The History of CAYA
In 2003, Rabbit began offering public rituals honoring the Sabbats and various seasonal high points at her home and other public locations. During the next two years her Beltane Bonfires at Ocean Beach, annual Valentine’s Day Love Magic potluck, and Yule Wand-Making workshops became popular events that drew men and women from several different paths together for fun and magic. At that same time, Rabbit was making the acquaintance of other local Craft practitioners via her work with Magical Acts Ritual Theatre Company and their productions of Oracles From the Living Tarot by Catherine Starr. The creative collaboration resulted in a small but vital community of women witches who liked, among other things, to sit in hot tubs, drink champagne, and sing under the full moon.
In summer of 2005, one morning Rabbit awoke from a very vivid dream. In that dream, she heard a voice speaking that said, “You are going to start a coven. It is going to be called Come As You Are Coven, and it will be a place where everyone can find something they are looking for.” This powerful dream led Rabbit to begin formalizing the casual rituals she had been offering, and inviting others to participate in them with greater leadership as a way to foster a stronger community of pagan eclectics. The first formal ritual offered under the CAYA name was Mabon, 2005. The founding Priestesses of CAYA include the Elderflowers as well as others who contributed along the way. Several of the clergy members of CAYA today have also been with CAYA since the beginning, and have helped this Coven to grow with joy, wisdom, laughter, and love.
In 2006, CAYA began offering Full Moon Circles for self identified women and men as well as mixed-gender Sabbats for All in Berkeley at the Berkeley Yoga Center. In 2007, CAYA began Training clergy in the Wildflower Tradition. The Wildflower Tradition embodies the core commitment of CAYA: public service. Also in 2007, CAYA began training High Priestesses in the Amazon Tradition. The Amazon Tradition offers female born women a safe, loving, and empowering arena for significant personal growth in the Blood and Womb Mysteries. In 2008, The Sabbats for All outgrew the yoga studio and moved to the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists’ Main Hall. Also in 2008, the Amazon Priestess Tribe began offering clothing-optional Amazon Sabbats for female born women at the yoga studio. In 2009, CAYA hosted its first Harvest Home Camping Festival. In 2010, CAYA added a third Trad to its family: The Green Men. The Green Men provide a safe, magical, and brotherly space for male born men to address significant personal growth. Through the years, CAYA, its circles and Trads, and individual clergy have also presented rituals and activities at the Berkeley Pagan Festival, PantheaCon, The Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium, Z Budapest’s Gathering the Goddesses Festival, and at The Goddess Temple of Orange County.
The voice that spoke in Rabbit’s dream has visited her in other occasional dreams over the years. This “Voice of CAYA” is a helpful oracle that has shaped the Coven’s central vision, supported and guided by the solid, practical, and thoughtful contributions of its members. Our current projects include: offering rituals and ceremonies that are open to the public and accessible, honoring the deities who partner with us in our work, planning toward the goal of land acquisition and the creation of a pagan sanctuary, and the recording of our original circle songs.
