Purpose and Ethics: Elswet's Personal Statement

Purpose and Ethics:
Elswet's Personal Statement
I am a Magick User, a Minister, a High Priestess, a Weyr™ Leader and a Spiritual Guide.

All these titles are aspects of one Whole, one Work, which is helping people grow into their own fullness. I intend to do this work with knowledge, wisdom, skill, creativity and honor, in service to the God/desses, the people and the Earth. At the heart of My work, and of My life, is a triple relationship, between Myself, the Old Gods of Nature, and the Pagan community. Community, an abstract and shorthand term, becomes real person by person. These guidelines concern My interactions with persons and groups who seek guidance, teaching or counsel from Me as Priestess, Weyr Leader and Guide.

1. The only part of this relationship I own is Me.

I will do what I can to sustain, clarify and deepen My own conscious contact with the God/desses of Nature, and to live from the understandings that arise from this contact. I will also stay in contact with others, elders and peers, who support, challenge, nurture and instruct Me as together we re-discover the long-neglected sacred Paths of the Old Ways and reinvent the sacred Traditions.

I will stay aware of My own motivations and the inner needs that drive me to this work. Some of these are healthy and appropriate, others are displaced, and can become disordered. I will not try to fulfill through this work those needs that are better served in other ways.

I will be mindful of My own levels of energy and enthusiasm. I will take time to rest and play, nurture myself and accept nurturance from others. When I feel depleted, I will actively seek replenishment, so that I may serve well for years to come.

I will seek the guidance of My elders and the support of My peers, especially in times of perplexity. I will learn from the experiences of others, and share My own experiences with others so that we may learn together.

I will explore all the relevant Worlds/Realms of Knowledge: Classical religion, indigenous religion, ethics, ritual arts, consciousness studies, and more. I will read and I will experiment. I will stay aware of the new discoveries and creative contributions of My colleagues, as I share My own discoveries with Tthem.

As a spiritual Guide, I will make it My special task to help those in distress to find the right path of religion as well as in life. I will never attempt to draw anyone into any path for My own gain or motivations. I vow that if I do not know the answer to a question I will research that question in an attempt to better both the petitioner's life, as well as My own.

2. I will treat all people as fairly as I can.

I will be honest with all those who merit My trust. I feel no obligation to, by My honesty, make myself vulnerable to coercion or oppression. Within the community of trust and respect, if people seek My guidance, I will be honest about My competence and its limits, and also about the amount of time and energy I can feasibly devote to their requests.

I will respect the privacy of those who seek My aid or instruction. I will keep their confidences except where there is overriding reason to reveal information. I will inform people of what such circumstances might be before receiving their confidences, so that they may choose what they will reveal or withhold, as I WILL abide by the Laws of the Land.

I will respect the right of all people to make and implement decisions about their own lives. As I do not wish to be manipulated or coerced, so I will not manipulate or coerce others.

I will respect and teach the importance of Free Will, accompanied by the Wiccan credo: "An' Harm None."

3. As Priestess and Weyr Leader, I conduct rituals, instruct Werylings in the values, symbols and ways of the Old Religions, and Gods & Goddesses, nurture and guide their spiritual and magickal growth.

It is My abiding responsibility to keep our Weyr a safe and nurturing place, under all circumstances. When anyone else in our Weyr is conducting a ritual or teaching a class, I still bear final responsibility for ethics and safety in the Weyr.

It is My abiding responsibility to ensure that the teaching of ethics and the fostering of wisdom precede any instruction in magickal skills within my Weyr and lineage, and that magickal empowerment is always secondary to spiritual growth.

I will work with My Weyr and its daughter Weyrs for love and joy, not for any ulterior purpose or extrinsic reward.

As a Weyr Leader I facilitate primary religious experiences and exploration of altered states of consciousness.

I will always remember that My proper role is to help each person make their own direct and conscious connection with the Ancient Gods & Goddesses, and never to mediate between Deity and other humans.

I will seek knowledge and skill concerning spiritual practices and altered states of consciousness, and continue to follow new discoveries and developments, integrating them into our work as appropriate and possible.

I will do My utmost to promote each participant's health and safety during magickal and spiritual practices and in the vulnerable periods that may follow.

I will neither manipulate nor allow the manipulation of people who may be in altered states of consciousness, nor use their openness to suggestion for any ulterior or exploitive purpose. I refer here to the use of spiritual states of consciousness. This does not imply, nor do I condone the use of illegal drugs. This includes the misuse of legal drugs, be they over the counter or prescription.

I will warn people who are exploring within through altered states of consciousness that these experiences can be difficult and dramatically transformative. I will be aware of the issues around such transformations and make sure that those I train are similarly aware.

UNLESS I am willing to assist people in working through any changes wrought by their Magickal and spiritual explorations, I will NOT encourage such exploration or facilitate such practices with them.

As a Weyr Leader within a lineage of Magick users, and the Weyr's Degree System, I bear a responsibility to the community as a whole for training and vouching for future Weyr leaders. I am mindful of the inevitable role conflict between the functions of Mentor/Guide and Evaluator/Gatekeeper.

I will strive to give My students access to the cumulative heritage of all paths, while empowering them to adapt these heritagi to the best of their own understandings and values and to make their own creative contributions to both the Weyr's ongoing development, redevelopment, morphosis and metamorphosis.

I will seek the guidance of the Ancient Gods & Goddesses in all decisions about Initiation and Elevation. I will also consult with, at minimum, the elders of My Weyr. If there is any ambiguity, I will seek independent evaluation of the candidate from the elders of other related Weyrs. I recognize that outside consultation is always of value, even when there is no apparent ambiguity.

If I need to delay or deny an Initiation or Elevation, I will inform the candidate as gently and objectively as possible. I will do what I can to help them either do what still needs to be done, or assist them in finding another group or Path.

As gatekeeper, I will only Elevate to Arcanite persons whom I believe to be knowledgeable, skilled, wise and ethical enough to be trusted with the guidance of vulnerable beginners.

When someone I have trained and/or for whom I have vouched becomes a Weyr leader, I recognize a lifelong responsibility to be available to them as an Elder Advisor.

I will be as accessible and responsive as possible to those who lead Hival Weyrs. I will help them explore perplexing issues, sharing any relevant experience I may have. I will be honest about the limits of My knowledge or My abilities.

I will share any new discoveries I make with them, and expect them to share their discoveries with Me and with each other.

Hival Weyrs become separate entities unto themselves and are responsible for their own actions, formations, and maintenance.

In rare and extreme cases, when a "daughter group" has become seriously dysfunctional or corrupt, I acknowledge that, after due warning, I may face the painful obligation to publicly withdraw My support and take into My own group those members I feel are salvagable.

4. I also offer My skills as a Spiritual Guide to the Pagan Community

Spiritual Counselors assist people in understanding various situations in their spritual lives and in making and implementing their own decisions about those situations. People who seek guidance from their Clergy expect to work within a shared context of guiding values, thealogical understandings, symbolic vocabulary and techniques for inner exploration and the implementation of willed change. Our religion, as I understand it, does not include detailed rules for behavior. So, as a Pagan Guide, My role is to assist persons to develop their own understanding of the values and teachings of our religion, and of the implications of those values and teachings for their own current life situations, religious and secular.

I understand that the impetus and direction for personal healing and growth comes from within, and sometimes from the Ancient Gods & Goddesses, but never from Me. I am simply a facilitator.

I will always remember that I cannot dictate the lives of others, even those in My own Weyr. They will find what they seek within themselves, or not at all; however, I am under no obligation to continue a relationship with any person whose values are in severe conflict with My own.

I will strive to develop the skills of active listening and empathy, for these empower the inner exploration of the individual. I will support and challenge Werylings and others in their own unique process of personal growth.

I may share with other specific techniques for exploring their issues or implementing their decisions. If I do, I am obligated to assist these people to integrate the insights and changes that these techniques bring about.

I am not trained or qualified to treat actual mental illness. I make no representation about the quality of Guidance to be performed or the Expertise of the Guide performing such services. I am not certified as a counselor by the State of Tennessee.

I will make Myself available as a resource for interested individuals as a whole to assist them in knowing more about our religion in order to be of better service to the Pagan Community, and Mankind as a whole.