my Coven more active in both the Pagan & the Goth Communities since we are now more established with our 1st Handfasting under our belt. Happy New Years!


New Years Blessings,


Caedmon


ps: stay tuned for a Handfasting Blog next!