Introduction to the Braided Wheel Study Guide.

[Lady Sheherazahde's Wiccan Ways : The Braided Wheel Tradition] Send comments or complaints to sheherazahde@yahoo.com

Introduction to the Braided Wheel Study Guide.

Our culture has chosen a method of teaching that is very like taking a child and telling her you will eat at these times and you will eat what we decide is best for you. It has often been called "spoon feeding" and "regurgitation" because the object is not independent thought but swallowing what you are given and spitting it back whole. For someone trained in that fashion, my manner of teaching seems disorganized and unfocused. To a child used to being spoon fed a mother who says "eat what you are hungry for when you are hungry" seems not to be doing her job.

However, Witchcraft is about personal responsibility, self discipline and gaining awareness of your own physical and emotional needs. It is about deciding for yourself what you need and getting it for your self. But not necessarily alone. I will give you what you need if I have it, if I can see that you need it or if you ask for it.

I have prepared lessons for my students, as I felt best. However, each student is different there is no one plan that meets all students needs and that in itself is a lesson.

My formal training was very much the way I teach. I was given books to read and many opportunities to discus issues with my teachers. That training is the backbone of my current practice. My current world view grew out of that experience. However, as long as I looked to others to give me knowledge I was not truly learning. My true education began when I took responsibility for my own work. True education is what you teach yourself. As part of my education

I developed some basic standards, definitions really, of what each level of achievement would mean to me. Some students take joy in learning and learn all they can at each level others squeak by, learning the bare minimum t hey can. In any system people will find a way to do the least they can, which is why many people reject any kind of system. However, if you come to this program with the understanding that I am your friend, not your enemy, and I want you to achieve the goal then we can work together. The Goal of this program is to produce competent Wiccan clergy. If that is your goal, I will help you.

There is little to be learned in a vacuum. You are not in a vacuum your teacher is here for you use her knowledge. You can also read books, subscribe to periodicals, write and perform your own rituals for yourself and your friends. That is where your education lies.

Braided Wheel is a system for organizing information. It is also a support system, a growing family of people who help each other. The system is not the degree system; the degrees are rewards for work well done, recognition of achievements. The system is the Altar setup and the Ritual format and the world view based on the chakra correspondences; and a way of thinking that values the individual and sees the connections among all things and more. The Braided Wheel Tradition is growing and changing as its members grow and change and if I could explain it all in one paragraph I would not have written so many more pages.

Remember that the people who have been doing this longer are eager to be of service to you just as you will help those who come after you.

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