Athame's Edge Bylaws
These bylaws are occasionally amended, and members are responsible for being aware of changes. It is recommended that this page be checked intermittently by all students and members.
I. Purpose
The Athame's Edge Learning Coven (AELC) has as its stated purpose the mission of providing a loving community dedicated to life-long learning and spiritual growth in the Progressive Wiccan tradition. In order to fulfill this purpose, we (1) teach students of the larger Wiccan community using a structured curriculum, and (2) provide our members with an ongoing structured and supportive learning environment.
II. Structure
A. Athame's Edge (AE) is a learning coven whose curriculum is based on the Learning Spiral model, created by founding members of AE. In each of four Spirals (Air, Fire, Water, and Earth), students and members revisit a comprehensive list of topics, each time deepening and broadening the scope of each topic. AE is primarily an online coven, but students and members are encouraged to meet, study, and do ritual together in person.
B. Students and members will be subject to all rules and bylaws stated herein.
C. Neither class size nor coven size shall be limited to any specific number, but acceptance for new students and/or new initiates shall be halted and resumed as Leadership deems necessary.
D. Students are those adults (over eighteen years of age) who apply for and are accepted into membership of AE's Outer Spiral, and commence the Air Learning Spiral.
1. Students will be subscribed to the Outer Spiral mailing list. All of their lessons, questions, concerns and responses will be posted to this list, as well as weekly personal updates and additional assignments.
2. Each student will be assigned a mentor, with whom s/he is encouraged to correspond offlist.
E. Members are those students who have completed Air Spiral , have been accepted as initiates of AELC, and have signed the Oath of Initiation. Founding members are those current members who joined AE prior to 2005. Founding members are subject to the same rules as all other members, except where noted in these bylaws.
1. Members will be subscribed to TWO mailing lists, the Outer Spiral one and the AE one. Fire, Water, and Earth Spiral lessons, responses to member lessons, and upper-level questions and concerns are to be posted on the AE list. Weekly updates and additional assignments are to be posted on the Outer Spiral list.
2. Each member (other than founding member) is encouraged to maintain contact with his/her mentor offlist.
F. Elders are members who have completed Earth Spiral and entered Spirit Spiral.
1. Elders may choose to become teachers and mentors, or they may choose to serve the coven in other ways, such as through research and writing.
III. Student Application, Acceptance, and Terms of Study
A. Acceptance to AELC is dependant upon the rules stated herein. Applications submitted when prohibited by these rules will be discarded unread.
1. Applicants must be eighteen years of age or older.
2. Applications must be complete and must meet all guidelines and formatting rules posted on the Application web page.
B. Incoming applications will be filtered by the Leadership Council, who will contact the applicant (hopefully in a reasonable time-frame) to confirm receipt.
C. Applications following all stated guidelines will be voted on by the Leadership Council. The applicant will be informed whether or not his/her application has been accepted, is being sent back to the author with a request for a rewrite, or has been rejected.
D. Once an applicant is accepted, s/he will be notified via email and sent an electronic copy of the AELC Terms of Study. The applicant must electronically sign and return the Terms of Study within one week of acceptance, at which point s/he will be granted access to the Outer Spiral and will be considered a student of the Air Spiral.
E. Newly accepted students immediately enter an orientation period of no less than one week and no more than three weeks. In that time, they are expected to post their first lesson, as well as weekly updates. During their orientation period, students are encouraged but not required to complete any additional assignments, such as challenge questions posed by Leadership Council. Once the first lesson (final version) is posted, the student completes the orientation period and becomes responsible for all assignments issued thereafter.
F. Each Air Spiral lesson (except the first, as described in section III, paragraph E) must be completed over a minimum period of ten days and posted within a maximum of six weeks from the date of the previous lesson's final-version posting (not including subsequent responses to commentary). The student should take as much time as is needed and delve as deeply as possible into the subject of each lesson. It is highly recommended that he/she respond to all reasonable feedback and questions posted by other students and members, as this is part of the learning process.
G. Each Air Spiral student is required to discuss the lessons with his/her mentor off-list before completion and posting, until such time as the mentor deems this unnecessary. Permission to continue to the next lesson must be granted by the mentor.
H. Students must demonstrate a strong respect for the English language, knowledge of grammar and spelling, and an ability to communicate with clarity using written expression. Lessons must be proofread for errors and run through a spell-checker before being posted.
I. IMPORTANT! All lessons should be saved to a file or web page (assistance with this is available upon request). Handcopying material to a notebook is acceptable, but electronic copies are strongly encouraged, as they are more easily protected and will be needed by Leadership for review in the case of an initiation application.
J. Upon completion of Air Spiral, the student may choose either to apply for initiation into the AE coven (initiation not guaranteed and granted at discretion of Leadership Council), or to leave AE and follow a different path.
IV. Initiation
A. Students who have successfully completed Air Spiral and wish to dedicate themselves to further study and service may apply to Leadership for initiation into AE.
B. Leadership will review the candidate's application and vote to either accept or deny the candidate as an initiate. Approval will require a unanimous decision by all Leadership Council members.
C. If accepted, the student must sign the Oath of Initiation, upon which s/he becomes a full coven member with voting privileges, and is admitted to the Fire Learning Spiral. If denied, the applicant must be released from all AE-related mailing lists.
V. Leadership Council
A. AE's Leadership Council members are here to filter student and initiate applications, to aid integration of new students and members, and to discuss lessons and concerns. They can be trusted to help.
B. Leadership Council currently consists of founding members, but Leadership positions may be granted to elder members at current Council's discretion.
C. The Leadership Council will consist of no less than three and no more than seven members at any given time.
D. Leadership Council members will be subscribed to a Leadership e-mail list in addition to all other coven lists.
E. It shall be the Leadership Council's responsibility to decide on Outer Spiral and initiation applications, to monitor the status of students and members, to create committees as needed, to appoint members to those committees, and to maintain the ultimate health and functioning of the AELC.
VI. Member/Student Status
A. The Leadership Council governs the application and acceptance of all Outer Spiral students and coven initiates, tracks the status of all students and members, and brings inactivity to the attention of the inactive student/member and his or her mentor.
B. Active status will be maintained by all students and members, unless permission for a leave-of-absence is granted by Leadership majority. Inactivity may render a student or member subject to release from the coven list(s). Extenuating circumstances may be taken into account, and may be put to Leadership for consideration. Active status is defined as meeting the criteria listed herein.
1. Each Air Spiral lesson (except the first, as described in section III-E above) must be completed over a minimum period of ten days and posted within a maximum of six weeks from the date of the previous lesson's final-version posting (not including subsequent responses to commentary).
2. Fire Spiral lessons must be completed and posted on a regular basis, as determined in consultation with the member's mentor.
3. Water and Earth Spiral members must post comprehensive monthly (per calendar month) updates on their research and/or work.
4. Reponse to posted lessons is asked of all members in order to promote discussion and to offer encouragement and insight to the student who did the work. Differing opinions are always welcome, but all students and members will handle disagreements with respect for their fellow journeyers.
5. Personal update posts shall be required of each student and member within each calendar week. A brief (one- or two-line) post will be acceptable for only one weekly update each calendar month. After 3 missed updates, the student or member may be subject to release from the coven list(s).
6. Additional assignments such as book readings, film viewings, and critical response essays may be issued by Leadership at any time, with reasonable completion dates imposed. No more than one additional assignment will be expected of any student or member at any one time.
VII. Curriculum
A. Curriculum development and lesson plans will be overseen by the Leadership Council.
B. Input from members will be the main source of material for the development of new lessons or the revising of existing lessons.
C. Minor changes to the curriculum, such as editing for form or content, may be made by Leadership without consulting coven membership. Major changes, such as introducing new topics, changing the order of topics, changing Spiral requirements, etc., must be approved by a simple majority of the membership before being implemented.
VIII. Mentoring Program
A. All students and members shall be assigned a mentor by Leadership, with whom they are encouraged to discuss lessons, questions, concerns, and personal issues privately offlist.
B. Involvement in the Mentoring Program will be voluntary for elder members.
C. Water and Earth Spiral members as well as founding members in Fire Spiral may apply to Leadership for a position mentoring students.
D. Mentors may be subscribed to a mentor's e-mail list in addition to the Outer Spiral and AE lists, should the need arise.
E. Should a situation arise that negatively impacts a mentor/student relationship, or that makes it difficult for the mentor to fulfill his/her obligations to students, the mentor will consult with Leadership as soon as possible.
IX. Daughter Covens
A. Elders, who have successfully entered Spirit Spiral, may petition Leadership to create a new offline Progressive Eclectic Wiccan coven in their home region.
B. Access to AELC's curriculum may be granted to the daughter coven as long as that coven abides by all the rules and bylaws of AE.
X. Privacy
A. Members and students may not reveal the identities of any other members or students, nor may they reveal any discussions, lessons, or materials to which they are given access, no matter the form, to any person who is not a member or student of the Athame's Edge Coven or Outer Spiral. Failure to abide by this rule of privacy will constitute grounds for immediate removal from all coven email lists.
XI. Amendments
A. Any and all amendments to or repeals of Athame's Edge Learning Coven bylaws must be passed first by a simple majority vote of the Leadership Council, and then by a 2/3 quorum of the general membership.