Church of All Worlds
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This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (April 2008) |
The Church of All Worlds (CAW) is a neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children through tribal community dedicated to responsible stewardship and evolving consciousness.
The key founder of CAW was Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, who participated in the Church as "Primate", later along with his wife, Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, designated High Priestess. CAW was formed in 1962, evolving from a group of friends and lovers who were in part inspired by religion of the same name from the science fiction novel Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein; much of the church's mythology includes science fiction to this day. The headquarters are in Cotati, California.
CAW's members, called Waterkin, espouse pantheism but it is not a belief-based religion. Members experience Divinity and honor the experiences and views of others. They recognize the Earth Mother Goddess and the Father God, the Green God and Goddess, and the Horned God and Lady of the Beasts. CAW also recognizes the realm of Faeries and the deities of many other pantheons. Most of their ritual celebrations are centered on the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece.
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[edit] Formation
CAW began in 1961 with a group of high school friends. One of these was Richard Lance Christie from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Christie was fascinated by the "self-actualization" concepts of Abraham Maslow, a renowned American psychologist, and after meeting then-Timothy Zell at Westminster College, he began experiments in extrasensory perception. It was during this time that the group they formed read Heinlein’s science fiction novel, which became the inspiration for CAW.
Heinlein's book, combined with Maslow's self-actualization concepts, led to the formation of a waterbrotherhood that Zell and Christie called Atl, the Aztec word for "water", and also meaning "home of our ancestors". Atl became dedicated to political and social change and the group grew to about 100 members.
Zell formed CAW from Atl, and filed for incorporation as a church in 1967. It was formally chartered on March 4, 1968, making it the first Earth religion to obtain full United States recognition as a church.
[edit] Early organization and beliefs
CAW modeled its organization after the group in Heinlein's novel, as a series of 9 nests in circles of advancement that were each named after a planet. The basic dogma of the CAW was that there was no dogma – the basic "belief" was a stated "lack of belief". Within their religion, the only sin was hypocrisy and the only crime in the eyes of the church was interfering with another person.
By 1970, CAW placed greater emphasis on ecology and nature, applying the term pagan to nature-lovers in general, regardless of religion.[citation needed]
[edit] Evolution
Moving toward an emphasis on nature eventually led to a breaking of the relationship between CAW and Atl. By 1974, CAW had nests in more than a dozen states around the United States. That year, Zell married Morning Glory (née Diana Moore) and in 1976 he and Morning Glory settled in Eugene, Oregon and then at the Coeden Brith land in northern California.
When Zell stepped away from central leadership, the Church of All Worlds suffered a series of internal strife that led to most of the church dissolving. By 1978 the focus and headquarters shifted to California with the Zells and the nine-circle nest structure was revamped. CAW then served for several years as an umbrella organization for its subsidiaries.
[edit] Subsidiaries
Morning Glory Zell founded the Ecosophical Research Association (ERA) in 1977 to research arcane lore and legends. Its first project of note was the creation of living unicorns in 1980, after noting that early art depicts the creatures as being more goat-like than horse-like. The Zells reconstructed what they claimed was an ancient unicorning procedure, a process involving surgically manipulating the horn buds of kids during their first week of life, and created several unicorns, some of which toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus for a time[1].
In 1978 CAW merged with Nemeton, a Pagan organization founded by Gwydion Pendderwen and Alison Harlow. In 1987 CAW also absorbed Forever Forests, another one of Pendderwen’s organizations. An outgrowth of Forever Forests was founded in 1983 by Anodea Judith, past president and High Priestess of CAW, called Lifeways.
The Holy Order of Mother Earth (HOME), founded in 1978 by the Zells, is another subsidiary, dedicated to magical living and working with the land.
[edit] Renaissance
By the mid-1980s, CAW had practically ceased operation outside of Ukiah, California where the Zells relocated in 1985. Anodea Judith assumed presidency until 1991, and the structure of the organization was revamped with plans for more nest meetings, training courses, new rituals and publications. By the late 1990s CAW had increased membership internationally, becoming particularly strong in Australia where it became legally incorporated in 1992.
In 1998 Oberon Zell-Ravenheart took a year-and-a-day sabbatical from his role as Primate, and the church headquarters were moved to Toledo, Ohio.
[edit] Attempted termination
On August, 2004, the Board of Directors decided to terminate CAW due to financial and legal struggles.[1] In January, 2006, CAW was reestablished.[2]
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ CAW Board of Directors, "A Resolution for Implementing the Dormancy of Church of All Worlds, Inc.". www.caw.org. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
- ^ CAWeb - Report to Waterkin: The 3rd Phoenix Resurrection. www.caw.org. Retrieved on 2008-04-19.
[edit] References
- Adler, Margot, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, Beacon Press, 1979; revised and updated 1987.
- Ellwood, Robert, Religious and Spiritual Groups in Modern America, 1973.
- Gottlieb, Annie, Do You Believe in Magic? The Second Coming of the Sixties Generation, Times Books, 1987.
- Guiley, Rosemary, Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, Facts on File, 1989.
- Jade, To Know, Delphi Press, 1991.
- Martello, Leo Louis, Witchcraft, the Old Religion, University Books, 1973.
- Melton, J. Gordon, The Encyclopedia of American Religions, from the Institute for the Study of American Religions, POB 90709, Santa Barbara, CA 93190 1979 ( 3rd edition, 1988); The Essential New Age, 1990.
- Wilson, Robert Anton, Coincidance, Falcon Press, 1988.
[edit] External links
- Church of All Worlds: A Brief History from The Pagan Library
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