The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

The ninth anniversary of one of the saddest days in the history of The  Cauldron is almost upon us. If you were a member of The Cauldron any  time from about 2003 to early 2006, you will remember Chavi (aka  Storyteller Cat and, in offline life, Cathlene Patricia McKenna) and  starting in early 2005, her ever positive reports on her battle with a  rare form of cancer. (Some of these posted used to be available on our  2005 Archive Board -- but the software it ran on does not support modern  versions of PHP.) The odds were against her from the beginning, but  that did not stop her from fighting hard to try to be one of the rare  survivors. And for a time it looked like she really might overcome those  long odds. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be so. We lost Chavi on April 1, 2006.

Elspeth, one of the founders of this board passed over on April 19,  2010, after years of fighting congestive heart failure and other medical  problems which kept her offline except for generally brief spells for  the last five or six years before her death. She was a major participant  here in the early years of this board and her posts can be found on our  old Delphi forum. Some of her poetry and other writings can in old  issues of our newsletter and in the Samhain section of our web site. The  Cauldron would have never started if Elspeth had not wanted a forum to  replace a small mailing list, The Grove, which she ran.

Marilyn (aka Absent) needs no introduction to recent members of this  board. She was a long time active member of this board with many posts  to her credit up until she suddenly passed on February 16th last year.  She was a long time staff member whose expertise on the Tarot was  appreciated by all.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015, marks the ninth anniversary of Chavi's passing.  Since the first anniversary of her passing, we have honored her on  April 1st with 24 hours of candle burning. Four years ago, we started  honoring Elspeth on this day as well. Two years ago, we added Marilyn to  this annual memorial. We are asking all Cauldron members who knew Chavi,  Elspeth, or Marilyn; knew of Chavi, Elspeth, or Marilyn; or who did not  know any of these three people but just want to help honor three  wonderful people who meant a lot to many members of TC (and wish to  participate) to light a candle in honor of Chavi, Elspeth, and Marilyn  at 8pm your local time on April 1st and let it burn for at least an  hour. The object is to have 24 hours of candles burning for them -- one  hour at a time around the world. Given things like oceans and the like,  this may not be completely possible, but I'll bet we can come close --  especially as some of us let our candles burn for longer than one hour.

If you log in on April 1st, you will probably notice that many longtime  members of this board have changed their avatar for the day to either an  avatar of a hat or their regular avatar wearing a hat. These hats are  usually somewhat silly. We do this in honor of Chavi who had a thing for  silly hats.

If you want to participate, please post in here. Everyone, regardless of  religion, is welcome to participate. If you can't participate at 8pm  your time, feel free to pick a different hour, I can promise you that  neither Chavi, Elspeth, nor Marilyn would have been sticklers about the  time.

I'm in.

 
I'll be out at 8, but I'll light a candle starting at 8:30. I'll admit that I never knew these people, but in a way they are my ancestors.

I'm in.

 
Me too.

Me too.

 
Me three

We are asking all Cauldron members who knew Chavi,  Elspeth, or Marilyn; knew of Chavi, Elspeth, or Marilyn; or who did not  know any of these three people but just want to help honor three  wonderful people who meant a lot to many members of TC (and wish to  participate) to light a candle in honor of Chavi, Elspeth, and Marilyn  at 8pm your local time on April 1st and let it burn for at least an  hour.

 
My silly hat and I will be there.

If you want to participate, please post in here. Everyone, regardless of  religion, is welcome to participate. If you can't participate at 8pm  your time, feel free to pick a different hour, I can promise you that  neither Chavi, Elspeth, nor Marilyn would have been sticklers about the  time.

 
Haven't been around much lately, but I'm in for the day.  Silly hat on (thanks, Ravelry) and candle lit all day.  Thinking of you all, and especially Chavi, our War Duke and keeper of the light.

Brina

...I gotta find where the heck I put my candles.

Fortunately, we found ours last week. We'll be lighting a candle later this morning that should burn until we go to bed (about 10pm CDT).

If you want to participate, please post in here. Everyone, regardless of  religion, is welcome to participate. If you can't participate at 8pm  your time, feel free to pick a different hour, I can promise you that  neither Chavi, Elspeth, nor Marilyn would have been sticklers about the  time.

I never had the fortune to know these three, but I'll join in nonetheless.