The Community

We see "the community" at two levels: the coven, which for us is a covenanted community of intimate equals; and the community in which we live, be it neighborhood, town, or city. Our objectives with respect to both our communities are:

1. To work towards making those communities safe for all people in them -
   
   
   • Making our cities physically and emotionally safe for everyone, men and women, for children and adults. This means, for example, that we actively support rape crisis centers, battered women’s shelters, and other refuges for women and children who have been hurt by the fallout of our patriarchal society’s attitudes towards them. It also means that we participate in the life of the community, by attendance at meetings from neighborhood watch to city council and by influencing our elected representatives to act in accordance with the people’s welfare.

   • Making our covens safe places for their members to be who they are at the deepest level of their soul, without the kind of judgement, rejection, and even injury the "world" often gives. Our covens are safe places for their members to be joyful, angry, blissful, grief-stricken, hurt, or whatever. They are safe places to express vulnerability need, and to have that need satisfied - to the extent that the other members are able - rather than rejected or demeaned. We can cry on each other’s shoulders, lie in each other’s arms, or offer each other a caring sexual experience, with equal surety that our selves and our boundaries will be respected.

     Because of this society’s patriarchal heritage, it takes a lot more to make a place safe for women than for men. We teach men how dangerous it can be to to be a woman today, and how to truly be a safe friend and partner to a woman. We encourage women to stand for their right to safety, and to expect nothing less than total respect and equality. We also support men in their attempts to break free of the patriarchy’s hold on them - for example, in refusing to accept the "conquer or be conquered" attitude that pervades our society, and that all too often grinds men into dust.

2. To actively participate in the public life of our communities, as witches, so that we show those communities that we are worthy of their respect and have valid contributions to make to them. Wiccans and Pagans have for too long accepted the condemnation of society at large, unwilling - or unable - to do anything about it. The result has been that we have continued to be distrusted, or even persecuted, by that society. Gaia Wicca accepts the responsibility to stand forth and, by our words and our deeds, work toward the acceptance of Paganism by society, and so to make life safer for all Pagans.

3. To speak out when necessary, calling public attention to intolerable circumstances or unworthy officeholders, but also praising community leaders when that is deserved. In this, we do nothing other than any good citizen should do; and by our doing it, give yet another indication that we are valuable members of the community, not dangerous elements at its fringe.

Because of our passionate comittment to our coven community and those in it, we associate the community with the southern direction and the element of fire, the element of the passions.