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The Rewards and Hazards of
Teaching
The Craft To
Others
By Morgan Ravenwood
Some budding Wiccans seem to feel that one cannot be a
TRUE Wiccan unless they are schooled by a “master” priestess or priest. Since there aren’t always a lot of available
resources by which to find such a teacher, the choices are considerably
limited. My having been listed on the Witches’ Voice
networking site for many years has often resulted in an occasional plea for
instruction in Wiccan practice from people in my area. One day I thought, well, why not? At the time there wasn’t an operating coven
or even study group within 150 miles of my city. Since there seemed to be so much interest, I
decided to try and at least get a study group going.
At first, it actually went pretty well.
We began with six fairly dedicated ladies who all expressed how glad they
were to have found others of like mind to study with and learn from. Most of them had never conducted or even
participated in a full moon or Sabbat ritual, and when my husband and I decided
to teach them some basic ritual construction, they all enjoyed the experience
immensely. In no time, I was writing and
assigning lessons and beginning to consider officially creating a tradition
based upon some basic beliefs that we all shared.
I cannot express enough how rewarding this work was. Having always worked either solitarily or
with my husband and daughter, the dynamics of practicing with others from many
different backgrounds were awesome. The
satisfaction of conducting a meeting or ritual that went well is almost beyond
description. For the first time I truly
felt “in tune” with myself, my friends and relatives, and my gods. On a more personal level, I felt that I had
finally found the perfect way to honor deity and the religion of Wicca---to
promulgate it through education. This is
a task that I still take very seriously today, though in somewhat a different
form than group practice. Instead, I’m
concentrating on (hopefully) inspiring others through my writing.
Unfortunately, there are very good reasons why I
ultimately abandoned the idea of trying to teach others or even practicing with
a group. Just as our group was becoming
closer and stronger, our most experienced member began having problems with her
spouse, who was dead-set against her practicing Wicca. When she became pregnant, she regretfully
explained that she was going to have to quit the group. The loss of her seemed to start a downward
trend that ultimately decimated the group and left me with nothing to show for
the time, energy and yes, money I had invested in it. Needless to say, this was personally
devastating for me and is certainly not the kind of experience I would have
wanted to repeat.
However, fairly soon after we disbanded, I began receiving pleas to
resume the group from some newcomers to town as well as a couple of our
recalcitrant “ex-members.” Reluctantly,
I knuckled under the pressure and arranged a “Pagan Picnic in the Park”
day. I rented a ramada at the park, hung
signs and purchased most of the food and beverages for everyone. I was rewarded with a complete no-show from
all except our most loyal member, who never missed a meeting, and a couple
of—shall we say interesting—folks from the next town who I had never met
before.
At that point, I swore to permanently disband the group and never resume
it again. But just before last Samhain,
I got to feeling sentimental and missing the good times we had when the group
was first formed. I had recently spoken
with a couple of the former members and both begged to at least get together for
a ritual. I emailed all the former
members and asked them if they’d like to participate in a Samhain ritual at my
home. When they all expressed interest,
I set it for the Saturday before Samhain.
Again, I purchased refreshments and went to a great deal of trouble to
set up the ritual. One of the members
had even promised to bring a bottle of Mead for us all to share.
I am sure you can guess what happened—or rather, what
DIDN’T happen. Yep, all were a no-show
but for the one reliable lady, bless her!
Since that time, I have received emails from several
local Pagans expressing interest in doing group practice. This time, however, I’m going to keep my vow
to myself and not be lured into re-forming the group. If anyone else decides to try forming one in
the future, I just may attend some meetings, but that would be all. When I explain this to these seekers, they
then beg me for some one-on-one instruction.
I think that these budding Wiccans who desire basic instruction are
overlooking a few possibilities other than this. There are quite a few online schools
available (I won’t list them here since it might be construed as endorsing them,
but try an online search) and some offer degree programs and charge very
reasonable fees. Some are even free;
check out Yahoo groups to find email lists for online schools.
An overwhelming majority of Wiccans owe their accumulated knowledge to
the many books, magazines, articles, etc. that they love to read. In fact, many have become accomplished adepts
without ever practicing with a group or benefiting from a master’s tutelage and
the late author Scott Cunningham went to great lengths to reassure us that this
was completely acceptable. That old saw
“when the student is ready, the master appears” doesn’t always hold true.
It should also be mentioned that in these days of increasingly frequent
occurrences of sexual predators and
other assorted rough characters targeting young, naïve and trusting young people
and even adults, it definitely pays to be very discriminating about who you
choose to arrange a personal meeting with and where. I have always personally made a practice of
making first-time meetings public.
If you decide to seek personal instruction, be alert to
any attempts at coercion (either physical or mental) or charging exorbitant fees
by the teacher. If you are fortunate
enough to live where there are working covens or groves, chances are that they
can offer much more in the way of instruction than a solitary teacher can. Never abandon personal study, however, as it
is still the best way to learn.
If you choose to teach or try to lead a coven or study group, be aware of
the potential pitfalls of doing so, but also be equally aware that there can be
many rewards. Best of luck with either
pursuit!
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