Introduction

About these notes

These notes are intended for use by Pagan Elders and by those who are in active training to become Elders. They present some of what I have learned up until now, but they are hardly the final word on the subject. They are not intended to become the basis for the next Pagan fad, nor do they replace what you learn from your own Tradition, your Elders, and your Circle.

As usual with this series, this is a work in progress. I hope to receive advice, corrections, inspirations, great ideas, criticisms and manifestos concerning this book from its readers. Please email me to let me know what you think should be different in the next version. I appreciate your feedback. 

About the author

I am High Priestess of Proteus Coven, a liberal Gardnerian Wiccan coven in the suburbs of New York City, and proud Grandmother of several covens in that lineage. As a retired civil servant in the best Gardnerian tradition, I am now a full-time writer, teacher and priestess, also maintaining a small private counseling practice. I hold an M.S. degree in counseling from City University of New York. I am chair of the Pastoral Counseling Program at Cherry Hill Seminary.

As you might expect from a Wiccan High Priestess, my primary religious vocabulary is Wiccan. But these notes are intended for Pagans of all Paths, and for anybody else who may find them useful. I hope that my Druid, Heathen, and Reconstructionist (and anybody else I may have missed) will not feel left out, and will make any translation that is necessary to suit their own Paths.

I have a long-term passion for sharing skills and information I learned in my secular training as a counselor with Elders and Elders-in-training of every Pagan path. Since I consider this a major part of my calling as a priestess, I do not charge fees for these workshops, but do ask for carfare and crash space.

Acknowledgments

Great thanks, as always, to my dear life-mate Gwyneth. Since she was abroad during most of the writing process this time, I also want to thank Thea Collins, Misha Dutka, and Rhea Paniesin for lending their eyes, their ears, their wisdom and their editorial discernment to this project. Special gratitude goes to the six brave people who participated so wholeheartedly in the Conflict Resolution track at the 2007 Pagan Leadership Skills Conference, in which I kitchen-tested most of these ideas, and the members of an earlier workshop at the Toronto Pagan Conference. Their sharing enriches this work.

Copyright