Website of the Grove of Manannan Mac Lir of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids

(Adapted and excerpted from "Jehanah Wedgwood" by James L. Bianchi, Touchstone Magazine , March 2011)

The Mananan Mac Lir Grove is honored to celebrate the life of Jehanah Hillard, poet, mother, Grove Mother, and Chief Druidess. Born Stephanie Virginia 'Jenna" Wedgwood on January 28, 1941, Jehanah obtained a Bachelor's degress in Comparative Literature and obtained training from the Gestalt Institute of Multiple Psychotherapy, the San Francisco Gestalt Institute, as well as training from Ron Kurtz (Gestalt psychotherapist) and with Dr. Rodney Karr (Jungian psychotherapist). Her interests included Celtic Studies, Druidry, the Faery Tradition, ancient history and philospophy and she participated in workshop of R.J. Stewart.

Jehanah was an important part of San Francisco's literary culture. She presided over weekly poetry reading at the Sacred Grounds Cafe for 19 years, was the editor of the Sacred Grounds Anthologies 1-15 and published various volumes of her own poetry, Mother of Winter, The Sun Colors, Song for the Day, and her final work, Next Century's Child (Meridian Press Works), which was published days before her passing. Her primary literary influences included Joseph Campbell, Alan Watts, William Shakespears, Gertrude Stein, and the poets Jack Micheline and Allen Ginsberg.

Her spiritual life was a prominent part of her life and inimately linked to her literary passions. She was grove mother of the Monarch Bear Grove and the Manannan Mac Lir Grove in San Francisco, minister of Shamanistic Poetry and ordained by the Association for the Integration of the Whole Person. She was part of the formation of the House of Danu, an active member on its Gorsedd committee, and a respected member of its Governing Council.

Jehanah is survived by her children, Mary Shea, Thomas Wedgwood, and Sasannah Wedgwood, her daughter-in-law Jill Raznov, and grandchildren Ely, Colby, and Evan.