Page of Pentacles $12/yr, included

with membership.
W. Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC
C. A. 5196 Moscrop Street
Burnaby, British Columbia
B. C.
V5G 2G4
www.cwabc.org #26 June 2007 c.e.
Talking About Some Big Questions
by Sam Wagar

The great religious and ethical question, “How
should I live to be a good and ethical person?” has a
different outcome for people like ourselves, following
a polytheistic religion without a single Holy Book, than
what we’ve been taught. This is, however, a question
that religious people of whatever religion have to
grapple with, and so I’m going to take a few minutes
here to explore it.
For us, I suggest going from that question to
asking “Who am I?” and then following that up with
“Who are the Goddesses and Gods that are mainly
concerned with the type of person that I
fundamentally am?” We don’t need or want to be
anything except who we are, and we don’t want to be
all like the same ‘perfect’ person, but we want to be
the best and strongest, most ethical, most interesting
version of who we are.
By saying that one is a child of a particular
Goddess one takes on Her attributes and affirms Her
as central to one’s understanding of oneself. One
commits to personal development in tune with this
Goddess’ Way and can expect Her help in developing
an ethical and personal style that fits with Her Way.
But one must also explicitly recognize that other
Paths, other ethics and other mores are also valid and
legitimate Paths. My Goddess is not necessarily
important in your life and the values and behaviours
that She demands of me are not necessarily anything
that you should be concerned with. In the broader
shared sense, the sense of “How I should live my life
together with other people,” ethics and morality are
human agreements, not Universal Truths Handed
Down From Olympus, or whatever.
This problem of how the Gods fit in with ethics
and morality was dealt with in 380 B.C.E. by Plato in
the Euthyphro Dialogue between Socrates and
Euthyphro, a classic philosophical text that is still very
useful. The following question, among others, is
posed: “Is an action wrong because the Gods forbid it
or do the Gods forbid it because it is wrong?” Trying
to resolve the question can be done in two ways,
which lead to different conclusions, both of which are
more or less a problem for the monotheist or for those
who believe that the Gods are the source of ethics
and morality : a) “The Gods forbid an action because
it is wrong” – this admits that there is some standard
of right and wrong that is independent of the Gods
and that wrong actions were already wrong prior to
Gods forbidding them; or b) “An action is wrong
because the Gods (or a God) forbid it” – the position
required to reduce ethics to religion.
In the first case we look to the universe or to
human nature, not to the Gods, for the source of good
and evil. In the second case we end up with three
unacceptable positions: (i) Morality is Contingent. So
any action that is actually wrong could have been
morally right, including, say, acts of torturing innocent
children for fun, if a God approved of it. (ii) The
Gods’ Commands are Arbitrary. If things aren’t right
or wrong or good or bad independent of the Gods’
commanding or forbidding them, then there is no good
reasons to choose what to command and what to
forbid. (iii) The God’s Goodness is Trivial and
Therefore Not Praiseworthy. If whatever a particular
God prefers is thereby automatically best, then the
fact that she/he always prefers the best is a trivial
fact, true merely by definition. But then always
preferring the best does not make Her/Him
praiseworthy.
Socrates also talks with Euthyphro about
differences of opinion among the Gods, but, falsely in
my opinion, accepts that the Gods ultimately agree
with one another. This dodges around the simple
polytheistic ethical way out of the problem – because
the Gods differ, different ethics result from
relationships with different Gods, and our ethical
choices ultimately must come from ourselves and not
from Them. We adopt ethics that come from our
nature and potential as human animals and our
membership in particular societies.

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 Polytheistic religious frameworks do not provide
an absolute list of ethical and moral guidelines beyond
some foundation statements. There is no single set of
rules and guidelines for all people but a great variety
– a good place to begin to look at building our ethics is
the Greek idea of virtue ethics. This great variety of
moral ways depends on the kind of person that one
fundamentally is and the agreements that one makes
with one’s Gods to help develop oneself. Some
absolutes like the preference to avoid harming other
people, respect for a range of different Gods and
different means of being devoted to them, and
honesty about ones actions and choices are important
in the Wiccan path as well.
A few examples – a person who is fundamentally
a Vestal, dedicated to hearth and home and the values
of community, must live a different life with a
different moral and ethical code in order to be happy
and fulfilled than what would be required of a child of
Ares, or of Thor, or other Gods. What is moral and
required of them, modesty, calmness, quiet
introversion, will not necessarily be moral for others,
and can in fact be immoral for them.
So, “Who am I?” - I am a woman who values
personal strength and independence, who may be
heterosexual but has no desire to be subordinate to a
man (even in the sense of having him “look after
her”). I am a child of Artemis. That Goddess will
work with me to make me stronger, more independent
and sure of my power. Relationships will be more
difficult because I will insist on my independence, but
I will be able to build strong friendships with men and
women on a basis of mutual respect and autonomy
Or, I am a woman who values beauty and luxury,
seeing myself as first a sexual being, flirtatious,
coquettish, independent from the lasting bonds of any
relationship but constantly surrounded by men and
women. I am a child of Aphrodite. That Goddess will
work with me to make me more aware of my beauty
and the power of sex. She will help me become more
stylish and more aware of beautiful things. Lasting
relationships will be difficult because monogamy is
not for Aphrodite’s children, and it will be difficult to
gain the trust of women and men that I am around.
Or, I am a man who values drunkenness and
ecstasy, who loves to explore different roles and
ways of being – an actor and performer, dancer. I am
a child of Dionysos. That God will take me deep into
altered states, will help me to bring others to
awareness through ecstasy, will perform through my
body, will give me great charisma and dark power. He
will lead me to the edge of addiction, will break
boundaries and open me up at the very edge of my
capacity to endure.
All of these people can be moral and ethical
people, devoted to the service of their Gods. They all
can develop great personal power. But the ways that
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they will do it must be different, the virtues that they
need to express and work through will not be the
same. And the weaknesses that will be accentuated
will be different as well – Artemis may be lonely,
Aphrodite may be mistrusted, Dionysos may be an
addict, Vesta may be prudish and agoraphobic.
In a polytheology the “God card” does not trump
anything. When I say that my Patron, Legba,
demands certain things of me, this imposes no
requirement on you to do or say anything, since the
rules of Legba apply only to His people (and He
rewards only His people). In order to persuade you to
behave in a certain way, I have to genuinely persuade
you of the worth of a particular ethical position and I
have to be open to be persuaded myself, since I don’t
necessarily have a truth for anyone but myself.
We must be in dialogue around morality, rather
than giving a set of detailed rules and requiring them.
It is not absolutely true, for example, that there is one
good way to be sexual (or even twenty ways – all
that we can all agree on is freely consenting adults)
or that there is one diet that our Gods require of us
(some Gods are vegetarian, some are hunters, some
are herders and shepherds, many don’t care, some
want animal and human sacrifice) or one attitude
toward the use of violence and warfare.
Ethical standards are useful and our common
human nature as hierarchic pack-hunting social
mammals tells us which areas are important – long
lasting pair-bonds and families, order and organized
groups with leadership and ownership of resources.
But these ethics are not binding on the Gods, and they
reflect what we came from but not what we aspire to
become, not our joint project with the Gods. If right
and wrong differed completely for each individual,
building community and organized religion would be
very difficult and perhaps pointless (if religion is in the
ethics business, which Socrates and I would argue
that it isn’t necessarily). But things do not differ that
dramatically, the Golden Rule does apply, and our
relationships with the Gods do not over-ride our
ethical autonomy and self-determination – the Gods
may be wrong.
Dialogue and absence of dogma are essential
qualities of polytheism. We must co-operate as
individuals and as communities to seek the truth,
because our Gods are biased as individuals and no
one of them has the whole truth. At the same time
there is no endpoint to the dialogue, no final
conclusions, but rather an ongoing exploration of
moral and ethical questions. So, living as a good and
ethical person as a polytheist means living in
community and in dialogue with others, respecting and
learning from their experiences with their Gods.
These ethical questions and our relationships with
our Gods are not just individual matters, either, but
apply to our Temple work and rituals, to coven work
and to how we are as religious people in the larger
world.
(Useful reference books to begin to investigate
these things more deeply: Ginette Paris Pagan
Meditations for Vesta/Hestia, Artemis and Aphrodite,
Pagan Grace for Dionysos, The Sacrament of
Abortion for Artemis; Roberto Calasso The Marriage
of Cadmus and Harmony, Plato The Euthyphro
Dialogue.)
Temple News
Vancouver-Burnaby Temple
Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Art Magickal
(and all the ships at sea),
This past month has seen our Beltane celebration
on the 2nd of May, our regular coffee meet on the
25th, a number of new books, CDs, and movies
enriching our lives, and the renewal of a Great Big
Project!
After a great deal of work making decorations and
head wreaths and finding a wide array of coloured
ribbons, the big day of our Beltane finally arrived.
Unfortunately, Anne was ill with the pain and
inflammation of an incomplete root canal! What a
pity! But Deb and Mario came to the rescue to set up
the indoor Maypole and the ritual proceeded with Deb
graciously acting as priestess. Attendance was
smaller than we’d hoped – only six people. The
highlight for me was the wobbling Maypole in the
Yule tree stand, its detachable top wiggling away as
we turned. It was fun, in an improvised and playful
way – no pompous solemnity there!
The next Sabbat, MidSummer, will be celebrated
on 20th of June, at 7 pm, in the Community Meeting
Room at Metrotown Mall (above Sears, top level of
the rainbow elevator in the Grand Court, Office
Gallery level). This is the festival of the Sun in His
glory and it celebrates personal power and
accomplishment – so come prepared to brag about
your accomplishments this year and to celebrate what
you will achieve in the coming year! As always, free
of charge, open to the general public.
Our regular monthly coffee meet-up (last Friday
of the month, Sacred Space bookstore/café 29 East
Pender Street, 7-9 pm) on the 25th, was a real treat.
As well as a number of old friends a good number of
new people came to join in the conversation. Thirteen
people were there and what a lively and talkative
crew – there were three or four conversations going
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on at once and it was all very interesting – we talked
a bit about books, film, music, previous and current
spiritual paths, moving to the city (a fair number of
transplants there), the situation in Iran, and other
things that I have forgotten.
Our Temple member Isabella has welcomed her
new grandchild into the world, Deb’s husband is
recovering well from his back injury and looking
forward to returning to work in a few more weeks,
Sabrina finally has an appointment with a specialist in
ankle replacement surgery (which will relieve pain
and give her greater mobility), and the hot weather
has come!. As well, Sam and Anne will be performing
a wedding on the 23rd of June, and two more in July.
Oh yes, in the Great Big Project department – The
Canadian National Pagan Conference will be coming
to Vancouver in 2009 with Sam chairing the local
committee. When a new Board for the annual
conference was elected in Winnipeg over the Victoria
Day long weekend, one of their first orders of
business was to offer the 2009 conference to the
local conference committee which currently includes
Sam Wagar, Anne Doré, and Diane Morrison of the
CWA-BC and Dan Miller of the BC Freehold, a
Heathen organization. We expect to include other
communities and a broad range of Paganisms as
planning proceeds.
Blessed Be
Sam Wagar, Priest samwagar@shaw.ca
Anne Doré, Priestess annedore@shaw.ca
Temple of the Green Cauldron (Nanaimo )
Pagan Pride Carwash
Come down and help support our pagan pride day
by getting wet and hanging out with friend. We’ve got
lots of money to raise so we need lot of hands to hold
signs, sponges and best of all hoses! All right, so now
we need PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE and what
ever car washing things you have. (Sponges, car
brushes, buckets, soap, anything you think we need
for a car wash) The most recent carwash was
Saturday the 2nd at the Departure Bay 7-11 from 12-
4.
For more info contact
info@nanaimopaganpride.info or call 250-758-8332
Visit our website at http://
www.nanaimopaganpride.info
Nanaimo is working very hard to raise funds for
Pagan Pride. We are rather behind and it is going to
be close. Still, the day itself is booked solid with
workshops, rituals, and music. It will be a great day.
Next Public Sabbat: MidSummer
Our next public ritual will be MidSummer. It will
be held at Bowen Park lower Picnic shelter on
Saturday June 23rd @ 6pm. Call 739-3997 if you get
lost. This is an outdoor ritual so please dress
accordingly. Also bring a piece of wood for a fire.
Temple of The Green Cauldron welcomes all
members of the public to attend our open rituals and
everyone is welcome to participate or just watch. A
potluck meal traditionally follows our rituals and
everyone is welcome to bring their favourite tasty
treat. Also bring your own dishes/cups.
Wicca 101
The Wicca 101 class has ended and had their
graduation ritual on Sunday the 22nd. It is always a
pleasure to see how each class puts together their
ritual and great to see what a group working together
comes up with. We are delighted to welcome the
‘new’ witches and hope they will continue to be
active in the temple. And thanks to Daniel for such a
great course that continually draws people.
Wicca 201
After all the excitement of offering this course in
May, the clergy has decided to cut back on extras and
concentrate on getting our debts paid. We thank many
of you who came forward to offer to pay for several
courses and hall rental. It was greatly appreciated.
Thanks for understanding the need for the clergy to
not over-extend ourselves further and realizing that
the debts must be paid before taking on more.
Earth Day
Despite the rain we had an excellent reception at
this years Earth Day celebration! The labyrinth was
popular, even though the rain continually washed it
away. For something that was put together at the last
minute, we actually made a few dollars! Pamphlets
were handed out and lots of questions were
answered, both about the Temple and Pagan Pride.
Thanks to all the people who helped especially a very
soggy Kam!
Pampering Night
Lobelia’s Lair has offered their facilities (and a cut
in the proceeds) in presenting the Pampering
evenings. We have set this up for the end of May, and
information can be found at the store. It’s a first
come-first pampered. Tickets are $45 prepaid for 3
different sessions. Our own Coralee will be one of
the people offering her services!! This is a women’s
only evening....sorry guys you will have to do your
4
own nails!
Craft Days
Like doing things with your hands? Want to make
stuff and help out the congregation? On the third
Saturday of every month, 2-5 pm, we get together
and we make stuff for temple craft sales and silent
auctions. Bring whatever tools and materials you
have, mix and match with things others have brought
and have lots of fun creating things. The idea is to
donate your crafts to the temple but you can take
home some of the crafts you make. Not a crafty
person? Think you are all thumbs? If you can safely
operate a pair of scissors or a glue stick you are
helpful and your presence is needed badly. You might
even accidentally have some fun - I did despite my
best efforts! For more information or if you have
craft ideas, items to donate, some old curtains, fabric
scraps, glue, paint, some junk in your garage or
anything else you think we could use please contact
Craig and Coralee (741- 8690) or Meredith and Sally
(758-7592) to arrange a pick-up or drop-off.
Fun Days
Every month we come up with a different fun
activity to do. We went bowling last month, had a silly
April fool’s day party and went swimming in May!
Come on out and meet some new people! Get
together with other congregants outside of ritual and
have some fun! This is a great way to strengthen
connections within our little community. There is
nothing intrinsically Wiccan about these events so it’s
a neutral atmosphere to bring non-pagan friends if
you like.
Monthly Coffee Night!
Our monthly coffee night approaches once again,
but at a new location! We are moving our coffee
night to a brand new Wiccan & Pagan friendly
establishment called Mermaids Mug. Mermaids Mug
is located just down the road from Lobelia’s Lair at
357 Wesley Street. This is a great opportunity for
newcomers to come and meet the group in a
comfortable surrounding! It’s also a good opportunity
for those of us who are already comfortable to come
out and just be silly... Coffee night is held on the
second Thursday of every month at Mermaids Mug
starting at 7:00PM.
On the whole, I would say we are getting a
positive reception from people as they realize that we
are just people like everyone else and are concerned
about our community.
 North Okanagan Temple
(Vernon-Kelowna)
Upcoming Events:
* Saturday, May 26, 7 pm - Upper Room Mission,
Vernon - Guerrilla Pagan Outreach
* Saturday, June 2, 4 pm to 6 pm - Peggy & Helene’s
Place (1670 Lynrick Rd,) Kelowna - Temple Council
Meeting
* Saturday, June 9, 6 pm to 9 pm - Peggy & Helene’s
Place, Kelowna - Women’s Mysteries Group
* Saturday, June 23, 6 pm to 8 pm - BX Community
Park (behind the BX Fire Hall at 5764 Silver Star
Rd,) Vernon - Summer Solstice Ritual
* Saturday, July 14, 6 pm to 9 pm - Women’s
Mysteries Group
Hello again, time for another update on the
Temple’s activities!
TEMPLE AGM
The North Okanagan Temple held its Annual
General Meeting on May 12. Seven of our ten CWA
members showed up, and all were duly elected to the
Board. Your new Council has some old faces, and
some new faces, and some old faces doing new jobs:
Chair: Brenda Casey (Rowean)
Vice-chair: Jason Currie (Erin)
Pursewarden (Treasurer): Steve Curiston
Scribe (Secretary): Peggy Martin
Summoner (Membership): Helene Lenzing
PR: Diane Morrison (Sable)
Member-at-Large (to be our Temple Representative
to the Provincial Board when/if we qualify to have
one): Jennifer Bonderoff
TEMPLE COUNCIL AND MEMBERSHIPS
Temple Council usually runs on the last Saturday
of a given month before the next ritual. The Council
meets at alternate months in Vernon and Kelowna. If
you’d like to come, please email Peggy or call 765-
6377 for directions.
Anyone who is interested is welcome to attend
Council, though only paid CWA members have voting
rights (and you have those voting rights whether you
hold an office or not!) If you’ve attended at least
three events in the past year, and you’ve been
involved for a year or more, you may be eligible for
membership. Membership also requires a $25 annual
fee payable to the Provincial organization (make your
cheque out to the Congregationalist Wiccan
Association of BC and send it to the address on your
5
Page of Pentacles newsletter,) and you are required
to sign our statement of ethics (available for perusal
on the back page of every Page of Pentacles.)
Contact me for forms or if you have any questions.
Existing members - don’t forget to renew your
memberships! You have a one month grace period if
your membership has lapsed, but don’t delay!
GUERRILLA PAGAN OUTREACH
With the closing of the last homeless shelter in
Vernon, and the rental and real estate costs so high,
the plight of Vernon’s homeless has become truly
desperate. The parking lot of the Upper Room
Mission has become a campground for those
affected. On the weekends, the only meals available
to them are a lunch served on Saturday at the
Anglican Church.
Rowean and I pass by the Upper Room Mission
every day to go to work, and we have been inspired
to adopt a movement already in action in Vancouver,
called the Guerrilla Pagan Outreach. The point is to
bring immediate help to the hungry. I invite all of you,
or anyone at all who wants to help, to join us down at
the Mission in Vernon on Saturday evenings at 7 pm.
If everyone brings a dozen hot dogs with buns, or a
dozen juice boxes (I suggest 5 Alive or Sun Rype
Fruit with Veggies; they’re the same price as
everything else but have actual vitamins and
nutritional value,) or a dozen sandwiches or
something, we can just hand them out and leave.
Because we have no permits for this and we’re
not worrying about commercial kitchens or Serving-it-
Right certificates, this is not an official CWA activity.
But I’m going to be there just the same, until a new
shelter comes in or maybe even afterwards if the
need is still there. We’re also happy to accept grocery
cards if you can’t make it in person. Contact Rowean
at 549-4100 if you’d like to help out.
WOMEN’S MYSTERIES GROUP
Our first gathering of the Women’s Mysteries
group will be at Peggy & Helene’s place on June 9 at
6 pm. Pre-registration is strongly recommended; we
now have about a coven’s worth (13) registered!
Cost will be about $5 - $10 per class. We’ll have
conversation, ritual, crafts, Tantra, yoga, and so much
more! We’ll be meeting on the second Saturday of
every month, and we’re open to any woman of, or
past, menstruating age (minors must have parental
consent.) For more information, or to register, contact
Rowean or me at 549-4100, or email me.
SUMMER SOLSTICE RITUAL
Our Summer Solstice Ritual is going to be held in
Vernon on June 23 at 6 pm. We thought it would be
nice to have another outdoor ritual, so after some
small chaos, we’ve booked the BX Community Park,
which is behind the BX Fire Hall at 5764 Silver Star
Rd. There is no shade and there are no chairs, so
please bring lawn furniture, sun protection, water, and
whatever else you might require.
The nice thing about this site is that it’s out of the
way, with a lot of space, and Erin, Rowean and I live
about 2 blocks away. We’d be happy to invite you all
back to our home for lemonade or coffee after the
ritual. We’re also doing a food drive for the homeless,
so volunteers will be asked to help run any easily-
eaten food down to the Upper Room Mission after
the ritual. (Items not suited to be immediately eaten
will be donated to the Mission, the Food Bank, or the
Women’s Transition House.) So please bring a food
donation if you can.
In accordance with our new ritual plan, we’ll be
using a theme rather than a script, and encouraging
more active participation. The theme will be “A
Celebration of Life!” We need four volunteers to call
quarters and we’ll need to discuss things briefly
before the ritual if possible, so contact me if you’re
interested. Central to the ritual will be a spiral dance,
so bring your drums! Also, if you have any ideas or
contributions you’d like to make to the ritual, please
let me know and we can probably find a way to fit it
in.
DONATIONS - BOTTLES AND CANS
Every month, the clergy and our household turn in
our cans and bottles and drink containers for the
deposit, which we then donate to help fund our rituals
and programs. We are happy to accept your can and
bottle donations if this would be something you’d
want to do. Give us a call, or bring your empties along
to the next ritual and we’ll find a space to take them
home. Thanks to the donations of empties at our
Beltane ritual, we actually made a small profit! There
were more than sixty dollars worth of bottles and
cans and drink boxes! Thank you very much to all
who donated. Let’s do it again for the Solstice!
FUNDRAISING - GOODS AND SERVICES
AUCTION
Being part of the Unitarian listserve, I recently
saw an idea I rather like for a fundraiser, and am
gauging interest and looking for volunteers. They
called it a “Goods and Services Auction.” People
donate items or services to be auctioned off, with
proceeds going to the church. It’s one of their major
fundraisers. If you would be interested in donating
your services or items, please let us know!
6
PAGANS IN NEED
Don’t forget our Pagans in Need project, which is
happy to accept your non-perishable food and clothing
donations year-round at each ritual! These will, of
course, be distributed to Pagan families in need in the
Okanagan Valley, either at Yule or when a sudden
emergency in the community indicates a need.
TAROT BY DONATION
I am reading tarot once weekly or by appointment
at The Threads That Bind Us (3004B 31 St) in
Vernon; fee by donation. The donation is divided
between the little “metaphysical thrift store” and our
Temple coffers, in order to dig them out of the red. I
am available Tuesday afternoons, or throughout the
week (from Tuesday to Friday) before 1 pm by
appointment.
RECOMMENDED READING
I was recently given several Wiccan books by a
friend who was cleaning out her closet, and one of
them was a neat little book called “Summoning Forth
Wiccan Gods and Goddesses: The Magick of
Invocation and Evocation” by Lady Maeve Rhea.
I have to give her kudos for attempting to describe
the indescribable. “Drawing Down” is one of the
central Mysteries of the Craft, and many (perhaps
most) Witches will eventually reach a point where
they want to (some are truly *called* to) give it a try.
But the fact is that most of us are solitaries learning
out of books, and do not have the benefit of a coven
leader with experience to teach us how to do it.
Others do have such a benefit, but for whatever
reason, struggle with the process. This book describes
the process, along with some exercises to help
prepare yourself, and a lot of excellent advice and
some cautionary notes from the voice of hard
experience. It also includes some marvellous
meditations for acquainting yourself with the
Elements, something most Witches never take the
time to do but which really makes the calling of the
quarters much more effective.
I do have some criticisms. While Lady Maeve
attempted to describe things in simple terms for the
beginner, I feel that she did not give enough ground
information. I don’t feel this *is* a book for the
novice Witch, and that only someone who has been
practising for some time would really grasp many of
the concepts she discusses. So in places, this has the
effect of coming across as patronizing. Also, it’s
heavily weighted by the influence of her own tradition,
and this includes some specific beliefs about the
Divine and how to deal with It/Them that may not be
the way you see things. I don’t suppose that can
really be helped, though; after all, much of it is written
from experience, and she only has her own
experience to draw from.
Ultimately, I think it’s well worth the read.
ENERGY NEEDED
So my hubby managed to do it again; he injured his
back falling down a flight of stairs while he was at
work. He has a “mild” fracture of the spine (and a
new diagnosis of osteoarthritis) and some ligament
damage. Since customers seem determined to make
him carry huge amounts of groceries or their new
furniture, he could really use some healing energy for
his bones, if you can spare it.
Shannon has survived her chemo, only to endure a
new diagnosis - lupus. I don’t know what can be done
for her health, but I’m sure any healing energy would
be most appreciated by her beleaguered body.
Sara Dunbar has been quietly fighting an ongoing
struggle with cancer as well. It appears the kidney
cancer she originally suffered from is successfully in
remission, but recently, malignant tumours (though not
ones that had spread from her kidneys; a new thing!)
were removed from her spine. She would be grateful
for energy to speed her healing, aid her body to fight
the cancer, and resist pain.
Jamie’s sister continues to struggle through her
chemo, so energy for healing and for personal energy
would probably be appreciated. However, Barry and
Peggy continue to maintain health in remission.
Our very own Graeme, a.k.a. “Troop,” has
received his orders; he’s going to war! Energy for his
continued safety and/or strength in battle couldn’t
hurt. If anyone would like to send anything to him,
you can send it via the Armoury in Kelowna to
Corporal Graeme Berber. I will also be arranging the
occasional “care package” if you want to contribute
to that. I’d like to send the first one around the
Summer Solstice, so if anyone would like to
contribute, please let me know.
As always, if you have anything to add to our
“Energy Needed” section, please don’t hesitate to
ask!
Blessed be,
Diane Morrison (Sable)
Priestess, CWABC North Okanagan
7
New Clergy Candidates
Over the past two months the following people have
been accepted into our formal clergy training process,
hoping to become Ordained clergy: Anne Doré of the
Vancouver-Burnaby Temple, Meredith Kimber and
Craig Burnett of the Green Cauldron Temple in
Nanaimo.
In order to be accepted into our clergy training a
member of the church must be voted on by the
Ordination Committee (all of the Ordained clergy plus
Chair, Vice-chair and Treasurer of the Board of
Directors plus a Members’ Advocate chosen at the
Annual General Meeting). After a person receives a
majority of the votes of the committee, they can begin
the training.
Because CWA clergy are clergy for the church as a
whole not only of their home Temple there is a
standard set of readings and supervision of their
training from outside their Temple (although the
details and performance of training is in the hands of
the supervising clergy) and then confirmation again by
a vote of the Committee.
A proposal will be put forward by the Board to the
next AGM to simplify the process.
Provincial Board of Directors:
Chair: Debra Eilers
Vice-Chair: Sally Kimber
Secretary-Treasurer: Samuel Wagar
Membership, Diane Morrison
Public Relations: Daniel van Koughnett
Temple Representative (non-voting): Anne
Doré (Van.-Burnaby)
CWA-BC Membership requirements:
CWA is not a coven or an association of covens and
so we do not require training or Initiation of people
who wish to be members. We do not expect “perfect
love and perfect trust” but a much more normal level
of trust and mutual respect of our potential members.
Potential members must be legal adults, must attend
at least three of our Open Circles over the course of
a year, sign the attendance book at each of them,
signify in writing that they agree with our statement
of beliefs and our ethic statement (below) and pay
our annual membership fee (currently $25). Only
voting members may vote or be elected to
congregational councils or the provincial council, may
vote to confirm a clergy person for ordination, or train
for our clergy.
Clergy training takes a minimum of one further year,
regardless of the amount of previous training or
experience which a person may have.
CWA Statement of Beliefs:
The members of this Society believe:
a/ that the divine is multifaceted and that it is
appropriate to Name and worship a variety of
Goddesses and Gods in a variety of different ways,
b/ that the divine is primarily immanent,
c/ that there are a variety of guardian spirits and
levels of divinity,
d/ that we generally shape our liturgy and theology
around the worship of the Goddess or the Goddess
and the Old Gods,
e/ that the divine is ever-present and ever-active in
the world,
f/ that we can through petition, action, and ritual,
cause change in the world in accord with our Wills.
Every woman and every man is an embodiment of
divinity.
All acts of love and pleasure are acts of praise of the
Goddess. This specifically includes all non-coercive
sexual orientations.
An ye harm none, do what ye will.
Statement of Ethics:
All members of this Society must bind themselves by
agreement with the following:
Although there are many Goddesses and Gods and
many Paths to their worship, our path does not
involve;
a/ animal sacrifice,
b/ any coercive activities,
c/ charging fees for teaching the Craft beyond the
recovery of costs, or for Initiation. (Members of
groups may reasonably be expected to share in the
expenses of events sponsored by the group, or agreed
to as part of its obligations as members of this
Society, and voluntary donations will be accepted).
d/ malfeasance,
e/ breaking Priestly confidentiality, subject to the
law,
f/ oath-breaking.
People who wish to become further involved in our
church need not be members to volunteer for
committees (although nonmembers cannot vote) or to
attend basic Religious Education classes (which will
be taught by members and clergy). Just contact the
Secretary of CWA as a whole or your local
congregation’s lay clergy or congregation council
Summoner.
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