A little of our history
What's It All About ?
Several of us gathered in Betty’s home in February, 1998, to share a dream.
We all had different reasons for wanting to bring this dream into reality,
from wanting a sense of community to protection of our religious freedoms and
a whole lot of reasons in between.
Our dream was to have a "church" — not in the traditional sense of the word
— a Temple
We were conscious of some to the pitfalls and resolved to avoid as many of
them as possible. We based our by-laws on those of The Church of All Worlds.
We based our principles on the Wiccan Principles that many are familiar with.
Decisions are made by a board (no one person has more say than another) and
based on consensus. We chose our name with the thought to both declare who
we are AND what we are about.
To clarify here, we consider ourselves to be Wiccan Inspired — and most of
the members, to date, are Wiccan — but the Temple is for all Pagan and
Ancestral Paths.
We are incorporated with the State of Kansas, registered in Sedgwick County,
and are recognized as a tax exempt religious organization with the IRS.
We don’t have a building — yet — but we do have some good folks. We’ve
utilized one member’s generous offer to do celebrations on her rural
property, as well as making use of the Unitarian Universalist Church, and
clubhouses, etc.
Membership is open to all those on Pagan and Ancestral paths. Members are
required to fill out a membership application, agree to abide by the Temple
principles and policies, and pay annual dues.
Money is always a tough one for Pagans and there was a lot of debate about
the issue of dues. Unfortunately organizations do not function on good will
alone. We were careful to set up alternatives for taking care of dues
obligations. Those include the member offering to perform an in kind service
for the Temple, donations other than monetary, reduced dues for students and
hardship situations, and waivers, with board approval, for those who just
can’t do it any other way. We did not want the issue of money to exclude
anyone.
For further information concerning dues, click here
The money covers Temple overhead, supplies, fees, etc. We have a savings
account in the hopes of one day being able to purchase property for a
physical Temple. We have NO salaried folks in the Temple!
If the Temple should fold arrangements have been made to see that the monies
will be either donated to another tax exempt organization OR to be held in
trust for the Temple’s resurrection.
None of us who have and are working so hard to bring this dream into reality
have any intentions of letting the Temple fold. We are already receiving
what we wanted a temple for: we have a community (a family) and we have folks
to celebrate and circle with. AND by incorporating we’re helping protect our
own as well as non-member's rights to religious freedom.
We've accomplished a lot. One need only look at the class list to see that.
Not to mention that we provide an open Sabbat Celebration for all eight
Sabbats that are inclusive, uplifting, and just down right FUN.
When we look out at the people gathered at any celebration and see the
generations, from infant to oldsters represented, one cannot help but have a
sense of well being and continuity.
Where do we go from here? Goddess only knows... and we are willing to go
where She leads us. Blessed Be.