Some good news! Award to Judy Harrow!!
http://www.proteuscoven.org/proteus/Judypix.htm
Columbia, S.C. - The Board of Directors of Cherry Hill Seminary has approved the naming of its online library, the Judy Harrow Library & Information Center.  Harrow, recently retired as Chair of the Pastoral Care and Counseling Department, has served the Seminary as faculty since 2000, and for the past year as a board member.
    The first Wiccan to be legally registered as clergy in New York City in 1985, after a five-year effort requiring the assistance of New York Civil Liberties Union, Harrow has a long record of public service, including:
∙ Association for Humanistic Psychology and of the American Counseling Association;
∙ Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW)
among others.
    A Wiccan priestess since 1977, Harrow founded Proteus Coven in 1981, and held several leadership offices for Covenant of the Goddess, on both national and regional levels, including National First Officer in 1984.  She founded the Pagan Pastoral Counseling Network in 1982, serving as the first editor of the Network's publication.  She also founded the New York Area Coven Leaders' Peer Support Group, and served as Program Coordinator for the first Mid-Atlantic Pan-Pagan Conference and Festival, as well as several other Pagan gatherings.
    "I'm surprised, thrilled, and honored by this recognition,” says Ms. Harrow. “I'm also excited by the continuing growth and development of Cherry Hill Seminary, which is a real sign of the maturation of contemporary Paganism. So much has changed for Pagans during the many years of my involvement. I am so proud to have been a small part of it."
    Currently, Cherry Hill Seminary is working towards future accreditation, in part because of Harrow’s work as a liaison to Pagans in the U.S. military, which requires its chaplains to hold a Master of Divinity degree from an accredited institution.
    Harrow is the author of two books, Wicca Covens (1999), Spiritual Mentoring, (2002) and edited and contributed to  others.  Her articles have been published in  a number of journals  (the newsletter of the Association for Humanistic Psychology), to  Gnosis, and PanGaia.
    Cherry Hill Seminary is a pagan seminary, offering graduate education for Pagan ministry and scholarship. Contributions to the general fund, in honor of Judy Harrow, may be sent to Cherry Hill Seminary, P.O. Box 5405, Columbia, SC   29250-5405, or online at http://www.facebook.com/l/;https://www.justgive.org/nonprofits/donate.jsp?ein=20-4542690.

For more information, contact Holli Emore, Executive Director, at http://www.facebook.com/l/;888.503.4131, or CHS@cherryhillseminary.org.


Aside from good news see above, and not so good news, see the column next to this. We, The Starlight Circle Players, (TCSP) have a financial advisor, please welcome Herb De Grasse.  Also I have recently made the acquaintance of a puppeteer.  I do not know if he will be interested in TCSP, but it would be quite interesting if he were.****
    TCSP has all sorts of interesting things afoot, such as
this interesting winter mummer's play, and a tea and plays workshop monthly.  I invite you to think of other mythic and artistic activities for us.-

Ardys your editor

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
1922 ­2009
Swara Samrat Maestro Ali Akbar Khan passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family on June 18, 2009. Khansahib (as he was affectionately and respectfully addressed) had been a dialysis patient since2004, and had been enduring numerous health issues ever since. He continued teaching publicly at the Ali Akbar College until just weeks ago, and taught music at home until the day he died.
    The obituaries throughout India and the rest of the world have rightly stressed that Khansahib was a musical genius of the stature of Beethoven and Mozart. However, those of us in the Bay Area are especially grateful for another of his great accomplishments. This was not something he
directly created, but rather something that he inspired in others. Students of Indian music came to the Bay area solely because he was here, from Japan, South America, Europe, even India itself. Other great Indian teachers
followed, and the result was a community devoted to classical Indian culture that deeply influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. The early issues of India Currents were devoted almost entirely to calendar
listings of concerts by these students and teachers, and Khansahib remained the central inspiration of that community for decades. He was admired and loved, and will be greatly missed.
    Khansahib was famous for his performances at the world greatest concert halls, and for his many recordings. Eight months of every year, however, he gave himself entirely to his students. We were constantly inspired by Khansahib¹s example of artistic dedication and compassionate
patience, and anyone who tried to master the profound intricacies of his lessons was forever changed by that experience. These lessons contained centuries of tradition seamlessly interwoven with his own unique genius. No one learned how to play them as well as he did, but everyone learned how to listen, and shared their enthusiasm with friends, and friends of friends.
The result was an audience for Hindustani music which was unmatched for both ethnic diversity and devotion to artistic excellence. It is both heartbreaking and inspiring to realize that this community can and must now go on without him.
    The memorial service and burial was held at Mt. Tamalpais Cemetery Sunday, June 21st at noon. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Ali Akbar College of Music (AACM) for the Ali Akbar Khan Library. Online donations can be made at http://aacm.org