(This is an edited excerpt from my first book, “Reclaiming Witchcraft,” published in 2020. Once the final draft was submitted and formatted, a group of Reclaiming witches began to change the Principles of Unity. So, the original book didn’t include those changes.)

For those new to Reclaiming, there are a few things to remember about the POU (Principles of Unity) – and many more ways to approach this document as you dive deeper into the magick.

1. The POU allows Reclaiming to answer this question: what makes a Reclaiming Witch a Reclaiming Witch? Because we are a non-initiatory tradition (though we do have initiations), the only thing a person needs to do to call themselves a Reclaiming Witch is to agree to follow the POU. That’s it. 
2. The POU becomes the ‘mission statement’ that you can use to come back to the core of Reclaiming’s activism and motivations.

But what’s also become important about the POU to more recent Reclaiming Witches is that it is the document that many of us looked to as a guide. And we watched it become a document that fell out of date with what our community began to look like.

In the moment where it was offered that perhaps the document could change and would change with the will of the group, the POU became a place of coming together to adapt, to listen, and to hear. Because if nothing else is important about the POU to someone, the idea that it could change is something that enables the tradition to continue forward in supporting those who are called to the work.

It’s also important to point out how the POU is not the perfect fit for everyone. Today, it is still debated for its new wording, for its current wording, and for the gaps that it doesn’t address. In many classes where the POU is introduced or cited, teachers encourage conversations about what works — and what doesn’t.

Perhaps in this ever-evolving tradition, it’s expected to have a document that inspires some and challenges others. Perhaps it’s healthy to have something that is criticized as much as it is revered.

Perhaps the beauty of an anarchist tradition is that when you see something that doesn’t work for you, you find ways to bring in what you need, to give voice to those who have not been heard, and to always ask the question: what else can we do?

(Enter the voice of 2025 Irisanya.)

While the story of how the POU changed again is in “Honoring the Wild,” here’s what I would like you to know about Reclaiming today. Evolution is messy. Humans are messy. There isn’t a group or practice in the world that has avoided an argument, a conflict, or a misunderstanding. Everyone in a group brings their history, their trauma, and their wounds. How we tend, how we care for each other is what fosters sustained change.

The POU will likely change again, and it should. Community is a dynamic experience, one that offers opportunities to learn, to grow, and to create. When we can meet those places, we meet ourselves more fully. We make better magick, for ourselves and the world.

–The current POU (at least at this moment!) is below, including the most recent addition in boldface.

Reclaiming Principles of Unity – consensed by the Reclaiming Collective in 1997. Updated by consensus at the BIRCH council meeting of Dandelion Gathering 5 in 2012 and at the BIRCH Council meeting in January 2021.

The values of the Reclaiming tradition stem from our understanding that the earth is alive and all of life is sacred and interconnected. We see the Goddess as immanent in the earth’s cycles of birth, growth, death, decay and regeneration. Our practice arises from a deep, spiritual commitment to the earth, to healing and to the linking of magic with political action.

Each of us embodies the divine. Our ultimate spiritual authority is within, and we need no other person to interpret the sacred to us. We foster the questioning attitude, and honor intellectual, spiritual and creative freedom.

We are an evolving, dynamic tradition and proudly call ourselves Witches. Our diverse practices and experiences of the divine weave a tapestry of many different threads. We include those who honor Mysterious Ones, Goddesses, and Gods of myriad expressions, genders, and states of being, remembering that mystery goes beyond form. Our community rituals are participatory and ecstatic, celebrating the cycles of the seasons and our lives, and raising energy for personal, collective and earth healing.

We know that everyone can do the life-changing, world-renewing work of magic, the art of changing consciousness at will. We strive to teach and practice in ways that foster personal and collective empowerment, to model shared power and to open leadership roles to all. We make decisions by consensus, and balance individual autonomy with social responsibility.

Our tradition honors the wild, and calls for service to the earth and the community. We work in diverse ways, including nonviolent direct action, for all forms of justice: environmental, social, political, racial, gender and economic. We are an anti-racist tradition that strives to uplift and center BIPOC voices (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Our feminism includes a radical analysis of power, seeing all systems of oppression as interrelated, rooted in structures of domination and control.

We welcome all genders, all gender histories, all races, all ages and sexual orientations and all those differences of life situation, background, and ability that increase our diversity. We strive to make our public rituals and events accessible and safe. We try to balance the need to be justly compensated for our labor with our commitment to make our work available to people of all economic levels.

All living beings are worthy of respect. All are supported by the sacred elements of air, fire, water and earth. We work to create and sustain communities and cultures that embody our values, that can help to heal the wounds of the earth and her peoples, and that can sustain us and nurture future generations.

Irisanya Moon (she/they) is a Witch, author, priestess, international teacher, and initiate in the Reclaiming tradition, who is devoted to Aphrodite, Iris, Hecate, and the Norns. She has written 10+ books for Moon Books, including the recently published “Hestia: Goddess of Hearth, Home & Community.” You can find out more at their website: www.irisanyamoon.com

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/our-books/pagan-portals-reclaiming-witchcraft