Page of Pentacles

Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC 5196 Moscrop Street Burnaby, British Columbia V5G 2G4 www.cwabc.org

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.

#23- March 2007 c.e.

$12/yr, included with membership.

Notice of Special General Meeting of the Members April 28th 2007 5196 Moscrop Street, Burnaby 1 pm

Our Association has been negotiating with theCharities Directorate of Canada Revenue Agencyfor the past two and a half years. They said in aDecember 2006 letter that we need to clear upsome vague wording in our bylaws in order toachieve registered charity status. After rereading ourPurposes statement and bylaws, the Board hasagreed that the current wording of our Constitutionmisrepresents our intention and purpose, as well asbeing vague on details.When the founding members of CWA-BCdecided to start the Association our purpose was toget together a group of Wiccans to provide religiousservices to the general public in British Columbia.We will need to revise some of the wording in ourConstitution and bylaws to reflect our purpose moreaccurately. The proposed changes will not affectwhat we are doing or how we are doing it, but will just clarify our intentions.There is no guarantee that we will become acharity if we make these changes - there may beother details that need to be settled. It is certain thatwe will not become a charity if we do not.Accordingly the Board has called a SpecialGeneral Meeting of the members to consider thefollowing two sets of amendments to make thosechanges to our Constitution and bylaws which wouldclarify our purposes and intentions.Only these matters can be dealt with at theSpecial General Meeting. This is not an AnnualGeneral Meeting, but a special meeting called to

Things To Be Proud Of

The Nanaimo Temple of the Green Cauldronhas been distributing warm clothing and blanketsdonated by members of the Temple and the generalpublic to homeless people in Nanaimo. Theystarted organizing this in November and have madeseveral runs through the dark back streets of thecity. They may have saved the lives of some of thepeople there, and they have certainly improvedmany lives.The local press has begun to give them publicityand now some volunteers from outside of theTemple are starting to come forward to help out.As with all of the other projects that we are doingand that this very active Temple is doing, they areshort of money and of volunteers. But the need isthere and the hunger for service, so we pray for theGods to bring us money enough and time enough todo some more good.The North Okanagan Temple’s Yule Basketinitiative, helped out with donations and publicity bythe South Okanagan Temple, brought together giftbaskets of food and gifts for children for severalfamilies in the area this year. The two Temples wantto keep it going as a year-round project to help outpoor people in their communities.Help our sisters and brothers in pain or distress.Kindness and compassion are virtues that willmake us whole, and coming together in love andtrust to reach out of our church to the rest of theworld expands compassion, builds trust.Tocontribute to these initiatives, contact the Temples.To bring your own concern forward and build aunited effort to make things better, please talk withus.Blessings of the Great Mother and the All-Father.

deal with this one issue only.All voting members are welcome to attend and tospeak to and vote on the amendments. Proxies arenot permitted for votes on changes to theconstitution or bylaws under bylaw 3.2. Quorum is10% of the members (4 members).The first amendment reads:“Moved to strike out Section 2 from ourConstitution and replace it with the following:2. PURPOSES OF OUR SOCIETY2.1 This Society is established to provide Wiccanreligious services to the general public of thisprovince - to be a Temple association.2.2 The specific purposes of our Society are:a/ to form a church, including provision of legitimatecredentials for ministers, legal assistance indiscrimination cases, chaplaincy in jails andhospitals, recognition of our rites of passage andpublic rituals,b/ to provide religious education for the generalpublic and for our members,c/ to produce religious retreats and provide meetinghalls for worship,d/ to provide spiritual support around raising ourchildren, pastoral counselling, bereavement, alcoholand drug dependencies, overcoming sexism andother forms of oppression,e/ to build Temples and to worship the Goddessesand Gods with joy and enthusiasm,f/ to assist new congregations to form and to formlinks with others in their area.2.3 The general purposes of our Society are:a/ to facilitate depth of communion betweenhumanity and the Goddesses and Gods throughnurturance of Temples,b/ to counter public misconceptions about Witchesand Nature religions,c/ to unite those who agree with our Statement of Beliefs and Ethics for service of the Goddesses andGods of our religion.”Charities Directorate also expressed concernabout ambiguities in the relationship between ourAssociation and our federal parent body, theCongregationalist Witchcraft Association.At its Annual General Meeting in March of 2006,the federal body, in recognition that it was intendedto be a confederation of provincial bodies and thatthe only active and effective provincial body was theCWA-BC, redefined its membership as being; “Themembers of the Board of Directors of eachconstituent provincial affiliate, such Boards toexercise votes in proportion to their provincialbody’s membership.” At the Association’s AGM inAugust of 2006 we revised our bylaws to removethe requirement that members of CWA-BC alsobecome members of the federal body.Accordingly the Board has added the followingamendment to the agenda of the Special GeneralMeeting:“In order to accurately reflect the relationshipbetween the federal Congregationalist WitchcraftAssociation and the Congregationalist WiccanAssociation of British Columbia the followingamendments to our bylaws are moved:In bylaw 2.1 section d subsection one to strike outthe words “national Congregationalist WitchcraftAssociation” and replace them with “provincialAssociation.”In bylaw 2.1 section d subsection six to strike outthe words “the Congregationalist WitchcraftAssociation as a whole and administered by the.”To strike out sections 5.2 and 5.4.In Bylaws 5.6 to strike out everything after thewords “every year.”In bylaw 5.8 to strike out the phrases “owned bythe Congregationalist Witchcraft Association” and“administering the property.”In bylaw 5.9 to strike out the phrase “(thissection is unalterable)”In 8.1 to strike out the phrase “individualWitches” and replace it with “those.”The numbering of the bylaws shall be adjusted toreflect these changes.”If you have any questions about any of theseamendments, or about the Special General Meeting,or you need a copy of the Constitution and bylaws,please contact Sam Wagar, the Secretary, atsamwagar@shaw.ca.

Of late, administrative responsibilities and thedemands of government bureaucracy haveconsumed a good deal of Sam’s spare time andenergy, and, come to think of it, Anne’s, too! Whileaccountability and order are rewards in themselves,we all know there looms the strong possibility of awonderful bonus for CWA in the form of charitablestatus. Let’s keep our eyes on the prize and hold onwhile we negotiate the final hurdles!Our temple’s official membership expanded byone this month and a couple of other regularparticipants are poised to qualify in the near future.Inquiries about our activities and services continue toarrive on a regular basis, especially from people newto the lower mainland.Blessings to all,Anne and SamPriestess and PriestVancouver-Burnaby Temple/CWAannedore@shaw.casamwagar@shaw.ca

South Okanagan Temple (Penticton)

Please mark the schedule on your calendar: 1stSaturday is the Business Meeting, 2nd Sunday isWomen’s Night, the Friday following Women’s nightis Men’s Night, 3rd Saturday is the Open Ritual andsocial from 12:30-4:30pm. If you mark this on yourcalendar for every month, you will never besurprised or miss out on an eventBlessing of Light and Laughter,Angela Gallant, LPNPriestess, South Okanagan Temple

Temple of the Green Cauldron (Nanaimo )

Without further ado:The Nanaimo group has enjoyed a brief wintersrest and have started things off in our usualfashion—with a bang!Today we are flying high after an hour longinterview and photo session! We put out an ad to

Temple News

Vancouver-Burnaby Temple

The February coffee meet drew many familiarfaces as well as a few newcomers. Discussion topicsincluded books, movies, books, healing, books,pagan traditions, housing, jobs, and, oh yes, books.We will continue to meet on the last Friday of eachmonth at Sacred Space bookstore/café at 29 WestPender. (Stadium Skytrain Station near Tinseltown.)Sunflower seeds planted at the Imbolg ritual havebroken through the soil and are searching the cloudyskies for renegade sunrays. Our next open circle willcelebrate Ostara, the official coming of spring. It isplanned for Thursday, March 22, pendingconfirmation of the room reservation. An emailreminder will be sent out to all those on our mailinglist to confirm the date. Public open circles are heldin Burnaby at Metrotown Mall’s Community Room.(near Old Navy)

“The positive ideal that we propose is Nature. That is, WILD nature, those aspects of the functioning of the Earth and its living things that are independent of human management and free of human interference and control. And with wild nature we include human nature, by which we mean those aspects of the functioning of the human individual that are not subject to regulation by organized society but are products of chance, or free will, or God (depending on your religious or philosophical opinions).“FC”, Industrial Society and Its Future (Berkeley, Jolly Roger Press 1995), 63.