Newer scouting group serves 'wise ones', Mother Earth

By MARY LOU AGUIRRE

McClatchy Newspapers

According to its Web site, www.spiralscouts.org, the organization "allows individual groups to determine the exact manner in which they will pursue their own goals." Groups are coed, and leaders aren't subject to discrimination based on sexual orientation, religion or gender.

A new SpiralScouts chapter is being organized by Clovis, Calif., resident Beckie Tetrault. She is mother to Danielle, 6, and Jack, 2. Her oldest son, Michael, 16, is a former Boy Scout.

"Boy Scouts is very Christian-centered," Tetrault, a Wiccan, says. (Wicca is a neo-pagan religion.) "Their views aren't consistent with my family's beliefs."

Tetrault, 36, does agree with the Boy Scouts' appreciation of nature. After researching other programs, Tetrault came across the Michigan-based SpiralScouts program on the Internet. She has been working on establishing a group in the Fresno, Calif., area for the past two years.

"The closest chapter is Antioch (Calif.)," she says. "There was nothing in the San Joaquin Valley. I talked to a few friends who were interested in belonging to this group."

Friend Beckie Stanley-Harris of Fresno has a blended family of four children ages 15, 9, 5 and 3.

"I'm a Wiccan, and my boyfriend is a Christian," Stanley-Harris, 31, says. "I want to give my children the opportunity to meet kids from other religions and cultures."

Stanley-Harris, who was raised a Christian, was a Girl Scout when she was 8 and 9.

"I remember summer camp being the highlight of my year," she says. "It was fun to be up in the mountains, away from the noise of the city. I liked waking up on cold mornings, the campfires, the s'mores and the singing. There's a camaraderie that comes with that."

The first SpiralScouts meeting took place last week. Meetings, led by a male and a female, are being held twice a month at Fresno's Discovery Center. Members pay a $15 annual fee; meetings cost $2 each to cover materials and supplies. Activities include field trips, arts and crafts and outdoor activities.

The group has three levels - Fireflies, SpiralScouts and Pathfinders - open to boys and girls ages 3-18. The Firefly promise reads: "I promise to serve the wise ones, to honor and protect Mother Earth, to be helpful and understanding to all people and always keep love in my heart."

SpiralScouts won't be selling cookies. Instead, they will raise money by recycling.

"We will earn badges, pins and do community projects," Tetrault says. "Our first badges will be on ecology and earned by recycling and reusing things from our own homes."

Other badges include nutrition, photography, swimming, fire safety, camping, astronomy and drug awareness.

Tetrault, who earned a degree in psychology from California State University, Fresno, is a stay-at-home mom who home-schools her children. She also is the organizer of Fresno Babyfest, which educates parents on how to raise healthy babies.

The official name of the local SpiralScouts chapter is Laughing Pines Circle.

"It's a friendly, happy name that reflects what we want it to be," Tetrault says. Interested parents can e-mail her at beckietetrault@gmail.com.

According to the SpiralScouts Web site, the organization was created by the Aquarian Tabernacle Church. "While SpiralScouts was developed based on pagan beliefs and practices, it is designed to be adaptable to work with any faith (or to be completely secular) as well."

SpiralScouts welcomes all minority religions. Knowing this concept might be new to some, Tetrault reiterates: "This is not pagan Sunday school."

(The columnist can be reached at maguirre@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6482. Check out her blog, and others, at centralvalleymoms.com.)