Page of Pentacles
W.
Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC
C. A. 5-10282 132nd Street
B. C. Surrey, British Columbia
V3T 3T7
www.cwabc.org
Starfall Paganfest:
CWA Religious Retreat in Works!
Canada Day weekend (2-4 July inclusive) near
Vernon, about a 5 hour drive from the Lower
Mainland, 8 hours from Edmonton, nearest airport is
Kelowna. Although all of the details and a notice will
be sent out to all members and friends of CWABC
about it, here are preliminary plans:
Members of CWABC and our Alberta sister
church will get priority in registration and a break on
the price. The early members-only registration
(through April) will cost about $125 for the weekend
(camping or cabins, food included). If you have been
coming out to our circles for a while and have never
joined, or have let your membership lapse, this is a
really good time to sign up.
After the initial members only registration is over
the early-bird fee of $150 kicks in and lasts through
May. The last-minute registration fee will be $200
and will be subject to availability – first postmarked,
first served. $90 for Elders (65 plus) and children
(under 16), regardless of when they register, under 5
free, children only with parents or guardians. The
space can accommodate 60 and that will be our cap.
Veners will be charged $10 per table.
Yes, we intend to make a small amount of money
on this, to put toward future events.
This event is family-friendly and based in our
versions of Wicca. We assume that most of the
workshops and rituals will be presented by CWA
members but we welcome anyone who wishes to
offer a workshop or ritual to do so. A place to
describe what you’d like to do, along with the time
slots you’d be available in, will be included in your
registration package. Site is discreetly wet; this site
is also used as a treatment centre so let’s keep it low
key. People will be required to volunteer an hour or
so of their time helping set up or clean-up, or with
serving meals or that sort of thing. Clothing optional,
Temple of Aphrodite, walking in the woods; vendors
welcome! At this time there is no formal childcare
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#42 March 2010 c.e.
scheduled, but if we end up with enough children and
parents, something in the model of the Gathering will
be established, where all parents take a turn
organizing/supervising children’s activities.
Disabled accommodation is limited, though we can
improve that a bit. And they would need some
instruction around special dietary needs, although the
North Okanagan Temple has used the site and found
the owners open and accommodating.
Pre-registration packages will be prepared when
details are finalized and heading out in a couple of
weeks to members and will be available through our
website at that time. Suggestions can be sent to the
Page of Pentacles.
Contact our Festival Organizer, Sable, for more
details: Sable@thethreadsthatbindus.net.
Second Vancouver Pagan Craft Fair
and Eightfold Way Workshop
As a follow-up to the very successful pre-Yule
Craft Fair in Vancouver, a pre-Beltane one is in the
works. It will be on the 24th of April. Details to be
announced - save up for this one, since there are some
serious artisans and artists in the community and they
brought some lovely stuff last time.
Sable / Diane, the North Okanagan Temple
Priestess, will be travelling down to the Vancouver
area for the Craft Fair with much neat stuff from her
store. She has a series of workshops on Wiccan
Magic(k) and the Vancouver-Burnaby Temple will host
her presentation of one or possibly two of the eight on
the 25th. Charge for members $10, for non-members
$20. An announcement will be sent out to all members
and friends of the V-B Temple.
Her workshops are part of an initiative of the
Board and the church to share our knowledge more
widely and encourage exchange between our Temples.
 Board of Directors Minutes
CWABC Board of Directors Meeting
February 16th, 2010
Call to order 7:10 – all present save Kam Abbott,
who joined us a few minutes later
Opening Prayer, Sam Wagar to the Great Mother and
All-Father
Accepting Minutes of last meeting motion Morrison /
McRoy accepted
Reports from the Officers:
a. Chair – nothing to report
b. Vice-Chair. Discussion of the potential
festival on Canada Day weekend and we can
hope to bring a few people from the CWA-
Alberta down to meet us as well. The
location of the Vernon Temple’s recent
retreat would be ideal for us, rates are
reasonable - $1500 for the entire weekend
and it accommodates 60 people, 30 indoors
roughly. Kitchen buffet style dining,
entertainment room. It is near Vernon.
c. Secretary. Reports to various governments
well underway
d. Treasurer. Still slow going. The last 6 years
of Income Tax returns must be filed because
we are not at present a charity or pending,
although were still non-profit so we are not
going to have to pay (likely). No reports were
filed with GST for the past two years so
those must also be done, and should result, in
the positive side, in some rebate cash into our
bank account.
e. Communications. Why haven’t we been
using the websites and discussion groups?
Please post writing, reports and so on to the
website! 292 unique visitors to website in
January, 170 to this point in February, 153
reads to the Page of Pentacles. So the
website is beginning to do its job of outreach,
and would be improved by more content.
f. Membership. Membership is stable at 30-odd.
South Okanagan is officially defunct and
closing down in April, however, it is their
intention to join with Vernon to form an
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Okanagan Temple.
Temple Representatives:
a. Nanaimo. 30-odd in attendance at Nanaimo
Sabbat, 5 in Courtney and will be doing one
there for Ostara as well. 15 showed up for a
film showing at coffee night. Wedding coming
up in April, Wicca 101 starting. Roxanne
drumming up membership and reactivating
lapsed members.
b. Vancouver-Burnaby. Shift to Full Moons
happened and attendance at rituals – 9 on 9
January, 4 on 29th. Pagan Singles group has
been unsuccessful, in part because of
organizational glitches.
c. North Okanagan. Imbolc was well-advertised
but poorly attended, Shanna’s first
Priestessing role. Wedding March 29th by
Sable, Mike also doing one in April, finally
doing a Wicca 101 but waiting on getting
registration numbers up. Ostara on 19th.
Pagan Pride – a collaborative effort of Store/
Temple/Pagan Pride to be mutually beneficial,
maybe a Witch’s Ball at Beltaine.
Moved to accept reports McRoy / B. Curiston.
Accepted.
Items from the Floor
a. Non-profit information line re GST/HST 1-
800-959-6287 and a discussion group being
set up for that
b. Some discussion of the controversy around
polyamorous marriages and the church’
position on them. The matter was referred to
the Carrot and Stick Committee – Sable was
instructed to come up with an opinion on the
matter which the Board could discuss and
present to the members at the Annual
General Meeting for their decision. The
matter is before the courts now and it will
likely be several years before the Supreme
Court renders an opinion on the polygamy
law. The Chair stated that there would be no
further posts made on BC Pagans regarding
this issue.

Carrot and Stick is also planning the retreat and is
scheduled to meet on the 1st of March.
c. Treasurer talked with the person at Charities
appeals and they expect to have the final
decision by the end of March.
d. Policy on Board Members Responsibilities
presented by Secretary. Motion to adopt
Morrison / Kimber, adopted.
d. Next Board meeting, March 16th, 7 pm
Closing Prayer McRoy, adjourn
Policy on Board Member Accountability
(Adopted 16th February 2010)
Members of the Board of Directors are
accountable to the Board and to the members for the
work that they are entrusted to perform.
If a member of the Board is unable to perform the
tasks of the office that they have been entrusted with
they may voluntarily:
1. Step aside from the position for a
specific period of time with the approval of
the Chair, who then has the option of
appointing any other member of the church to
fill in on an interim basis, such temporary
appointment to be ratified by a majority vote
of the Board.
2. Resign from the position
permanently but remain a member without
portfolio and act to assist other members of
the Board, with their position being filled on
an interim basis to fill out the period until the
next AGM as above.
3. Resign from the Board, in which
case their position would be filled as above
for the period prior to the next AGM.
In all cases, the work performed by an Officer is
the property of CWA-BC and all files plus work in
progress must be handed over to whoever replaces a
person in their position upon their resignation. It is
expected that they will brief their replacement and
work with them for a short period of time to bring
them up to speed on the tasks at hand.
If, in the opinion of some members of the Board,
an Officer is not performing their duties adequately, it
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is expected that those members will first approach the
Officer and offer assistance. If they are not able to
assist or if the person approached refuses their offer,
the Chair has the authority to reassign responsibilities,
with the support of a majority vote of the members of
the Board.
In the event that an Officer refuses to step aside
from their responsibilities on the request of the Board
or to transfer their files and duties to their successor,
a vote of two-thirds of the Board can remove them
from the Board. An Officer will be given two clear
warnings by majority vote of the Board prior to a vote
to remove them.
In the case of an emergency or an Officer no
longer being qualified for membership in our church
yet refusing to voluntarily resign, the Chair may
suspend them for a period of two weeks until a Board
meeting can vote on suspension or removal. If the
Chair thus acts, her or his membership must also be
voted on during the same Board meeting.
All of these motions of censure or votes to
suspend and all of the debate on them will occur in
camera.
If a majority of the Board comes to be composed
of interim and appointed members it must call a
Special General Meeting to elect a new Board within
three months of that time and all positions will be up
for election.
In all cases of suspension or removal, interim and
appointed Officers will only serve until the next
Annual General Meeting of the members, at which
time their successor shall be elected. This is true even
if they were appointed in the first year of a two-year
term.
Temple Reports
Vancouver-Burnaby Temple
Dear sisters and brothers,
The past couple of months have been busy, with
the first two meetings of the Pagan Singles group
(which were flops but we’ll try one more time this
month), and two Full Moon Temple meetings, on the
9th and 29th of January and the 5th of March with
eight, four, and seven people in attendance,
respectively.
Because of the Olympics turning our region upside
down there was no Temple Open Circle in February.
 After a period of sleep through the Yule madness
period a private coven run by the Temple clergy is
again accepting applications for members. Contact
samwagar@shaw.ca for more information. Other
covens including Temple members and friends are
encouraged to contact him for inclusion in our listings.
Sam attended a community potluck organized by
local Druid Ian on the 23rd of January which was a lot
of fun. About thirty people of all ages showed up for
good food and camaraderie. Ian is talking about
organizing another one for later in the spring.
There was a Special General Meeting of the
Gathering for Life on Earth Society to deal with the
doubling of the rental costs of the venue. The Board
had scouted out several possible locations which met
a lengthy list of criteria and the members present
decided to go with Zajac Camp near Mission. The
cost will be $335 per adult, $90 per child.
www.gatheringforlife.org .
Planning is also well underway for the 6th annual
Canadian National Pagan Conference in Guelph,
Ontario – Sam is on the Board and the co-ordinator
of the academic stream www.gaiagathering.ca .
Our Open Circle on the 5th of March, delayed
because of the Olympics, was the first Priestessing
role for our new Maiden, and she revelled in the
opportunity to Draw her Matron, Hecate, and bless us
in Her Name. And Legba made an appearance (as
we requested - and let me tell you, a Vodoun God and
a bottle of rum, makes for a more than usually
entertaining circle!). The circle was about choices
and following through on them.
Temple Open Circles will happen on March 26th
and April 30th at the community meeting room in
Metrotown Mall above the Sears store.
That’s it for this issue,
Blessed be,
Sam Wagar
Priest, Van-Burnaby
Nanaimo Temple of the Green Cauldron
Spring is bringing changes and an increase in
activities for our Temple. Luckily, we have many
people willing to lend a helping hand!
I would like to start by saying “thank you” to
Devon for sponsoring Ostara’s ritual. The sponsorship
of a Sabbat has been a boon for the Temple and
covers rental, altar supplies, and any special needs for
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the ritual.
We are celebrating the Ordination of Ivannia on
March 7. Ivannia will be a great asset to the
organization. She is a strong individual and brings a
touch of her Costa Rican heritage to her rituals. It is
quite remarkable that all the “original” group from
before CWA days has gone on or is presently
undertaking the training for clergy. Congratulations
Ivannia!
We are sorry to be losing Ali who has managed
the Nanaimo membership lists for the past few years.
We hope her forthcoming move goes smoothly and
she settles quickly in her new home. Membership
reports to the CWA Board will be passed over to
Roxanne.
We have recently changed the format of our
monthly coffee nights. After a brief social period, we
are showing a movie. We started with ‘The Burning
Times’ and we had a lively discussion afterwards. We
will continue with ‘The Goddess Remembered’ on
March 10. We have quite a collection of short movies
and documentaries to show during the months we are
indoors.
Speaking of coffee nights— there is now a
monthly coffee meeting in Ladysmith. Anyone
interested can get more information from Heatherly.
Hopefully the dates will be posted on the Temple
website calendar.
Several people in the Courtenay area asked us if
we could do some rituals up their way. Our first visit
was at Imbolc and we will return for Ostara on
March 21. The feedback was very positive and we
have been asked about bringing some of our different
programs up to share with them.
Our Introduction to Wicca classes started in
February with an excellent turnout of 18 people. The
course material is changing and growing as we go
along. Our aim is to cover the basics and give people
an idea of who we are and what we do so that they
are able to make an informed decision as to whether
or not Wicca is the path for them. The graduation
class will be in April.
The Temple will be hosting Nanaimo Pagan Pride
Day once again this year. The event takes place on
August 28 in Departure Bay. We will be fund-raising
for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. We are
presently getting some of the paperwork done but will
soon be out in full force with fund-raising events.
We were sorry to learn that Millizza’s Cave had
closed. Many of us were regular shoppers in this
fantastic rock and crystal store and appreciated
Laura’s help and knowledge. We have learned that
Lobelia’s Lair will now be carrying a selection of
crystals so we will not have to travel far for supplies.
Nanaimo’s Temple rep position is being taken over
by Heatherly. She will sit in with me this next month
and get caught up on what the job entails and meet
the CWA Board. I have enjoyed the experience but
feel it is time to move on to other things.
In closing, I would like to say thank you to all
those people who support the Temple of the Green
Cauldron. You have helped in creating a strong base
for us to grow on and we couldn’t have come this far
without you!
Sally Kimber
CWA Nanaimo
Making History
With this issue of Page of Pentacles we mark the
6th year since our little church was founded. Now, six
years doesn’t seem like that long a time – I have
underwear older than that – but just consider that
covens seem to last about six months, that public
Open Circles seem to last a year or so on average
before the Priestesses or Priests in charge get tired
of them, that we’ve already accomplished quite a
few things. And we’re already being run by people
who weren’t founding members, with new leaders
and organizers coming up in all of our Temples.
But what will CWABC look like in ten years? In
twenty years? In fifty years? Will it be here for our
children and grandchildren to take it over, to serve
their communities and the Gods in their ways?
From quite a few years of studying history I’ve
learned a few things that I’d like to pass along:
One thing is that there’s a lot of chance and
randomness involved in history – you can plan all
you want and prepare, but you can’t prepare for the
things that you don’t expect. And sometimes
something you don’t expect changes everything for
the better and opens up new opportunities for
personal and organizational growth. You have to be
ready to take a chance, and have to keep enough in
reserve so that you can jump into the unknown and
trust in yourself. When we decided to connect up
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with groups around the province and grow from the
Lower Mainland to the Okanagan and the Island, it
was a jump we hadn’t planned but it worked out very
well for us.
The second thing, probably the most important
thing, is this: we are making history. A hundred years
from now, the things that we do today will be history,
the outcomes to that point will be known as we don’t
know them now. But we are not powerless – we are
the ones, together, that are doing this. Our church will
exist, or not, in twenty years, in fifty or a hundred
years, because we acted today, here and now, to
make that real. History does not happen TO us, it
happens THROUGH us.
So, what do YOU want to see in twenty years,
what do you want your grandchildren to have in a
hundred years? We can do this thing together, and I
really think that we should.
Blessed Be
Sam Wagar, servant of Klio, Muse of History
Lovely Hecate of the roads and crossroads I
invoke;
in heaven, on earth, and in the sea, saffron-
cloaked,
tomb -spirit revelling in the souls of the dead,
daughter of Perses, haunting deserted places,
delighting in deer,
nocturnal, dog-loving, monstrous queen,
devouring wild beasts, ungirt, of repelling
countenance,
you, herder of bulls, queen and mistress of the
whole world
leader, nymph, mountain-roaming nurturer of
youth,
maiden, I beseech to come to these holy rites,
ever with joyous heart and ever favouring the
oxherd.
{ Apostolos N. Athanassakis “The Orphic
Hymns: Text, Translation and Notes”
(Scholars’ Press/ Society of Biblical Literature,
1988) – translation of a c 250 c.e. Orphic hymn
}
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).
This membership is a joint membership with the
national Congregationalist Witchcraft Association.
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.
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.

CWA Statement of Beliefs: The Secretary of CWABC for 2009-10 is Sam

Wagar and he’s at samwagar@shaw.ca
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: