Officers of Avalon started as an e-group for police officers in 1999 and expanded to include other people working in the field with cops. It has evolved into an organization representing the Pagans working in these fields in Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia and Ireland.
Full members are current or retired Police Officers, Firefighters, Paramedics, EMTs, Police or Fire Dispatchers and Corrections Officers. Associate Members are people interested in the above, or Doctors, Registered Nurses, etc. and people who wish to become Law Enforcement Officers. Also Security Guards, etc.
Kerr Cuhulain, spokesperson for the group, a child-abuse investigator for the Vancouver Police Department in British Columbia and a Wiccan author (The Law Enforcement Guide to Wicca, Wiccan Warrior and Full Contact Magick), says:
"Officers of Avalon want to show the world that we follow a valid and respectable spiritual path. We want to show the people of the free world that some of the people who are defending that freedom are Pagans like us. We want to establish a support network for those Pagans within the emergency services who do not yet feel that they can safely make their Pagan beliefs public.
"Having been a spokesperson for half of the past 32 years that I have been involved in the Wiccan community and being the first police officer to go public about his Wiccan beliefs 25 years ago has given me a feel for the size and composition of the Pagan community…Officers of Avalon wants to form as big a group as possible to put some weight behind our presentations and arguments."
Web site: www.officersofavalon.com.
E-mail addresses: info@officersofavalon.com and webmistress@officersofavalon.com.
Mail address: Officers of Avalon, PO Box 79005, Dartmouth, MA, 02747.
Kerr Cuhulain has written (not published yet) a fourth book, Blue Magick: Perspectives of a Pagan Policeman — a description of his experiences as the first police officer to publicly proclaim that he is a Witch. "It outlines my spirituality primarily though describing my experiences and through anecdotes or 'snapshots' describing scenes from Wiccan ritual or celebrations. It is an examination of discrimination against a minority religion. It is an account of what I've had to do to fight for the basic rights of the Wiccan community. I strive to take a light-hearted approach as much as possible, incorporating a lot of humourous experiences from my 25-year career as a Wiccan cop and occult expert. I also incorporate the experiences of other Pagan officers in North America that I have come to know."
(There is a possible Canadian group of Pagan Law Enforcement Officers forming. We will keep you informed.)