Spiritual Activism

We are located in a beautiful country setting in western Coventry (Coven-tree).

Horn and Cauldron, Church of the Earth does not engage in supporting or endorsing any political candidate. As an established church of a minority religion , we are deeply affected by issues and policies that may concern our congregation and threaten our freedom to practice our religion.

Wicca is a nature religion and we revere the Earth and all of Her inhabitants. In reverence to the Earth, we must do what ever we can to protect Her and to heal Her. In addition to ritual healings and spell work, we see activism as the work of fire that puts our energy out into the universe to bring about change. We see activism as doing something for someone else or the Earth, with no hidden agenda for ourselves.

Horn and Cauldron, Church of the Earth is clear as to who we are and we will stand strong with the Gods and Goddesses in our support of the prevention of the deterioration of our basic human rights, environmental protection, social justice and our religious freedoms. In following in the footsteps of such Pagan spiritual activists, such as Starhawk, social justice and environmental concerns are paramount for our alignment with our most fundamental belief in Wicca, "Do as ye will, but harm none." We must take every action and with every vote to assure that our congregations, communities, all human beings and the earth are sacred and as such, must be kept safe from any harm.

In following Spiral Tree Grove Tradition, we believe that the Gods and Goddesses of the past have much to teach us, and we try hard to learn the mysteries of many paths. We value the many lessons from learning from a variety of different deities and cultural practices. We acknowledge the duality of the Lord and Lady. We are aware of the duality in all humans and the importance of balance between the two. We recognize that the energy of the Gods surround us always.

The Gods and Goddesses we work with have many aspects, and we embrace that they may have both love and rage, and it is S/he who inspires our passion for justice, and sustains us through the long hard work to bring it about.

Our Church Constitution and Bylaws were created to protect all our rights within the church, which means the Church leadership takes on that responsibility to do what it deems best to protect all the rights (religious and individual) of the congregation.

Our spiritual growth as a species requires that we work toward equilibrium and balance between our non-renewable natural resources, consumption and the exponentially growing human population, a declining wilderness and its animals, and sustainability. We need to respect Mother Earth with compassion, empathy, and love, and treat her as sacred.

As ordained ministers, we may find that it is advantageous to align ourselves with other groups (religious, grassroots, and social justice groups) which share our vision and will protect our collective individual rights and the rights of our church. We have members of our congregation who are marginalized by society whether they identify as being LGBTQIA, economically impoverished/disadvantaged, women on an unequal footing with men, immigrants, minorities, people with disabilities, freedom of choice, environmentalists, and survivors of sexual abuse, just to name a few.

The sacredness of the divine feminine is at the root of our tradition as She expresses Herself as Mother Earth through her cycles. As such, we fully support feminism, and all who identify as women, as we advocate for women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes and a woman's sovereign right for unencumbered freedom of choice.

So what do we do? We work with our current federal and state legislators to notify them of our position of intolerance with government interference with our religious freedoms or our basic human rights, inclusive. We develop relationships with our elected officials and sit with them to let them know about our concerns.

In the past, we have engaged as delegate leaders for the Rhode Island Chapter of the Women's March on Washington and found that our mission for H&C resonated with the statement provided by the national movement: "We support the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities. We call on all defenders of human rights to join us. This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all."

As ordained ministers, we have worked with the Institute for the Study and Practice of Non-Violence and have provided training for people who are taking part in non-violent protests. As part of the Life in Balance Center, we will continue to offer training in the Kingian non-violence principles.

While we do not anticipate that our Congregation will be active in all areas of activism, we do expect them to be supportive in our mission of social justice for all.