About House Wayreth
Who and what is House Wayreth?
As a clan we recognise that we live in a flawed, capitalist society; rather than reject that society as a whole we are people trying to create our own extended family of choice and community of support in a way that acknowledges the reality of the world we live in whilst making it better, at the very least at our own hearth, by trying to rebuild a lifestyle of clan living based on the ideals of our ancestors that remains consistent with our modern lives and the society in which we live.
We seek to do this by pooling our resources as an intentional family and community for the betterment of our members and the clan as whole both now and for the future generations with a goal to living on the same land, sharing resources and some aspects of living space and working towards sustainable best practices with a level of self-sufficiency.
Faith
House Wayreth is not a religion or faith and each member of the clan has their own religious beliefs. All faiths are welcome within the clan provided the tenets of that faith does not contradict or interfere with nature of clan living.
Inherently House Wayreth is polytheist and we hold space for all faiths within our clan that can respect the faiths and individuals within the clan.
House Wayreth is inherently animistic and as a clan we recognize the Divine spark present within all things; plants, animals and the very land and we respect that divinity even as we engage in symbiotic relationships with them.
We are all of us ancestors in training, we honour and venerate those who have come before as a living part of our clan with an active interest in our lives.
Those living on clan land perform daily prayer honouring the spirits of the land that we seek to live in harmony with, the ancestors who came before us and the Gods that are a part of our clan; in many respects this is quite similar to the act of saying grace observed in many households.
What we stand for
As a clan we hold these truths to be self-evident;
· All people are not created equal and it behooves us to care for our community
· Our clan is made stronger by the uplifting of each other
· What each person can give to the clan is different, if each person gives what they can that is what matters
· No-one needs to earn the right to be seen, cared for, loved and looked after
· The person who best knows who you are is you; your gender, sexuality, faith and political beliefs are yours to define and are welcome so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others
We seek to intentionally and deliberately build good relationships with our family of choice by building relationships founded on reciprocity with each other and the clan as a whole. We do not count give and take, tit for tat with each other but rather work to recognize and see the labor we do for each other and to be aware of when we have inadvertently hurt one another to seek to bring that relationship back in to balance. We accept that if someone tells us we have hurt them it is not for us to dismiss that but to believe them and allow them to help us make that right.
Consent is core to every aspect of life, something that we feel is frequently overlooked in modern society, even in many counter cultures that theoretically know better. We seek consent before looking for emotional labor from another, before seeking to occupy someone else’s time or space and even their attention; rather than calling out to someone we encourage moving into conversational range, asking for their attention and receiving acknowledgement of that before beginning a conversation with them. We also foster a belief that it is never ok to touch another without their clear consent; this includes seeking a hug or touching someone to get their attention.
We actively work to create and foster “Ask” culture as opposed to “Guess” culture as we believe this leads to more open and honest communication as well as a safer emotional environment and is more in keeping with our belief that consent is critical in life.
Ask culture
As a clan we embrace “Ask” culture.
In Guess culture you ask leading questions and try to know the answer to your request before you ask it and only ask when you relatively certain the answer will be yes. This often leads to confusion and upset if the answer is no. In Ask culture it is ok to ask someone anything as long as you are prepared for and it is ok for that person to say no. If the answer is no then there should be no punishment, such as the silent treatment, or any retaliation for that no. Our commitment to Ask culture is, in part, a reflection of our commitment to culture of consent; if answering “no” is not ok then consent can’t really exist.
