Copyright 2006 Jennifer Schumaker.
to one, that doesn't mean I'm getting old or anything, and I'm NOT at all sensitive about it) I
imagine my experience in formal training would have been seen as very, very strange, but
perhaps not so much now.
Like most people I grabbed a book, and then another. I was lucky in my choices—I started
with “Drawing Down the Moon” and went next to “Spiral Dance.” I was lucky enough to
have Witchy friends who held circles and were willing to include me in their group. And I
was lucky enough to find a little place on the internet (with which I was just starting to get
familiar) that offered training in a tradition and that was entirely online. Huh? An online
coven? If I recall, there was an episode of “Buffy” from way back, where Giles had the hots for
a teacher who was a cyber-Pagan, and I remember asking a friend “What the heck is a cyber-
Pagan? How silly is that??”
I knew that in my little corner of the Midwest, while people who were Wiccans seemed to
gather in groups, it was highly unlikely that I would find a group that I would want to join
or would have time to dedicate to as I was working three part-time jobs and attending
college. Here was a curriculum packaged just for *me;* totally free, and totally not silly. I
rather quickly applied, and to my great relief was accepted, to The Coven of the Far Flung
Net, the virtual teaching coven of the Universal Eclectic Wicca tradition. Thus began a
relationship that has lasted about seven years now and is continuing nicely. After all this
time I suppose I am now an official cyber-Wiccan.
Yes, my formal training in Wicca has happened almost entirely online. I say "almost"
because, while CFFN is housed online, the vast majority of the work required of students is
done offline. Read, research, visualize, experiment, and report back to us. That was my
guidance for quite a lot, including casting my first circle. However, I was lucky enough to
have gathered some past "real-life" experience to draw upon in performing visualizations and
handling energy.
My first guided meditation took place when I was in the sixth grade. My teacher, Mrs.
Cramer, was guiding her classroom full of stressed-out 12-year-olds through a series of these
meditations in an effort to teach us positive ways to deal with our stress in life. The one I
remember most fondly was an afternoon at the beach. We lay down on the floor with our
shoes off and the lights turned down. Mrs. Cramer had this wonderfully soothing voice, that
special mix of “mom” with 30 years of lecturing, coffee, and cigarettes to make it just right.
She had us imagine the feel of the sun warming us up, and the sound of the waves swishing
in the background. She helped us feel the sand—warm at first, but cool underneath as we
wiggled down into it, into a little nest that conformed to our bodies. Before long the water
was lapping at our toes, and then pulling little bits of sand from beneath us as the tide came
in. I felt lucky then because I had actually been to the beach, and I could draw upon that
experience to make my visualization more real.
And obviously it was real! I would never have guessed at the time that I would recall that
experience more than ten years later to learn to experience Water, or recall it now in such
detail. I also learned about Chi in a Yoga class I took in college, which was my first experience
in consciously dealing with group energy. With the professor’s guidance we grew our own
personal energy until it was bigger than our physical bodies and was touching the energy of
those around us. The exercise my professor performed with us is one I still use when teaching
others to sense group energy for the first time. Again, how could I have guessed?
For me, the rest has been practice. Much, much practice!
Does this really count as formal training? I would say it does, and I'm sure other CFFN-ers
would agree. Our curriculum is specific and rigorous and requires a LOT of work from
students. UEWiccans are divided into circles rather than degrees based on what we know,
which is gauged by what work we’ve shown. That work is then cheerfully peer-reviewed,
which provides additional learning opportunities for the reviewer, as well. Is it exactly the
same as being dedicated to a coven and having a personal mentor or having found someone
to teach me one-on-one in person from the beginning? Obviously not, but it certainly has
great value. And obviously I have had mentors in my life, albeit from unexpected quarters at
times.
In my opinion, the training I have had has served as a backbone for my own personal
explorations regarding magickal practice in Wicca. It is the lattice for my honeysuckle, if you
will. Without it I would probably still have grown, but not nearly as far. In other words, I
think it’s hard to branch out if you don’t have a branch to start with. My training, from
wherever it was given, has allowed me a framework in which and from which to be creative
and learn independently. Not everyone who desires formal training with a personal teacher
will have access to that training, for whatever reason. It is important that we recognize the
teaching experiences we have all had in some form in our lives to enrich what we set out to
learn in our magickal practice.
Does everyone need formal training? I would have to say no. If a person is blissfully happy
being a "casual" Pagan there is no reason why s/he should feel obligated to pursue any kind
of training at all. The more frequent occurrence of people choosing this route is what I see as
part of an indication that Pagan religions are growing religions. It's reasonable then to expect
that there will be trained priest/esses and lay people in Pagan religions much as other modern
religions. A highly trained and educated clergy is a desirable thing, regardless.
In light of my personal experience I believe it is important for those people who would
assume positions of priest/esses for a group to have some kind of training, as they will be
placing themselves in a position to lead and/or teach others. This training doesn’t need to
happen in some solemn, formal setting, but it should happen. You cannot (effectively) lead a
ritual or teach a technique or subject you don’t know. Being self-taught is a valid way to
learn--I think ultimately it’s much more difficult than having a teacher, but it is still valid.
