Constitution and By-laws

Temples and Shrines Constitution and By-laws

A Constitution is a requirement for any Chartered body within the Tradition, and is recommended for recognized bodies as well.

A Witan Shrine, being formed in expectation of being recognized as a full Temple later, will usually model its constitution on the “Model Temple By-Laws” devised by the Tradition’s oldest Temples, altering them as necessary to conform to its individual goals and character. This will allow the Shrine to transition to Temple status with relatively little change in how it does business. Nonetheless the Tradition allows Shrines and Temples great leeway in their internal structure, so your constitution may vary considerably from these Model By-laws.

It should be noted that the “Model Temple By-laws” were adapted by for the Tradition by Rev. Don Lewis from the Holy City Temple By-laws drawn up by Rev. Traci Logan-Wood. Holy City was the first Correllian Temple to draw up such extensive by-laws. Lady Traci in turn drew much of her inspiration from Amber K’s excellent book Covencraft. Amber K’s influence is even more apparent in some of the constitutions of the other Correllian Shrines.

As a Shrine, the Shrine Keeper is the responsible party and in many cases handles all Shrine business –this is because Shrines tend to be small and there may not be people to act as Shrine Officers. In other cases there may be many Officers in a Shrine, but the Shrine Keeper is always viewed by the Tradition as the person running the Shrine and responsible for it.

When you become a Temple you will need a Board of Directors, which is headed by the Temple Head, and may include a wide variety of Officers such as Co-Head of Temple, Treasurer, secretary, etc… All of this is outlined in the Model Temple By-laws.

It should be noted that if there should ever be a conflict between the Shrine/Temple By-laws and the Tradition By-laws, the Tradition’s By-laws will take precedence. The Shrine By-laws may allow for consensus decision making for example, or divide up duties between a number of Officers, but to the Tradition the Shrine/Temple Head remains the responsible party for running of the Shrine/Temple regardless of the Shrine/Temples internal structure.

Most of these comments apply to Witan Shrine/Proto-Temples. Other kinds of Shrine, being less formal in nature will usually have simpler by-laws. A Personal Shrine usually does not have Officers other than the Shrine Head. A Formal Shrine may have as many Officers as a Temple, or only the Shrine Head depending upon its needs.

For a copy of the template/sample constitution and by-laws please email: witanherald@gmail.com

TEMPLE GUIDELINES SAMPLE

Temple Of   ___ Guidelines

Temple Head and Keeper
The Temple     , located in
They submitted this constitution on        , Year Aquarius.

As a Temple, the first principle is of the Correllian Tradition.
As Secondary principle, will be the Five Mystic Secrets.
As Third principle will be the Three Degree Manuals

These principles will be the most important to the Temple, the founder and all who attend.
Membership to the Temple requires

    · A minimum of attendance at 5 meetings and or rituals each quarter.
    · A permanent online presence within the Temple egroup
    · If a student of the Temple attendance at the online study group or offline group if applicable

Temple Head:
Tradition Head: M. Rev. Don Lewis-HighCorrel

CORRELLIAN BY-LAWS pdf