Recently, I mentioned teaching Witchcraft to someone. This person instantly retorted with, Isn’t charging to teach Wicca against Wiccan belief? Two things are wrong with this. First of all, I said “Teaching Witchcraft”. NOT all Witchcraft is Wiccan. To make that assumption is presumptuous. Although I am not going to charge specifically for the Wicca Classes. However, I do plan on teaching lots of different parts of Witchcraft and yes there will be a fee. Wicca is a tradition of Witchcraft and there are many teachers who charge for their classes. Not all Wiccan teachers charge but many do. Some of them are well known and even well respected. I would totally charge for Wicca classes and I don’t frown on those who do or even if they don’t.
I find this narrow-minded point of view fanatical when it is spouted as some crazy law instead of opinion or personal conviction. It is personal choice to charge for Wicca classes or not.
Fanatics will always assume you live by some of the most insane rules claimed by Wiccanish fanatics just at the mere mention of witchcraft. Someone wrote it somewhere in a book or on the internet as if it were a law of Wicca so it must be fact.? What? Real Wicca has one rule. DO AS YE WILL, HARM NONE. Fanatical Extremists apply their ridiculous personal convictions to Wicca. These Fanatics often tell you it’s ok to charge for Wiccan knowledge as long as it’s in a book and not a proper class? This is a contradiction and ignorant. Books provide almost the same information and knowledge as a class and the reason for the books was to share the knowledge of Wicca. Books were the best way to spread information. Not charging for classes that can be even more valuable to some than just a book (Books are knowledge being paid for by the way) is wrong but paying up the rear end for a book with limited information is fine and dandy? Nonsensical.
Here is where I stand. Time is money and money is exchanged for our life energy. With all the money, skill, knowledge and time I and other teachers put into a class, We have a right to recoup payment for that work and investment. If you have a job and they pay you money for your time, skill and personal investment you are doing the same thing. Youtube is full of free information. Ask your students why they don’t search youtube instead of taking your class. If you are rich enough you don’t need to recoup time and money invested, more power to you. There is nothing wrong with Volunteering your hard earned cash and your time if you have it to spare.
The second part of that is this. Free products have no value. If you feel what you teach is of value you wouldn’t likely feel it is unethical to charge a reasonable fee for something of quality? It costs something to teach these classes if they are quality even if it is your life’s energy. I believe Gouging is unethical. I believe Charging exuberant prices for classes is unethical. I believe charging high prices for Books is unethical.
Tarot classes, herb classes, witchcraft or Wicca can come with a fair fee. You get what you pay for. Free isn’t usually as good because not everyone has extra money to provide quality classes with the donation of their own dime and time. Don’t apply your convictions onto others. Those do’s and don’ts aren’t a Wiccan belief. They are personal convictions.
I want serious students who value what I teach and expect a value from my classes. Some of the best classes come from great teachers who charge a reasonable fee. It still comes with the warning of buyer beware. Make sure you get what you pay for. It is fair to expect a fee per lesson. Find the right lessons with the right teacher for you. To teach quality classes online or off can cost the teacher money and more time than you realize. You don’t have to charge a fee but don’t apply your personal convictions on those who do charge a fair and reasonable fee to offer quality lessons. It costs money and time and requires skill and knowledge Just like writing books and any job.
I stand for what I believe in, even if I stand alone. But I don’t shove my beliefs onto others. Charge a fee or don’t, it is up to you. Those who teach Well can end up needing to charge anyway because the demand for their classes are high and the cost is more than they have.
It’s always amazing that serious students don’t question paying a reasonable fee for quality education and have no problem attending. Some teachers can afford to provide somewhat decent classes for free but then complain when their students won’t commit to the class. There are two reasons to charge for your classes.
- teaching is a hard job that requires a lot of time and providing quality classes cost money.
- Requiring the student to pay a fee is asking them to make a commitment to the studies.
It is only fair that if the teacher sacrifices to teach the student sacrifices to learn. When someone gives or sacrifices to have something, it then becomes valuable. Money today is that mode of sacrifice. Today, the corporations from whom we buy paper and ink want money in exchange for their product so that we can provide printouts. They don’t accept a trade of any other kind except money. I can publish a book on Amazon for free but the moment I want a copy of that book, they will only trade each copy for money. We use Money as fair trade. Money is traded for our time and life’s energy and that money is then traded for things we want or need in return. There is nothing unethical about asking for a fair trade for services using money. Money is energy, let it flow.
Regardless of which path or tradition you are teaching, Charging for your work or not is up to you.
Even in the Wiccan Rede Poem, it says if you have and hold a need, harken not to others greed. That doesn’t mean you can’t charge for your services. It means not to allow people to take advantage of you out of desperation. I think that is good advice. Asking or expecting someone to foot the bill and make all the sacrifices to teach me something that I will benefit from is taking advantage of the teacher.
Classes to teach you how to use magick that can improve your life? Classes to teach you a skill that’s on demand? Classes to teach you anything that is of value to you in any way is worth paying and charging for. There is no true ethical teaching against charging for what you provide. Just as long as it isn’t a scam or some other underhanded scheme. The ethics is shown by how you transact in your classes.
If you are looking for a teacher, don’t begrudge the teacher a reasonable fee. If you are organizing quality classes, don’t begrudge yourself a reasonable fee to help pay for your costs and your time. Just be fair. I know of several quality online Wicca courses and yes it costs money to provide them and yes they charge a fee. all different amounts and all different styles of teaching. The one thing they all have in common is that they are all quality Wiccan Witchcraft schools.
Don’t be afraid to check them out. Don’t be afraid to invest in something that could be of value to your life. If you need free, check out youtube. There is lots of Free information there if you are looking for free and if you want to provide it for free it is a free place to put it for free.
Many Blessings on your path whatever your path may be.
Everything you just stated makes absolute sense and perfectly reasoned. I am VERY new to Wicca/witchcraft. I have read that slot of Wiccan’s were witch’s. But does that mean that if they are Wiccan that they are not witch’s anymore? I can’t break that up.
Wiccan’s are Witches but not all Witches are Wiccan. There are Traditional Witches, Hereditary Witches, Voodoo Witches, and so on. Wicca is a tradition of Witchcraft that includes a religious aspect of this tradition that is generally European where as Santeria is African/Cuban. There are beliefs with each tradition of Witchcraft and many NeoWiccans don’t always understand that Wicca is just one Tradition of Witchcraft. If we look back at old interviews that are available on Youtube from Well known Wiccans who helped to form Wiccan Witchcraft such as Doreen Valiente and Raymond Buckland, we see that Wicca is Definitely a Religious Tradition of Witchcraft. However, Not all Witches are Wiccan because there are different types or Traditions of Witchcraft that are not Wiccan. Wicca holds a religious belief where Witchcraft is non-religious. Wicca is religion+Witchcraft just like a Christian Witchcraft is a blend of Christian concepts+Witchcraft. Some Witchcraft traditions hold no religious concepts whatsoever. One of the defining Parts of Wicca is the Wiccan Ethics of the Wiccan Rede which is loosely quoted as “Do as ye will, Harm none”. I hope this helps. 🙂
I agree, as a college student, there is nothing wrong with paying for training that you get value out of. I have taken online courses for a fixed price that was several hundred dollars to ones that I pay for monthly at 40 bucks. If people want to see overpriced then look no further than your state college system… now that is gouging.
How would I go about having you teach me?
At this time I am not taking students. Most of the teachers I know in my area are full and are not taking students. However, I am trying to come up with a solution. In the meantime, there are online schools to look into. A few that have been recommended have been Sacred Myst. Temple of Witchcraft and Witchschool.com
WitchTraining.com will be launching October 31, 2017. We are beginning with our Wicca first year and a day course. We plan to grow this membership to include many different courses that will appeal to the Witch Community. We will grow the site adding different classes to appeal to the different aspects of Witchcraft and to bring other flavors of Witchcraft besides Wicca to the Witch Community. WitchTraining.com will have special benefits for founding members who sign up with Witch Training Academy during the special launch period. We will be making announcements as we get closer to October 31st.
I would definitely be interested in taking your class as well. Let me know.
WitchTraining.com will be launching October 31, 2017. We are beginning with our Wicca first year and a day course. We plan to grow this membership to include many different courses that will appeal to the Witch Community. We will grow the site adding different classes to appeal to the different aspects of Witchcraft and to bring other flavors of Witchcraft besides Wicca to the Witch Community. WitchTraining.com will have special benefits for founding members who sign up with Witch Training Academy during the special launch period. We will be making announcements as we get closer to October 31st.
My question is, how am I to learn witchcraft and continue with my studies without the money to do so? I can barely scratch by with what I have. (I am 18 so living on my own is expensive enough). I don’t even have most of the tools I need at the moment. I mean no offense.
You have a free resource at your fingertips as long as you have access to youtube. Youtube has a vast amount of information about Witchcraft. I recommend the Channel of Dragonfeather369 and Akasha. You can look up all kinds of videos about Witchcraft and Wicca on youtube. There are videos featuring Doreen Valiente, Alex Sanders, Raymond Buckland, Salena Fox and more. You have plenty of resources available to you all around you in this mundane world. Look for it, be open to it. It’s all around you.