Rocky Mountain Wiccan Temple on hiatus

Yesterday, I recieved an announcement from the Rocky Mountain Wiccan Temple; it said:

The Rocky Mountain Wiccan Temple is supending all activities untill further notice. We apologize for any inconvenence and hope to have activities resume soon--The RMWT Council.

The news was sad (sort of--I wasn't involved highly in the group), but hardly unexpected. Awhile back (on their yahoo group), they talked about some of the problems plaguing the group. Being an experienced group member, their hiatus is no surprise to me.

It is much like the hiatius that Bast Temple has slipped into; there is no real surprise there either. Though there is a difference, I suspect that Bast Temple will survive its hiatus; I am not so sure that RMWT will.

The root problem that the RMWT was suffering from, one I am very familiar with, is a general lack of members, especially ones that contribute (either though money or effort). It is a common problem in esoteric/pagan/wiccan circles; a few people (normally those who started the group) get stuck with supporting it with both money and work--no one else ever steps up and the group eventually disappears as the creators of the group run out of energy and resources.

A few groups have managed to sidestep this problem; or at least in the short term, they have. One is Hearthstone Community Church (though they are short of rent money lately as their turnout has dropped), "the Open Full Moon Folk."

Bast Temple has managed to sidestep this problem occasionally. We have survived one hiatus already, and will survive the current one (not yet officially a hiatus, if we manage to meet this summer, then it is not a hiatus). Bast Temple is merely suffering a membership shortage. As soon as there are enough people who consider Bast Temple the better option (and for some people, the other two Golden Dawn groups will not be acceptable), we will resume operations. In the meantime, there is a lot on the Chief Adept/Hierophant's deck, including writing course material, that needs to be done.

The root of our membership problem is half economical and half personality. Being scattered all over the state, gas prices have hurt the lodge. The correspondence course is becoming more and more a necessity. As for the personality problem, lodges are like families, except that you can leave if you end up arguing with someone constantly. (Actually, I would prefer people to argue rather than just leaving.)

The notice from the Rocky Mountain Wiccan Temple reminded me of Bast Temple's problems; but at least, I know that Bast Temple's problems are temporary. I am not so sure about the RMWT's.