The Seeker's Guides

The Seeker's Guide to Learning Wicca: Training to First Degree in the Southern Hemisphere

The Seeker's Guide to Learning Wicca: Training to First Degree in the Northern Hemisphere

TWO new books by the same Australian Wiccan Author have just been published and they are destined to be a Must Have for any First Degree Wiccan Initiates or anyone who studies Witchcraft. I can see then both taking pride of place in my rapidly growing library on the subject.

Amethyst Treleven is a new author and relatively unknown to the general pagan community but her many years of experience as a High Priestess of her own Coven, The Oak and Mistletoe, only enhances her vast knowledge, wisdom and other achievements.

I would like to consider Amethyst a close friend and although, I m am not Wiccan or a practitioner of Witchcraft, a thorough read of the "Rushes" of the books captivated my interests and had me firing off lots of questions.

I asked her to suumarise some answers to the many questions I threw at her over the last couple of weeks, so I could fathom why she wrote the books and the purpose for such books to be available. I feel that the readers will find her response extremely informative.

"I've been teaching Wicca now for some time here in Australia and as a vocational specialist in adult education (I teach people how to teach other people and I design industry training systems) I got fed up with not being able to point my Wiccan students to a good, home grown text that could support their journey through Outer Court. The problem was even more acute for solitaries who weren't being supported by a face to face teacher and so had limited direction about which books to read. Every day I was getting emails from solitary seekers all over the world asking me to teach them and I couldn't because I didn't have a universal text to use that would anchor their learning and frame it all together. So, like most motivated, dedicated people, I created that text to meet the obvious need, hence the two Seeker's Guides.

Now, let me say up front, that the first Seeker's Guide I wrote was unashamedly for the southern hemisphere. I live, work and teach here in wonderful Australia and while the top half of the world is blessed to have some great Wiccan resources (and some not so great!) down here at the bottom half of the world we don't get as much attention I'm afraid. Australian and New Zealand Witches and Wiccans have had to 'translate' northern hemisphere books and swap festivals, circle directions, quarter locations and so on to make things fit for them. They've had to do all that without any local books to teach them and explain how to put it all together... until now.

So I wrote the Seeker's Guide for the wonderful students 'down under' and given it's the only one of its kind down here, I guess it's no wonder that it's selling so well. But as Oak and Mistletoe grew and developed (and I'm still so surprised by the rapid rate of that growth), my northern hemisphere students kept asking for their book! So out came the fingers to the keyboard again and the Seeker's Guide for the northern students rolled off the presses this week for them too.

Both Seeker's Guides are aimed at supporting solitaries (or face to face students in a coven or study group) through the Outer Court learning process. The books are ordered into a logical fashion from theory through to practice and they're loaded with different activities so that students can learn how to 'do' Wicca and Witchcraft and not just learn 'about' it. That's important and I don't need to preach to you all about how as Pagans we 'do' and 'are' Pagans, we don't just know about how to be Pagans.

The books are also supported by a free online school at Oak and Mistletoe so that students can interact with each other and with me as their tutor if they wish. The idea has always been to create a community of support, encouragement and open interaction and I guess those sentiments are what's helping Oak and Mistletoe develop into the lively community that it is.

These books are for anyone interested in learning about Wicca in a structured and supported way, within a really sensible tradition. I'm happy as the author, as a vocational specialist in adult education (my PhD research involved developing a new theory of learning based on intuition) and as a dedicated Wiccan and Witch with no hidden agendas to listen to feedback and suggestions as well.

Looking forward to learning as much as I teach!"

You can check the books out here: http://www.oakandmistletoe.com.au/oak-and-mistletoe-bookshop/