(no subject)

[haptalaon]

So the top of my birthday list this year is a copy of Ritual Facilitation by Shauna Aura Knight; Knight's whole thing is blogging and publishing on the art of ritual/group leadership As Its Own Skillset, and I wish there was more of this kind of thing about. I don't think I know another book like it
? You just look at pagan publishing, an infinity of beginner books and googlable lists of candle colours, & think about your longing for like. Not new age publishing, but a theology curriculum.

"I want to set up a coven where I live (there is no local coven; and no local opportunities to learn skills from a mentor; I nevertheless want to do group initiatory ritual and so I need to develop the skills independently); what are my steps to accomplishing that?"

& I suppose one could sort of put together their own thing; blending theatre techniques, and the best tidbits of spellcraft, and some books for managers or political organisers, but yeah, it's frustrating. To know where one wants to be, and to know one needs to be good - to be able to deliver on a promise - but having none of the intermediate steps.

(like, I could definitely put on an Event, but I really don't want to...I do not want to take on a group of people, until I know a way to pass on techniques and secrets that is bedrock, until I know I can run events where people will leave knowing that they touched the divine; to be ready on the spiritual plain, rather than just the secular. Because I've met too much of the latter in my time, and like, it's ok? but it muddies the ground for finding people who really know their stuff. And I don't want to make that claim until I know it to be true).

Comments

[jenett]

One of the things on my project stack (which I hope to do something with next year) is about "how do you even host a small group/coven sized thing, what do you need to be thinking about to make it work for you and them."

Which is, weirdly, a thing almost no one talks about in the community at all, and you're apparently supposed to pick up by osmosis and/or direct training in whatever group. Like, "what should you be thinking about for seating?" and "dishes and who cleans them up" and "what people need to know about your house before they show up."

And that's, as you say, even before you get to the ritual/training things (which there's also not a ton of, though I like Thea Sabin's "A teaching handbook for witches and pagans" on the teaching front and you might find it useful.)

Jason Mankey covers some of the ritual ground in Transformative Witchcraft especially in terms of putting together transformative ritual when you don't necessarily have group experience in it.

[haptalaon]

ahhhh marvellous; and I already have what you've written already on your site on my mini-reading-list for this topic, because you're right that the practical skills are...their importance is underrated. And thinking about accessibility and stuff isn't *difficult*, really, you just need to know that this is something to think about, and factor it into your planning.

(it's also partly being British: if what you're intending to do is like, an ecstatic drum-chant circle, well you are going to Struggle; we are the land of Anglicanism, the country of stripping all the pretty bits out of Catholicism and preferring to sit in silence while an elderly man rambles soothingly at the front of the slightly chilly hall)

Thank you for book recommendations, I will look them out.

[jenett]

Yes, on the "is what you're trying to do going to fit with the assumptions" (and also space: one of the rental spaces we used to use regularly when I was in the Twin Cities was the meeting room of the Friends (Quaker) meeting house. Great for reflective ritual, absolutely impossible to get a high energy ritual going in.

And yes, on the accessibility (but also, how to talk about the fact this is where conflicting accessibility needs come in: I am deeply aware that my home is not fully accessible to some people. I can't have a service dog here, both because of my allergies and because of the cat, who also lives here. Some mobility things are set up for my daily needs but make it harder for a chair or mobility device, etc.)

[haptalaon]

And just for your notes, what I already have on my list is:

- Ritual Facilitation - Shauna Aura Knight
- The Leader Within - Shauna Aura Knight
- Shauna's blog (lots of really good articles, on ritual design, on dealing with people)
- RitualCraft - Amber K (i think I got this recommendation from you back in the day?)
- The Proteus Coven papers (https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045100/http://proteuscoven.com/library.htm)
- Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood - Lora O'Brien (it came up on a google search)

[jenett]

I have indeed read all of those! (I think you'd find Lora O'Brien's interesting, too.)

Um. Other stuff in my collection:

- Pagan Consent Culture (Christine Hoff Kramer)
- Spiritual Mentoring: A Pagan Guide (Judy Harrow)
- Wicca Covens (Judy Harrow, and useful for some group development work.)
- Inside a Magical Lodge (John Michael Greer, has some useful comments on building an egregore and related topics.)
- Gathering the Magic: Creating 21st Century Esoteric Groups (Nick Farrell)
- Coven Craft: Witchcraft for Three or More (Amber K and Azrael K, has good practical 'what do you need to make an ongoing group go' lists.)
- Magickal Connections: Creating a lasting and healthy spiritual group (Lisa McSherry)
- Esoteric Orders and Their Work (Dion Fortune)

Also Circle of Eight: Creating Magic for your Place on Earth by Jane Meredith - she's Australian, and it's also got some good ideas for group work, bringing a group together, as I remember it.