My trek to be a better person has been moving at a good pace. I have been thinking long and hard about what else I could do to make myself a better person and help others. And I have some ideas that I would love to share with everyone.
The first thing is about time. Time is our biggest enemy, it never stops we can never get enough of it. SO we are forced to make decisions on how to use this limited resource. Many Celtic and Wicca based groups use the "Year and a Day" period for training people. And it is a good amount of time to use. There is a lot to learn in a year for all pagans. We should never stop learning, you stop learning you stop living. You only exist if you don't apply your mind. Some groups are very strict on the 366 days of learning and some are more flexible. I think that there has to be a great of flexibility of anyone that seeks to lead others.
Life is never easy, we have events that occur in our lives that take away from our studies. You might have been reading a book by Scott Cunningham , then all of a sudden something changed your time devoted to learning. Do we throw away all progress made and have to start on a new 'year and a day'? I think that wouldn't work. Most paths have 8 Sabbaths, 4 major and 4 minor. And since our Sabbaths are connected to the changing seasons that are the same duration. So I suggest dividing the year and a day into 4 quarters or 13 week periods. Have a self test or have your spiritual guide test you on what you were supposed to learn. If you pass then you can move on to the next quarter, if not go back and learn what you need to learn.
Why am I thinking about this? Because I have decided that if I am going to help others and work as a spiritual guide for others, I need to create a year and a day study program . And this would be a major task. I will learn from creating this system, plus I could help anyone that is seeking advice. Having something worked out on paper will work as a guideline for both people. I am still wanting to be a part of an open circle not a coven. I am willing to help anyone out. I just don't want people to think that I am their only person that they can talk to.
The idea that I had is that a person would start his/her training that day after a major Sabbath. Then on the next Sabbath they would present themselves with what they have created and what they learned by discussion. They would bring their BOS and other books with them and any tools that they made and explain why they are a certain way. Then their guide could ask a few questions and get a feeling of how the person is advancing. There can never be a formal test, because we all must follow out own path.
I had an idea of creating a code of ethics notebook in with my BOS. In this book I would add all the judgements that I make . The purpose is to hold myself accountable for the actions that I do. I am seeing too much flip flopping in the presidential election with Romney. And I think that by creating this notebook , it would strengthen my resolve in staying true to what I say and do. We all have our moments when we soften up our convictions. I would be making an oath to the book to uphold the ethics that I create in that book. This would be a good thing in helping others as well , because I will have some established rules and an explanation why I feel that way. I can't impose them on anyone, but if someone has a question on a certain subject I could discuss it with them. And that is what a person should do if they are going to be part of a community.
I have bought a briefcase that I am going to keep all my pagan papers in. I am trying to think of all of the functions ministers have. I am still working on my marriage ceremony speech. I have most of the pre-martial counseling class worked out. I haven't figured out how to handle a funeral, I have been to so few in my life, I have a lot of research to do there.
Being a spiritual guide is also more than just knowing information. It is about interacting with others, developing a personality that can cross bridges and through the barriers that people have. I know people that are are very intelligent and socially dumb, and vice versa. So learning to talk with people and not just talking at people is a skill that must be learned and applied to everyday life. Being social doesn't mean that you have to be nice all the time. There is a time where tough love is needed. There is a time when what you believe in must come before having a friend. To be a spiritual guide sometimes we must take a course of actions to get noticed and to let others know that they are not alone.
This brings me back to the Robert Frost poem. I think that we must go through some ordeals to get stronger. We must experience life to understand life. I am a strong person and I want to help others. There are people out there that have taken the road less traveled and got lost along the way. I am walking the road less traveled and I want to help those also on the road as well. And in the end it will make all the difference.
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