About Our Tradition
For more than fifty years, our Tradition has walked in fellowship with people of a variety of races, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, and spiritual paths. We are proud to follow in the footsteps of First Temple of the Craft of W.I.C.A. and welcome all who feel called to Wicca to enter the Circle with us and enjoy a community of acceptance, support, and shared wisdom.
The Conclave of the Craft originally incorporated in 2013 under the name Missouri Conclave of First Temple of the Craft of W.I.C.A. Its intention was to be a fellowship and training group for clergy who drew their initiatory lineage from First Temple of the Craft of W.I.C.A., a Wiccan church that was founded in 1970 and incorporated in 1974 in Illinois. Upon receiving feedback from its members, it restructured in 2016, merging with Mid Missouri Pagan Pride and Hearth Fires and expanding its purpose to become a full-fledged church under the direction of High Priestess Victoria “Taz” Chance and her leadership team.
Mission, Vision, Values
The Conclave’s mission is to make the world a more welcoming place for Pagans through quality worship experiences, education opportunities, and community-building efforts. Its primary objectives are to serve as a church at which to venerate and co-create with Deity, honor the Ancestors, and respect the Spirits, and to facilitate the spiritual enrichment of its members while celebrating the holy days and providing infrastructure resources for the greater community. Secondarily, the Conclave is organized to provide fellowship and support for clergy who trace their initiatory lineage to First Temple of the Craft of W.I.C.A. and similar traditions, to operate a seminary at which to train and educate Wiccan and Pagan clergy for active service to the community and the world and to confer such degrees and certificates as is customary for such training and education, to develop policy for the preservation and advancement of that religious tradition, and to educate the public in order to eliminate prejudice and discrimination based on religious belief.
The Conclave envisions a world in which Pagan clergy work hand-in-hand with one another and with non-Pagans to serve the needs of their communities, reaching beyond differences in religious tradition to uphold the dignity of all people.
The Conclave values the co-creative interaction between humans and deity, the sacredness of nature, the diversity of humanity, the autonomy of individuals, the benevolence of community, and the sacrifice of service.
Defining Beliefs
The Conclave holds Love as our highest law and are guided by the words of the Wiccan Rede: An it harm none, do what ye will. It is this ethic that defines us as Wiccans and separates us from other Pagan practitioners.
We conceive of the Creative Power in the universe as manifesting through polarity — as a continuum that spans the spectrum between masculine and feminine, God and Goddess. This same Creative Power is immanent in all beings and all of Nature and functions through the continuous co-creative interaction of masculine, feminine, and neutral energies. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive of and complementary to the other, and we acknowledge and celebrate the broad array of neuter and androgyne manifestations that exists on the continuum between and beyond purely masculine and purely feminine, viewing all of Deity’s presentations to humanity as ways to better understand its intricate complexity.
We acknowledge and ally ourselves with the Mighty Forces of the Elements — Air, Fire, Water, Earth, and Spirit — and honor the myriad ways that these powers express themselves in our lives and in our world. We work with them to empower our magick and seek their guidance and wisdom from them as we transform ourselves through deliberate spiritual growth.
We venerate the Ancestors of our familial, locational, and spiritual heritage and respect their power to guide, protect, and instruct the living. We believe that what is remembered, lives on.
We seek to live in harmony with Nature and practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by the phases of the Moon, the stations of the Sun, and the seasons of the Earth. We call this cyclical pattern the Wheel of the Year and understand it to be an expression not only of the natural cycles of life but also of the cyclical, evolutionary nature of ourselves and the universe.
We believe that we are a part of the Web of Life, related to and existing on equal footing with other forms of life. We acknowledge the spirit that exists in all things, living and nonliving, and embrace a duty of personal responsibility to walk in balance with ourselves, one another, our plant and animal kin, and the planet the sustains us.
We believe that our souls are eternally living, passing from life to life in an effort to evolve and understand ourselves, our place in the universe, and our intimate connection to Deity. We live and love and when we die, we are reborn to live and love again.
We acknowledge the validity of both initiatory and non-initiatory paths and adhere to a three-degree initiatory system. We understand initiation to be a sacramental mystery that is conferred upon proper persons who have been properly prepared and who have been recognized as having attained a certain level of spiritual wisdom and demonstrated the readiness to swear oaths to oneself, the community, and Deity. Both priestess and priest act as initiators at the first and second degree, and the community, through the priestess and priest, acts as initiator at the third degree, but we believe that the true initiatory mystery resides in the power of Deity.
Our Lineage
Victoria Chance and Alex Gonzalez held initiations in British Traditional Wicca simultaneously as they studied with Susan Stoddard in the First Temple Tradition. When they left British Traditional Wicca, Victoria Chance and Alex Gonzalez were recognized as 3* initiates in 2012 by Susan Stoddard of Pagan Temple of Arkansas. Susan Stoddard was initiated by Mary Sears and JoMichael Stoddard of First Temple of the Craft of W.I.C.A. and together they founded Pagan Temple of Arkansas. Mary Sears was initiated by Stanley Modrzyk, who founded First Temple of the Craft of W.I.C.A., and his wife and High Priestess Dori Modrzyk. Stanley was initiated by Richard Clarke of Pagan Temple of Calumet, and Richard was initiated by Donna Cole Schultz who was a High Priestess of Herman Enderle of Temple of the Pagan Way. Temple of the Pagan Way can be traced back through initiatory connections to Gerald Gardner.
In 2018, Victoria Chance was initiated directly into the First Temple lineage by Lady Dori Modrzyk of First Temple (standing in stead of Lord Stanley Modrzyk who had firm plans to initiate Victoria before he died one month before the initiation date) and Lady Brigid Eldar of Black Dragon Clan (who was also an initiate of Richard Clarke).
Victoria Chance initiated Alex Gonzalez in 2018. Together, in 2019, they initiated Amy Rhea, Heather Shawver, and other members of their spiritual working group into the First Temple Tradition according to the initiatory rank agreed upon by Dori, Victoria, and Alex.
Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws, and Code of Conduct
You can view the Conclave’s Articles of Incorporation (both original, changes enacted through merger, and amended and restated), Bylaws, and Code of Conduct at these links.