CUEW Triad

All righty then. The lessons have been moved to our own server. If you become confused because the lessons are not where you expected, and didn't read the previous entry about lessons, well you better read THIS one or you will become even more confused and I will have to beat you.

1C materials

http://www.cuew.org/cffn/Set_One/index.html through
http://www.cuew.org/cffn/Set_Six/index.html

2C materials

http://www.cuew.org/cffn/secondcircle.html

Please do not forget.

Posted by mikki at 05:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When thus decendeth from on high, the Kat and Phoenix appeared as if my magic on my doorstep. (Not really, of course they called first to let me know they were in the area and ask to see if I was busy, but it sounds a lot more dramatic the other way, eh? :-))

We had quite the wonderful time yapping about this that and the other thing, and one of the things we talked about was teaching ritual and how best to do that. It is definite that teaching ritual in an online format has got some drawbacks, especially for those who don't have much experience with seeing rituals and feeling the energies. So, one of the proposals was to set up a network of UEW people (and possibly others) that would be perfect guinea pigs for our 2C students to go and watch and observe. So, if you're a UEWer who is comfortable performing ritual in front of curious students and assisting them, let us know.

We also would love to put together some weekend rituals where people could come to the DC area and spend a weekend learning ritual and practicing in my outdoor circle.

For those who would have difficulty getting here, even with scholarship money possibly being available, etc., we are looking into seriously good online software for video conferencing with white board stuff, etc. etc. That would allow flexibility in scheduling and running interactive classes.

So, what do y'all think? Any other ideas, suggestions, whatever?

Posted by mikki at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've just sent out the first invitations to the new CUEW community list, UEW-L@googlegroups.com. This list is intended to be a social and community-building list for established UEW members.

A few answers to anticipated questions:

1) Mikki and I chose Google groups because having all the lists in one basket (i.e. Yahoo groups) is a bad idea. Yahoo Groups is prone to inexplicable bouts of weirdness and Yahoo itself has a poor track record of ethical behavior (see, e.g. its recent behavior with respect to human rights abuses in China). There are other options available, including both Google Groups, Smartgroups, and a private listserv. We chose not to go with Smartgroups because I have reservations about the long term viability of that service. A private listserv would place yet another administration responsibility on Mikki, which I think is unfair to her. Therefore, Google groups was the next best option. If anyone is torqued that they can't use Google's web interface without an account, I apologize. I can send you a Gmail invitation if you like. Just email me.

2) Yes, I'm aware that Google Groups has a different interface than Yahoo groups and that you can't do some things with it that you're used to. Google Groups has a feature set that overlaps Yahoo groups, but is neither an exact superset nor an exact subset.

3) This list is currently open to all members of UEW, whether you're in CFFN or not. We have not added any of the current 1C members of CFFN. If any of you wish to join, please email Mikki. Also, if you know any UEW member who isn't on the list, please spread the word (and the link.)

4) If you're not happy, repeat after me: Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate.

[EDIT: Mikki says to test her new CFFN pages out. This public service announcement is brought to you by the letter Z, which I am going now to make many of.]

[EDIT 2: Anyone else complaining about me ending that last sentence with a preposition will be flogged with damp pasta]

Posted by Brent at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

All righty then. At Kat's behest, we have moved the lessons to the server hosting the rest of the CUEW stuff. Since we now have total control over the stuff, we can make quicker changes, fixes, and whatever else is necessary. So to that end, having testers will be a wonderful thing to ensure that everything is exactly as it should be.

Here's where to find stuff:

1C materials

http://www.cuew.org/cffn/Set_One/index.html through
http://www.cuew.org/cffn/Set_Six/index.html

Same passwords. Brent has looked at them and says they work. If anything looks wrong, let me know, or if passwords don't work right for you.

2C materials

The links are all on the page:

http://www.cuew.org/cffn/secondcircle.html As before, this page is not password protected, and neither is the student handbook. Those links should take you to the appropriate lessons and other stuff that now happily lives on our happy fun server. As before, the same passwords previously used SHOULD work. You may note that I have broken up the links to hopefully make it easier for people.

If anything looks just plain wrong (yes, some colors and things will be different as I've had to hand strip out a shitload of microsoft glop that they stuff in everything that just mungs it all up), let me know please. If passwords don't work, also let me know.

THIS IS AN ALPHA RELEASE. Bugs will happen :-)

People can check any of the lessons that they already have passwords for. I already know that there are some pictures missing on Lesson 9 of 2C. They were missing in the original, and they will be figured out eventually.

If you see any typos, obvious formatting issues, prettification issues (fonts, colors, etc) feel free to chime in. I am not promising to get to them immediately, but I'll do my bestest.

If anyone is a css expert, or has any other type of web brilliance skills, let me know :-)

Posted by mikki at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As I said in the mail, I don't think Grandfathering in was designed to be used online- it's a way of adding people who have a relationship with UEW people.
Maybe we should have a list of "things that can't be done online alone."

Like, with 3rd circle people, I've only accepted online stuff from spectacular students, so third circle membership and training would be included...
grandfathering in...
ordination...
What else?

Posted by Kat at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Anybody who wants one, or wants to change one, need only ask me.
Kat Kat@cuew.org

Posted by Kat at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mikki has asked me to update my contact info for the UEW page. Kat, is it possible for me to get a @cuew.org mail redirector? I'd prefer to be liveoak@cuew.org if that works.

Also - the 5 petalled rose in the logo is way beyond keen. Mikki has done a wonderful job. :)

Posted by Brent at 02:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yes, please. If anyone has any suggestions regarding the website, please let me know. That includes things that aren't quite clear or anything else that you think needs to be rewritten or revamped. This is our main means of letting non UEWers know what we're about, and it should always be the best it can be. Do NOT feel that you might possibly make the web creator feel bad. I won't.

Same goes for anything else you find that you think could be better by changes, refreshes, revamping, etc. Let's talk about it. Make comments. We're all ears (or eyes as that may be :-))

Posted by mikki at 02:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

RE: http://www.cuew.org
#1. I think this blog should be linked right there on the front page.
#2. Our info on "Contacts" is now largely incorrect, so that whole page should be scrapped and redone.
#3. I think we should scrap the sept pages altogether, under links.... and here's my thinking on that...
MAYBE the idea of a sept, which has always been in SC (AFAIK) and thus always been in UEW should be something we teach of, explicitly, in the second circle, and rather than let people try to figure out how to make a sept... it's a damnedly useful concept- more than a working group, less than a full tradition- those who need the information have it.
YES, I know the thought of me advocating LESS information being publically accessible is bizarre. I think I'll be decommisioning the sept sites sometime next year and making them archive stuff.

I think that's the whole of my thinking. It was going to be longer, but no, I think that sums it up...

So, what do youse guys thinks needs to be added/removed?

Posted by Kat at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I have to have it as jewelry. The idea of a 5 petaled rose for UEW has been around since before UEW. That is.... fantastic. New and old at the same time. Awesome.

Posted by Kat at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kat has pointed me in the right direction re: grandfathering. I should have known she'd already have had this covered. She provided the following URL:

http://www.cuew.org/handbook/grandfolk.html

That clears up most stuff.

Posted by mikki at 07:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From the Handbook:

Lay ministers are UEW persons who have completed the First Circle, submitted a notarized copy of The Oath of Practice and spent a minimum of 20 weeks in the Second Circle. If you meet these requirements and would like to become a lay minister, you can contact AUEWC through the addresses given on the contacts page of the sitemap.

Lay ministers have all of the abilities of full, ordained ministers except that Lay ministers cannot initiate someone into the third Circle or Ordain Priests. In addition, Lay ministers are required to have contact with an ordained (Third Circle) Clergy person when officiating at marriage and end of life services. In addition, all Lay-ministers are required to have a way to contact an ordained priest. Online, that is usually Kaatryn MacMorgan.

Note: Lay ministers have completed the standards exam and been entered into AUEWC. The simplest way to tell if someone is a lay minister or not is to ask them for their cuew.org email or their number.

-------
So, 20 weeks in 2nd circle or something else? :-)

Posted by mikki at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on this, but I'm focusing on the 2CL8 requirement. I think that rather than tying it to equivalents to the 2C curriculum (which we may decide to change), we should tie it to lay clergy status.

In general, I'm pretty much in agreement with the concepts as laid out in the post on Structural Issues.

Posted by Brent at 07:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How about these for first pass on appropriate structure for new groups who wish to be affiliated with UEW? Please provide thoughts, etc. ASAP we I can inform the group who wishes to apply.

1) New groups must incorporate the UEW bylaws into their charter application and agree to be bound by them throughout their affiliation with us.

2) If the group is not made up of people already in CFFN or UEW, then the group must set forth an appropriate system of recording membership information, and will transmit that information to the record keeper of UEW at least each quarter if there are any changes. UEW will use these records to provide applicable voting rights and maintain accurate information as to UEW membership.

3) All members of the group must provide proof of adult age, or, if a minor, a signed and notarized affidavit from the parents or legal guardian of the minor along with proof that the parent is a member of the group.

4) Leader of any group who wishes UEW affiliation must be, at minimum, a Second Circle member of CFFN who has completed Lesson 8, or its equivalent in order to become Elected Clergy in the group. Those with substantial prior experience MAY be allowed to complete CFFN courses on an accelerated schedule at the discretion of the Triad. Long standing group leaders who wish to affiliate their group with UEW may be granted Provisional Elected Clergy status until they have completed Lesson 8 of the Second Circle.

5) If the Group Leader wishes to teach UEW Wicca, the Leader must have completed all of the First and Second Circle of CFFN, and may, at the discretion of the Triad, be given accelerated scheduling for completion of their lessons. These lessons must be reviewed and approved by the Triad prior to receiving leave to teach.

6) If, at any time, the Triad decides that the group has not lived up to the spirit or the letter of the UEW bylaws, or the spirit of CUEW, the Triad may vote to rescind affiliation with the group. If the Triad so votes, the group will immediately cease teaching UEW Wicca, and disposition of its members with regards to UEW will be considered on a case by case basis.

Posted by mikki at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Currently, we have CFFN and some covens out there affiliated with CUEW. Now we are starting to get people who wish to affiliate their covens with CUEW. The Bylaws are a bit unclear on how to deal with those types of things. So, let's talk about our thoughts regarding letting people affiliate with CUEW, what kind of structure we want to set up for it, and how we can ensure our usefulness to them, and their usefulness to us :-)

Basically, the bylaws say that groups may affiliate with us if they follow the Ethics of Members and Member Organizations. However, there is no specific mechanism for accepting groups or individuals into UEW. If they wish to TEACH UEW, they must go through approved training, which I would offer includes doing all of the lessons of first and second circle and proving they have been teachers in the past and know their stuff.

In order to be clergy, they would have to be elected by a UEW group, be a lay minister who has had to be in the second circle, be provisional clergy which would take 3 ordained persons and equivalent training (but I think we only currently have one ordained person (hi Kat)), or ordained, which would mean going through the whole first through third circle process, etc. There is no "grandfathered" clergy beyond those who were grandfathered in 2001, and no provision for ordination without having completed all 3 circles of UEW.

Thoughts? I'm all for growth in UEW, however, I also want to be careful. We have enough lunatics in the "community at large" that this is truly a concern. I would like to modify the bylaws for explicit approval processes and removal processes for various groups if it turns out that they are flakes, or otherwise not following the ethical requirements.

Posted by mikki at 12:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I wish that Kat had 48 hour days so she could cure cancer AND spend another full lifetime with us. Kat, you are the reason I joined CUEW, and the reason I stayed. I'm not sure you understand how much impact you have had on my spiritual life. Your blunt, no nonsense style, the lack of rainbow brite wands and fluffy cloud sparkly moonbeams is SO refreshing in a world of constant anime like Wicca. The fact that a tradition COULD and DOES exist without 14 multi colored tabards, stoles and patches, without background fights for power and silly titles, without "whose festival is the best" and without all those ridiculous distractions from the true calling of "Know Thy Will" is something I will always cherish and fight to keep. The lessons you wrote have helped to develop my self-awareness and insight. I am not sure I would have kept at things if it hadn't been for the knowledge of self that I developed through doing your lessons and through your writings.

And if you don't stick around at least somewhat, I will have to fly up there and taunt you a second time :-)

Posted by mikki at 09:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of the things that got this blog idea going for me was the realization that as I step down from leadership of CUEW, to focus on oh, curing cancer, inevitably someone, somewhere was going to say I was ousted by a cabal and left in disgrace.
So, openness and honesty's the words, folks-I've done my time in leadership. Time for others to take the stress, strain, heartache and pain that comes with all the wonderfulness of being a leader...
someONES, actually.
And Brent, don't sweat the time thing...that's why there are three of "y'all."

Edited: I know how people have been known to take things found in these places as having funky meanings- I'm working in research, trying to cure cancer.... I don't HAVE cancer.

Posted by Kat at 08:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by mikki at 10:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)