My name is Liriel Leändreyn. I have been a Pagan for over 10 years and I am a recent dedicant of the Sacred Mists Online College, something I have been interested in doing for several years and only recently learned that there was a payment structure to it that I could afford, which made me VERY excited!
This blog serves as the base for the Magickal Journal that I'm to keep on the Sacred Mists forum and my entries will be x-posted there.
So currently I am still working on the homework for Lesson 1. I've got most of it done. Some of the questions require quite a bit of personal thought and while it presents more of a challenge, I like it that way. I like that it's not what I would consider to be "too easy".
Having tried the curriculum on WitchSchool prior, I find that I actually prefer the way that Sacred Mists does things. It's nothing against WitchSchool. Absolutely not. I think the people that run it are great and I used to listen to their Pagan radio show, Pagans Tonight on BlogTalkRadio. Even though it's been quite a while since I've gotten to listen on a regular basis, I enjoyed their show very much and I'd recommend people listen to them in a heartbeat.
I am an Eclectic Pagan and, as such, I find that I'm not too hung up on the whole "lineage" thing. I've seen people's opinions regarding the Correllian Tradition and the Sacred Mists Tradition and their respective schools and, honestly, it makes me shake my head since it seems that their biggest hang-up is that these schools and trads aren't directly linked back to a more "established" trad like Gardnerian or BTW (British Traditional Witchcraft for anyone who isn't familiar with that abbreviation) or things like that, but you know what?
My opinion is that every Pagan tradition nowadays, Wiccan or otherwise, stem from the more recent reconstructions of ancient Pagan ways. Even the Gardnerian tradition, as established as it is, was once new. New traditions, traceable lineage or not, are popping up all the time. Just because one can't trace the lineage doesn't mean that that particular tradition is bullshit. And thus far, I've yet to see any info either by the Correllian Tradition or the Sacred Mists tradition that has set me on edge with "Oh wait, I think this is a load of crap".
And yes, obviously there's not one tradition that is right for every person. That's totally ok. People should search for whatever tradition fits and encourages their path the best and if there isn't one, by all means start creating one because you never know: your new tradition may be exactly what someone else needs. Personally, I believe that so long as the tradition is operated and presented with integrity, that's what matters most.
And that's another thing: I've seen people in the internet bitching about the fact that Sacred Mists is not a free school and they tout THAT as their reason for thinking that the Sacred Mists school is a "scam" or whatever. Quite frankly, I think that's crap. I mean, how entitled can one really get? People put a crap-ton of their time into this school, the curriculum, student support, etc. Do people seriously think it's a crime to charge financial compensation? For some of the people who run this school and, I imagine, for Lady Lorien, the school and Tradition's creator, I fair well think that this school is nearly the whole of their life and why shouldn't it thus be their livelihood? Between the school and the Shoppe, why should Lady Lorien and the school be considered "crap" just because she needs to make a living?
If people don't want to pay for the schooling because they can't afford it, I understand. I'm not exactly rich myself. But even in that regard, that's what books are for and there are other resources, I'm sure. But I think it's a pretty entitled and selfish attitude for people to have to lump of the school as a scam simply because it's not free.
I remember being a Pagan newbie and subscribing to the belief that Witches should never charge for any of their services, but guess what? I've grown up. I've come to appreciate how much time many Witches put into the things they do. What's next? Lumping off Pagan authors as bullshit because you have to pay for their books?
It's one thing if you're being asked to pay for something that doesn't work. Obviously you still want to keep your eyes open in wariness for Witches that do scammy things because, duh, there are Witches out there who have no concept of ethics. But still. To straight up dump on a school as bullshit for nothing other than the fact that it's not free is, I think, an extremely immature and ridiculously entitled attitude that people have and after putting up with a boyfriend that was a textbook narcissist who was entitled as all get out, it's an attitude that I personally don't have any patience for.
Ok, I'll quit ranting. LoL Goddess knows when I go on an opinionated tangent, I can bleed that horse til it's a skeleton and then keep going. LMAO!!!
And I think that about does it for a first entry.
~*~Liriel~*~
So currently I am still working on the homework for Lesson 1. I've got most of it done. Some of the questions require quite a bit of personal thought and while it presents more of a challenge, I like it that way. I like that it's not what I would consider to be "too easy".
Having tried the curriculum on WitchSchool prior, I find that I actually prefer the way that Sacred Mists does things. It's nothing against WitchSchool. Absolutely not. I think the people that run it are great and I used to listen to their Pagan radio show, Pagans Tonight on BlogTalkRadio. Even though it's been quite a while since I've gotten to listen on a regular basis, I enjoyed their show very much and I'd recommend people listen to them in a heartbeat.
I am an Eclectic Pagan and, as such, I find that I'm not too hung up on the whole "lineage" thing. I've seen people's opinions regarding the Correllian Tradition and the Sacred Mists Tradition and their respective schools and, honestly, it makes me shake my head since it seems that their biggest hang-up is that these schools and trads aren't directly linked back to a more "established" trad like Gardnerian or BTW (British Traditional Witchcraft for anyone who isn't familiar with that abbreviation) or things like that, but you know what?
My opinion is that every Pagan tradition nowadays, Wiccan or otherwise, stem from the more recent reconstructions of ancient Pagan ways. Even the Gardnerian tradition, as established as it is, was once new. New traditions, traceable lineage or not, are popping up all the time. Just because one can't trace the lineage doesn't mean that that particular tradition is bullshit. And thus far, I've yet to see any info either by the Correllian Tradition or the Sacred Mists tradition that has set me on edge with "Oh wait, I think this is a load of crap".
And yes, obviously there's not one tradition that is right for every person. That's totally ok. People should search for whatever tradition fits and encourages their path the best and if there isn't one, by all means start creating one because you never know: your new tradition may be exactly what someone else needs. Personally, I believe that so long as the tradition is operated and presented with integrity, that's what matters most.
And that's another thing: I've seen people in the internet bitching about the fact that Sacred Mists is not a free school and they tout THAT as their reason for thinking that the Sacred Mists school is a "scam" or whatever. Quite frankly, I think that's crap. I mean, how entitled can one really get? People put a crap-ton of their time into this school, the curriculum, student support, etc. Do people seriously think it's a crime to charge financial compensation? For some of the people who run this school and, I imagine, for Lady Lorien, the school and Tradition's creator, I fair well think that this school is nearly the whole of their life and why shouldn't it thus be their livelihood? Between the school and the Shoppe, why should Lady Lorien and the school be considered "crap" just because she needs to make a living?
If people don't want to pay for the schooling because they can't afford it, I understand. I'm not exactly rich myself. But even in that regard, that's what books are for and there are other resources, I'm sure. But I think it's a pretty entitled and selfish attitude for people to have to lump of the school as a scam simply because it's not free.
I remember being a Pagan newbie and subscribing to the belief that Witches should never charge for any of their services, but guess what? I've grown up. I've come to appreciate how much time many Witches put into the things they do. What's next? Lumping off Pagan authors as bullshit because you have to pay for their books?
It's one thing if you're being asked to pay for something that doesn't work. Obviously you still want to keep your eyes open in wariness for Witches that do scammy things because, duh, there are Witches out there who have no concept of ethics. But still. To straight up dump on a school as bullshit for nothing other than the fact that it's not free is, I think, an extremely immature and ridiculously entitled attitude that people have and after putting up with a boyfriend that was a textbook narcissist who was entitled as all get out, it's an attitude that I personally don't have any patience for.
Ok, I'll quit ranting. LoL Goddess knows when I go on an opinionated tangent, I can bleed that horse til it's a skeleton and then keep going. LMAO!!!
And I think that about does it for a first entry.
~*~Liriel~*~
