{"id":8228,"date":"2016-09-11T10:57:24","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T16:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8228"},"modified":"2016-09-12T09:13:13","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T15:13:13","slug":"passing-of-gavin-frost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8228","title":{"rendered":"Passing of Gavin Frost"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"lone-magus\"

I called this photo “the lone magus” \u2014\u00a0Gavin Frost overlooking the New River, West Virginia, New Year’s Day, 1995.<\/p><\/div>\n

I learned this morning that S. Gavin Frost, co-founder of the Church (and School) of Wicca and someone whom I counted as a friend, died early this morning. He was born in 1930 in Staffordshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jo, his daughter, posted on Facebook:<\/p>\n

In our family, we do not believe in grieving too much, so today, raise a glass, a brandy alexander, a glass of mead, but a spirited glass, have a good conversation with a friend, be a little risqu\u00e9 (or a lot), dance a tango, tell someone you love them that you might not have said this to lately. That was the true spirit of my father \u2013 living his life the best way he knew how. He shared a lot of information with the world and opened doorways for many. Celebrate Gavin\u2019s passing as he begins his next adventure, never fear, this is just another doorway, another state of being. He left a legacy, in many respects, that cannot be equaled. In his final hours, consumed by pain, he felt concern for his wife, for him, his soulmate of nearly 50 years, for her safety and her future, as much as for his freedom from pain. He does not wish for flowers, and deeply abhors wreaths, so do not send these things as tokens of your appreciation. Instead, send your tokens of appreciation by way of donations to his favorite charities and educational institutions. If you have a raptor or rescue center nearby, send a donation to them for he loved hawks. Send a donation to an educational institution, high among the list, King\u2019s College in London, St Andrews Presbyterian University in Laurinburg, NC, the Osteopathic School in Lewisburg, WV, and NCSSM in Durham, NC. And finally, if so inclined, send a donation to the Church of Wicca, PO Box 297, Hinton, WV, his late life passion. There is not a funeral, as he has donated his body for medical research, but you are welcome to plant a hardwood tree in his honor as this was also a passion of his \u2013 regrowing our forests.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since M. and I, as volunteer wildlife transporters for Colorado Parks & Wildife, interact with the Raptor Center down in Pueblo a lot, I think a donation is in order.<\/p>\n

I took the photo above after M. and I had stopped for an overnight visit while passing through West Virginia, heading west. Gavin, Yvonne, and we went out for dinner at some restaurant high on a ridge over the New River<\/a>, and talked for hours about almost everything except<\/em> the Pagan scene. We were not avoiding that topic, but rather unlike some people in it whom we knew, the Frosts had many other interests besides just that one.<\/p>\n

To some, he was a “controversial” figure, even scary, but I think his impish sense of humor plus British accent caused too many young Americans to miss the twinkle in his eye.<\/p>\n

UPDATE:<\/strong> Twenty minutes after posting this\u2014 on a Sunday\u2014the director of the raptor center and asked if I could pick up an injured hawk. Forty minutes later I was on my way to the Wet Mountain Valley to pick up a red-tailed hawk <\/a>that had been found flapping weakly in a hayfield. It’s at the center now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I learned this morning that S. Gavin Frost, co-founder of the Church (and School) of Wicca and someone whom I counted as a friend, died early this morning. He was born in 1930 in Staffordshire. Jo, his daughter, posted on Facebook: In our family, we do not believe in grieving too much, so today, raise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[96,5,6,29],"class_list":["post-8228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-death","tag-paganism","tag-wicca","tag-witchcraft"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-28I","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1117,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1117","url_meta":{"origin":8228,"position":0},"title":"Review: Good Witches Fly Smoothly","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There are a lot of books about religious Wicca out there. There are a lot of books about practical magic, spells, etc. There are very few books about what happens next, but Good Witches Fly Smoothly: Surviving Witchcraft is one of them.Mistake 27: Using a mind key that can be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"publishing\"","block_context":{"text":"publishing","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=publishing"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=832","url_meta":{"origin":8228,"position":1},"title":"Wicca, ELF, and insomnia","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I had a lot of trouble sleeping this past week. Too much waking up with full bladder around 5 a.m. and then being unable to return to sleep, sliding instead into the pre-dawn jim-jams. \"My Wasted Life\" and other such perennial themes.Pre-dawn wakefulness always reminds me of one of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"weirdness\"","block_context":{"text":"weirdness","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=weirdness"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":209,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=209","url_meta":{"origin":8228,"position":2},"title":"'Aspecting' Deity An interview with\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 16, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"'Aspecting' Deity An interview with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone at Witches' Voice offers some first-hand description of \"aspecting\" a deity as well as a different twist on Wicca-as-nature religion. 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This documentary begins with a protest of Z.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":646,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=646","url_meta":{"origin":8228,"position":4},"title":"Wiccan children running wildApparently Wiccans\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Wiccan children running wildApparently Wiccans are now a go-to minority group. I just got an email from someone with Ricochet Television soliciting my help in locating Wiccan families with rowdy kids who might want to appear on SupernannyThat's the show in which \"supernanny\" Jo Frost sets things right by emphasizing\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8238,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8238","url_meta":{"origin":8228,"position":5},"title":"Sex, Kids, and the Witch’s Bible","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"In mid-20th-century America, the public face of anthropology was Margaret Mead (1901\u20131978). 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