At the time of this writing, I have been teaching Witchcraft professionally for 35 years. In addition to selling my books and my art, this is how I make my living. I don’t have a “regular job.” Ever since I was a young boy in ye olde 1900’s, I knew that this was my calling. At 14 I formally dedicated myself to the Craft and never looked back.
At the age of 20, I taught my first Witchcraft class at a local bookstore. Technically, I was just an assistant to the teacher of that class, the high priest of a local coven into which I was being trained at the time. But when the teacher’s pager went off and they suddenly had to leave halfway through the class (I would later learn it was to make a drug deal) I was forced to take over and finish.
A man seen on a webcam is teaching a witchcraft class while a student watches and participates from home.
Here I was, a young man with no experience teaching others, suddenly forced to step up and into my power. Once I overcame my initial fear, I finished the class and then realized this was something that I not only loved doing but was something that I excelled at. I probably would have not figured that out had I not been forced into it, having deferred to the “proper authorities,” such as priests, priestesses, covens, and traditions, under the assumption that I was not capable or knowledgeable enough to do it justice. That limiting belief collapsed under the weight of lived experience, granting me the confidence necessary to move forward on my own.
I left that coven shortly afterward, as I realized that —potlucks aside— there was just no there there. I got what I needed and now what was needed was elsewhere.
For years I would present a variety of classes at that same local bookstore, slowly building a curriculum and the confidence necessary to make teaching a substantial portion of both my identity and my livelihood. Later, I would begin a rigorous nearly six-year training in the Anderson Faery (Feri) tradition, and for a time I pulled back from being a teacher so that I could focus on truly being a student.
Here I was exposed to what my soul craved: direct work with spirits and heavy trance techniques, both of which had been lacking in my previous coven training. When I would return to public teaching a couple years later, I had not only increased my confidence but also an array of magical techniques based not in book learning, but from direct experience.
After my Faery initiation in early 2002, I was invited to take part in a “teleconference ritual,” hosted by author and Faery initiate Francesca DeGrandis. To be honest, when I was presented with the invitation, I found the concept amusing, to say the least. I agreed, mainly because I was so curious as to why anyone would even want to operate that way, assuming that it would be little more than a joke. This was a gross misjudgment on my part.
When the participants gathered, and the necessary passcodes had been entered on our phones, we gathered for the audio event. Pleasantries were exchanged and ritual roles were assigned. And when the ritual finally began something surprising happened: it worked.
I remember suddenly being aware that the energy in my room was shifting, in pretty much the same way as I had come to expect it to do so when participating in a physical ritual. The priestess was casting the circle, and I felt it being cast in my room. I realized in that moment just how judgmental and ignorant I had been to assume that this would be “watered down” at best and a joke at worst. This was a ritual, just like any other, and it was in this moment that I came to understand that the energy that witches work with is not confined to locality. This was my first inkling that maybe —just maybe — Witchcraft could be taught long distance.
I forget exactly when I first started teaching remotely. But what I do remember is the opposition I received from other initiates in my tradition over it. “You can’t teach the Craft over the internet!” “You are watering down Witchcraft!” “Authentic teachers only teach in-person!”
What I found perplexing at the time, was that none of those who opposed the idea ever inquired as to how I was doing the thing they claimed could not be done. It was all based on assumptions, based on the particular style(s) in which they had been taught. To my eye this appeared to be a form of dogmatism. I even offered to allow some of them to take part in my classes for free so they could experience them firsthand. Not a single one of them took me up on my offer.
Considering those early days of the internet, perhaps we should be more forgiving about certain assumptions made. I imagine some may have thought that I would be teaching just using email or a text-only chat room. (In fact, I knew of some text chat-based rituals being held online, though I had never attended any.) How I navigated this issue was to use live audio (and then later, a webcam) so I could make a more personal connection during our private one-on-one sessions. Here we could have some time to check-in before I would lecture on a certain subject and/or lead a trance based on that particular lesson. Often this would be followed up with written materials and the occasional MP3 recording. Students were assigned homework and they were to check-in with me (or the group) weekly. Often there were monthly events to allow for group work.
I later would expand to using Discord as a tool to help keep multiple students and classes organized. This became the template for our Black Rose Witchcraft online course, where to date over a thousand individuals have enrolled and learned about the art of Witchcraft over the past 11 years.
Another problem that “the establishment” had with my approach to teaching was the fact that I charge money for my classes. Some people have very strong convictions that one should never profit from the Craft (or from Tarot readings, or healing sessions, or fill-in-the-blank). In my experience, they often present this as being self-evident and/or a moral absolute.
Since it is my calling to be a teacher of the Craft (which means I need to devote a significant amount of my time into studying, practicing, and hopefully mastering certain skills and materials to be worthy of the job) and because I am still a human being in a body who lives in this civilization, I need to charge for my time. Living under capitalism means I have to pay for trifling little things like groceries and a mortgage and healthcare. Were I to teach for free, I would soon be unhoused, unfed, and unwell. Some have told me that means I need to get a regular job… but this would only mean that I would no longer have the time or energy to devote to my personal practice and the further development of classes and materials. If I am to do this right, then I need both time and support to make that happen. So, I charge for my time as a means to allow me to continue this work.
I also want to make sure that I give back. I have had students who have been given full or partial scholarships if they are genuinely unable to afford it. This I can offer because I have others who take my classes who are able to pay and so I feel it evens out. Those who pay full price are subsidizing those who are less privileged. I also try to make sure to have a lot of general information “out there” for free, in addition to the several books I have penned. I feel good about the balance I have stuck here and honestly if that’s not good enough for someone then I take that as a sign that we would not be well suited for one another.
I realize that the “charging for spiritual instruction” argument has been waged longer than the internet has been around, and I am under no allusions that my words here will change anything. If you have decided that it’s “morally wrong,” to charge for spiritual classes, then you’re entitled to your opinion and I’m not going to try to change your mind. But neither will I waste my breath arguing with you. There’s plenty of other Witchcraft teachers in the world and not all of us charge. Go find one of them. But no one is entitled to me and my time simply because their morals tell them that I must accommodate them.
Also, I think it’s important to be aware, that in my experience, more than a few of those teachers who loudly declare their superiority based on their refusal to sully themselves by charging money are still expecting some form of “shadow payment,” from their students. Whether that be in the form of labor, forced loyalty, or even sexual favors, it is never stated upfront. This isn’t to imply that all those who teach for free are any more problematic than anyone else. But neither are they automatically “saints” because they’re not charging your credit card. Try asking around for people’s experiences with a teacher before committing one way or the other.
I think there are probably a million valid ways to teach the Craft, both traditional and modern. While we have some exciting new tools at our disposal that really can expand our ability to connect and communicate, it ultimately comes back to the basics. Even though we might be thousands of miles apart, we can still share a space together, and breathe, and chant, and sing, and dream. And experiment. The trance I lead around a campfire under the stars can also be shared just as effectively via webcam from my home for those who can’t make the physical trek. Is it the same? No, of course not. But it’s not automatically worse. Whether teaching is done in-person or online they offer different outer experiences, but it is the inner experience with which we should be most concerned. Every teaching method we may use are simply tricks to get us there.
I’m excited to see more and more teachers utilize modern tools to aid in their teaching and their Craft. We can now make connections with others all over the world and bring them into a shared energetic space with a few keystrokes. But whether we gather around a campfire or a webcam, we will still speak the sacred names and work the old magic. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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