Page of Pentacles

Suite 1 -1428 East King Edward Avenue,Vancouver, BC V5N 2V4

C.C.C.C.C.W.W.W.W.W.A.A.A.A.A.B. C.B. C.B. C.B. C.B. C.

CWA growth and news

There has been discussion in BC on and off foryears about the need for public and accessibleWiccan religious services and organizations tosupplement the covens and occasional publicactivities that exist in some parts of the province.In 2003 this discussion heated up again on someon-line Pagan lists and led to some members of Hecate-Legba Coven in Vancouver and Circle of Tara in Aldergrove talking about starting toprovide these services. Some others were invitedto get involved but declined.A month of formal discussions beginning inFebruary 2004 led to a meeting being called toratify a constitution and bylaws and found aprovincial Society as a branch of the federalCongregationalist Witchcraft Association. Thenational Council of CWA had approved thismove.The CWA-BC founding meeting on March 7th,2004 was attended by four people representingthose two covens, plus two guests. All six wereInitiated Witches. After some discussion and anumber of small amendments the people presentsigned the proposed constitution and bylaws asfounding members of the CongregationalistWiccan Association of British Columbia.As of the 25th of March 2004 the Society waslegally incorporated, with two active Temples -Temple of Tara in Langley-Aldergrove, whocommitted to producing public Sabbats, andVancouver-Burnaby Temple, who committed toproducing Open Circles every two weeks. At itsinaugural Board meeting the Board of Directorsdeclared that all six founding members of theSociety were clergy members.After gathering up a large amount of documentation demonstrating the federal CWA’slong presence and activity in B.C., on the 21st of June an application was made to Vital Statisticsto allow CWA-BC to license “religiousrepresentatives” to perform marriages. The legalminimum time an organization has to beestablished in BC in order to license people is fiveyears but because CWA-BC was a branch of thefederal CWA, which has been active here sinceOctober 1991, we received approval as of the30th of August, 2004.The Secretary applied to license Samuel Wagar,Priest of the Vancouver-Burnaby Temple andAriele McGee, Priestess of the Star of NuitTemple (which had moved to Coquitlam andchanged its name).Unfortunately, due to a difference of opinionabout how the CWA-BC Board of Directors waselected and the authority of the Board in licensing“religious representatives” Ariel McGee and oneother member resigned their memberships andMcGee withdrew the Star of Nuit Temple fromCWA-BC on the 12th of September.Two Clergy Members, in Port Coquitlam andAbbotsford, expressed their desire to formallyfound Temples and the Board agreed that thiswould be done effective Spring Equinox and thatwe would have a open Ordination Ceremony to

#1-May 2005 c.e.

celebrate and mark the occasion on the 26th of March. Tri-Cities organizing had to be postponedindefinitely.On January 21st the Secretary, Samuel Wagar,visited the Okanagan area and met with membersof two groups there that are interested inestablishing Temples - one in Vernon and one inPenticton. He agreed to assist them by visitingonce a month and officiating at Open Circles,subject to the approval of the Board. In that sameweek the Priest of a small Temple in Surreycontacted CWA-BC to see how they couldaffiliate and keep their autonomy of practice.The Board meeting of February 12th establishedthe administrative category of “congregation” togovern groups which were under the jointauthority of a sponsoring Clergy member and theBoard because they did not yet have votingmembership and resident clergy. Lay clergy wereto be appointed to oversee the regular operationof the congregations. Wagar acts as the Priestoverseeing the Surrey, Vernon and Pentictoncongregations, although the lay clergy in thosethree congregations (Sherryl Verge and JamieField, Diane Morrison, Angela Wheeler andMike Zult) are in training to take on the Priestlytasks.Discussions began toward taking on anotherestablished congregation in mid-February. We’reopen to working with other Wiccan groupsaround the province.So, there are now two Temples (Vancouver-Burnaby and Fraser Valley), and 3 Congregations(Surrey, Vernon/ North Okanagan and Penticton/ South OK). In just over one year we have grownfrom the idea of community service held by someof the members of two small Wiccan covens inthe Vancouver area into five congregationsoffering Open Circles and access to Wiccanreligious services in Vancouver, the Fraser Valley,and the Okanagan.

CWA-BC Annual General Meeting

The next Annual General Meeting of the CWA-BCwill happen on August 14th in Vancouver. It is opento all members and friends of the church but onlyVoting Members may move motions, stand for officeor vote. Voting Members are those people who havebeen involved with the church for a minimum of oneyear, attended at least three public events, agreed inwriting with our statement of basic beliefs and ethicsand paid the annual fee (currently $25).

Temple and Congregation News Temple and Congregation News Temple and Congregation News Temple and Congregation News Temple and Congregation News Vancouver-Burnaby Temple

The Vancouver-Burnaby Temple began to meet May22

2004 and we’ve met every two weeks since then.Because the Priest, Sam Wagar, is a graduate studentup at Simon Fraser University he was able to book agood sized meeting room for free to be used while

We gained the right to license our Ministers toperform legal marriages in September of lastyear, and two of our Clergy now hold ourcredential, in Vancouver-Burnaby and SilverBranch Temples.We have begun the process of qualifying forcharitable status, but we aren’t waiting for thebureaucratic nod to start doing the work andproviding the religious services.The Spirit of the Goddess is moving through ourservice, and in our organization. Let us hope thatwe can continue and deepen our service.This monthly newsletter is intended to keep ourmembers and friends aware of what is happeningin our Temples and congregations, with ourchurch community, and, to a lesser extent, in thebroader Wiccan and Pagan communities whereour members and friends live. We will distribute itthrough the Open Circles and events of thechurch and also mail it by subscription ($12/ year).

developing a core group and establishing CWA.This Temple works in an Outer Court version of Pagans for Peace Tradition (a hybrid of Feri/ Reclaiming and Alexandrian), although it currentlylacks a regular Priestess. Wagar is a Third Degree HPand also licensed by CWA to perform marriages inBC.Attendance at this year of Open Circles has rangedfrom one person to fifteen, with a core of about eightpeople who have attended quite regularly. We havedone Sabbat celebrations, rituals of healing, a Tarotworkshop, and we have had the pleasure of hostingthe Ordination Ceremony for Teri Chartier, thePriestess of Silver Branch Temple in Abbotsford. Terihad acted as our guest Priestess while she waspreparing to start the Temple in the Fraser Valley.The Temple has begun to organize a Council of members and adherents to work on futuredevelopments. Our meeting location is out-of-the way,convenient only for its price, and so we need to look for a more suitable location. We also have had enoughexperience together that we can begin to identifyspecific groups of Pagans and Wiccans that we willwant to reach out to in service – teenage Pagans forone group. Although the Open Circles and religiousrituals, including especially rites of passage likemarriages, naming ceremonies, coming of age andcroning, and funerals, are the centre of our service tothe community and the Gods we will be lookingtoward future growth in service as well.Our Temple meets every second Saturday at 11 am atForum Chambers (beside the coffee shop, off of Convocation Mall at Simon Fraser). We will onlymeet once in May, on the 7

, but in June our meetingsare the 4

and 18

. Contact the Priest atsamwagar@shaw.ca

Silver Branch Temple (Fraser Valley)

The Silver Branch Temple offers Open Circles on the1st and 3rd Saturday of each month , beginning at10:30 am, at the Jubilee Lawn Bowling Club, 33680South Fraser Way, in Abbotsford (beside the olddowntown library).Silver Branch is centred on creative expression. Its’Priestess, Teri Chartier, is licensed to performmarriages in BC. Contact the Temple atsilver_branch@telus.net for more information.

Vernon (North Okanagan) Congregation

Merry Meet and blessings of Beltane to all! I’mSable, lay clergy for the North Okanagancongregation. We’ve had a busy month and 350words just doesn’t seem enough space to express it all,but I will do my best.We were quite pleased to see an article on last month’scircle in Kelowna’s

Daily Courier

, which inspiredmany people who didn’t even know there were Pagansin the Okanagan to come out. I also wrote a letter tothe editor to clarify some points, which was dulypublished the following day. I guess we must bebecoming more visible, because yesterday I wasinterviewed by three nice young people from KelownaChristian School who were doing a project on Wicca.It gives me joy to know that our goals of educationand availability are being realized.The North Okanagan May 14 ritual will be held inVernon at the People Place (3404 27 Avenue, MeetingRoom 001 downstairs) at 4 pm. Depending onturnout, we may make this a more common thing (thecurrent thought is to alternate between Kelowna andVernon from month to month), so if you’d like to seemore open circles in the Vernon area, we encourageyou to come on out! We would like to thank thePeople Place for providing us with support andrenting us a room on such short notice.The theme of this month’s circle will be “Celebratingthe Season of Growth.” Admission is free, thoughdonations are gratefully accepted. All are quitewelcome.Next month (June 25), the ritual will return to theKelowna Unitarian Church, and will center around theSummer Solstice. We would like to thank theUnitarians once again for offering their support.I would like to thank all of you who took the time torespond with your concerns and your support, and