Page of Pentacles
with membership.
W. Congregationalist Wiccan Association of BC
C. A. 5196 Moscrop Street
Burnaby, British Columbia
B. C.
V5G 2G4
www.cwabc.org
“Marrying” credential issued
After consulting the provincial Vital Statistics
Office, the Board found that we were able to
authorize more than one qualified person per Temple
to hold our credential. Due to the emergency situation
in Nanaimo -two weddings scheduled for one day,
Daniel van Koughnett’s illness, and other factors, we
have authorized Sally Kimber to perform marriages.
The Board will be meeting to decide how many
credentials to issue and under what circumstances on
the 15th of July.
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of the CWA-BC will
happen on the 11th of August at 3322 Norfolk Street,
Port Coquitlam from 2-4 pm. This is the annual
business meeting of the CWA-BC Society and it is
where our Board of Directors are elected, and
amendments to the bylaws and constitution and other
matters effecting the entire church are decided.
Members can attend in person and vote or they
can send their votes by a proxy form (included).
Proxies can be carried by any member of the CWA-
BC and can vote on anything except bylaw changes.
Deadline for bylaw proposals for the AGM agenda
is the 26th of July - they must be sent out to all
members two weeks in advance to be voted on.
In order to book space (if necessary) and prepare
refreshments and so on, could people who are
planning to attend please notify our hostess, Deb
Eilers, at eilersd@shaw.ca, by two weeks in advance
of the AGM.
1
$12/yr, included
#27 July 2007 c.e.
Board of Directors changes
Daniel van Koughnett resigned from the Board of
Directors on the 6th of June, 2007, without giving a
reason. Angela Gallant was appointed to replace him
and serve out the remainder of this year.
On the 1st of July Debra Eilers, Chair of the
Board, announced her intention to not seek re-election
at this year’s Annual General Meeting in August.
“This year has been very challenging for me due to
health concerns of both my husband and myself.
Unfortunately it has taken a toll and I must take time
to regain my health and minimize the stress in my life.
I regret any inconvenience this may cause but I am
confident that CWA-BC will continue and thrive in
my absence. I will be happy to advise or be useful in
whatever capacity the new Board sees fit for me and
as my health will allow.”
Also on the 1st of July Samuel Wagar, Secretary-
Treasurer of the Board, announced his intention to not
seek re-election: “I would be willing to assist whoever
ends up in the Secretary and Treasurer positions to
learn the ropes for a month or two after that. I will be
willing to have our home continue to act as the
Official Address of CWA-BC until such time as the
members change it. It is my desire to concentrate on
my relationship with Anne, first, and my local Temple
and coven. The organization as a whole cannot be
viable if it is the project of its founding members
primarily, and my life has been eaten up by it for long
enough already.”
New clergy candidate
On the 6th of June, Kam Abbott of the Nanaimo
Temple of the Green Cauldron was approved to begin
training toward Ordination in the CWA. He joins
Meredith Kimber and Craig Burnett in training in that
Temple, and Anne Doré of Vancouver-Burnaby.
 Who Was that Goddess I Saw You With Last Night?
(finding and relating with your Matron and Patron deities)
by Sam Wagar
You might sometimes hear people speaking of
their “Matron” or “Patron” Goddess or God and often
people in the Wiccan religion assume the names of
Goddesses or Gods that they are close to as
nicknames or Craft names. Sometimes people are just
being “mysterious” or posing but many times people
are talking about real and special relationships that
they have formed, relationships that are important in
their spiritual lives.
How do these close relationships form and what
do they mean in our spiritual lives? In particular why
do we get involved in personal, devotional,
relationships? And how can people that are looking
for these relationships find them and know that they
are real?
In a polytheistic religion people have relationships
of respect and worship with a number of different
Goddesses and Gods. Generally, however, we find
that we are really close and tight with only a couple
of deities and that we have friendly but more distant
relationships with the others.
There are generally three ways that Matron or
Patron relationships are formed (and, by the way,
these relationships are not always exclusive, although
they usually are, and we may have these relationships
with different deities as we change and grow):
1) The God chooses us. For whatever reason, or
for no reason that we can really tell a Goddess or
God will tap us on the shoulder and say, “you are
mine.” Sometimes it’s as clear as that, but more often
the realization of Her or His interest grows – you
may find images of black cats and actual black cats
coming to be more common in your life, in odd
coincidental moments, or a particular word or name
Baby!
Rowan Brooke has been born to Andrea of
the North Okanagan Temple!
Marriage!
Ivannia and Jonathan Halls of Temple of
the Green Cauldron (Nanaimo Temple)
were married on the 23rd of June by Daniel
van Koughnett and Angela Flegel!
2
of a deity will keep appearing in your reading, or
dreams will point you to investigate and you will have
a sense of realization when you know that Bast wants
to have you as Her servant.
2) We come to a clearer understanding of who we
fundamentally are and believe that a particular
Goddess or God represents the best and strongest
expression of the type of person that we are – an
animal lover who strikes up a relationship with Pan as
the shepherd and “Piper at the Gates of Dawn,”
protector of the animals, or a hunter who connects
with Herne the hunter and hunted, a homebody who
connects with Hestia and so on.
3) The Goddess or God represents or embodies
something that we desire to be and She or He will
help us to become stronger in that area of our lives.
For example a person who wanted to be more
eloquent would work with Mercury, a person who
wanted to be more graceful and attractive would
connect with Freda Erzulie, and someone who
wanted to hone their skills would get together with
Lugh or Brigid.
In all cases, this is not something for nothing. The
Gods demand that you do the work and that you
serve them wholeheartedly in their area of particular
interest, in return for Their help. This points back to
the problem of ethical behaviour – you make
agreements with the Gods and you are obliged to
uphold your end of the agreement. Be careful what
you agree to and be careful that you know Whom you
are serving – a War Goddess like the Morrigan is not
a kindly Mother and She dislikes being treated like
one, The God Dionysus does not like people who are
inclined to temperate behaviour but demands
passionate excess, and so on.
It’s rather like having a powerful friend who takes
you on as a protégé. In the great old Roman tradition,
a powerful person was evaluated by the number and
quality of their protégés and in more recent times
there are “Old Boy’s networks” of graduates of elite
schools who advance the interests of deserving young
talent from their school. In other words, devoting
yourself to the God does not automatically guarantee
you Their wholehearted support – it has to be earned
– but that devotion gets Their attention.
Some Wiccans believe, along with Dion Fortune,
that “All Goddesses are one Goddess, All Gods are
One God, and the Two are One in Love.” In this vein
we often hear people speak of “The Goddess” and
“The God” as standing in for the female principle and
the male principle, for Shri and Vishnu, creativity and
its realization, energy and matter. But these generic
forces cannot have enough distinct personality to
develop a relationship with – just as my friends have
names and I love and live with one individual woman
(not “All Women”), so my relationships to the divine
are personal. I believe that the Goddesses and Gods
share the quality of divine power, that purity of focus
and intention, the unchanging quality of eternity, and
perhaps also gender, with each other, but they are
otherwise distinct Beings who relate with me, or not,
as They individually desire.
Because the Gods are not well served by generic,
dispassionate recognition or by rote performance of
rituals and obligations, although such recognition is
part of the duty of a Pagan religious person, as an
expression of general piety which pleases the Gods,
specific Gods impose specific demands. A passionate
life, one that involves the Gods, is so much more
satisfying for human beings and passionate devotion
to the Paths of our Matrons and Patrons will develop
us as human beings and as Pagans.
(Recommended reading: Roberto Calasso The
Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Neil Gaiman
American Gods, Euripedes The Bacchae, and
Hippolytus, James Hillman A Terrible Love of War.)
Temple News
Vancouver-Burnaby Temple
Our Temple’s MidSummer Sabbat on the 20th had
thirteen people in attendance. At this turn of the
Wheel we honour our achievements, our courage, our
abilities. We look forward to winning battles,
accomplishing our projects, creating beauty. As the
sun stands high up in the sky we must say: “I AM!”
“I CAN!” and “I WILL!”
Each of us, in turn, stepped into the centre of our
circle and took a moment to think of what thing that
we had accomplished in the past that we are most
proud of and one thing that we will accomplish this
year. Most of us spoke this aloud. What a range of
things to celebrate: jobs, losing weight, being able to
teach, learning! We offered our accomplishments up
to the Gods, asking for their help in the achievements
of the coming year.
Then we came together to create a web in the
bright, sunny colours of summer, weaving it to bless
and energize everyone’s desire. We tossed balls of
coloured wool back at forth at random across the
3
circle, while chanting. After a while the tangled mass
glowed with power and a sense of connected energy.
We were literally as well as figuratively connecting
with one another. At the end, however, we each cut
ourselves free and everyone took a segment of the
web home to use as a reserve of energy and a
reminder of our commitment to our goals and
accomplishments.
Let me add that our Temple rituals are fully
accessible (and one new person wheeled herself into
the circle this time) and that we welcome teenagers
as well as children accompanied by a parent or
guardian.
On the 29th of June our regular coffee meet
brought out 15 people, including several new faces.
There was a round of introductions and then vigorous
conversation on a variety of topics. Sam was mainly
in a discussion about Pagan relationship ethics,
especially around polyamoury, so he can’t report on
everything else that was going on – there were books
mentioned, including one on astrology, and discussion
of finding a group to work with. It was a really good
time, although Anne was unable to be there this
month. The next meet-up will again be at Sacred
Space bookstore, 29 West Pender Street, the last
Friday of the month (July 27th) from 7-9 pm. Sacred
Space, a nice little bookstore/café, is just behind
Tinseltown at the Stadium skytrain station.
Anne and I are performing two weddings this
month, on the 7th and the 28th, and we’re really
looking forward to them. One will be out in Point
Grey and the other at Crescent Beach.
At the beginning of August, we will be attending
the 15th Annual Gathering for Life on Earth. This
Pagan gathering and campout is one of the highlights
of the year in Lower Mainland, BC. It happens every
year near Squamish, over the August civic holiday
long weekend.
Sam spent June 28th writing five civil service tests
in hopes of getting a job with the federal government.
2006-7 Provincial Board of Directors:
Chair: Debra Eilers
Vice-Chair: Sally Kimber
Secretary-Treasurer: Samuel Wagar
Membership, Diane Morrison
Public Relations: Angela Gallant
Temple Representative (non-voting): Anne
Doré (Van.-Burnaby)
He needs to pass all of them to get an interview! At
least he can use the results to apply for more than
one position. Most were fairly easy but the
mathematics test (multiplying and dividing fractions –
25 questions in thirty minutes!) nearly made his head
explode!
Blessed Be
Sam Wagar, Priest - samwagar@shaw.ca
Anne Doré, Priestess - annedore@shaw.ca
South Okanagan Temple (Penticton)
Hello everyone!
I have a request that is fairly urgent. A
congregation member is in Penticton hospital on
bedrest with one month to go in her pregnancy. The
more serious problem is that they will not let her go
home to her other children due to home chores and
tasks being overtaxing and elevating her blood
pressure. Her husband works hard long hours 5-6
days a week and can only provide some support.
They can not afford to hire someone to come in, but
there is no family that can help out. A few of us are
going to try to take some shifts of either being there
to do some dishes and generally keep the kids down
to a dull roar or taking the kids out in the afternoon,
but we can’t do it all due to our own schedules.
Positive energy is really needed to help them out
at this time. She is also at risk for gestational diabetes
through this health issue.
If anyone is willing to lend a few hours, please
contact me so we can get her some help at home.
There are some people I know of that are available,
but they need to be job searching, which means that if
they took this on, even part time, they would need to
be paid a small compensation (they are not all that
picky). If anyone has any offerings and ideas, please
contact me for details.
Lower Mainland Druid Congregation
Starts
We are very pleased to announce the formation of
a local Druid congregation in the Lower Mainland of
British Columbia. Oakstone Protogrove, ADF was
granted official status as a local congregation of Ar
nDraiocht Fein (ADF) on June 21, 2007. They are a
public group, and will be offering public rituals
throughout the year, as well as other fun events and
get togethers. Please visit their Yahoo Group for more
information, or email them – they’d love to answer
any of your questions!
Our first two events will be in Queen’s Park in
New West. The first event is a ‘Meet the Druids’
BBQ and info session (all afternoon/evening) on
September 8th, and the second will be as a part of
Pagan Pride Day.
Their first public rite will be Samhain, but they
don’t have a venue yet, and they’re not publishing the
details on it right now.
Best wishes to our religious cousins!
Yahoo Group:
http://ca.groups.yahoo.com/group/oakstonedruids/
Email:
Public: oakstonedruids@yahoogroups.ca
Private: oakstone_adf@yahoo.ca

Love and blessings,

Angela Gallant
Priestess - South Okanagan Temple
CWA-BC