Ideas From Beket Aser Edithdatter

It is necessary that we learn to be just plain adult about working together - or even, just existing on the same planet.

1- If you can't tolerate any slightest deviation from your own tradition, do not take part in public or cross-cultural rituals or gatherings.
2- If you have ideas of what should be in the ritual; or what should not - go to the planning meeting and express your opinions.
3- If you delegate a task to someone else - you have made it their job. The only thing you have to say is "Thank you". When and how they do it is their business so long as it is done at the moment it is required.
4- Appoint somebody to keep notes of the planning meetings - as things are said, not afterwards, or, inevitably, there will be disagreements about the ground rules.
5- Gossip : There are a few situations wherein it is legitimate to pass on "gossip". the following suggestions are not all inclusive but may serve to give guidelines for judging: a. When a major life change definitely is occurring to someone with whom you and the person to whom you pass on the information - frequently work. b. When you are acting as resource to help someone decrease a situation of disagreement. c. When you really plan to take positive action to alleviate the situation the gossip refers to. d. (This situation really does not occur all that often.) When warning someone about an individual whose practices are definitely undesirable for a reason other than that you don't like them. e. When you have truly accurate information to counteract damaging and inaccurate rumor.
6- When examining a situation to decide whether or not you, yourself, are under psychic attack, be sure to ask yourself if it couldn't be because being under attack makes you feel important.
7- Within the group or group structure, the High Priest and or High Priestess are generally entitled to your respect and a certain amount of deference. If they really, really don't know as much as you do, perhaps it is time that you take a fond and friendly leave of them/him/her and begin a group of your own. Obviously, group or group affairs are appropriate subjects for discussion among all the members, and the HP/S definitely should be willing to listen to reasonable suggestions. However, you joined the group in order to learn from its leaders; a year or two of study probably doesn't qualify you to suddenly object to all their teachings, methods, and beliefs. Above all, it is inappropriate to try to stir up the whole group and "take over" the group. The leaders have put a good deal of time, patience, thought and teaching into building the group and giving it a good name - if you want to be Witch Queen of the Universe, start your own group from scratch and try to become good enough to earn status yourself. The goal is not big groups, it is the best possible groups. For group leaders: They need to be grown-up enough to know that every disagreement isn't necessarily a personal attack. They need to develop leadership skills to avoid confrontation and inflexibility. They need to know how to lead without dominating and they need an intense interest in the health of the group. The HP/S needs to listen to the ideas of the members and to use their ideas whenever possible. They should be able to explain rationally why certain ideas cannot be used.

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Gays In The Craft

***** Quoting message from Paul Seymour to Michael Harismides. *****

In my experience of observing may circles, the ones that included "gay" people without careful attention to the balancing of energies between them had some serious problems. While my somewhat limited experience may have little bearing on the subject, it has suggested something that has not been discussed thoroughly: The necessity of a balancing of male vs. female energies in a circle, regardless of sexual preferences. Any body want to get into this one?

***** End Quote *****

In my experience, a 'balancing of energies' can take a number of forms. One of them that seems to work no matter how the circle is composed is a matching of resonances. Everyone grounds & centers first, and then either the circle is cast and everyone matches resonances or you do it the other way around. To match resonances: stand or sit in a ring with hands nearly touching, with each person's right hand directly above the left hand of the person's neighbor to the right, to the point where each person can feel his/her neighbor's energy field. Let a GENTLE current flow (sorry, this is the only way I know how to describe this) deosil until everyone feels in balance. You are just trying to balance the energy of the circle, not raise any power just yet. We don't always do this in Birdsnest; last time, a simple kiss on the cheek passed deosil with the words "Perfect love and perfect trust. Blessed be." was sufficient. However, Birdsnest is the barest minimum size for a coven (3), and we are a well-matched psychic circle. Non-psychic circles may have more difficulty matching esonances, and may have to resort to other more symbolic ways of balancing the energies. Try various methods and see what works. My guess is that any method that will balance the energies of a circle for Dianics ought to work for anyone,
as we are supposed ;-) to be inherently unbalanced. Incidentally, I learned how to match resonances from a Christian psychic, and she learned it from atouch therapy course. Talk about non-sectarianism!

BB, Sourdough

PS--The original message had to do with balancing of male & female energies. I might add that we have REAL case of potential unbalance in Birdsnest, as all three of us are lovers of women--and when I am in circle, my anima is doing most of the work for me. This seems to create no problems whatever for us. The one time we did have problems, we broke every rule in the book because we were doing an emergency working when we were all physically and emotionally messed up with initial grief shock.

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