n 1973, responding to a spiritual call of the Goddess, The Welsh Traditional Witchcraft Church in America was directed to the North Georgia mountains to locate a site for a spiritual and holistic community; a community which would have as it's basis, an earth religion philosophy. Several sites were located and a land fund was established. Many false starts were attempted and finally in 1985 land was purchased and the community was begun.

Camelot-of-the-Wood is structured as a living, open minded community of which our religion is just one facet. This unique and exciting community continues to take form in the fertile foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Georgia. It is a community of the Old Religion for the New Age, where not only personal and group survival is stressed, but spiritual understanding, sharing, patience and love are taught as a way of life. Several other "Living" communities are also being established in North Georgia and in other states.

These living communities are hidden because of the danger from those who continually try to destroy our religion. We do not foresee this secrecy to be repealed in the near future. Maybe when all traditions and religions can exist in peace, will Camelot-of-the-Wood be visible. But, until then, Camelot will exist peacefully, in an undisclosed location.

During this foundation period, which we believe will take another ten years, the active members of Camelot are establishing a core program of Spiritual, Holistic and private study in earth philosophy, with a natural approach to work and relationships. Four styles of participation have emerged: a Full-Time Training Program through The Grove of the Crystal Dragon; a Residential Program for those initiates who live at Camelot, work there and elsewhere, and need a flexible schedule; a Correspondence Program for seekers who live at a distance; and the Gathering of the Tribes, held once a year. The Gathering provides daily meditation and religious services, regular workshops and special events. There are also day-long and week-long retreats, and seminars.

Camelot is dedicated to evolving and demonstrating a harmonious, fulfilling and supportive lifestyle, and to creating new methods of communication and new ways of dealing with human relationships. It is a practical place where people can work, play, learn and discover themselves with loving care.

Acknowledging life itself as the first and greatest teacher, Camelot exists to create working holistic systems which will one day be shared with the world. It embraces life through its classes in health and healing, magick, horticulture, building, education, and esoteric wisdom.

Underlying it all is a commitment to establishing an effective balance and cooperation between the human family and nature... learning to relink ourselves with nature and with each other. But it doesn't come easy, this business of building a community. To begin with it takes builders not spectators. And it takes a great deal of patience, commitment and sacrifice. That is why there is such an extensive training program.

Don't come to Dynion Mwyn expecting everyone to be whole and filled with love and light. If you join us, you will meet people in the process of becoming whole, and often in the middle or even in the early stages of a demanding, painful experience. In other words, season your idealism with realism. Keep your feet on the ground while you explore the stars. If you persevere you will be lead to Camelot.

If there is a central prerequisite at Camelot, it is taking responsibility for your experience. Relationships, communications, and challenges of all sorts are tools to use in becoming whole; emotions are not something that happens to you but something you choose to do.

Communities are as old as humanity. Many millennia ago, the earliest alliances were born of necessity: the survivors of the Atlantian Cataclysm barely eked out enough food, shelter and defense to keep humankind alive. But more than that, they became the crucible within which we evolved.

Out of those first primordial unions emerged our industrialized megasociety. Its price has been steep. In its impersonal vastness, the individual has been sacrificed. Pollster Louis Harris recently characterized the American Public as outraged and despairing ....and that is the good news! The bad news, he added, is that Americans have nearly exhausted their options to deal with the frustration and are beginning to realize it.

There is a natural philosophy shared by Camelot members. This new vision values an open mind and an open heart. It sees all life, however diverse, as one life; and it respects and encourages diversity while celebrating unity. It is called "Holism."

The foundations of a holistic community must be in its synthesis, applying all methods and ideas that bring unity and creative efficiency. Synthesis is the opposite of dropping out, for it refuses to stereotype any workable idea just because others have abused it.

This planet desperately needs healers in a greater sense... Leaders who can generate new solutions to complex problems. Only the most deaf, blind or unenlightened skeptic would deny this. A new generation of healers must be trained: they will not spring full-grown from our good intentions. This training will take place at Camelot.

There has to be trust in a community. There are some communities that try to make their policy decisions at meetings of the whole community. They get into interminable discussions because people haven't got the complete picture. This method does not work. At Camelot, committees are responsible for specific functions such as personnel, finance, etc. Because the community trusts the decisions made by these committees there are few problems.

At a time when some have been disheartened by sleazy gurus and communities that are rife with fanatics, Camelot's devotion to love, light and respect of the path of truth serves as a shining example. Camelot is an intentional community of people living together, sharing all of their resources, caring for each other, and working to create a cooperative, spiritual and holistic way of life, in harmony with nature and Mother Earth.

Although Camelot assumes responsibility for the needs of its members, receiving the products of their labor and distributing these and all other goods based on need, each person is an individual and can have certain personal possessions.

Camelot uses a planner/manager form of government. Community decisions are made by three Planners elected by a majority of the full members, for staggered 24-month terms of office. These three planners are guided by the Council of Elders of Dynion Mwyn, who have overall executive power as well as certain arbitrative functions. Appointed managers are responsible for all areas of community life that need supervision (i.e., health, craft production, animals, agriculture, etc.). There are dozens of such positions covering large and small areas so that everyone who is qualified can become a manager. Sometimes several managers or crews share responsibility.

Economic planning is coordinated by the three planners. They are responsible for distributing resources. Planners and Managers receive no extra privileges because of their position. Members normally make their wishes and desires known through personal conversations, open planner meetings, polls and an opinion and idea board.

Work is not seen as just a means to an end. We try to make it an integral part of our lives. To facilitate this, we have meetings each week to talk about priorities and how we are going to accomplish our goals for that week. We also operate a labor credit system to organize work and share it equitably, giving each member as much choice as possible. The system combines a standard of planning and record keeping with a large amount of freedom for the member to choose and vary their work. In addition to industry and agriculture, the system includes child care, accounting, domestic and other necessary activities. Members are assigned a minimum of 45 hours of work per week.

At Camelot we hear deeply and clearly the Great Spirit within. This calls for renewal of the earth spirit. We all have the power to heal this planet and ourselves. In uniting our earth religion spirit, we form a magickal alliance which makes all things possible.

You have heard prophets today in countless numbers, around every corner, and from every direction, who insist that this decade will determine the future of Humankind. In a way they are right. Gloom and doom issue from every lonely pulpit; everyone claims to know the "One Thing" that will preserve our future; from nuclear energy to a return to fundamentalism; from a reliance on science to the destruction of politics; from doing more with less to having more for fewer.

But these would only be partial solutions, and ignore the whole picture. In the close of the 70's we began to see a spontaneous attempt to arrive at a collective mind and spirit; and in these attempts we began to recognize a challenge more basic than any other: learning to form organic communities; overlapping, changing and accepting those of like minds who will gather, and declare that there is a warm and secure place for each of us in the relationship between Humanity, Earth and the Cosmos.

There is no challenge to humanity greater than the striving to achieve community; the ability of each of us to be secure in our need to acknowledge our relationships: With each other, With the Earth Mother and the Great Spirit.

Camelot is a holistic and spiritual community which meets this challenge by dedicating ourselves to an attunement with nature through inner awareness training using the ancient technique of Relinking:

• Relinking with ourselves, to feel and act spontaneously;
• Relinking with each other, male and female, understanding, so we are no longer alone, but can touch each other without fear; and
• Relinking with the flow of nature, with the earth, sky and running water, so that we can walk in balance with the mother earth and Great Spirit.

Humankind, in it's ignorance, has always assumed that the Earth would rejuvenate herself, no matter how much we abused her. But the Earth can lose her resiliency; her waters are polluted, her soil is becoming dust and her forests are being destroyed. Someday she may be beyond her ability to heal herself; and what we do to her, we do to ourselves.

When humankind and nature are in harmony, the Earth is a happy place. There is great strength in this idea, which is the basic foundation of our religious teachings. We call the Earth our mother, we protect her and have learned to live in harmony with her. We have learned her moods and rhythms. We love the earth, for from her we are born, of her sustenance we do eat and to her we must return. Our world is a circle of beauty, of freedom, of innocence, learning neither guilt nor shame. To us all things of Nature, all acts of Gentleness, Love and Pleasure, are sacred. Although what we do is, in essence, spiritual, we are not long-faced mystics, forbidding all pleasure with a promise of eternal bliss. Rather, we approach our works with a spontaneous joy and the playfulness of a butterfly. Yes, we, the children of the Earth, are also the Children of the Morning Star. We seek only to dance the Dance of Joy; the Celebration of Life.

We deal with each other in a tolerant, caring, and honest way. Openness is a very important value to all of us, although the limitations are obvious among large groups of people. We attempt to extend our peaceful philosophy to our verbal behaviors as well as the physical. Meeting the social needs of everyone is important, but sometimes difficult. In general though, support for emotional hard times is not difficult to find at Camelot. There is a behavior code which includes the following interpersonal agreements. We do not go around quoting them to each other, but they reflect the society we are creating.

Much of our recreation consists of simply being together. We take walks, play music, and spend a lot of time talking to each other. We play volleyball, fish, canoe, hike, swim, and folk-dance. Musical instruments are encouraged. We are entertained by a large collection of books, records and tapes as well as the ever changing woods and meadows. Individual hobbies are also encouraged. We have a darkroom, pottery studio and arts and crafts shop. Our members visit mystical and historical sites, attend concerts, and museums. We listen to some radio, watch limited TV and subscribe to magazines. In short we are very much like other people.

Our children will be raised by the community, as well as their parents. Evenings will be set aside for parents and other primary figures to maintain and deepen continuing relationships. There will be ample room for as much loving interaction as is mutually desirable with parents or with other members of the community. We encourage the Bradley method of husband coached child birth using Midwives. Nursing infants will be encouraged to be breast-fed by their mothers if at all possible. We plan to build and operate our own school. The children will have regular pre-school lessons.

We feel that community child-care offers many advantages. Parents who do not wish to put their full time into child-care are free to pursue other work, thereby enabling others to share the pleasures and responsibilities of raising children. Children in turn, are surrounded by adults who find fulfillment in children, and their emotional and economic security has a broader base than just the relationship between two people.

It will be our policy to be open to new members within certain limitations. These limitations are economic as well as spiritual. But we will always be looking for ways to expand Camelot and its sister communities as they are formed. Although there is limited membership available with Camelot of the Wood, there is no restrictions placed upon admission to the sister communities except that one must be a member of Dynion Mwyn.

There are no admission fees. A prospective member must first ask permission of their High Priest/ess who will arrange an interview. A visit is then arranged with the membership committee. If accepted, one becomes a provisional member for one year. Provisional members do not vote and may be asked to leave for less drastic reasons than full members.

After the provisional period, the provisional member signs a contract with the community agreeing to accept the community bylaws and behavior code. Financial arrangements are detailed in the community handbook. In return, the member is guaranteed an equal share of the benefits that the community provides.

Clothing and personal effects remain the property of the member unless they are shared. Resources may be held outside the community for a period not to exceed one year, but one cannot benefit from their use while a member.

Camelot-of-the-Wood is a survival, work, study and learning community where Earth Religion philosophy is experienced with warmth and personal consideration. Our members can express their common bond with the Earth Mother and Sky Father in various forms without fear of ridicule or scorn. Camelot welcomes all forms of positive religious expression. The ultimate goal of Camelot is the enlightenment of humanity through the establishment of a society of teachers. If you are a true teacher, "come join the dance."