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Formal training in the Craft
Formal training in the Craft.
To start off with I have no formal training in my chosen path, everything I have learned has been by trial and error. And what books or what I have found on the net. Now I have been walking my path for 17 years.
What is my path you ask? Well my main path is Kitchen Witchery, in layman terms I'm just a Witch and a very proud one. But 17 years ago I didn't have the luxury that is available now for many starting on the path of Paganism. I didn't have the wonderful books that are out there now, I could not go to my computer and Google what I wanted to know about.
So you ask the how did you come to be a witch? Well I could not find what I wanted in organized religion, it left me with more questions then they had answers for. Plus I could not believe in a God that was all hell fire and brimstone and that if I made one little mistake I was going to a very hot place. It just did not fit with me, so one day I was in a library and I found this little black book in between two books about the devil called Helping Yourself With White Witchcraft and that little book started me on my path. I read it so much it was falling apart, and I had to buy it from the library. There was a little shop by my house and it was a Voodoo shop with herbs, oils etc.. I loved going in there and there was this little black woman that I would talk to and ask questions, so from her I learned a bit about Voodoo and herbs. She taught me about candle magick the most. For me it was like coming home. For you see my grandfather taught me as a child about magick and to respect the Earth our Mother as he put it. But he died when I was 13 and grandmother tried to cleanse her heathen as she put it in no uncertain terms.
But you see I still did not really know about the Goddess and the God. That came a bit later in my self teaching. Books were starting to come out a bit by then Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham to name a few. They became my true teachers in the Craft. What I know about herbs magick wise is due to Scott Cunningham and trial and error on my part. They introduced me to the Lord and Lady and there started my own personal path with them. Now something I could look up and study for there were books abound about ancient deities. So I studied and studied many different cultures and their beliefs. And to my amazement they all shared the same stories just in different ways. A virgin giving birth, a sun god being born. And it gave me a chance to really dig deeper in the christian belief, imagine my amazement when I seen they shared many characteristics of other faiths. But I learned and as the years went by I had more books to learn from. I met others of like mind and learned from them. I used what I thought was best for me and discarded the rest. If I told you all the different paths I have studied over the years I will be here all night. But again no formal training with no set path. I was me, I learned what I wanted to learn, use what felt right to me. But the more my magick grew, so did my spiritual self grow. The more I worked with magick, the more my bond grew with the Lord and Lady. I have had a few teachers come into my life that left me feeling cold, they were just talking the talk, not walking the walk. That was not what I was looking for. So I kept on my little path of self discovery, and on my path I found some wonderful people that have touched my life in very special ways. They became my teachers, mentors, and fellow path walkers, and I stay in touch with these few special people. I have set at the feet of Yvonne Frost and just soaked up her wonderful energy and special light that is all her. I have danced the May Pole with Raymond Buckland and had wonderful talks with this man. I watched Gavin and Yvonne dance a special dance and you could see the magick between them. I have listen to Janet Farrar give a lecture. My dream is to meet Dorothy Morrison one day. I have all her books and I love them. Ember K, Ravenwolf, Buckland, Cunningham, Frost and many others have been my teachers over the years. That is my formal training in the Craft.
Now I have a few years under my belt and I have had a few students and I have learned as much from them as they have learned from me. It is always nice to get a fresh open mind that likes to ask questions that make you think. I know many on here will echo that statement as teachers. Last year I had one that keep me on my toes as a kitchen witch student, I learned much from her. But even though I now teach and have been a mentor a time or two, I am still a student and at this time I am learning about four new paths. I have teachers and a mentor to help me learn about these paths I have chosen to learn more of.
So the question is do you really need formal training on your way to self discovery?
And the reason I ask this is because I had someone tell me that I could not be a High Priestess of Eclectic Witchcraft there is no such path, I could not be a High Priestess of Kitchen Witchery a path that I have been truly following for 10 years. I did not have a signed sealed divine teacher that taught me my Craft. I do not have a pedagry a mile long so my titles which I am very proud of and I have worked very hard to have these titles are not real titles. Well I have to say I disagree with this person, my titles are just as real as theirs, so I did not have a fuddy duddy follow my rules or else group that I learned from. I learned from the best teachers there is, my God and Goddess.
To start off with I have no formal training in my chosen path, everything I have learned has been by trial and error. And what books or what I have found on the net. Now I have been walking my path for 17 years.
What is my path you ask? Well my main path is Kitchen Witchery, in layman terms I'm just a Witch and a very proud one. But 17 years ago I didn't have the luxury that is available now for many starting on the path of Paganism. I didn't have the wonderful books that are out there now, I could not go to my computer and Google what I wanted to know about.
So you ask the how did you come to be a witch? Well I could not find what I wanted in organized religion, it left me with more questions then they had answers for. Plus I could not believe in a God that was all hell fire and brimstone and that if I made one little mistake I was going to a very hot place. It just did not fit with me, so one day I was in a library and I found this little black book in between two books about the devil called Helping Yourself With White Witchcraft and that little book started me on my path. I read it so much it was falling apart, and I had to buy it from the library. There was a little shop by my house and it was a Voodoo shop with herbs, oils etc.. I loved going in there and there was this little black woman that I would talk to and ask questions, so from her I learned a bit about Voodoo and herbs. She taught me about candle magick the most. For me it was like coming home. For you see my grandfather taught me as a child about magick and to respect the Earth our Mother as he put it. But he died when I was 13 and grandmother tried to cleanse her heathen as she put it in no uncertain terms.
But you see I still did not really know about the Goddess and the God. That came a bit later in my self teaching. Books were starting to come out a bit by then Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham to name a few. They became my true teachers in the Craft. What I know about herbs magick wise is due to Scott Cunningham and trial and error on my part. They introduced me to the Lord and Lady and there started my own personal path with them. Now something I could look up and study for there were books abound about ancient deities. So I studied and studied many different cultures and their beliefs. And to my amazement they all shared the same stories just in different ways. A virgin giving birth, a sun god being born. And it gave me a chance to really dig deeper in the christian belief, imagine my amazement when I seen they shared many characteristics of other faiths. But I learned and as the years went by I had more books to learn from. I met others of like mind and learned from them. I used what I thought was best for me and discarded the rest. If I told you all the different paths I have studied over the years I will be here all night. But again no formal training with no set path. I was me, I learned what I wanted to learn, use what felt right to me. But the more my magick grew, so did my spiritual self grow. The more I worked with magick, the more my bond grew with the Lord and Lady. I have had a few teachers come into my life that left me feeling cold, they were just talking the talk, not walking the walk. That was not what I was looking for. So I kept on my little path of self discovery, and on my path I found some wonderful people that have touched my life in very special ways. They became my teachers, mentors, and fellow path walkers, and I stay in touch with these few special people. I have set at the feet of Yvonne Frost and just soaked up her wonderful energy and special light that is all her. I have danced the May Pole with Raymond Buckland and had wonderful talks with this man. I watched Gavin and Yvonne dance a special dance and you could see the magick between them. I have listen to Janet Farrar give a lecture. My dream is to meet Dorothy Morrison one day. I have all her books and I love them. Ember K, Ravenwolf, Buckland, Cunningham, Frost and many others have been my teachers over the years. That is my formal training in the Craft.
Now I have a few years under my belt and I have had a few students and I have learned as much from them as they have learned from me. It is always nice to get a fresh open mind that likes to ask questions that make you think. I know many on here will echo that statement as teachers. Last year I had one that keep me on my toes as a kitchen witch student, I learned much from her. But even though I now teach and have been a mentor a time or two, I am still a student and at this time I am learning about four new paths. I have teachers and a mentor to help me learn about these paths I have chosen to learn more of.
So the question is do you really need formal training on your way to self discovery?
And the reason I ask this is because I had someone tell me that I could not be a High Priestess of Eclectic Witchcraft there is no such path, I could not be a High Priestess of Kitchen Witchery a path that I have been truly following for 10 years. I did not have a signed sealed divine teacher that taught me my Craft. I do not have a pedagry a mile long so my titles which I am very proud of and I have worked very hard to have these titles are not real titles. Well I have to say I disagree with this person, my titles are just as real as theirs, so I did not have a fuddy duddy follow my rules or else group that I learned from. I learned from the best teachers there is, my God and Goddess.
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