ORGANIZATION & STRUCTURE
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   Freedom of Choice is vital to all Neo-Pagan beliefs, and this
is true to this path of religious endeavor as to any other. I am
not a guru nor have I been bestowed with hundreds of years of a
tradition, this course is my interpetation of the information
that was available and is subject to revisement by myself, others
and you. You are most important in choosing your own path - no one
should choose which gods you are to worship, which celebrations
you will participate in and which ones you will not. You have the
freedom you were born with, given to you by the gods and goddesses
forged from dozens of pantheons and concepts. No one has the right
to force you to conform to their beliefs and live it as your own.
What I have presented herein is an outline, no more, the rest will
be up to you. I do ask that if you accept my own basic structure
and use my belief's name(s) that you do so accepting the rules I
have used so that none will accuse me of teaching falsely or to
associate my beliefs with an activity, ritual, concept or belief
that are not mine. I do not ask for any comformaty beyond what I
have written here, but I do ask not to be misquoted or my beliefs
misrepresented to others.
   I have looked at the internal structures of many organizations
and belief systems, both those recognized by the goverment, those
seeking recognition and those who wish nothing to do with legal
status. From these I have forged the structure, titling and the
concepts that follow, enclosed with my own research and beliefs.
   Each group of practitioners who work together, a group being
at least two people, on a regular basis form for themselves a
Damos (the greek word for 'commune' or 'village' or 'community').
Each Damos choses by its own means (by vote, discussion, choice
of founding, experience, age, whatever) a individual who shall be
the Wanax (greek for 'leader'). The Wanax is responsible for the
teaching of those new to the Damos the ways of the path and the
ways of their own Damos. THe Wanax does not hold position by fear
or heredity - it is a position of trust, and if a Wanax betrays
that trust then the Wanax should be removed from that position by
the Damos members. The Wanax is also responsible for keeping a
record of the Damos' activities, it can be hadnwritten, typed or
even computer recorded. This record should track each gathering
of the Damos to ritual, teach, discuss finances or celebrate.
Also to be recorded here are matters of dispute and discussion
within the Damos, births, deaths, joinings and initiations. It
should be brought to each gathering of the Damos and may be read
by any member of the Damos.
   Each Wanax is responsible for seeing that their Damos sits
down and somehow develops a name for their Damos, and it is by
this name that they will be known to other Damosi. It is suggested
that Greek names or ones related to the places they choose to
name sacred or to the local Native American Indian names be used
(We, as members of the Myceneaen belief must realize the rights of
the natives of the lands we presently live in and also respect and
honor their gods, godesses and local nature spirits and beliefs,
for like the original Myceneaens we accept the validity of local
deities as much as our own, some being our own known by other
names and some being local powers like the dozens of river gods
and nature spirits found in ancient Greece). If a name is not to
be in Greek or in line with a Native American group then it should
in some way reflect the nature of the people involved and their
own goals together. Names, preferably, should not be more than ten
words in length and not less than two. At the end of each name
shall be added the word Damos, to identify it as a part of the
Laos.
   For the present I have chosen to act as the Basileus of the
'organization', that is I wish to be a personage who will be the
arbitrator (if requested by all sides) in disputes between any
two or more Wanaxi or Damosi dealing with the material in my
structure or in a gathering of Damosi. I will also, for the
moment, hold the position of a communications point between any
of the further spread Damosi. I hold this position only until
we have someone who can serve better for either position and who
is willing to take on the duties - the position holds no true
power over other Wanaxi or the greater Damosi unless they choose
to have me arbitrate. This position I will hold no longer than
ten years, and preferably much less. Once a hundred Wanax are
established they will have the power, by a majority decision,
to decide when to replace the Basileus and with who (the who
must be willing to take the office).
   I also ask that all Wanaxi record their record of activities
(which we will call, for lack of better terminology your Damosi's
Book of Records) in photocopy, ASCII text file or to be
Handwritten/typed/carboned and pass this duplicate on to me to
keep  and utilize for communicating with all the members of the
Laos (the people, in greek) of the Mycenaea faith, either within
newsletters, computer files or whatever - based on the needs of
each individual of the faith. This is a matter of choice of the
Wanax personally, if they feel they need secrecy for some reason
that is their choice and they may choose not to send such to me.
I am not in a position of power in this path, simply a guide for
part of the way and then it is upto your own selves to decide
where you will go dealing with the path, your Wanax, your damos
and your lifecycles.
   Many of the ancient titles and positions within Mycenae are
no longer of great import in todays society, but might one day
become of import. The E-qe-tai (ee-kay-tie) were the liason
between the temples and the military, I suggest that this be a
position given by each Wanax to a member of their Damos when
they feel the need for someone to act as a Liason between the
Damos and any other Damos, a messenger of sorts between groups,
and also to serve as such if the group comes into contact with
the press or other public media. This position need not be a
pernament one, and several may be bestowed this title at one
time if more than one series of liasons are necessary. The
Ko-Re-te (kowe-ray-tay) were military commanders within a Damos,
we have no need of such at present, unless the Wanax of a group
choses that members of their Damos should learn a martial art
or weapon skill for personal growth - then the Ko-Re-te will be
the title given to a teacher within the group (You should not
expect members of your Damos to be taught in such things by a
person outside the Laos, nor can teaching be forced or required,
only requested or suggested).
  The Lawagetas was in ancient times the 'Leader of the Host',
a military leader for a collection of the Laos from more than
one Damos for a particular purpose. Obviously this is not a
needed position within our present structure. The Pa-si-re-u
was the official responsible within a Damos responsible for the
bronze smiths, again a title I cannot see the need to restore
(If anyone is skilled at this art and wishes to offer it as a
teaching to members of your Damos, then grant them the ttitle).
  The klawiphoroi were the keybearers, always female, of the
temple. Since our temples, shrines, groves and altars will be
most likely within other buildings or outside and there is no
plan to purchase buildings at present for this purpose (for we
are a poor folk) this title will remain amoung the unused.
  Each individual of the Laos, including those not of a Damos,
may consider themselves Mycenaean Priests and Priestesses as long
as they choose to follow this path of Neo-Paganism. There are no
paian (non-clerical followers), though there may be members of
other faiths present at a ritual, celebration or gathering -
so long as they are willing to accept the rules of hospitality.
Due to legalities, children are brought into ritiual rarely -
they are not yet on this path and should not be forced upon it
like some religions do. We must not make the mistakes that many
mainstream religions have before. They can be present at an open
celebration, but should not be brought into ritual until they
are old enough to understand the beliefs and concepts, say
not before their 16th birthday (this will be an arbitrary
choice between the Wanax and the parents).
   Finances are the choice of the to deal with, and wether they
will handle the finances of the Damos or have a seperate person
appointed treasurer or choose to keep no finances for the group
but run the group as a 'donate anything but money' operation. I
would like to hear from the Wanaxi on how they are handling their
finances and the operations herein, especially any who set up
their Damos as a physical communal household or farm site.