One would think if we were successfully living our lives and truly priestessing by the Wiccan Rede, the Golden Rule or the Laws of Maat that the reminders or suggestions herein might not even warrant repeating. However in our busy and stressful lives, is there any one of us who can claim perfection or cannot strive to do better? So in that spirit, as we embark on what many are calling the next millenium, this discussion to raise our awareness certainly may lend some help should we feel we can or want to personally perform our duties and responsibilities on a higher level of service within our communities. Starting from the premise we all have more in common than we are different, let's examine some ideas that might help how we share leadership or power with each other within our circles, covens and study groups. If you are an elder, heirophant, arch-priestess: Do you have a safe means for those within your circle to mediate problems? Can concerns be brought up without being filtered through a select and possibly non-impartial few? What if the concern is about you? All too often in the absence of such mediation membership does walk away because there is no other recourse open to them other than to sit idly by swallowing their concerns in order to continue to belong. If you are dianic and your group has been choosing its incoming HP by appointment from the outgoing HP rather from consensus by the group, do you want to re-examine that process in order that a non-hierarchical model might be considered or perhaps even rotate the duties of High Priestess in order to grow others into the job and thereby share the responsibility and power? If you have a large community, is every group (i.e., crones, guardians, priestesses, general population, ritualists) represented on your Board or governing body so that everyone feels they have a voice? When someone leaves your community or circle, do you assume they are following their own path and reflection ends there? Or do you think how you might have consciously or unconsciously contributed to this person's defection from your ranks. Are you providing a nurturing and empowering environment where those you have responsibility for can grow and stretch their wings without feeling by doing so they might threaten their elders and possibly even thereby hurt themselves politically? What perception do your circles project? Are they inclusive? Warm and inviting? Feel closed and clique-ish? When new faces appear are they warmly greeted and made to feel they can offer something of value to the organization? One way to check this is to ask yourself if your regular volunteers or facilitators are all burned out or do you have ample help to draw on when you need it. Are you using your position of elder, heirophant, archpriestess as a "bully-pulpit" to set an to set an example to those in your group, circle or coven to keep their ego in check and not confuse being in service with being in power? Can you admit you can be wrong and can learn from your students? Do you do everything in your power to get problems out in the open, not allowing gossip to flourish within the organization? Do you insure any member who participates in your events, rituals, classes all equally share in all the duties required and do not permit a select few to slide on "taking out the trash" or "mopping up the floor"? Should you institute a rule that if someone is not at a planning meeting, they have no right to have a part in the ritual or event? Do you encourage your membership to feel equally valued amongst themselves whether they've been participating 20 years or 2 months? Do you truly and sincerely strive not to have power over any members? Can you agree to disagree and still work together? If you are a member of a coven, circle, community you have responsibilities too: Do you offer constructive criticism when faced with problems and come to the table with ideas for solutions rather than just venting your anger or pain? Do you speak up in a loving or considerate manner? Can you disagree in a loving or considerate manner? If you see a pattern of dysfunction or mean-spiritedness within a group, do you speak up? If you see members continually coming and going and not sticking around and the leader dismisses them with platitudes like "well the Goddess is weeding Her garden" do you re-examine your involvement and principals in association with this group and its manner of dealing with people? How does being a member of the group make you feel? Does being a member positively challenge your skills and encourage your growth? Do you feel valued? Do you trust those you circle with or do you feel unbalanced, never quite sure what to expect, whether you belong or where you stand? Do you have to compromise your principals to "fit in"? Are you given clear direction, encouragement and support? Do you have a voice and feel comfortable with the mediation process used by the group? Are drugs or alcohol allowed at events? Do you feel comfortable asking most any question of your teachers or elders in the group? Do you understand the group cannot meet all of your needs and you must ultimately navigate your ship? Do you put your elders on pedestals and become disappointed when they naturally fall from the perch you have put them on? Are you giving back to the organization, group or coven? Can you agree to disagree and still work together? This is just a short list of ideas which I've seen used, or wish were used in goddess communities I have worked in or moved through. Belonging to the wrong group can be a painful and demoralizing experience, yet being with the right one can encourage you to stretch yourself and find new talents and strengths you might not even have known you possessed. Involvement in one group might help heal the wounds obtained within another, so choose wisely and have your eyes and ears open to how business, relationships and procedure is conducted. We have a lot of work to do to raise awareness of Goddess, help heal the planet and become the best we can be. Can we waste time struggling with each other or being involved in the wrong circles? Wouldn't it be nice not to have to educate the world at Samhain about what and who witches really are? What if men and women did not have have to live in fear of losing their jobs or their children because our religion was understood and accepted? We might all benefit from looking at the big picture and directing our energy appropriately so that we are making a difference in the world, not reinventing the wheel within our communities, clinging to power within our own groups, or tearing each other apart. Let us all strive to "walk our talk" -- treat others as you would have them treat you, nurture and empower each other, say you don't know, you've made a mistake or you are sorry. sometimes the simplest acts can have the most profound and far-reaching consequences and sometimes we just have to remind each other. . . .

First published in Of A Like Mind - Priestessing Issue - May Day 10000. Republished here by permission of the author, Karen Tate. Karen Tate, ordained as Emissary Priestess of Isis and Sacred Geography, is dedicated to rebirthing the Goddess in our time. She sees her work as a "bridge-builder" navigating to the Goddess those who have yet to learn of the empowering aspects of Her spirituality. Through the Isum of Isis Navigatum, a Fellowship of Isis "Hearth of the Goddess," Karen publishes articles internationally and domestically on Goddess Spirituality, and organizes classes, events, and trips to sacred sites around the world. Each March, the re-creation of an actual ancient Festival of Isis, the Isidis Navigium, the cornerstone ritual of the Iseum, is offered to the community. Currently Karen is planning Goddess Tours to England, Malta, and Egypt. Karen can be reached at specialjourn@earthlink.net. Find out more about the Iseum or Goddess Tours by visiting Karen's website.