AIRR Committee of AISC
From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers
The Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers (AIRR) is a committee of the Association of Independent Spiritual Churches. AISC is an organized body of Spiritual churches working within the Spiritualist tradition.
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History of AIRR
At the Missionary Independent Spiritual Church Board Meeting of August 21, 2007, Dr. Kioni, catherine yronwode, and nagasiva yronwode created the basis for AIRR. The Board meeting notes were published in November, 2007 as Missionary Independent Spiritual Church newsletter Vol. 2, No. 6
In December 2008, Lara Rivera approached catherine to go forward with the project, lending her technical expertise and labour in order to pursue the group's initial technical needs.
In January 2009, the first round of prospective Members received invitations to become contributing founding Members who would assist with additional labour and planning. At the AIRR site, you may read a more complete history of the founding of AIRR.
This document was adopted by the Church Board in June 2009 to assist AIRR Members in staying up to date with respect to its Purpose, its operational structure, and its actual authorities.
In 2018, as the number of participating churches grew, MISC stepped back to equal status with the other churches in the Union and a newname, the Association of Independent Spiritual Churches was adopted to reflect the equal standing of all member-churches. Governamce of AIRR, the CSL, and the Hoodoo eritage Festival continued under the AISC.
Direction
The Association Independent Spiritual Churches Board is the governing body to which the AIRR Committee Membership, both Founding and General, report. Whether at a distance or by direct involvement, Board Members are ultimately responsible for the pursuit of the Purpose and may choose whatever organizational structure is expedient to achieving these aims.
AIRR Members should take direction from the Church Board Members who are part of AIRR and work with the rest of the general Membership to achieve the Purpose. Evaluations as to how best to proceed with any aspect of the AIRR projects and its various facets will be performed either by Board Members or those whom they delegate and oversee.
Those Board Members who are also Members of AIRR constitute the de facto executives of the body no matter to whom they may delegate the responsibilities for its operations. Any decisions which they, in accord with their peers within the Church, see fit to make take precedence over any other procedures or protocols that have been established, including the making and removal of Founding and General Members, the removal or reassignment of the Ombudsperson, or specifications on procedures that are not covered by these rules explicitly.
As a sub-body of AISC, AIRR's operations and resources are owned by the Church, and the Church's directors have complete authority within AIRR under its present organization.
Member Benefits
AIRR is more than a social group; it exists to provide help to public citizens seeking ethical readers and rootworkers, and to assist Members to be found by clients who are searching for services on the internet. The benefits of Membership in AIRR are as follows:
AIRR Promotes Hoodoo Rootwork to the Public
The AIRR site provides education to prospective clients about what kinds of services a Member reader or rootworker can be expected to provide, and, through search engine optimization techniques, to bring those services to a broad general audience.
Members are Listed Online
Each Member is provided with a personal page, on which is a picture, contact information, and a list of reading and rootworking services offered.
Each Member's name appears on every AIRR page in list form, and is repeated again in every category of service in which he or she works.
Each member is listed at our subsidiary site HoodooPsychics.com.
Members are Provided Endorsement
Additionally, each Member of AIRR is provided an endorsement by the group, certifying his or her education, ethics, and soundness of character.
Members Receive Technical Help
Technical help is provided to Members to ensure that their listings are up-to-date. The wages paid to the site technical staff for performing this work comes out of the Membership fees.
Member Responsibilities
The responsibilities of AIRR Members are as follows:
Application Review (Admittance)
As a group, AIRR Members are responsible for receiving applications to join the group, examining them to be sure that they do not contain any glaring failures to conform with established prerequisites, and assigning them to be reviewed in a timely fashion for evaluation.
A volunteer pool will be assembled from available and interested Members who are willing to receive applications qualifying for the evaluation process. Three (3) individuals from this pool will be assigned to each case, and proceed according to the established procedures of Application Review and Evaluation.
Selection and Service of an Ombudsperson
As a group, AIRR Members are responsible for selecting from amongst their number an Ombudsperson to serve for a specified length of time. The method of selection of an Ombudsperson by AIRR Members can be as simple as taking volunteers and as complex as nominations and voting with scrutinized analysis of nominee credentials and background.
This selection method should take no longer than one (1) working week, and the term of service for the Ombudsperson should be clearly defined as no greater than a year's time and no less than 1 month. Should the position of Ombudsperson remain vacant for more than two (2) weeks, the Church Board may appoint an individual of its choice to fill the position until a new Ombudsperson is selected by the Membership.
It is the responsibility of the Ombudsperson to investigate any claims made by clients of violations of the Code of Ethics by any Member and to mediate, insofar as possible, between the two. If mediation does not succeed, it is the duty of the Ombudsperson to report the failure of mediation to the Membership at large for further action.
It is the responsibility of the Ombudsperson to investigate any claims made by Members with respect to serious difficulties encountered by Members in dealing with clients who are disruptive, fraudulent, or suspected of breaking the law and to report these claims and the results of any investigation to the Membership at large for further action.
The Ombudsperson shall also serve as a mediator between the Membership and the Church Board if need be.
Defining the Ombudsperson's duties in detail allows the Membership to make job performance evaluation possible. The occasional examination of Ombudsperson methods and results will allow for improvement of the functionality of the task of AIRR Ombudsperson.
Regular Reports to the Church Board
At least once a month AIRR Members (including those Members who are themselves Church Board Members) are responsible for composing a written report (or presenting an oral report as part of an official Church Board Meeting) indicating what progress toward the Purpose has been achieved since the last report, what additional plans have been laid, and what fundraising efforts or public outreach has been accomplished.
At least once per year the Board Member most involved in AIRR (who is presumably an AIRR Member) shall construct a report to the Board of Directors providing an annual State of the Project, with as much detail as is helpful for the Board to understand what has transpired since the previous presentation.
Should there be a lapse in any of these reports, the Board of Directors may assign a special investigator to examine the current State of the Project by interviewing those who are currently most active in the project and reporting back to them with their findings, including specifically why such reports are not being filed.
Individual Member Responsibility: Link-Back
Additionally, individual Members have a responsibility to put a link to AIRR on their personal Reader or Rootworker page.
Disciplinary Procedures
AIRR Members who are demonstrated to have lied on their application or to have otherwise compromised the means by which they secured the endorsement and benefits of their Membership may be removed from Membership if a sufficient case is made against them so that a Church Board Member agrees that this is a necessary and important action.
A group Code of Ethics has been created and is available to the public for review. Members who are demonstrated to have violated the terms of the Code of Ethics may be warned via a standard and consistent verbal and written notice as to the endangerment of their Membership or they may be removed from Membership if a sufficient case is made against them so that a Church Board Member agrees that this is a necessary and important action.
Protocols may at some future time be defined by AIRR Members so that the potential for re-admittance after correction of errors is a possibility.
Phase 1: Nov. 2007 - Jan. 2008, discussion and planning [of AIRR] within the Church.
Phase 2: Feb. 2009 - Feb. 2010, first year of functioning: establishment of web site, focus on Membership growth, money from Membership dues goes to pay for site development; Feb. 2010, election of AIRR officers to guide Phase 3.
Phase 3: Feb. 2010 - Feb. 2011, collection of Membership dues goes to a set-aside fund to get a lawyer and plan for non-profit status. This is subject to MISC Board approval before being undertaken. Until non-profit status is achieved, MISC is legally constrained from transferring any assets (fees collected, web sites) to AIRR because under law, a non-profit can only transfer assets to another non-profit.
Phase 4: Feb. 2011 -- if non-profit status is achieved, MISC Board votes on the split and if motion is approved, transfers certain assets to AIRR in recompense for a monetary donation to cover previous Church outlays.
At the instigation of the Church Board of Directors this Potential Plan may be initiated through the selection of a working group to operate within AIRR to investigate and facilitate the above-outlined plan, should both the Church Membership and AIRR Membership agree to such a division.
Credits
This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:
- Author: nagasiva yronwode
- Contributors: catherine yronwode, Deacon Millett, Lara Rivera
- Image: Shimmering Wolf
See Also
Our Spiritual Mission
These pages tell you about how the AIRR site developed within the educational and spiritual outreach program of the Missionary Independent Spiritual Church movement:
- AIRR's relationship to the Association of Independent Spiritual Churches
About AIRR
These pages tell you all about how things work at the Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers, AIRR:
Client Outreach Services
These pages contain general information for the public about services that our members offer in addition to psychic reading, spell-casting, and candle services:
- Magical and Spiritual Coaches in AIRR
- Metaphysical Authors in AIRR
- Teachers and Workshop Presenters in AIRR
- Radio Podcasters in AIRR
- Video Webcasters in AIRR
- Occult Shopkeepers and Spiritual Suppliers in AIRR
- Church Pastors and Deacons in AIRR
- Hoodoo Heritage Festival Presenters in AIRR
- Streaming Video Classes with PDFs from AIRR
- The Churches of the AISC
- The Crystal Silence League
- The AIRR Pro Bono Fund
- The AIRR Ombudsman Team
- The AIRR Tech Team
- Internet Forum and Group Facilitators in AIRR
- AISC Board of Bishops
- The Church Fan Fund
Public Education About Client Services
These pages contain general information for the public about dealing with psychic readers, engaging the services of root doctors and spell-casters, and how to keep yourself safe from spiritual and magical scams and frauds:
Record of Review
6/1/09 first draft by nagasiva yronwode
6/6/09 edited and approved by Church Board Members catherine yronwode, Fred Burke, and nagasiva yronwode
6/6/10 edited and approved by Church Board Members catherine yronwode, Fred Burke, and nagasiva yronwode
6/6/22 updated by catherine yronwode and approved by Church Board Members catherine yronwode, Fred Burke, and nagasiva yronwode
