Valley Wands

A Fool And His Money

Are online training courses a rip off, or can they actually provide a much needed resource for people who are unable to find people to train them in the Craft?

Interesting question really when you think about it.  We can do most things with the aid of the internet and other media resources.  You can take University Degree’s, Diploma’s in anything from flower arranging to Engineering or childcare, so why not in magic?

I stumbled across a site today offering training through the Wiccan degrees (note the capital W) to High Priest/ess status and the third degree, and I stopped and stared in amazement. You would think that anybody who claims to be trained to Third Degree and running  covens would know that as much as introductory courses are possible, how on earth can you take someone through to Third Degree, a title which should mean that someone is proven to be competent, experienced and capable in all aspects of the craft and in working with others.

I suppose it’s true you can learn most things with distance learning, you can of course learn facts and figures.  You can read and learn verbatim notes and practical aspects on how to do various things. But what happens when you try and put that theory into practise? What happens when things don’t go the way you thought it would because you misunderstood something or got the wording wrong? What happens when things go wrong? – I can just see now someone invoking an elemental for instance, and not dispatching it correctly.  Whilst chaos looms all around, our HPs is saying to the invoked pest ...’Can you just wait there for aminute whilst I go and email my tutor, I don’t remember you still being here,being a possibility in lesson 5’.

What happens when our once solitary teenager, now classes her/himself qualified to start a coven? There’s more to it than having passed some online course.  What about common sense? Remember him...common sense was lost as a natural asset about the same time as political correctness stepped in.  What about man management skills? What about understanding people? and ensuring a bond develops that is something that only a coven member will understand, what about life experience?

I think there is a place in this time for online courses,but only to a certain level, and at  quite a basic level.  I personally believe in teaching people from books or any other media resource to start with, but it’s not long before I take those books away.  The craft comes from within, it can’t be found beyond the very basic platforms and structures within modern media.  It’s a bit like learning to drive.  I’m sure many of you will have heard the saying, ‘you learn to drive to pass your test, once you pass your test, then you learn to drive.’  That is a lot of truth in that.  Confidence and awareness only comes when you no longer have to concentrate on the basics of what pedal to push and when to change gear, or consciously have to remind yourself to check your mirrors.  After a time, you just do these things automatically, and the same with the Craft. 

Another thing about these courses, should you have to pay for them? Well in my opinion, people have to make a living and charging for their time and support, just as you would with any course in adult education is ok.  But then are you getting value for money? How do you know what is right and wrong? And keeping in mind what I said previously about being a certain degree in the Craft doesn’t just involve knowledge from books, how can you ever hope to be taken seriously within the Craft if all your learning and knowledge comes from an online course, and worse still an online initiation?

Then again, what happens if your tutors are misleading you by giving the impression that world famous Wiccans, who are published authors and who run Covens are somehow involved? – or are they knowingly just trying to rob you of your hard earned cash, with the knowledge that it’s not what it seems?  Where are the ethics and morals in that? Isn’t the Craft supposed to be about trust in those you work with, I don’t think I’d trust someone who I thought was taking others for a ride, and just trying to part them with their money.

If two such famous Wiccans teamed up with a third party who was claiming to run an online tradition, with online initiations (for a fee of course) and allowed themselves to lend credence to the site and course by a deliberately misleading site layout? What would you think then?  These courses which take you to HP/HPs of theSacred Mists Tradition, give the impression that you would be regarded as trained in Wicca by the main Wiccan Traditions? Would you trust them?

Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, two supposedly world recognisedWiccan Coven leaders and authors, I would like you to stand up and take a bow.

http://www.sacredmists.com/samionwidetr.html

Join this site, pay $25.00 dollars per degree enrolment fee:$25.00 a month tuition fees, for a minimum of 3 years... that’s a total of $975.00 and you can call yourself a HP or HPs of the Sacred Mists Tradition...which is run by someone called Lady Raven Moonshadow!  This course is NOT recognised by anyone outside of this online community, so what on earth is anyone going to gain from parting with $975.00? 

With a name like Lady Raven Moonshadow that you’d have to be stark staring raving mad to even consider it, as for those behind it or seemingly endorsing it? I have nothing but contempt!

BB

Sian

www.valleywands.com

Since writing this blog I see the link above has been moved.... but they are still around, check out:

http://www.workingwitches.com/seminars/BOS/index.htm

Still using the name of Farrar and Bone, who still seem happy to be allowing their 'partnership' to be used in a money making scam.