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.

#24- April 2007 c.e.

$12/yr, included with membership.

First of all, when I write here about Wicca andmen, I’m not excluding women, I’m just not writingabout them. I’m also not excluding Buddhists orJews or Muslims, when I write about Wicca. Thetraits of good men are also found in good women butthey are expressed differently, in differentcombinations, and through different actions, andtoward somewhat different ends.Men are defined in our action, good men by ouractions in service to the greater good- first, to thegreater good of our partners and our children, andthen in our service to the greater good of the largersociety that we belong to and to the good of theworld at large. The process of becoming a man hasa lot to do with wanting to be a father/mentor and toassume the responsibilities and obligations of an adultlife.Men are political in ways that the greatermajority of women are not. We are built to look outside of our relationships and our groups to thethreats to them, and to work together with other mento protect the women and children. This meanspolitics – building alliances, looking for dangers andfinding ways to neutralize them.Men are expendable, just like the males of allother species are. So men will stand in harm’s wayand protect. Men are prepared to die so that otherscan live – we will sacrifice ourselves to the greatergood. We are the God that grows and is cut downeach year in the grain, to nourish life. This is whycourage and honour define a man – a man withoutcourage is only a biological male, not a man, becausehe cannot be depended upon and cannot protect evenhimself.Although violence is a part of male life, courage isabout receiving violence much more than it is aboutdealing it out. The great heroes of Pagan tradition –Achilles, Cuhulain, Beowulf – teach us about killing, itis true, but they also teach us about loss and about theinevitability of death, and the need for a good death. Amodern image of heroism, the good man, for me isAtticus Finch in “To Kill A Mockingbird”, whosecourage is an essential component of his dignity, andvery tellingly, is tied to his quality as a father.Manliness means moral courage, not physicalaggression. It means uprightness, honesty, strength of character.In biological terms, the best men are courageousand fatherly, strong and nurturant. The brain chemistrythat supports both behaviours is the same (and thischemistry changes in step with relationships). [1]Pleasure seeking without the assumption of responsibility is childish. Becoming a man requiresaccepting responsibility for our actions and obligationstoward other individuals and toward our community.So, being courageous and honest, having integrityand keeping promises, combining strength andgentleness, helping the weak and vulnerable, being aprotector, standing up for what is right, beingemotionally aware but in control of one’s emotions –these characteristics define a man.Manliness is not known by us through our reasonalone. There is no automatic checklist of this quality of character. However, our intuition, our emotion, ourimaginative response to a person or to a cluster of characteristics will tell us. We will see a man when wemeet him. Manliness is made real in daily life, not justin responding to crises – it has to do with workinghard, taking care of your family, being honest anddependable. It has to do with being independent andsocially responsible.

Wiccan “Manliness”

By Sam Wagar Generous and brave men live the best seldom do they harbour anxiety; but the cowardly man is afraid of everything the miser always sighs when he gets gifts.-The Sayings of the High One 48 The Poetic Edda

Congregationalist Witchcraft Association (federal church) Annual General Meeting, 9th March 2007, Burnaby

6:00- 6:20pm Quorum Call - 4 members present, 1represented by proxy. Quorum present.Moved that we adopt the necessary changes tothe bylaws to bring the federal and provincial bylawsinto harmony and to clarify the issue of proportionalvoting by province in our membership (as the federalbody). Wagar/Eilers - passed unanimouslyMoved to elect the current members as thefederal Board of Directors for 2007-8.Moved to accept the application of the“Congregationalist Wiccan Assembly of Alberta” foraffiliation. Amended to accept the CWAA as amember but recognize their Temples asonlyprobationary as per our bylaws (subject to ratificationat their first AGM). van Koughnett/Wagar - passedunanimouslyAdjourned.

Board of Directors Meeting 9th March 2007, Burnaby

Quorum Call. 4 members present, 1 representedby proxy, quorum was present.1) Vote on accepting bid to host AGM 2007.Lower Mainland August 11th. 3 for, 1 against, 1abstention.2) Drafting proposal to fix the location of theAGM at the legal address of the Society 2 for 2against 1 abstention.3) Drafting a proposal for the AGM to create alifetime position of Secretary and that Sam Wagar bethe first person appointed to the position. e.g.. “Thatthe bylaws (section 3.6) be amended to create apermanent position of secretary, which shall not beelected but shall be appointed by the board of directors. That the board appoint Mr. Sam Wagarto this position until either the time of his death or hisresignation, at which time the board would appointanother person to the position.”This is a decision that must be made by themembers at the Annual General Meeting. The Boardfavoured it.4) That we create a requirement that all clergy(present and future) and lay clergy get an RCMPcheck and that it be kept on file with the secretary.And that we set a date by which all present clergyshould have this done and that all new clergy mustAnd now, finding it in the Gods of our religion.Wicca recognizes Goddesses and Gods, thesacredness of relationships, and of our families andcommunities, our children, young people, matureadults and old people. Because of the need to providesome balance in this male-dominant society we havebeen drawn to rediscovering the Goddesses and thedivine feminine. But the Gods are not Yahweh, notdefined by power over women or oppressive relationsto the natural world. When we find Them insideourselves, find ways to be manly and sacred, we donot overthrow our better selves. We completeourselves through finding our selves as men, and assacred – in monotheism, there is only one sacred manand none of us are him, but in our religion we can allbe sacred.But we cannot find the sacred by saying that thereare no standards that matter. We are not sacred inallowing our brothers who are bad men, who beatwomen or neglect their children or refuse to serveanyone but their own selfishness, who refuse to growinto adults, to be considered men.An insight from tribal societies, revived in themythopoeic men’s movement sparked by the work of Robert Bly, is that men make other men. Byobserving our fathers, by hanging around our uncles,men used to learn what it was to be a man, to work,to endure, to learn and exercise the skills of life.Today, we are increasingly separated from ourchildren, with the organization of schools and separateworkplaces, age-segregated activities. The initiationsinto the men’s secret societies in tribal societies,finding and telling the stories of manhood to thechildren, these are important and things that Paganmen can do for our children. So the moon schools andchildren’s programs are not just concerns of thewomen in our community – women cannot teachboys everything they need to know about being men,and they also cannot teach girls about manliness.Rediscovering and awakening the Gods inourselves is a task for all Wiccans, but in particularfor Wiccan men. Becoming Lugh Manyskilled, Marsthe Warrior, Dionysus in ecstasy, Odin Lawgiver,means surrendering ourselves but also completingourselves.(And, as I am prone to do, some book suggestions:

Iron John

by Robert Bly,

Pagan Grace

by GinetteParis,

Wiccan Warrior

by Kerr Cuhulain,

A Terrible Love of War

by James Hillman – there are someothers like

The Iliad, The Odyssey, The Poetic Eddas, Beowulf

that are essential to being a culturedperson.)[1] Temple Grandin and Catherine JohnsonAnimals in Translation (Toronto: Harcourt Books2005), 108

3have it at time of application for training. Kimber/ Eilers -unanimous agreement, application prior toBeltane.5) That we discuss removing the date of theAGM from the bylaws and leave it to the boardsdiscretion and that we then discuss changing the date.The month of November has been suggested.This is a decision that must be made by themembers at the Annual General Meeting. The Boardfavoured it, with no decision around the new date. Wewill encourage our members to consider this change.6) That we create regulation around members movingbetween temples.Resolved that members, upon transferring fromone Temple to another inform the Temple they areleaving, who will then inform the Summoner, who willthen inform the new Temple of the transfer. Upon themoment that everyone is informed the transfer iscompleted. This will only matter regarding voting inTemple AGMs and to prevent accidental doublevoting at AGMs. van Koughnett/Wagar - approvedunanimously.7) Discussion about adopting an “Honorific” title if clergy chose to use such.After some discussion of options, this was tabledagain. Clergy were urged to consider all-Paganoptions that do not make us be mistaken for clergy of another religion.8) Drafting a procedure to remove clergy.A committee was struck of Wagar, van Koughnettand Eilers to report back to the Board on this.9) Discuss proposal to limit the number of boardmembers from any one household to one votingmember. 2 in favour, 3 against - the proposal wasdefeated.10) Discussion about the rational for having allordained clergy on the ordination committee.This is a decision that must be finalized by themembers at the Annual General Meeting because itwill involve bylaw changes. The Board favouredremoving the responsibility for deciding who getstrained from the people who won’t be involved in thetraining and passing the responsibility for overseeingclergy training formally to Avalon College.The suggested procedure was that the applicationwould go first to the Dean of Avalon College, whowould strike a committee to oversee and evaluate thetraining. The committee would include the Dean, 2ordained clergy chosen by the Dean and the mentorof the potential clergy person.11) Drafting a proposal to change the votingprocedure for the AGM. e.g. “Only a set number of representatives from each temple shall attend withproxies from all other voting members. Also that theagenda be set and distributed in advance and peoplesubmit a request to speak on any subjects in advanceof the meeting. A set number of for and againstspeakers will be chosen and only those on the docketwill be given the floor.”This is a decision that must be made by themembers at the Annual General Meeting since itinvolves a bylaw change. The Board favoured adelegate process (Eilers/Kimber - passedunanimously) and to permit the use of proxies to voteon bylaw changes (van Koughnett/Morrison - passedunanimously) and delegated Wagar and Eilers to writea formal proposal to come before the AGM inAugust.The point was raised that the Annual GeneralMeeting had been seen as a social occasion as wellas a business meeting and that it was important thatwe consider when and how to set social meetings forthe CWA as well.12) That we have discussion about who can and cannot hold proxies at the general meetings.This was held to be moot and we did not discussit.Adjourned at 8:15. The next Board meeting will bemid-May, tentatively the 18th, date to be confirmed.respectfully submitted, Sam Wagar, Secretary

Temple News

Vancouver-Burnaby Temple

Oestre/Ostara was a joyous and memorableoccasion for our temple. We’ve enlisted ourcovenmates to assist in ritual performance so wecould produce more complicated rituals.The open circle on March 20 drew 16 participantsto celebrate the official coming of spring. Because ithad been a long haul from the Imbolg ritual to Oestre(six weeks seems a lot longer than a month) andbecause we had shuffled the days and the location,we weren’t sure how many people would come outand so we were pleasantly surprised. We were alsopleased to welcome back some old friends as well assome new faces, including some people from thecoffee meet.