Seeker's Bill of Rights

[Mariposa De La Luna]

* I thought I'd bump this up for the Newbies*

I take a Wicca 101 class and this was given at our first class, on ethics.

Unfortunately all these things happened to one person, fortunately it gave birth to this.



Seeker's Bill of Rights
Compiled by Hern's Wood Coven


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Seekers of the Pagan path are often extremely vulnerable. In their quest for teaching and fellowship, they risk encountering those who use our faith to prey on others. Since paganism is still struggling for public acceptance, there is little sympathy from authorities. Neither can the elders of our communities effectively address this issue. The most they can do is denounce these predators, and [they] are usually accused of starting a "witch war" when they do.

The answer to this dilemma is to empower those most vulnerable, the Seekers. To this end, the Seeker's Bill of Rights has been drafted. This tool will help to alert seekers of a problem if a group or teacher violates any of the ten rights described. It will also serve to remind seekers that while they may not have "degrees," they are still human beings with rights and dignity.

I. The Right to Verify Credentials:
Seekers shall not be obstructed from contacting persons who can substantiate or disavow claims made by a group or teacher. In the case of elders who were inspired to create a new tradition, the seeker has a right to know the circumstances surrounding the inception of that tradition.

II. The Right to Anonymity:
Seekers have the right to keep their involvement in the occult a secret to preserve their personal and professional lives.

III. The Right to Financial Stability:
Seekers shall not be required or coerced to take on financial burdens on behalf of a teacher or a group.

IV. The Right to Compensation for Professional goods and services:
Seekers have the Right to be paid for goods produced and/or [for] skilled labor from which they would normally receive an income. Seekers shall not be required or coerced to provide "freebies" or discounts on behalf of a teacher or group.

V. The Right to Sexual Freedom:
Seekers shall not be required or coerced to [have] sexual relations with unwanted persons. Nor shall seekers be restricted from sexual relations with consenting adults.

VI. The Right to Physical Well-Being:
Seekers shall not be required or coerced to submit to any form of physical injury.

VII. The Right to Abide by the Law:
Seekers shall not be required or coerced to commit any illegal act.

VIII. The Right to Consistency:
Seekers have the right to expect consistent policies from a teacher or group. Seekers should be formally informed in a timely manner of any policy changes.

IX. The Right to Separation with Impunity:
Seekers have the right to discontinue association with any teacher or group without fear of harassment or reprisal.

X. The Right to be at Peace with One's Conscience:
Seekers shall not be required or coerced to commit any action contrary to their own sense of ethics and morality.

© 1998 Hern's Wood Coven

This can be seen online at:
http://www.betwixt.org/AboutUs/seekers.htm

People in the DFW area, you know who you are, SHOULD check this place out but only if you truly think you are ready. It will change your life but will only manifest what your preconcieved notions are.
I am not a board member or a very active member just a new one who is starting to think alot on Pagan Unity.

[Mariposa De La Luna]

*bump*

[bluecat]

I think it's time for VELCRO to be summoned.

Blue

[Bittersweet]

thanks for that, SAHM, and for bluecat, for telling me where this is... its very usefull... i have one question, though... im not all that enthusiastic about getting a teacher.. im not a naturally trustworthy person, im afraid, and as this is new to me... im kinda scared by people e-mailing offering to teach me... seeing as i dont know them, except through this one email... its not that im scared, its just that one email sayin that this person is wiccan, and would i like to meet.. well... i guess its really nasty to say, its just i dont really know them, and i wouldnt accept this from anyone else, due to the great number of stalkers and perverts there are out there.... but as this person says their wiccan, should i agree to meet up, as ive heard there are very few who offer to teach without being asked, or just be wary of them, and politeley decline, seing as im not getting "good" vibes, and it kinda freaks me out... or should i put that down to nervousness??

[bluecat]

Originally posted by Bittersweet
thanks for that, SAHM, and for bluecat, for telling me where this is... its very usefull... i have one question, though... im not all that enthusiastic about getting a teacher.. im not a naturally trustworthy person, im afraid, and as this is new to me... im kinda scared by people e-mailing offering to teach me... seeing as i dont know them, except through this one email... its not that im scared, its just that one email sayin that this person is wiccan, and would i like to meet.. well... i guess its really nasty to say, its just i dont really know them, and i wouldnt accept this from anyone else, due to the great number of stalkers and perverts there are out there.... but as this person says their wiccan, should i agree to meet up, as ive heard there are very few who offer to teach without being asked, or just be wary of them, and politeley decline, seing as im not getting "good" vibes, and it kinda freaks me out... or should i put that down to nervousness??

If you are having bad vibes, follow your feelings, don't contact the person or even give them any personal info, just politely decline.

Blue

[Mariposa De La Luna]

OK I tried to do this yesterday but the server went down.

Thanks blue for the velcro! I didn't know it was possible. Can only staff do it?

Bittersweet - Howdy! I was just in Houston this past weekend for my BIL's wedding. I'm homesick already! Take blue's advice, bad vibes are there for a reason. In TX we have two very established orgs to find reputable teachers, Covenant of the Goddess and Council of Magickal Arts. The general rule though is not to initiate anyone into a coven under the age of 18 for legal reasons. So in the two years you have to wait read and study what you can. Learn more about yourself. It really will go quickly, especially your senior year. Oh yeah HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

[bluecat]

Originally posted by SAHM
OK I tried to do this yesterday but the server went down.

Thanks blue for the velcro! I didn't know it was possible. Can only staff do it?

Bittersweet - Howdy! I was just in Houston this past weekend for my BIL's wedding. I'm homesick already! Take blue's advice, bad vibes are there for a reason. In TX we have two very established orgs to find reputable teachers, Covenant of the Goddess and Council of Magickal Arts. The general rule though is not to initiate anyone into a coven under the age of 18 for legal reasons. So in the two years you have to wait read and study what you can. Learn more about yourself. It really will go quickly, especially your senior year. Oh yeah HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Yup it's a moderator thing.

That was a great point about finding a teacher! There is a link to a great article, and it's from Covenant of the Goddess, A Few Things to Think About When Seeking A Teacher http://www.cog.org/wicca/teach.htm .

Check it out :)

Blue :cool:

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Bittersweet
thanks for that, SAHM, and for bluecat, for telling me where this is... its very usefull... i have one question, though... im not all that enthusiastic about getting a teacher.. im not a naturally trustworthy person, im afraid, and as this is new to me... im kinda scared by people e-mailing offering to teach me... seeing as i dont know them, except through this one email... its not that im scared, its just that one email sayin that this person is wiccan, and would i like to meet.. well... i guess its really nasty to say, its just i dont really know them, and i wouldnt accept this from anyone else, due to the great number of stalkers and perverts there are out there.... but as this person says their wiccan, should i agree to meet up, as ive heard there are very few who offer to teach without being asked, or just be wary of them, and politeley decline, seing as im not getting "good" vibes, and it kinda freaks me out... or should i put that down to nervousness??

Take it from someone who knows that feeling well (and has ignored it sometimes too)... Don't ignore your instincts, gut feelings, intuition, whatever you want to call it. Every time (and I mean EVERY TIME) I've done that, it's come back to bite me on the butt. Trust yourself. You will know what's right for you or not. I'm not an overly trusting person either but when the time was right, I found people to worship with. And you will too, if it's right for you.

Just my opinion of course...

Dria El

[Krom]

Originally posted by Dria El


Take it from someone who knows that feeling well (and has ignored it sometimes too)... Don't ignore your instincts, gut feelings, intuition, whatever you want to call it. Every time (and I mean EVERY TIME) I've done that, it's come back to bite me on the butt. Trust yourself. You will know what's right for you or not. I'm not an overly trusting person either but when the time was right, I found people to worship with. And you will too, if it's right for you.

Just my opinion of course...

Dria El



Hi Dria El glad to see you on here.

Anyhow on this Seeker Bill of Rights; from ONE Traditionalist point of view some of the points on this list should be standard. Saying that I will now also say that to demand these points as written is not a good way to meet and work with Trad Wiccan. Most of the time if you treat these individuals with the same respect you would like to be treated then you will be treated the same.

The first point though made on the list can be difficult. In Traditional Wicca it is very rare that you meet your teachers teacher . You probably will after initiation but very rarely before (assuming they are still living). That can make it hard to verify that type of info. That does not mean its time to run. Trad Wicca works a bit different that way. Trust your gut is all I can say. Ask around to see if others know the group. Even still you might not get anything due to privacy and secrecy rules.

It comes down to trust. Can you trust them.

[Dria El]

Originally posted by Krom
Hi Dria El glad to see you on here.

Welcome to Mystic Wicks Krom!!! :) Glad to see you decided to join us! hehe I know you'll cause as much trouble... oops, I mean, enjoy it here as much as I do! :D

ps. you should post an intro in 'Just Talk' and get yourself a proper welcome! :)

[lady_dragonfire]

This is excellent advice.......a while ago I join a yahoo club about wicca, shortly thereafter I received an email from the founder with an invite to their yahoo group. There was a provisio that to join I had to talk live with the founder. I refused to give out my phone number but offered to call them. They provided a number but since I did not have a good vibe about the situation, I used a pay phone instead of my home phone. Turned out to be a good thing a did since one of the first things said was "you are calling from a pay phone", meaning they had caller ID and would have gotten my home phone anyway. To make a long story short, ANYONE can set up a club, group or webpage. Follow your instincts. I did report this club and group to yahoo and they were deleted, but I also ended up with my email account deleted too.

But that was not a bad thing...could contact and give new email to those who counted and this way the preditor no longer could contact me...LOL

Remain open and cool, but stay safe.

BB
lady dragonfire )0(
;)

[Arak]

Originally posted by Bittersweet
thanks for that, SAHM, and for bluecat, for telling me where this is... its very usefull... i have one question, though... im not all that enthusiastic about getting a teacher.. im not a naturally trustworthy person, im afraid, and as this is new to me... im kinda scared by people e-mailing offering to teach me... seeing as i dont know them, except through this one email... its not that im scared, its just that one email sayin that this person is wiccan, and would i like to meet.. well... i guess its really nasty to say, its just i dont really know them, and i wouldnt accept this from anyone else, due to the great number of stalkers and perverts there are out there.... but as this person says their wiccan, should i agree to meet up, as ive heard there are very few who offer to teach without being asked, or just be wary of them, and politeley decline, seing as im not getting "good" vibes, and it kinda freaks me out... or should i put that down to nervousness??

Hi Bittersweet,

I have been prtactising for ten years and have never had a teacher. Like you, I am not very trusting of a lot of people. From what I have seen in my own community, these feelings have been justified. If you do not feel comfortable with a teacher, then go with that feeling. If people are harrassing you to be their student, then I would be extremely wary. These people are usually predators or newbies themselves trying to look important. If you are not getting good vibes, then tellthat person to leave you alone or report him/her to a moderator or the ISP.

[bluebear]

The Seekers Bill of Rights contains some very good information that will certainly help me take my next step on this path.
Blessings
Bluebear

[Arianna]

Okay, this article is neat, but a class? Are you really in a class or are you just fooling around. Since I'm pretty new I was just curious.

[dragonflysidhe]

I think that this is a great idea for newbies, they often times need all the help they can get. On another note I think an additional problem that newbies face (which can at the same time make them vunerable) is their lack of respect for the path and those who have followed, practiced and lived it, when they wake up one day a decide tha "I Want to BE PAGAN" and then spread the word that they are, start casting spells (or think they are and could be creating alot of problems instead). I have to laugh when I hear these new newbies sling the lingo, drop the author's names, and think we don't know that they have no experience. Oh well just a thought.

[Witchy Cowgirl]

SAHM:)
Thanks for your post.

[materra]

I have been very fortunate. I had a second teacher after my Mother died that was wonderful. She set my feet on a safe path.
I have meet others that didn't have the kind of safely and decency I did. Trust your instincts, if it doesn't feel safe, don't do it. You can always change your mind later, when you have more information to test it out.

Lady Dragonfire, you are very brave, I am glad you are safe. I got attacked just once by spell. It was awful. I have only now, a year later, started to talk to other pagans. Blessed be.

[PLHH]

I, too, am just beginning to learn.....have devoured many books, searched out information, even found 2 local stores and actually missed a recent open circle! *sigh* My dh is a self-proclaimed athiest....and I'd considered myself agnostic.......but in looking for what I felt was right, I stumbled onto paganism. It's a lot of difficult concepts to grasp for me, but I'm doing my best. I AM a newbie, so please excuse any miswordings and/or mistakes i make......as most do when learning.

If I have any questions at all, am I free to post them here on MW? I've found that most pagans are really open and while they don't try to convert people, they are very open and willing to discuss things when people are truly open to learning about it.

Thanks again for this!

[Jazzmine]

Thank you for posting that. It seems that a lot of us are not as trusting as we used to be. I remember that when I was young (i'm 36 now by the way) we never had to worry about going out and about at night and trick or treating was a blast, your parents didn't have to go with you. But it's sad that the world has turned upside down and there seems to be so many people out there trying to do harm to the young and the trusting. To me that truly sucks. but that is the way of the world now and we all have to be super carefull now. But I have to say that the people in this community have my trust. I like coming here and everyone is very open with their feelings and their point of views and hardly ever does anyone get bashed or knocked down for what they believe. I love it here. Anyway, thanks a lot.

[SagaDraco]

Bravo! What I did to avoid cons was simply learn from Nature. You learn alot more from slowing down and seeing, not merely looking than you do listening to most people anyway.

[Rani Drummond]

Bittersweet,
I would say that if you want to learn, trusting your instincts is your first lesson and your best teacher. Check out Krom's signature!

[Yvonne Belisle]

Bump for the new practioners