When Segomâros Widugeni founded Toutâ Galation in what feels like a thousand years ago, he had a particular vision for it. I can’t claim I know exactly what Segomâros had in mind, but I know that the Toutâ has emerged differently.
I’m not saying that’s a negative thing, it’s just how it is. Creating something meaningful requires great effort, and often even reinvention. Toutâ Galation potentially had the opportunity to go down a very different path, to become an all-encompassing tradition of shared customs. However, Gaulish Polytheists can be fiercely independent, and there is rich diversity in beliefs among us.
So we reinvented ourselves. If we couldn’t be a tradition, we’ll be an encompassing organization for Gaulish Polytheists, a Great Hall where all can come for a seat at the table. But what reason would people have to join? The curriculum can be tough for the average polytheist, and not everyone is as particularly fond of volunteer administrative work as I am.
Issues with the leadership structure and function within Toutâ Galation often led to dead ends. There are failed initiatives, which I’m not ashamed to admit. The forums didn’t work out, for instance. But other things work out in ways we didn’t expect, like the success of our conventions and how well our Youtube videos do.
Dead ends understandably lead to frustration, frustration leads to separation. Departures can sting, but they also serve to provide a valuable gift from the Dewoi– perspective. Perspective to reassess the work we’re doing, how we’re currently serving the community, and how we might best serve the community.
Through that perspective, we aim to partially re-create ourselves, reassess our focuses and how we achieve those goals. As modern Gaulish Polytheism continues to diversify and enrich, settling in a niche that best serves the community is crucial.
Which is why we’ll be settling on providing educational content and a platform for Gaulish Polytheists to showcase their reconstructions and other content, as well as setting aside time once a month for public ritual and worship. Essentially, it’ll break down into these major points:
- Educational videos on the basics of Gaulish Polytheism, as well as more advanced subjects. Ultimately, the goal is to string these together with simple quizzes to have a beginner’s curriculum that’s easy to follow, and doesn’t require intense research. (The idea of creating more specific, more intense curriculums will remain, however we’re uncertain if people would be interested in them if there aren’t any accolades accompanying them.)
- Maintaining and tweaking our convention, the Comreton Calleios. We’ve identified a few issues with it, such as when we host it and the focus on heavy academic content. The aim will be to provide a healthy mix of material applicable to all types of Gaulish Polytheists, such as myth and poetry readings to off-set the academic presentations.
- Holding smaller, more frequent events for the whole Gaulish community to enjoy. One recurring on a monthly basis will be the Atenoux, where we will livestream ritual, worshiping together on a frequent basis.
Segomâros Widugeni gave the community many gifts through his work, and as an organization founded by him we should continue that legacy, and we believe these focuses represent that.
We understand that this isn’t a particular massive change for those of you who have been following our work, more like a reorganization. That is our idea with it, because along with a reorganization of our focuses, we also want to reorganize how we structure and govern ourselves.In order to achieve that, we’ve disbanded the Uxsellos, our former High Council, the Orders & committees within the organization, and changed how membership within Toutâ Galation functions.
The Uxsellos has been replaced by a body of Ministers, the Dannos, a larger more encompassing body, briefly summarized as:
- The Uercobreton / Chief Magistrate; Head of the governing structure, makes sure all parts of the tribe are working, and managing security.
- The Uerbardon / High Bard; Head of Gaulish language & cultural affairs, such as encouraging, organizing, and platforming myths and poetry.
- The Platiodannon / Curator of Places; Essentially in charge of running and organizing events, like the convention and the Antenoux.
- The Ambacton / Ambassador; managing the public perception of the tribe, such as our social media and website.
- The Argantodannon / Treasurer; Managing donations, funds, and assets. Responsible for specific things such as our online shop, as well as approving and refunding expenses for things such as material for the Atenoux rituals.
- The Uercanon / Teacher; in charge of the curriculums and creating educational content.
Each of these positions have a Dannotegos attached to it, an office of the minister where anyone who wants to help out can do so freely without commitment beyond doing the basic curriculum. Many of the responsibilities of the Dannos overlap, as it is our intention to evenly divide work among ourselves and support each other, something that was difficult to do in our former system of three. This also doesn’t require all the positions to be filled, as the offices themselves will always exist. It also doesn’t require many members to function, but it does allow for the opportunity to function better with more.
In regards to the position of the Ueletos, having been left without a replacement nominated and inaugurated by the former Seer, we felt that it was not the best decision to simply view it as a vacancy to be filled, nor did we feel that a role of spiritual leader should fall within the ministerial government. Instead, we’ve replaced the singular role with a separate body called the Uâtobrogilos, the Grove of Seers.
It’s our intention to continue to fill this collectivist body with those who dedicate themselves to divination, ritual work, and other rites. On their own accord, they will decide on a representative, changing as often as they wish. This representative is unable to vote within the Datlâ during that period. They instead wield the ability to break ties among Ministerial votes and hold the responsibility of collecting the votes of the general Datlâ Assembly, which the Grove of Seers verify as a collective.
Our final two actions of note reflect an important attitude an organization with our particular goals and focuses must pay particular attention to. As such, we will be making leadership channels in our initiates-only Discord server visible to all members from now on. This transparency, alongside our signature on Sepânioi Rotî’s in-depth Anti-Fascist Declaration, we believe are crucial steps in our advancement. Stay posted over the next couple of weeks on our organization’s Anti-Fascist plan addressing each of the principles of the Declaration.
In short, we’ve taken a long hard look at who we are, how we do things, and how we’ve inadvertently been limiting ourselves. Feel free to take a deeper look at our updated Bylaws, and be sure to reach out if you have any questions. We look forward to seeing you at our very first Atenoux, which will be Sunday, January 17th at 9pm EST.
Dewoi co te,
Cunobelinus Betullicnos
Chief Magistrate of Toutâ Galation