There's an almost universal desire within the pagan community to find a teacher. We want to learn and grow, hone old skills or learn new ones, and have the opportunity to expand our spiritual and magical horizons. Unfortunately, teachers are few and far between. To make the matter worse, teachers who truly have their students' best interests in mind are even harder to find.
Which, sadly, infers that there are a host of teachers out there who are less than honorable.
As I've gone along my path, I've discovered an almost 50/50 split between good and bad teachers - and I've studied with both. The guidelines I'm presenting here are earned from personal experience. Believe me when I tell you that a good teacher can change and bless your life in incomparable ways. A bad teacher can affect your energy and your psyche in a manner that will take you years to fully understand and heal.
It is never worth the pain to study with a teacher who doesn't live up to the following six standards. No one has a monopoly on occult knowledge. There is no "true" path that only selected groups or individuals have access to. Yes, there are secrets that lay beyond what your average individual might believe is real. But these secrets are not the domain of a certain sect, a specific individual, or any organization. They are our right as witches to uncover - and through hard work and perseverence it is possible to discover them, even if you are only working on your own.
1. A Teacher Should Encourage Your Individuality
Wicca and witchcraft are spiritual paths. They are not a science. They are not a discipline. They are about spirit.
In its most fundamental form, even magic is about spirituality. Think about it. In magic we seek to move and direct energy in a specific manner in order to create a certain outcome. This works because all beings, all things, every moment is composed of energy. If it were any other way, the raising and directing of energy would only have a subtle affect at best. For instance, you can throw rocks at the clouds all day long and it won't stop the rain. However, an experienced witch, directing a small portion of energy, can change the very weather. Why? Everything is created from energy - from the world around us, to the magic we wield.
Magic works because all things are composed of energy. This energy is eternal. It cannot be created nor destroyed. That's why we draw upon it and raise it in our rites, rather than creating it anew. That's why, when we direct the energy to a specific task, the energy is capable of accomplishing the intent of the spell because the energy is incapable of being destroyed. This energy is eternal. The only thing that is eternal is spirit. Nothing mundane meets this criteria. Therefore, magic must, by its very definition, be the very essence of spirit.
Because we are also beings of energy, we are also beings of spirit. Spirit and energy are synonymous. You cannot separate them into individual concepts. The deeper you go on a magical path, the less distinctions there are in reality until you reach a point where you come to understand that all things are one. It is this unified understanding of energy, the knowledge that all things are one spirit, that is the driving force that makes our magic effective.
As part of this energy, you are also an expression of spirit. Therefore, your very life, the way that you see things, is an expression of spirit. Stop and think about it for a moment. From this perspective, your life, your insight, and your intuition are all sacred things. We don't have many roadmaps through this life, only our intuition and the calling of our heart. By following both of these, we mature and grow, moving ever closer to the knowledge and perspective that we are all part of one energy, of one spirit that unites us all. As we draw closer to this understanding, we find that our magic becomes more effective, our spellwork is infused with power. New avenues open to us. New mysteries are revealed.
A knowledgeable, capable teacher will encourage your individuality. To do otherwise is to draw you away from your intuition that is designed specifically to lead you to oneness, to spirit. This road leads not to some ethereal mind set, but rather to true power within an ethical framework. Any teacher that expects you to blindly follow their way, instead of working to enhance the unique way that you are led by your intuition, is doing you a disservice and, in the end, hindering your growth, not aiding it.
2. A Teacher Should Invite Questions
The single most important word in a student's vocabulary? "Why?" Use it. Use it frequently. Use it whenever a new concept is presented. Use it whenever you're asked to do something by your teacher.
A knowledgeable teacher will have an answer for you. It may be as simple as, "I'm not sure - it's just the way that I was taught and it works for me. It may not work for you." Remember the first guideline. If a method or philosophy doesn't work for you, your teacher should have enough knowledge to help you find another method that does. Should you find yourself working in a group situation, no capable teacher will hold back the group until a single student is forced to learn something a particular way. Each student should be encouraged to find their own approach and this diversity should be promoted by the teacher.
Imagine that, instead of witches, we were all doctors. All of us have been trained exactly the same way, as cardiac surgeons. When people need heart surgery, we as witchy doctors are there to meet the challenge. We're strong. We're bold. We're skilled. We're confident.
And then the patient with the operable brain tumor comes in.
And suddenly, our cardiac specialties are ill-suited to the task.
By encouraging our diversity, we become stronger as a community, not weaker. Any reputable teacher understands this and will do all they can to help you find your own methods to embrace magic.
The word is "Why?" Learn it. Rely on it. Don't hesitate to use it.
3. A Teacher Should Accommodate Your Life
There is nothing mandatory within the Craft. There is no "right" way to do things. There is no "must." There is only the intuition through which each of us is led to explore spirit. This intuition leads us to magic. It leads us to the challenges in our lives that help us grow and develop. It even leads us to the teachers that help us learn and grow.
Because of this, a teacher should understand that there are other factors in your world than just their instruction. You have not only been led to them as a teacher, but your intuition has led you to the relationships in your life. It has led you to your job. To your family. To your commitments.
I was studying with a teacher that I still hold in high regard when a task that should have taken me a lunar cycle to complete took me almost four months to finish. Life got in the way. It didn't mean that I wasn't interested in the materials. It certainly didn't mean that I wasn't trying. All that it indicated was that I had a host of other responsibilities that needed my attention. When I took care of those responsibilities and completed the task, my teacher was still there, just as any good teacher should be.
4. A Teacher Should Not Charge A Substantial Fee
Although I personally do not charge for instruction, I understand that it is appropriate for other teachers to do so. I have studied under two teachers who taught for a living. The first charged barely enough to cover the cost of the supplies that she provided with each lesson. My current teacher charges $10 for approximately three hours of instruction. I worked with a third teacher in a group setting who simply asked for a "free-will donation" if anyone was interested and had a small box discretely placed by the door.
I'm pretty well respected as a teacher. If you count myself and the three teachers that I've studied with whom I greatly respect, there are at least four teachers who charge little to nothing for instruction. We understand that Wicca and magic are part of a spiritual path. All of us teachers understand that if we take care of spirit through our work with our students, we are also benefitting ourselves (although that is certainly not our motivation). In the end, energy seeks a balance. You bless others, blessings come to you. It's as simple as that.
If you're seeking instruction and your teacher is charging a substantial fee, move on. Also keep in mind that this fee may not be monetary. They may expect sexual favors, manual labor, or attendance at "fund raiser" events. Measure the cost to you and, if it seems too high, know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are quality teachers who will humble you with their generosity and who will not expect you to repay them in kind.
5. A Teacher Should Respect Your Energy
Because your life and your energy are part of spirit, your life and your energy are sacred things. A teacher - and for that matter, any practitioner - should respect your energy as if you were a goddess or god.
You should never be required to do spellwork with or for a teacher. Group spellwork and ritual knits the energy of its participants together. It's appropriate for you to be invited by a teacher to perform ritual or spellwork, but they should explain both the rite and its intent and allow you the option to bow out. Under no circumstances should either spellwork or ritual with a teacher ever be mandatory. (It's entirely appropriate for a teacher to ask you to create and perform your own rituals as a solitary in order for you to demonstrate a mastery of the material before moving on to the next subject).
Additionally, since it is your intuition that ideally leads you to a deeper understanding of spirit and, in turn, a deeper understanding of magic, no teacher should ever belittle your ideas, questions or suggestions.
Under no circumstances should a teacher ever require sexual favors. I've heard the argument presented that it helps to bond the energy between the student and teacher, but this is precisely why it should never be required.
A teacher should respect your energy, not seek to manipulate it. At the hands of an unscrupulous teacher, any of the above can create an immeasurable amount of harm.
6. A Teacher Should Never Insist You Do Anything
Follow your intuition. Follow your heart. These are your road map to spirit and to deeper magic. If either your intuition or your small inner voice warn you not to proceed, not matter how subtle that warning may be, heed their advice. No reputable teacher will insist that you perform any task, learn something a certain way or under a certain time frame, or will make you do anything that you are the slightest bit uncomfortable doing. While it is true that we need to stretch beyond our boundaries, a process that is often uncomfortable for us, a reputable teacher understands that ultimately the choice to grow is up to you. You cannot be forced. You cannot be required. You can simply make the choice to follow your intuition and move forward when the time is right for you to do so.
One of the unrealized truths behind magic and spirituality is that anything a teacher can guide you to learn, you can ultimately discover on your own. Think about it. At some point someone had to learn a skill or technique for the very first time. How did they do this? By observing the natural world. By performing ritual. By learning to listen to their own intuition and the wisdom of the spirit world.
There's a wonderful story in a book called, "In The Shadow of the Shaman," about a tribe of indigenous people living in the South American jungle who are renown for their healing ability. They have cures for ailments that western medicine still cannot effectively treat. How did they learn their techniques? By entering into the spirit world and learning directly from the spirits they contact there.
The point is, we don't need to learn from a teacher in order to grow on our paths. All we need is the desire to grow. It is perfectly acceptable to step away from a teacher who does not meet the above criteria. You can learn in other ways. There is an old saying in the Craft, "When the student is ready, the teacher will come." Perhaps this saying should be, "When the student is ready, the right teacher will come." Be patient. You will learn all you are capable of learning in its own time.