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Why Is There An Issue With Payment For Magickal Instruction?

To: alt.magick,alt.magick.tantra,alt.magick.tyagi,alt.lucky.w
From: catherine yronwode 
Subject: Re: Why Is There An Issue With Payment For Magickal Instruction?
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 22:14:07 GMT

Old Coyote wrote:
> 
> "THE Talesin"  wrote :
>
> > Jeff Caliban Crow wrote:

> > > I'm not sure I understand why some here believe that a teacher
> > > of magickal practice, be it wicca, ceremonial magick, vodu or 
> > > whatever, is not entitled to charge for the instruction they 
> > > give. 

Actually:

A) Voodoo (Vodu) is the state religion of the African nation
of Benin 
and the majority religion in the nation of Haiti. Like many
other 
non-Christian religions, it accepts magical practice as part
of its
cosmological backdrop, but it is not "magick" per se -- it
is a conventional religion with deity, clergy, laity, and
houses  of worship. 

B) In Voodoo there is a definite and agreed-upon system of
payment for all works of blessing, magic, initiation,
healing, and ceremony -- and the practitioners (including
clergy and lay musicians) are always paid for their services
directly, not through tips, tithes, or donations. 

> > > Since when is it a right of anyone's to obtain their education
> > > for free? Why is a university professor of religion entitled to 
> > > be paid but not a high priestess of _________ ?

Clerical service performed for the laity is different than
teaching magick. Even when a religion includes magickal
practice within its boundaries, the distinction between the
performance of clerical duties and teaching still holds. 

In Christianity, for example, one can attend church services
for free (or make a voluntary donation), but in order to
receive religious training, one must enroll at a seminary or
in a school which has "religion" courses -- for which there
is a charge. 

A High Priestess in a neo-pagan religion is a cleric, in
essence, and performs religious services. Depending upon the
cultural norm for the religion in question, the clergy is
either paid or accepts donations or tithes. Teaching,
however, will be paid -- and is, at neo-pagan festivals and
seminars with entrance fees, through correspondence courses,
and in other venues.

> > The reason that teachers of magick do not get paid is because the
> > field is rife with know-nothing charlatans and posers [...] who
> > just pull things out of their ass.
> 
> Nope, that's not the reason.
> 
> Fact is every market is plauged by crappy products,
> not just the market for magickal instruction.
> 
> By your reasoning, no-one would be able to charge
> money for clothing becase Wal-Mart sells crap.
> 
> Does that make sense to you? Doesn't make sense to me.

But teachers of magick ARE paid, so this side-issue is based
on a false premise.

What Caliban asked was why certain people in the neo-pagan
movement 
oppose such payment. No one has addressed that issue. 

For myself, all i can say is that the mind-set that Caliban
describes is -- in my opinion -- found quite often in the
European-American magickal community, but is not all that
evident in the African-American or Jewish-American
sub-cultures, where there is no onus on asking for or
receiving payment for teaching religious or magical subjects
to students. 

Hope that helps. 

cat yronwode 

Correspondence Course ------ http://www.luckymojo.com/mojocourse.html

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