"Build Us a Temple"

[Elani Temperance]

Dear fellow Caudronites,

I realize we don't know each other long or well, and that is why this has taken so long to write. I need your help. Last week, I was Called to perform ritual for Hekate / Hecate. I've been Called to do this before, usually in Her capacity as a messenger of the Gods. It always means something life changing is about to happen. This time She delivered to me, in no unclear terms, one short message; "build Us a Temple".

I've been walking around with this idea for at least a month. Subtle hints had been dropped but I had not expected this. Still, these are my Gods and I will obey Their command. With honor. Still, I am terrified. I'm 26 years old and this is a major undertaking. I have a network here, in the Netherlands, I will slowly inform and I will set this in motion but I need a little... courage. And advice or help.

I come to you because I respect your judgment and, honestly, because hard polytheism isn't a very common stance on Deity in the Pagan community. Yet, I do not doubt this piece of UPG. I am not far enough into the process to give you much details but I will share what I can.

I'd like to have one large hall dedicated to the Wiccan God and Goddess because they are most popular here and a large, semi-neutral, indoor space is handy for larger festivals (especially in winter). There should be separate halls dedicated to the Celtic, Hermetic, Greek/Roman, Norse and perhaps some other pantheons at people's request (within reason). I want a large, open, library and a separate study hall as well as one or two lecture rooms which can also double as workshop rooms. There must be a kitchen, toilets and bathrooms as well as a dorm. I also want a meditation room.

I hope to build/buy in the woods so we can make one or two circles there for the Druid and Shaman folk as well as an open field for the festivals. A large vegetable and herb garden is a must. If I can in any way incorporate it, I would really like to build a labyrinth and space for all four of the elements for meditative purposes.

I have felt for years that the Pagan community needs a Temple. To get closer, to reunite. A home base for worship, knowledge, and social and religious activism (activism in the best sense of the word). It this a very positive outlook? Yes, sure, but why can't a Temple be a bridge?

At any rate, overwhelmed by my experience, I told Wickerman what happened, on Sunday and he took my experience to his wife. They have offered advice, support and very, very kindly even volunteered to donate mosaics for the floors of the halls. I have seen the work Wickerman's wife does with mosaics and it is fit for Gods, for sure.

Now, I expect nothing from you. I would appreciate advice from anyone who has ever tried an undertaking like this. Advice on how to get started, pitfalls to avoid. What should I take into account for halls of the pantheon you revere? How would your Gods best be honored? Anything is welcome. If you have any questions for me then feel free to ask. I am an open book and heck, it would be good training for the sponsors and events I will have to start organizing to get this off of the ground.

I want to build this Temple, be it a case of UPG or not. I promised it to the Gods I believe in and I will keep that promise. It will take a good few years, but it will happen. I would like your help getting there, in any way you can.

So in advance, I thank you for your words.

[Tana]

Erm.. good luck?

Questions that come to my mind at once are:
Do you have the resources to start such a project?
And wouldn't it be sufficient to have a kind of community center with a temple part instead of a separate area for all kinds of believes? (You know that there are a ton out there and you can't possibly serve them all.)

[Elani Temperance]

Erm.. good luck?

Questions that come to my mind at once are:
Do you have the resources to start such a project?
And wouldn't it be sufficient to have a kind of community center with a temple part instead of a separate area for all kinds of believes? (You know that there are a ton out there and you can't possibly serve them all.)

I have no funds what so ever so I will be doing a lot of asking the coming years. I have some payment plans in mind to keep the Temple running but there needs to be a Temple first, of course

I thought about a community center with a temple part but... it exists and it's not what we need, I feel, and what is asked of me. What I want to create is a temple, a place for worship. Everything else should be secondary.

And creating spaces for believes is a failing battle, I agree, but I feel it should be possible to give space to the (major) pantheons (if there is need for them in the community, of course).

And thank you for the best wishes, Tana

[PlaceboArtist]

Just a brain-fart on my part, but something that came into my mind was a main central (circular? though that would be hard to build. maybe octagonal) room, which could be multi-purpose. Then coming off that were eight smaller rooms, each dedicated to a pantheon. Nose would be in the northern room, Kemetic in the south, Vedic in the east for example.

Question: how much space are you able to get hold of?

[HeartShadow]

Depending on what's meant by Temple, that could also mean making a true religious-only space in your house - it would have to be land you /own/ instead of /rent/, I'd think, but I don't see why you couldn't create an offering to the gods in a part of your house and still live in the rest of it.

I mean, a full-on huge Temple thing for everyone sounds great, but .. well, it makes MY Work look easy!

[Wickerman]

Dear fellow Caudronites,


I want to build this Temple, be it a case of UPG or not. I promised it to the Gods I believe in and I will keep that promise. It will take a good few years, but it will happen. I would like your help getting there, in any way you can.

So in advance, I thank you for your words.

She has my support, the Gods dragged me here kicking and screaming. If they want it, then they will provide a means to the end. The chain of weird coincidence that lead me to this forum are, to me, undeniable evidence that this needs to be done.

[Elani Temperance]

Depending on what's meant by Temple, that could also mean making a true religious-only space in your house - it would have to be land you /own/ instead of /rent/, I'd think, but I don't see why you couldn't create an offering to the gods in a part of your house and still live in the rest of it.

I mean, a full-on huge Temple thing for everyone sounds great, but .. well, it makes MY Work look easy!

I will reply to the comments later on, when I'm not on my mobile, but I realize I forgot to mention a vital point. This temple will be public, with lots of outreach programs and a place for any circle or solitary to come to and worship in their own way.

[Jenett]

Now, I expect nothing from you. I would appreciate advice from anyone who has ever tried an undertaking like this. Advice on how to get started, pitfalls to avoid. What should I take into account for halls of the pantheon you revere? How would your Gods best be honored? Anything is welcome. If you have any questions for me then feel free to ask. I am an open book and heck, it would be good training for the sponsors and events I will have to start organizing to get this off of the ground.

The real thing with any project of this kind is that you *must* build in sustainability, and you must - for something to be sustainable - be sure you're building something that will meet the needs of the community you're asking to support it.

I was around the Twin Cities (Minnesota, US) for the founding of the Sacred Paths community center - they went in with a fairly solid financial plan, but they've struggled for several years, not because they're not working hard, and not because they're not serving the community - but because it's more complicated than that.

They've had practical set-backs (major construction for a new light rail line that has heavily disrupted storefront traffic). Rent increases. Changes in sales and rentals as the economy's changed. Some things that they might have been able to predict, but a lot that they couldn't. There have also been several shifts in the local Pagan community over that time that've changed who might want to use the space, and how, and when, which don't help with long-term planning.

But the other thing that took them a while to figure out was who would want to use their space, and who would want to use their space sufficiently often that they could afford to keep that space open.

And that's a really complicated question.

I found their space useful for community events - classes, workshops, etc. But would I plan to go to a community space and do smaller group, specific tradition ritual? Generally, no. It's not private enough for the smaller-group stuff I want to do, and coordinating for times when it would be is complicated.

For people with elaborate ritual setups, hauling the materials for their specific needs is a pain in the neck. (I know, having done this for a half-dozen years in the group I trained with.)

But for people who want a specific deity or pantheon to honour, they probably want some combination of specific iconography (which a communal space may not have), schedule flexibility (which a shared space may well not have), and privacy (which a shared space may not have.)

You've also got to consider exactly how many people will want to use a given space - one of the things Sacred Paths (the community center in Minnesota) had to figure out was that even though there are well over a thousand, and probably well over 2-3000 Pagans in the immediate metro area (it has an incredibly active and quite diverse Pagan community), only a relatively limited number would want to support the center for any one reason.

Some people valued having group ritual space - but were willing to deal with schedule limitations to be able to use it. Some people wanted community conversation space. Some people liked the idea, but in practice, were not going to make it over there very often, because a 30 minute drive each way (from the suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul to the near-center where Sacred Paths is) is too much.

As they've learned to diversify - and to recognise that there are bunches of people who think it's nice idea, but for whom supporting it is not a particular priority (often because those same people are supporting other Pagan community events, activities, or groups with their time and money, mind you...) they've gotten a more stable financial picture.

All of which is to say - I'm not sure a multi-faith Pagan temple is financially sustainable *most* places, without a lot of extremely careful groundwork, planning, labour, and attention to details over a long period of time. (By which I mean 5-10 years of ground work.)

And in the places I've seen multi-faith Pagan spaces work, it's generally meant a relationship in which at least one partner has a solid full-time job to provide a stable income and other practical needs (in the US, that includes access to health insurance), while the other partner works full time on the project, sometimes for years at a time before it's remotely self-sustaining. And a lot of weekends and evenings where you need to be around to let people in to use the space, or deal with a problem, or otherwise can't do *other* things that are necessary, healthy, and perhaps also requested by the Gods you serve.

The places I know that are exceptions to that have been a decade or more in the planning (I'm interested in what the new Open Hearth project in Washington D.C. is going to turn into - again, that's a major metro area, so they have a sizeable population to draw from, but it still took them over 10 years from idea to opening.)

None of this is to say success isn't possible. But I've seen a number of failures go by, too, that have left broken friendships, relationships, and massive massive debt in their wake. It's a project to go into extremely carefully, and in the smallest possible steps, with an extremely flexible and highly developed financial and practical plan that can be expanded stage by stage and remain sustainable.

[Wickerman]

The real thing with any project of this kind is that you *must* build in sustainability, and you must - for something to be sustainable - be sure you're building something that will meet the needs of the community you're asking to support it.

Good advice, I am sure that LWM will appreciate it.

[Juniperberry]

Good advice, I am sure that LWM will appreciate it.

Last night my husband and I went put for dinner and as the sun set we watched a Muslim step out of the door across the street and knelt his head to ground in prayer.

Tacitus tolds us that no temples were erected in Europe. Sometimes there was a pole raised or a tree designated in which people would bend their knees and lower their heads.

It can be beautiful, that single moment of acknowledgement. Maybe start with that.