Spiralheart Witchcamp

Beloved community,

We’ve got about two weeks to choose SpiralHeart representatives to two BIRCH (all-Reclaiming community meetings) coming up — registration for the first (non-decision-making) meeting starts September 1, and probably ends by September 10.

Each community chooses a Representative and a Shadow. “Communities are strongly encouraged to select BIPOC and Non-Binary/Trans people as representatives”. Other community members may attend as witnesses, and everyone can participate in pre-meeting Loomio discussions. Meetings will have a sliding-scale registration fee — I don’t know the amounts.

The first meeting (Sept 19-27) will begin discussing a change to the Principles of Unity to be offered by the DARC (Decolonizing Actions in Reclaiming Communities) group. It will center BIPOC voices. It is not a decision-making meeting. (I haven’t seen the proposal, but know that it concerns this line of the PoU: “We value peace and practice non-violence, in keeping with the Rede, ‘Harm none, and do what you will.'”) The second meeting (Jan 12-31) will conclude that discussion and also discuss the changes to BIRCH, BIPOC inclusion in Reclaiming, Trans and Non-Binary inclusion in Reclaiming, and other topics proposed by individuals.

Love, -Yarrow

[From the BIRCH Committee]

Please distribute broadly—

Announcing BIRCH MEETINGS:

Globally we are living in extraordinary times. We are moving through a global pandemic that has forced changes to the ways in which we interact with each other, and which has necessitated hitting pause on most kinds of in-person gatherings for the foreseeable future. Events in the US (especially) have highlighted the ongoing struggle for justice that BIPOC people live with constantly, and this is reflected in the microcosm of our Reclaiming Tradition, and the urgent call that has been made by the DARC group for changes to the Principles of Unity.

To address this urgent need called for by BIPOC members of the Reclaiming Tradition, the next BIRCH meeting will be held from 19th-27th September 2020. This meeting will have one item on the agenda: to begin the process of discussing changes to the POU offered by the DARC group. Registration for this meeting will open on August 8th and close on September 1st.

The BIRCH 2021 meeting will be held January 12th – 31st, 2021 and will have a number of items on the agenda, including those discussed at BIRCH 2019: the restructuring of the BIRCH process; Trans and Non-Binary Inclusion in Reclaiming; Bipoc Inclusion in Reclaiming; and the conclusion, after community discussion, of the changes to the POU proposed at the September 2020 meeting. The BIRCH Committee will be putting out a call for additional agenda items.

Both the meetings will be held entirely online using two platforms: Loomio for asynchronous discussion and Zoom for synchronous discussion.

Further details of process and logistics may be found in the document “Guidelines for BIRCH”

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cGnU2XPVwbreQajNvaDncsUujHmzKbjOrsNEszEuw38

Further information will be disseminated by the BIRCH Committee via email lists, social media, and Reclaiming.org website. Registration for both meetings will open shortly.

For more information Please contact the BIRCH committee at birchcommittee@gmail.com or message our Facebook Page.

Sincerely,

BIRCH Committee

Who is the BIRCH Committee?

The Broader Intra-Reclaiming Council Hub, also known as BIRCH was formed in 2004 to help make tradition-wide decisions for our broader international Reclaiming communities. BIRCH is an evolving body, and we are implementing new online structures for upcoming BIRCH meetings.

The BIRCH Committee replaces BADhub for BIRCH administration. The current committee is empowered to convene BIRCH meetings and plan agendas. The BIRCH Committee of 5-7 people will include BIPOC (2), Trans (2), Non-US (2), and Elder (1) from distinct communities. Terms of service may be 2-3 years with rotation to include some continuity. New members of this committee will be selected at the annual BIRCH meeting. The BIRCH Committee will be financially compensated for this work.

Our next BIRCH meetings will happen online, and these guidelines will inform you what you need to know about the process and how to attend it. In-person BIRCH meetings will be revisited post-pandemic.