Witches Decolonial Brew Community Guidelines
Guidelines exist and are protected: Infractions are gently pointed out once, not tolerated twice.
We model what being in revolutionary relationship looks like, with an ethos of Power-with, communal growth, and solidarity.
Remembering that boundaries create the space for intimacy to occur, here are the boundaries for our intimacy together in this group.
❤️ Assume solidarity and good will from everyone, engage from the same
❤️ Use gender neutral pronouns unless you know someone's
❤️ Keep voice notes under 2 minutes
❤️We will not be responding to everyone, but will respond to those questions and discussions that we think will help us all
❤️ Feel free to mute the group, catch up when you can, and ask follow-up questions but make sure to check that your question hasn't already been answered.
❤️ Feel free to respond to anyone's questions or comments unless they specifically asked for our response only.
❤️ Please don't teach in this group.
❤️ To protect the energy of this group, don’t post while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
❤️ Don't promote your own products or services, even those that are free. This isn't a space for that and it's disrespectful.
❤️ Please avoid Trauma-dumping. Most of the time, sharing your personal story is not appropriate here.
❤️ Using Oops-Ouch • Say ouch if someone says something that hurts — provide the space to own your feelings. • Say oops and genuinely apologize for the ways your intention did not match your impact. • Follow up your apology with some research!
You’re going to get triggered; this group will trigger you and that's a good thing because you're stepping out of your comfort zone and getting on your Learning Edge. That’s where we want you, on your edge as that way you can grow. But we are not going to let you fall off the edge. This process will highlight contradictions, and will bring up problematic behaviours. This is why this work is not easy.
A trigger is something that an individual says or does or an organizational policy or practice that makes us, as members of social groups, feel diminished, offended, threatened, stereotyped, discounted, or attacked. Triggers do not necessarily threaten our physical safety. We often feel psychologically threatened. We can also be triggered on behalf of another social group. Though we do not feel personally threatened, our sense of social justice feels violated.
Triggers cause an emotional response. The emotions include hurt, confusion, anger, fear, surprise, shame, frustration or embarrassment. We respond to triggers in a variety of ways, some helpful and others not. Our guide when developing a full repertoire of responses to triggers is to take care of ourselves and then to decide how to respond, heal and transform effectively. Some of these responses are effective and some are not. Which responses we choose depend on our own inner resources and the dynamics of the situation.
However, this is also why it is so valuable. There’s really very few spaces where you will be held with Revolutionary Love. This is one.
Our hope with this work is that we are not just giving those of us in this group access to texts and new ways of thinking, but that each one of us becomes a seed of this way of being. So that we each are able to soften into love of the self, then of our own families, our wider communities and on and on.
If you are coming from a place of unity (i.e the desire for us to be better, revolutionizing ourselves, and the community at large) then you should recognize that struggle is a necessary process. This process will highlight contradictions, raise concerns, and confront problematic behaviors: this is not the easiest thing to handle. You will need to learn to step into your authority, accountability and reclaim power.
This is a liberated space: where physically you’re going to fine but everything else is going to get rocked.
We are not trying to replicate existing structures of relating. We will all be invited into new not-extractive ways of being together and moving away from a society based on ethnic cleansing, genocide and war.