Certificates and learning...

Now those of you that know me well are familiar with me being a total certificate tart.

I do have certificates hanging on the wall in my hall and I am extremely proud of each and every one of them - because they all took hard work and effort to obtain.

But as a witch do I need certificates?  The resounding answer to that is no...

I know some witches that are the most knowledgeable and experienced witches I have ever met and they don't have a certificate to their name, but then I also know some witches that have stack loads of certificates but don't have experience or seem to have the knowledge to back them up.

Do I know it all?  Not by a long shot, I am still learning even after fourteen years of full on study and experience, will I ever know it all? definitely not - there is so much to learn and experience if I learnt it all I would firstly be a total nightmare to live with (more than I am already ;-) )and secondly life would become pretty boring if there was nothing left to learn.

Have all my certificates and all my knowledge and learning about the Craft come from the same place? Nope.   I have studied with several witchcraft schools, I have studied from books and the internet, I have taken several courses on various subjects and studied one on one with knowledgeable people.  All of these avenues have provided me with different aspects and experiences of study.

Whilst I learnt the basics from my Wiccan degree lessons, they were only the basis for me to step out from, I took the subjects given to me and I researched outside, I read books on the subjects, I experienced them outside in the natural world and practised any exercises I could find relating to them.   I took and completed my first and second Wiccan degrees with one school and worked most of the way through my third degree with them, but as happens sometimes I decided to go in a different direction and I completed my third degree training and was given the honoured title of High Priestess with a different group - but all of it was a learning experience and I worked very hard to get there.

With the various courses I have taken I have done the same, taken the basic lessons and then added my own research and practical experiences to it.

But I have also learnt a huge amount from actually meeting like minded people and working together face to face with sisters and brothers from the Craft.

I work best with a structure of learning, which is why I took the courses that I did, but I also added to them, stretched myself to do the best I could.

Learning the Craft is to me, fluid, it moves, it changes, it flexes to work with you and the stage that you are at in life and within the Craft.

I will still take further courses in subjects if they interest me, I learn each time I attend or lead a ritual with like minded people, I learn from the lovely students at the Kitchen Witch School, I learn each time I work with my sisters and brothers in the Craft - always learning.

Whatever pathway you choose, always do your best, research, experience, really push yourself to stretch your knowledge and experience, it will be so worth it in the end.

And remember, if you succeed at something, if you attain recognition for what you have achieved, there will always be one or two people that resent you for it and will try to knock you down... my advice?  Stand tall, rise above it, you know that you have worked hard to get to where you are, be proud of that.

Tansy
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