176 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
176 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
SYSOP'S NOTE: This excellent food-for-thought was downloaded from
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EarthRite BBS, 415-651-9496. - Talespinner, Sysop WeirdBase
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LOOKING AT YOURSELF
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before you go a step further, take a good long look at your
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desires, motivation and skills. What role do you see yourself
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playing in this new group? "Ordinary" member? Democratic
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facilitator? High Priestess? And if the last -- why do you want
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the job?
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The title of High Priestess and Priestess are seductive,
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conjuring up exotic images of yourself in embroidered robes, a
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silver crescent (or horned helm) on your brow, adoring celebrants
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hanging on every word which drops from your lips...
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Reality check. The robes will be stained with wine and candle
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wax soon enough, and not every word you speak is worth
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remembering. A coven leader's job is mostly hard work between
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rituals and behind the scene. It is not always a good place to
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act out your fantasies, because the lives and well-being of
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others are involved, and what is flattering or enjoyable to you
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man not be in their best interest. So consider carefully.
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If your prime motive is establishing a coven is to gain status
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and ego gratification, other people will quickly sense that. If
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they are intelligent, independent individuals, they will refuse
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to play Adoring Disciple to your Witch Queen impressions. They
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will disappear, and that vanishing act will be the last magick
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they do with you.
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And if you do attract a group ready to be subservient Spear
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Carriers in your fantasy drama -- well, do you really want to
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associate with that kind of personality? What are you going to
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do when you want someone strong around to help you or teach you,
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and next New Moon you look out upon a handful of Henry
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Milquetoasts and Frieda Handmaidens? If a person is willing to
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serve you, the they will also become dependent on you, drain your
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energy, and become disillusioned if you ever let down the
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Infallible Witch Queen mask for even a moment.
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Some other not-so-great reasons for starting a coven: a) because
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it seems glamorous, exotic, and a little wicked; b) because it
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will shock your mother, or c) because you can endure your boring,
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flunkie job more easily if you get to go home and play Witch at
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night.
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Some better reasons for setting up a coven, and even nomination
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yourself as High Priest/ess, include: a) you feel that you will
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be performing a useful job for yourself and others; b) you have
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enjoyed leadership roles in the past, and proven yourself
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capable; or c) you look forward to learning and growing in the
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role.
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Even with the best motives in the world, you will still need to
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have -- or quickly develop -- a whole range of skills in order to
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handle a leadership role. If you are to be a facillitatir of a
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study group, group process insights and skills are important.
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These include:
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1) Gatekeeping, or guiding discussion in such a way that
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everyony has an opportunity to express ideas and
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opinions;
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2) Summarizing and clarifying;
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3) Conflict resolution, or helping participants understand
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points of disagreement and find potential solutions which
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respect everyone's interests;
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4) Moving the discussion toward consensus, or at any rate
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decision, by identifying diversions and refocussing
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attention on goals and priorities; and
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5) Achieving closure smoothly when the essential work is
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compleated, or an appropriate stopping place is reached.
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In addition to group process skills, four other competencies
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necessary to the functioning of a coven are: ritual leadership,
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administration, teaching, and counseling. In a study group the
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last one may not be considered a necessary function, and the
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other three may be shared among all participants. But in a coven
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the leaders are expected to be fairly capable in all these areas,
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even if responsibilities are frequently shared or delegated. Let
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us look briefly at each.
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Ritual leadership involves much more that reading invocations by
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candlelight. Leaders must understand the powers they intend to
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manipulate: how they are raised, channeled and grounded. They
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must be adept at designing rituals which involve all the sensory
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modes. They should have a repertoire of songs and chants, dances
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and gestures or mudras, incense and oils, invocations and spells,
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visual effects and symbols, meditations and postures; and the
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skill to combine these in a powerful, focused pattern. They must
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have clarity of purpose and firm ethics. And they must
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understand timing: both where a given ritual fits in the cycles
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of the Moon, the Wheel of the Year, and the dance of the spheres,
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and how to pace the ritual once started, so that energy peaks and
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is channeled at the perfect moment. And they must understand the
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Laws of Magick, and the correspondences, and when ritual is
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appropriate and when it is not.
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By administration, we refer to basic management practices
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necessary to any organization. These include apportioning work
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fairly, and following up on its progress; locating resources and
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obtaining them (information, money, supplies); fostering
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communications (by telephone, printed schedules, newsletters
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etc.); and keeping records (minutes, accounts, Witch Book
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entries, or ritual logbook). Someone or several someones has to
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collect the dues if any, buy the candles, chill the wine, and so
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forth.
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Teaching is crucial to both covens and study groups. If only one
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person has any formal training or experience in magick, s/he
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should transmit that knowledge in a way which respects the
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intuitions, re-emerging past life skills, and creativity of the
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others. If several participants have some knowledge in differing
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areas, they can all share the teaching role. If no one in the
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group has training and you are uncertain where to begin, they you
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may need to call on outside resources: informed and ethical
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priest/esses who can act as visiting faculity, or who are willing
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to offer guidance by telephone or correspondence. Much canbe
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gleaned from books, or course -- assuming you know which books
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are trustworthy and at the appropriate level -- but there is no
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substitute for personal instruction for some things. Magick can
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be harmful if misused, and an experienced practitioner can help
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you avoid pitfalls as well as offering hints and techniques not
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found in the literature.
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Counseling is a special role of the High Priest/ess. It is
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assumed that all members of a coven share concern for each
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other's physical, mental, emotional and spiritual welfare, and
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are willing to help each other out in practical ways. However,
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coven leaders are expected to have a special ability to help
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coverners explore the roots of teir personal problems and choose
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strategies and tactics to overcome them. This is not to suggest
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that one must be a trained psychoanalyst; but at the least, good
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listening skills, clear thinking and some insight into human
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nature are helpful. Often, magickal skills such as guided
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visualization, Tarot counseling and radiesthesia (pendulum work)
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are valuable tools as well.
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Think carefully about your skills in these areas, as you have
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demonstrated them in other organizations. Ask acquaintances or
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co-workers, who can be trusted to give you a candid opinion, how
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they see you in some of these roles. Meditate, and decide what
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you really want for yourself in organizing the new group. Will
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you be content with being a catalyst and contact person -- simply
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bringing people with a common interest together, then letting the
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group guide its destiny from that point on? Would you rather be
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a facilitatir, either for the first fonths or permanently: a low-
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kdy discussion leader who enables the group to move forward with
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a minimum of misunderstanding and wasted energy? Or do you
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really want to be High Priestess -- whatever that means to you --
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and serve as the guiding spirit and acknowledged leader of a
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coven? And if you do want that job, exactly how much authority
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and work do you envision as part of it? Some coven leaders want
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a great deal of power and control; others simply take an extra
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share of responsibility for setting up the rituals (whether or
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not they actually conduct the rites), and act as "magickal
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advisor" to less experienced members. Thus the High Priest/ess
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can be the center around which the life of the coven revolves, or
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primarily an honorary title, or anything in between.
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That is one area which you will need to have crystal-clear in
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your own mind before the first meeting (of if you are flexible,
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at least be very clear that you are). You must also be clear as
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to your personal needs on other points: program emphasis, size,
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meeting schedule, finances, degree of secrecy, and affiliation
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with a tradition or network. You owe it to prospective members
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and to yourself to make your minimum requirements known from the
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outset: it can be disastrous to a group to discover that members
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have major disagreements on these points after you have been
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meeting for six months.
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