Code of Ethics and Community Agreements

For The Temple of Belonging

A Bioregional Women’s Gathering in the Pacific Northwest

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The Temple of Belonging is an immersive experience for women rooted in the Pacific Northwest to cultivate belonging - within ourselves, one another, and the ecosystems that sustain us. This gathering is not a performance or product. It is an initiation into critical relational skills that many of us never got a chance to learn: how to live in loving relationship with our body, community, ancestry, and planet.

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This Code of Ethics acts as a shared map for participating in this gathering, as well as our other satellite events happening throughout the year. It explains the principles that guide our community, the expectations we hold of one another, and the practices that support safety, equity, and meaningful connection. 

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Before committing to the event, please read the Code in its entirety to ensure this gathering is a good fit for you this year. It is important that all attendees read and understand how we define what belonging means to us, how we approach our differences and shared power, and how we collectively steward the space and land.

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By entering the Temple, attendees agree to engage with these commitments and actively uphold the ethical ground that makes this gathering possible. Thank you for being here.​

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Invitation to Participate

We warmly invite women connected to the Pacific Northwest bioregion to step into this collective experiment of belonging. We also proudly welcome trans women and nonbinary sisters who feel called to explore and embody their divine feminine among community. Participation is voluntary, intentional, and enthusiastic. These sacred gathering spaces ask for our presence, humility, and responsibility of self.

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You are not expected to be perfect. It is expected that throughout our time together, you remain willing to learn and listen, and to take responsibility for your impact within the gathering.

 

Our Understanding of Belonging

Belonging is a living experience of being in right relationship — with yourself, with others, and with the natural world. The best part is, belonging does not require sameness, performance, or proof. Belonging is not assimilation, but a leap of faith that happens when you show up as yourself; trusting that you will be seen by the people your heart sees.

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In this gathering, belonging means:

• Every body has a place and is treated with dignity

• Emotional responses and nervous system needs are met with respect

• Lived experiences are heard & valued

• Our differences strengthen us, rather than threatening the whole

• No one is required to conform in order to participate

• All beings share responsibility for the collective field​

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True belonging is alive, emergent and most certainly a wild ride. It includes edges, pauses, rupture, repair, humility, laughter, and silence. It is practiced through embodied presence, honest engagement, and mutual care.

 

Belonging, Difference, and Power

We all live and work within systems that have forced many of us to sort, rank, fear, compare and protect ourselves by drawing hard lines around identity, worth, safety, and power. Our separation has been profitable and controllable to these growing systems of power for a very long time. At Temple, we understand belonging and othering as dynamic forces, not personal failures.

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In this gathering:

• We understand there is no true belonging without the celebration of diversity

• We acknowledge that we all carry patterns of othering

• We take responsibility for noticing when fear or pain hardens into separation.​

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Ethical practice requires ongoing awareness of power dynamics, including those expressed through identity, leadership roles, and spiritual language.

 

Commitment to Equity, Inclusion, and Safety

We are committed to equity, inclusion, and accessibility as essential core practices.

We affirm the dignity and humanity of all participants across race, culture, age, ability, health status, body size, neurodivergence, sexuality, gender identity, class, and spiritual background. We don’t see equity or belonging as sameness, but as the ability to respond appropriately to attendees’ varying needs and realities.

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We commit to:

• Remaining attentive to power dynamics, especially within leadership and spiritual language

• Refusing harassment, coercion, discrimination, or dehumanizing behavior from anyone

• Listening openly to feedback and prioritizing repair when harm occurs

• Recognizing that the outcome is more important than the intention 

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When tension arises, we approach it as an opportunity for creating a higher standard of accountability, deeper learning, and authentic repair. Ethical integrity is measured by how we care for one another in these tender moments.

 

Eco-Somatic Practice

The Temple of Belonging is grounded in eco-somatic awareness: the understanding that our bodies are inseparable from the ecosystems we inhabit.

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When land is rushed, extracted from, or ignored, our bodies learn to do the same.
When land is listened to, paced, and respected, our bodies remember how to settle.

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We practice:

• Choosing sustainable pace over pressure

• Listening to bodily signals and limits

• Honoring cycles of activation and rest

• Allowing land and season to inform our rhythms

• Sharing resources for the benefit of the whole

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Belonging is cultivated through embodied regulation and consistent attention to our interdependence with the natural world.

 

Tending the Field

 

Participant Responsibilities

Belonging requires active stewardship. Temple is a privilege to attend, and it requires that we lead with a ‘Get-To’ mindset over a ‘Have-To’ mindset. Committing to attending the Temple of Belonging requires intentional preparation and mindfulness before the event.

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Temple attendees, volunteers, and staff agree to:

• Preparation
  Arrive with awareness of personal assumptions and projections.

• Self-Pacing and Consent
  Track personal capacity. Rest, silence, and withdrawal are also valid forms of participation.

• Presence Without Extraction
  Not use others’ stories, images, or experiences for personal gain or content without explicit consent.

• Relational Accountability and Repair
  Approach conflict with curiosity and responsibility. We don’t condone blame, gaslighting, or bypassing. AND we can not guarantee that discomfort won’t happen. This is a brave and loving space that prioritizes our care, consent, and accountability over our comfort.

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Please note: Because the safety and integrity of the group is our utmost priority, organizers reserve the right to establish firm boundaries, including removal from the gathering (in failed cases of repair), if behavior repeatedly violates this Code.

 

Leadership and Stewardship

Organizers and facilitators carry additional responsibility for maintaining ethical clarity and care. Leadership is defined by accountability rather than authority. Power is acknowledged openly, and participant feedback is essential to collective integrity, and have feedback forms and mediation models for that when needed.

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All staff, volunteers, attendees, and children share the responsibilities of stewardship. Belonging is co-created and sustained through this collective effort.

 

Integration and Return

Participation in the Temple is an initiation arc that extends beyond the gathering itself. Integration - the powerful take-aways we bring back into our daily lives, relationships, and communities - is part of the ethical commitment.

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We practice skills that support:

• Presence within difference

• Nervous system regulation in complexity

• Honest communication without domination or avoidance

• Shared responsibility for grief and repair

• Curiosity in place of rigid certainty

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These capacities strengthen the wider communities to which participants return.

 

Ongoing Evolution

The Temple of Belonging is an evolving experiment in cultural repair and celebration. This Code of Ethics is a living document shaped by land, lineage, organizers, and participants. It will continue to develop as we learn together.

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By entering this space, participants agree to engage imperfectly and sincerely in its care, ethics, and ongoing becoming. 

Thank you again for your interest and time. We hope to gather with you soon <3