Special Discussion: Seeker FAQ project

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[HeartShadow - Cutethulhu]

I'm willing to give this topic a try.  I'm actually not doing NaNo this year, but I do hang out with my friends who are doing it while I work on my various other writing projects.  So November might actually be a good month for me to work on this kind of thing.

If that would be helpful.  Mods certainly don't have to use what I write if they don't think it's helpful, but I'll take a crack at it.  

It'll absolutely be helpful.  If there's one you want to do, go crazy.  If you want to do half of them .. you are crazy.   Anyway.

Seriously, if you want to get started, go right ahead.  I'm not going to officially start it until we have stuff concrete, but that's definitely one that's going to be in there!

[HeartShadow - Cutethulhu]

I was thinking pretty much the same thing.

A lot of the Teen FAQ is actually not specific to teens.  Some is, but most isn't.  And several of the topics suggested in this thread are included in the Teen FAQ.

It might make sense to consider combining (and renaming) the Pagan Primer and Teen FAQ into a "Seeker's Guide" or something like that, and expanding it with additional topics and deepening the existing material.

If we can come up with a way to reorganize the existing pieces and to make it easy to continue to build on it, I think that would give us the highest quality, most comprehensive, and most user-friendly source of info.

This is a very exciting project.  

I think that's what we're going to do, certainly - it's mostly a matter of figuring out HOW.

I think the more we put in here, the better it will be.

Of course, that means I have to figure out HOW to do that.

To ALL: I'm seeing a lot of good stuff here!  Please, keep it coming!  Sometime Wed hopefully I'll put together an outline of what we have and what's in the Teen FAQ and all that.

*changed date - no way I'm doing stuff tomorrow!  PACKED!*

[FierFlye]

It might make sense to consider combining (and renaming) the Pagan Primer and Teen FAQ into a "Seeker's Guide" or something like that, and expanding it with additional topics and deepening the existing material.

I think this is a fabulous idea.  It would easier to navigate one page of material than numerous pages & pdfs with similar but different topics and articles. 

Questions:
1.  Is it difficult to add more content to the existing PDF?
2.  If the content was to go on the website instead of in a PDF, do we have space for it and would it increase the hosting fee?

[dragonfly_high]

Building on this: What's a circle? How do I cast one? Will bad things happen if I don't cast it correctly?  Why are circles cast?  I'm not Wiccan, should I cast a circle? 
 

How about does everyone cast circles or call quarters?

[Rowanfox]

I think there really needs to be a discussion of the various different (major) Pagan religions in this guide -- including some basic info on their beliefs, ethics, etc. Enough info that a seeker can immediately see that they are NOT a version of Wicca or generic Neo-Paganism.

This will be a book. A really good book. You could publish it and stop this nonsense in the bud!

[Jenett]

I think that's an excellent idea.

(re: including some form of my Critical Reading and Pagan Books essay)

Yeah, well. It's the single most read thing on my blog/site, and a substantial number of hits come via the Ecauldron site, so I figure sharing it back only makes sense Also, it's a good excuse to do a revision, because I wrote the thing in 2001, which was not only pre-my MLIS, but pre-my own training in my path. I still think most of the same basic things, but I'd put them in a slightly different focus now.

[Dark Midnight]

How about does everyone cast circles or call quarters?

Also how about a section of 'I tried x and y happened-is this supposed to do that?!' and the ever perpetual 'OMG, I've really screwed up doing this-how do I fix it?'.

Sometimes it's nice to know that others have made either the same or similar mistakes. Yes, they will probably laugh, but it is more likely to be in embarrassment at some of the mistakes that they have made in the past. Gods know the coven I used to be in could fill several books with humiliating mistakes and embarrassing incidents, including some of mine! 

[darashand]

General Misconceptions
Pagan Glossary
Making Time for Practices
What to Practice
Critical Thinking for Pagans
How to approach research in a scholarly way
Scholarship v. Intuition
Ritual Format for various tradition
Brief Discussion on certain traditions
Links and Resources for more info on specific trads
Neo-Wicca vs. Traditional Wicca
How to keep a BOS or spiritual Journal (ie keeping one organized!)

[HeartShadow - Cutethulhu]

Basic Glossary
Major Pagan religions
   Wicca
   Neo-Wicca
   Asatru
   Hellenism
   Kemeticism
   Other?
Ritual formats
   circle casting – required/methods/point of it
   blots
   other?
Finding fellow Pagans
Finding information about Paganism
   finding good books
   critical reading skills of said books
   Weighing books – understanding criticism of books
Pagan beliefs – how we don't all believe one thing.  What is/isn't Pagan.
Magic
   Who does magic and why
   Is magic required for Pagans?
   Common methods of doing magic
      Candle magic
      ceremonial magic
      chaos magic
   Curses
      I've been cursed help!
   Spell creation – methods and reasons
   Tools and their purposes and reasons
Divination
   Who does divination and why
   Is divination required for Pagans?
   Common forms of divination
      Tarot
      Runes
      pyromancy
   Interpreting divination and bad results
Organization
   I've heard about a Book of Shadows – what is it/how do I do one?
   Am I required to be organized about all this?
Critical thinking skills
   Book evaluation (yes, it's listed twice, I'm thinking cross-link here)
   Evaluating spiritual information
   Safety in meeting people/sharing magic
   Sign interpretation
   Dream interpretation
Fixing mistakes
   The things that can go weird and how to fix them (thoughts on this?)
Offerings (perhaps under various religions?)
General misconceptions – required sex, worshiping Satan, wild naked orgies, etc.
Finding gods/religion
   Choosing a god/being chosen
   Figuring out where you belong
Talking to other people about Paganism
   Coming out of the broom closet
   Reasons to maybe stay in the closet and critical evaluation of the closet question
Training
   What kind of training do I need?  Why?
   What should I avoid?  When do I run?

I'm really not sure how to even word the ones about getting along on TC and learning how to communicate here.  So that's not in the outline.

So - how does it look?  What should be there that isn't?  What's pointless?

What can we nick that's already been done?

[HeartShadow - Cutethulhu]

From convo in chat, adding:

How the Wiccan Rede doesn't apply to all Pagan religions.

[Jenett]

I'm really not sure how to even word the ones about getting along on TC and learning how to communicate here.  So that's not in the outline.

Local culture: Things to know about the Cauldron's discussion forum ?

I've just done two long posts on my blog about ritual and related safety: I'm definitely glad to condense them.

[Morag]

I can't think of anything to add or subtract, but I am volunteering to write an essay or two when the time comes. After November, natch.

[Marilyn (ABSENTMINDED)]

Interpreting divination and bad results

I have a blog post here about failure in tarot readings - I can probably compress it a bit and make it more general to other forms of divination as well.

http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?action=viewblog;u=23;id=93

My entry in the Teen FAQ about divination isn't particularly teen specific, as well, so if we're cannibalizing that one can probably be transferred intact.

Absent

[Star]

I'm really not sure how to even word the ones about getting along on TC and learning how to communicate here.  So that's not in the outline.

For at least some of this stuff, you may want to look at this stuff that I'd done previously:
http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=39.0
http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=94.0

[Aisling]

Something that I either missed or wasn't there- anything about eclectic paths?  Things like: What does it mean, eclectic? How can a meaningful practice be built?  What are some of the potential pitfalls?  Can I just take what I want and discard the rest?

(And if I overlooked this in your list, feel free to ignore me.  It's the end of a long day and I'm feeling a bit mentally fuzzy right now.)

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