The Pagan Library

No, I think that includes everything.

Okay, cool, if $30 for a lifetime and unlimited access to their possibly limited information. So, it's a gamble, I'd say. $30 for what could be a bunch of information you really could use, or $30 down the drain. I'd still say the latter, because if you had some useful information, one would think you'd charge more than that.
Oi. Intuition, gut feeling (same thing, really). See what they say.

I won't vote, because I didn't even go to the site, I'll just say I'd rather spend $30 on a couple of good books.

Okay, first a small rant.

Personally, I gave up teaching classes of students offline for free because everytime I had a class in my home, the students would raid my fridge, raid my supplies cupboards, and never offered me a dime to replace what they had taken. Half of them would not bring paper or pencils to take notes with and I would have to provide them. When we did rituals I had to provide all the components and the cakes and wine for afterwards. Now I charge $5-50 per person per class depending on how difficult the field of study and how many materials will be needed and how long the class will be. It makes up for the fridge raiding.

So next time you are wondering why you cannot find a decent teacher let alone one for free, its because many of us are tired of being taken advantage of.

And shame on those of you who made decisions about this site without even visiting it, talk about judging a book by its cover. Watch out for the karmic backlash of that.
Okay rant over.

I did a review of these guys years ago for my site. Their courses are not bad if you are looking to expand your studies to include Corellian Witchcraft. You do not have to "believe" anything about the Corellian views to implement their techniques. I have taken a few of their free courses and have seen the information for a few of the paid courses.

Their pay one time for lifetime access is one of the better pay methods I have seen, not so expensive that you get robbed for the experience. $30 for a lifetime membership. If you get bored with them after a year, it is still a $10 saving on the cost of a one year membership. If you just want to try it for a month, its only $5. The costs include access to all courses they teach. So lets see, $5 and you can download over 50 courses or $30 to the bookstore for a couple of books. And which choice did you make again?

Some of their free courses are the usual run of Wicca 101 courses that you can find any of a hundred other places for free, but some of them are unique in their methods and include information that comes from out of print tomes. They also have free video downloads on a variety of subjects at their new project http://www.magicktv.com/ including a daily Pagan news show.

All courses are mentor guided. Mentors are there to help students with the materials, answer their questions, grade essay examinations and other projects, and to evaluate student performance. Some courses, such as the First Degree Correllian Wicca course, give you the option to choose from among a pool of available mentors. Once you have completed their first degree program you are given the choice of whether or not you want to continue studying without becoming a Corellian, or whether you wish to expand your studies towards clergy studies to become a Corellian.

The reason for the tests is that when you get a certification from these people they want to know that you know your stuff. I like that idea. If I am going to an herbalist I look for one that is licensed, otherwise I might end up with some twit that prescribes belladonna for migraines. When I seek a reading from a diviner, I ask them about their credentials and if they list completed apprenticeship from certain divinatory teachings then I use them, if they cannot, I don't. Their testing lends a bit more credibility to them because its not one of those "Pay a fee, download a certificate, print your name on it, and you are an instant high priestess" kinds of websites. To get to the advanced courses you actually have to first pass the beginner classes.

OK, counter rant! No shame on me, because I didn't make any decisions, nor did I judge anything, just made a simple statement based on my opinion So please let me know what Karmic repercussions could possibly take a toll on me over!
To speak on your negative experience with students, you must have had some very unwitting people, because if I were one of them, I'd come as prepared as possible as far as the "schooly" stuff were concerned, and I'd expect to compensate for any other materials used. I would also expect to be informed of any necessary expenses in my information brochure I might raid the fridge, but you'd be welcome to come raid mine

majickalman wrote:OK, counter rant! No shame on me, because I didn't make any decisions, nor did I judge anything, just made a simple statement based on my opinion So please let me know what Karmic repercussions could possibly take a toll on me over!
To speak on your negative experience with students, you must have had some very unwitting people, because if I were one of them, I'd come as prepared as possible as far as the "schooly" stuff were concerned, and I'd expect to compensate for any other materials used. I would also expect to be informed of any necessary expenses in my information brochure I might raid the fridge, but you'd be welcome to come raid mine

Good counter rant.

My brochure did list which class assignments were mandatory, and the basics that must be brought to each class. I included a syllabus that listed both regular assignments and expansion studies and costs of any materials needed for them.

Wouldn't have minded them raiding the fridge if they had brought some food to put in it once in awhile.

As for the rest of the rant, since you weren't one of that type, should have been obvious I didn't mean you

morgana wrote:Yeah, I dunno, I just have always disliked the whole idea that someone has to TEACH you what to believe. I believe that something as personal as spiritual beliefs is not something that should be taught like a science class, but rather discovered individually. Hence why I prefer books. You can read them and take what you need and leave what you don't need, or whatever doesn't feel "right" for you. It's always been my experience that when someone tries to teach you something, it's their way or no way at all. Same for internet courses. Not to mention, anyone can create one of those online courses, so there's no telling if they actually have any REAL credibility. Just my opinion though.

I Agree with morgana. I read alot of books when I was new to the craft. Most of the books said something like... Wicca is not an exact religion.
I gave an informative speech on Wicca and in it I stated that you could have three people who are wiccan. one believes in only one god/dess, another multiple gods/desses, and another no god/dess at all.

So if one does take the class just keep in mind you don't have to believe in everything.

I went through the free course, and didn't think it was to bad. I wouldn't pay for that, but that's cause I'm a poor student..

Alicara wrote:I went through the free course, and didn't think it was to bad. I wouldn't pay for that, but that's cause I'm a poor student..

I thought about it one of the sites I visit has Wicca 101.

But I do like to go at my own pace which is different every day..

Crrazy Healer Lady wrote:I agree with Stormy...
My personal and unadulterated opinion (which is easy in my grumpy mood) is that it sucks.
"Learn Hollywood Wiccanism and play "Light as a feather stiff as a board" like they do in the Craft!"
Okay that is mean and pretty harsh. Without actually taking a course I cannot really make a good opinion, but anything like this really turns me off. It reminds me of those ads on the back of comics: "Send $25 and we will send you a certificate for becoming a warlock!" My friend became a priest with an online thing that was really cheesy and he holds it high above everyones' heads. It reminds me of that. But prove me wrong. ^_^ I may just be blinded by my extreme grumpiness, which is entirely possible.

I say good. Why not get the books and the "school" if it's only 30 bucks then why not? As long as they actually know what they're talking about and aren't just out to make a quick buck.

http://spiritscast.com/

Fey is a pagan living in Southwestern Ontario who podcasts, but not at all on a regular basis. Usually, we'll get 3-4 shows in a 3-4 week period and then nothing for months actually(but her inability to podcast regularly is not what I came here to discuss). The reason I would suggest listening to her next few shows is that she is trying to take a few of these witch schools up, and see what the classes are and whether they are halfway decent or completely useless. She's going to be talking about her results on the show.

Now, the only issue I have with this is actually that she's telling the schools she's doing it, which while very noble, also makes me wonder how many of them will give her "extra treatment" to make the schools seem more worth it.

It should be worth listening to, at least.

I am, and always will be, a man of books.
Is $30 a good deal? For you - yes. For me? I could pick up 3 books on the subject, therefore having the infinite ability to study those three books into the finest detail, write notes in them, and put them back on my shelf if I ever need them again... And then I read them through once more a month later, because I never grow bored of Magick.

But that's just me. I will not vote on the topic.

Haven't seen this thread in years, lol... Haven't seen some of them names in years either, more the shame. That said, my original answer still stands, more or less. If the value is there, then it's worth it to the individual as long as there's real value, i.e. they're not feeding you a line of crap. I haven't gone through these courses and don't intend to at this time. That said, I will be interested to hear about the reviews because really folks, it depends on what they're offering. $30 isn't crap, even when you're broke, when you compare it to the cost of books, even used, and how often you need a lot of similar, but not identical books to get a well rounded knowledge on a given topic. If they offer even one topic that would bring you to a full level of competent understanding in any singular field, you would still save money. If they offer a wider range of courses and the membership fee allows you access to all of them, even better. Add on top of that live instructors, even remote, to answer your questions, and again, you're not getting that from a book. Again, this is all on the premise that the instructors know their stuff and have solid coursework.

I'm lucky enough to have known many authors and had them available at times over the years to answer questions, but that was still a small fraction of the time and darned well not at the outset. For as much as my career destroyed my health, it also provided me for a while with the income to purchase widely and out of print/rarities, as well as the normal run of the mill books and the self published, hence seeing so many questions about my opinions on books over the years. I will tell you this, on most of the topics I have studied, I would have gladly traded a skilled instructor and focused, practical and up to date instruction for $50 (sometimes much more) over all the books I purchased on said topic. At least as far as practical goes. I also can go the route of theoretician and historian at times, so I would likely have still spent a ton on books of topics I didn't necessarily want to practice, like I did on OTO, GD, etc, but for the functional stuff, a good teacher with solid, well rounded courses would have been much preferable.

Finally, I know people swing both ways about pagan authors selling their books or not, but most accept it. The websites are no different, just the delivery method. And online delivery is getting to be quite common in this day and age. If they know their stuff and aren't trying to seriously rip off folks, then more power to them and I wish them success. Gods above and below, since I joined this board ages ago, I can't tell y'all how many members have asked me to write books (I will, eventually, lol), so if I should be allowed to write and teach and share my knowledge via books, which would cost y'all $10-$30 a pop, depending on the topic and content, massive herbalism and or the annoying correspences charts that I so despise would obviously cost more, think 3 books of the occult and magician's companion for the $30 ones. But if I can be supported to such, why not others? As long as they're solid, they should be supported too, even if their courses aren't for you.

Je regrette, but the amount of negative responses I just read to this old post rubbed me the wrong way. Its not that expensive if they cover a full range, so there's is a value there for the cost, as long as the specific school isn't a scam.

Kitsune, cher, please let me know how those casts come out. I've got limited connectivity right now and the closest wifi networks have too little traffic to crack yet, so I'm on cellular data in a foggy valley, so podcasts are out for a few weeks, but I really want to hear Fey's reviews. Merci bien

I will keep you updated. She took one that she said was expensive, but the class was excessively personalized to the student and taught her a lot, I'll listen again and try to find which one.

As for the rest, I will definately let you know.

Hmm, I wonder if you were online sometime if I could send it to you over MSN?

That a hint cher? Je regrette, try to start gettin online again soon, me