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Charter for SweetWood Temenos
I. Mission Statement & Purpose
1.1 The purpose of this Corporation is: to express the values of SweetWood Temenos, to provide a place to gather in friendship and to celebrate these values, to contemplate the Mystery of Life, to generate membership, and to fundraise for such activities and facilities that support this purpose. SweetWood is a Temenos, a sacred precinct.
1.2 SweetWood Temenos will gather up a seed called Human Community and shape its roots fivefold. Its human community is a people who hold dear these five values: (1) Deep Friendship, (2) Positive Sexuality, (3) Self Knowledge, (4) Attunement to Nature and its cycles and (5) Pluralistic Spirituality and Religion, with an emphasis on Immanent Divinity.
1.3 SweetWood Temenos fosters the Green Growth of its Human Community. It does this by providing: (1) a place of wildness where its members can create shrines or spaces for contemplation; (2) a place where its members & guests can camp; (3) a place for ponds, orchards, meadows and ritual sites where its members & guests can celebrate and enjoy Nature; (4) a Psyche Therapia, a place for Spiritual education and healing of the Soul; and (5) periodically sharing SweetWood Temenos with the local community.
1.4 SweetWood Temenos as a People, is a society dedicated to purchasing, developing and sustaining the Land called SweetWood. Its members are to be an interdependent system of mutual support that fosters the actualization of human wholeness in harmony with the Land.
II. CONTRACT BETWEEN JACK & KIM INGERSOLL AND SWEETWOOD TEMENOS
2.1 SweetWood Temenos will obtain a lease, with first option to buy, a portion of 60 acres in the Forest Township of Richland County in the State of Wisconsin now owned by Jack and Kim Ingersoll. (see Lease Contract Document)
2.1.1 The option to buy will be in the form of a Land Contract.
2.1.2 The yearly lease price will be determined by Jack and Kim Ingersoll and agreed upon by the Council of SweetWood Temenos, with Jack and Kim Ingersoll (if either is on the Council of SweetWood Temenos) abstaining from the vote.
2.1.3 The lease money can be used to develop and maintain a basic 15 site campground licensed by the State of Wisconsin, for legal and administrative costs of running SweetWood Temenos, reimbursement of lost rental income of the Sweetwood land, and for any other costs deemed appropriate by the Council.
2.1.4 Until SweetWood Temenos purchases said land, Jack and Kim Ingersoll will have final approval on any use, improvement or development of the land of SweetWood Temenos.
2.2 A smaller portion of this 60 acre plot of land may be set aside for use by Kim and Jack Ingersoll as a home site.
2.2.1 The house and surrounding acreage may or may not be included as part of the purchase by SweetWood Temenos.
III. MEMBERSHIP
3.1 Membership is gained upon approval and is maintained by paying a fee.
3.1.1 Approval procedures and policy shall be determined by the SweetWood Temenos Council.
3.1.2 The fee will be $120 per year of membership per person.
3.1.3 Fees can only be adjusted by the SweetWood Temenos Council.
3.2 Only members approved and in good standing shall continue to enjoy the benefits of membership.
3.2.1 Good standing will be defined by the SweetWood Temenos Council.
3.3 The number of Memberships shall be limited to 360 persons.
3.3.1 The number of members can be adjusted by the SweetWood Temenos Council.
3.4 Membership is limited to adults, 18 years or older.
3.5 Privileges and responsibilities of Members shall be determined by the SweetWood Temenos Council.
IV. SWEETWOOD TEMENOS COUNCIL
4.1 The Council will have 5 members.
4.1.1 Those on the Council must be members in good standing of SweetWood Temenos.
4.2 The positions President, Secretary, and Treasurer on the Council will be permanent.
4.2.1 If a vacancy occurs among these permanent positions, the two or three permanent members will appoint another permanent member by the next quarterly meeting of the Council. The entire 5 members of the Council will choose a new permanent member if there is a split decision.
4.3 Two positions on the Council will be elected by a majority vote of the entire SweetWood Temenos membership in good standing.
4.3.1Those elected to the Council shall serve for 2 years and can be reelected.
4.3.2 If an elected Council member steps down before her or his term is completed, then a special election will be held and the newly elected Council member will serve out the rest of the unfinished term. This member can then run for re-election for a 2-year term.
4.3 A quorum will be 4 council members.
4.3.1 The quorum shall include at least one Caretaker.
4.3.2 Split decisions will be tabled until the next meeting of the full 5 member council.
4.4 The Council will administer SweetWood Temenos.
4.4.1 Responsibilities of the Council shall include, but not be limited to administration, initiating and organizing fund-raising activities, gatherings, workshops, land use, etc.
4.4.2 All financial records will be open to the SweetWood Temenos membership.
4.5 The Council shall meet quarterly, and will meet with the general membership once a year.
4.5.1 Meetings may be conducted on internet chats, by conference call, or in person.
4.6 Council members can receive input from membership, within reason, to determine meeting agendas.
V. POSITION OF CARETAKER
5.1 The position of Caretaker shall comprise of two individuals.
5.2 The Caretakers must be members in good standing of SweetWood Temenos.
5.3 The Council can appoint assistants to the Caretakers.
5.4 The first Caretakers of SweetWood Temenos (Jack J & Kimberly J Ingersoll) shall serve until they resign.
5.4.1 The first Caretakers, Jack and Kim Ingersoll, will appoint their replacements.
5.4.2 The Council shall appoint subsequent Caretakers as needed.
5.4.3 Future Caretakers can be removed upon a majority vote of the Council and a majority vote of the membership. Any Caretakers sitting on the Council will abstain from this vote.
5.5 The policies in regard to rights, responsibilities and duties of the Caretakers shall be determined by the Council.
5.5.1 Any Caretakers sitting on the Council shall abstain from any vote on this matter.
5.6 The Caretakers may be paid as determined by the Council.
5.6.1 Any Caretakers sitting on the Council shall abstain from any vote determining their payment.
VI. SWEETWOOD TEMENOS AS A RELIGIOUS ORDER
6.1 SweetWood as a Temenos shall have an Altar to the collective Soul of humanity. This dedication is in recognition that the collective Soul is an expression of Divinity, and a means for Divinity to express itself through metaphor, symbols, and myths. These expressions are a means to relate with the ineffable experience of the Divine. Thus this Altar symbolizes a fundamental value of SweetWood Temenos, a pluralistic religious attitude.
6.1.1 SweetWood Temenos shall permit personal shrines by its members in good standing.
6.1.2 To build a personal shrine a member must submit a plan to the Council for approval that includes the location of the shrine, a general design or description, and how large an area is needed.
6.1.3 The building of a shrine by a member explicitly includes a responsibility to maintain the shrine, as the builder is also the keeper of the shrine.
6.1.4 Personal shrines may be enjoyed by all of the membership, with priority for use at any given time going to the builder & keeper of the shrine.
6.1.5 Nothing can be changed (added, subtracted, moved, or destroyed) at a personal shrine without explicit approval by the shrine-keeper. To knowingly do so may mean suspension of membership privileges for a period of time and/or expulsion from SweetWood Temenos.
6.1.6 Any enlargement of a personal shrine must have Council approval.
6.1.7 The Council may suspend or revoke rights to the personal shrine space if the member is not in good standing, and can assign the shrine space to another member.
6.2 SweetWood Temenos encourages the fostering of Deep Friendship. This is a process of increasing trust, compassion, respect, and intimacy that establishes a spiritual kinship between friends which recognizes the Divine within everyone.
6.3 SweetWood Temenos encourages the fostering of Positive Sexuality. This is ethical sexual behavior between peers that expresses positive regard, for both those individuals that one is sexually involved with, and humanity in general. It includes a holistic approach where the sexual nature of humanity is respected, honored and is supported in its evolution and maturation through the process of reconciliation and integration.
6.4 SweetWood Temenos encourages the fostering of respect and enthusiasm for the Diversity of Life on this Earth, within our own Souls, as well as for the diverse types of positive sexual relationships within our human family.
6.5 Sweetwood Temenos will foster Self Knowledge; to know and experience the nature, limits and potential of the human soul’s wholeness.
6.5.1 Sweetwood Temenos will foster education, counseling, and ritual enactment that brings about the actualization of the Soul’s potential wholeness.
6.6 SweetWood Temenos will foster attunement to Nature and its cycles by recognizing, honoring, and enacting our seasons of life as well as this planet’s seasons. This also includes awareness of ecological balance and appreciating the natural world while respectfully enjoying this land called SweetWood Temenos.
6.7 The requirements for the training and ordination of clergy in SweetWood Temenos will be determined by the SweetWood Temenos Council and current clergy, with input from the membership.
6.7.1 The policies regarding the acceptance of clergy from other religious groups as ordained clergy in SweetWood Temenos will be determined by the SweetWood Temenos Council and current clergy, with input from the membership.
VII. SWEETWOOD TEMENOS AS NATURE SANCTUARY
7.1 Certain portions of the woodland of SweetWood Temenos shall be set aside as undisturbed natural areas.
7.1.1 These portions shall be designated by the Council.
7.2 Policies related to good land stewardship (for example; wood-cutting, recycling, harvesting of native plants) shall be determined by the Council.
VIII. SWEETWOOD TEMENOS AS CAMPGROUND
8.1 SweetWood Temenos shall develop and achieve a legal campground providing camping sites and facilities, subject to Wisconsin law, for the use by its members and for other people as determined by the Council.
8.1.1 Camping will be limited to 15 campsites and up to 6 people per site. Any increase in use must be approved by the Council, and is subject to State of Wisconsin laws.
8.1.2 Camping will be limited to available campsites and the amount of camping days that the Land of SweetWood can optimally sustain.
8.1.3 Campsite development shall be limited to the 8 acres planted in pine trees, which separates the 32 acres of hardwoods from the 20 acre hayfield, and any other areas designated by the Council, as long as development does not intrude upon any designated Nature Sanctuary areas. (See section VI)
8.1.4 Camping rules and optimal land use for camping will be determined by the Council.
8.2 When SweetWood Temenos becomes a legal campground in the State of Wisconsin, the camping season will be from the 3rd weekend in April through the 1st weekend in November. This can be adjusted by the Council as the need arises.
8.2.1 Camping days will be available on a first-come, first-served basis to the membership. The Council will also assign, by lot, one weekend during the camping season that is guaranteed available to each member in good standing of SweetWood Temenos. Members may trade their assigned weekend dates among themselves.
8.2.2 Members may camp at no charge unless this rule is changed by a majority vote of SweetWood Temenos membership.
8.2.3 There may be gatherings, festivals, workshops and rituals, attended by non-members, that are held on those days when a member has scheduled to camp.
8.3 Anyone, other than a member, camping overnight at SweetWood Temenos is considered a guest.
8.3.1 Members will be allowed to bring guests, following the guest policy as determined by the Council.
8.3.2 Any guest over 5 years old shall pay a daily camping fee.
8.3.3 If members bring unpaid guests, or these guests do not abide by camping rules (as set forth per section 8.1.4), their membership may be suspended or revoked.
IX. LAND USE & DEVELOPMENT OF SWEETWOOD TEMENOS
9.1 The only permanent structures allowed will be showers, rest rooms, sheds and shelters, as defined by the Council.
9.2 Further land use and development of SweetWood Temenos will be determined by the Council.
9.3 After campsite development is completed, SweetWood Temenos may develop further into a retreat center, subject to the laws of the State of Wisconsin and any local ordinances.
9.3.1 After approval by the Council for a retreat center, SweetWood Temenos can then build one or more permanent structures such as cabins, meeting rooms, kitchen, etc.
9.4 Members are encouraged to plant native flowers, herbs, trees, gardens, and orchards.
9.4.1 Plans shall be submitted by members to the Council for approval.
X. Amendments
10.1 Any amendments to these bylaws will only become effective with consensus of all Council members and a two-thirds majority of the SweetWood Temenos membership.
XI. Use of contributions
11.1 SweetWood Temenos will use all contributions it receives for the following purposes: (1) to pay operating costs of the organization, and (2) for the development, maintenance and provision of such services named in its bylaws.