was just wandering what people thought about witchcraft courses has any one been on one or organised one? how much did you pay/ charge and what did you learn.

We run two courses every year, a general introduction to paganism and a more specific wicca study group. The pagan course covers a wider range of topics including different paths and traditions, Gods/Goddesses, the elements, energy work, meditation, divination, correspondences, and writing your own rituals. The wiccan one is more specific to our path, and is more of a study course - people are expected to go and do their own research as well, so they aren't just getting all their information from us. This means we usually end up with a good mix of ideas, and some interesting discussions.

We charge about £3 per class, and there are normally nine classes per course, although we will keep them running longer if people want to. The £3 is to cover the cost of materials, teas and coffees, and food (we always feed people, lol). We don't make any money out of it, if by chance there is some left over at the end of the course we spend it on a get together at the end.

I enjoy doing them, because every group is different - we try and be fairly flexible about which topics we will cover so if there is an interest in one area we will make sure we can cover it. So each group has a different dynamic, and will take a different direction... keeps it interesting!

I was going to post about the usual rip offs, especially on the net as i have heard and seen quite a lot of negative stuff for incredible prices. This however was a pleasant surprise. I'm not a wiccan but i think this is how it should be (and how at one time i though it was), a sharing of information but not for profit (and hopefully not at a loss either). It has injected a bit of the lost faith i have in humanity . Unfortunately there are seemingly not many courses like yours around.

for a change woozle strolls off whistling a merry tune.

What you're offering Storm, is great - an opportunity for people to step forward and taste/feel what is on offer and discuss.. Anything, IMO, which offers this sort of help, with honesty, no false promises, and straightforward attitude, can only be good.

Marian Green does one for about £35, it lasts a year. It is definitely for beginners, but you get a copy of her 'Witch Alone' book and she marks it personally. She does workshops and classes too. She doesn't go online though so you have to purchase The Quest to get details.

There are other courses the like Grey Wizardry School, and the College recently set up by Isaac Bonewits, both of which are supposed to be good but do cost alot. Sometimes you have to be willing to part with cash for services. You have to decide how much cash you are willing to part with/can afford and pick the course best suited.

I stay away from anything off ebay, Witchschool, or in my spam mail.

This was all I could find for the Grey Wizardry - and taking on kids of eleven or over, well - it strikes me as very Harry Potterish.

http://www.dragontreemagick.com/GSflyer4up.pdf

Here's Bonewit's offering, but no prices given...
http://www.neopagan.net/

Generally I am very skeptical of courses on witchcraft and would advocate investigating them very carefully before parting with any cash, this is having seen courses claiming to teach you all sorts in exchange for hundreds of pounds.

However I would say that Stormbringer's course sounds like wonderful value for money and one of a small number of courses out there run by real Pagans to impart knowledge and understanding rather than as a money making scheme.

Storm Raven

This is the link to Oberon Zell's School of Wizardry (aka Grey School).

http://www.greyschool.com/

I have no opinion of whether 11 years old is too young - many forums are OK with 13 year olds on. I expect the parents would need to agree to that age joining, otherwise who would pay? But he has always admitted it was based on Harry Potter.

I think Bonewits school is still getting sorted. He was looking for lecturers recently if anyone if interested. We have enough experts on here I reckon.

Carolynn Townsend used to do them in the Wycombe area. It was about £3 then, a few years ago. That's how I met her. She has a few books published with Capall Bann. "Dancing with the Juggler" I'd recommend to anyone examining Tarot. She's moved down to Dorset recently. She still operates a monthly lecture called "Nature's Way" and has some very well-known speakers. (I was one of the lesser-known ones).

She's also suffering serious illness at the moment so if you can send healing her way, it would be appreciated.

There is also a shop called "Gaia Crystals" in Wendover Dean in Buckinghamshire. They have regular lectures and courses on a variety of topics. Some more witchy, some less so.

hey can you believe £3 no neither can i ! but its true the courses are generally run at a loss, but its the believe and the intent it goes a long way. most people that take the course, come back and wish to progress futher along their path. we dont make a profit wouldnt want to because then it becomes a business, which would make it no better than some of the scams available on the internet.
hey enough said

It's nice to get good feedback about what we are doing, I have seen plenty of courses out there charging hundreds of pounds for what seems to be quite basic information - and I'll be honest and say we have considered going down the commercial route once or twice (usually a week before payday when we are all skint and living on toast, lol). But it never happens because we just don't feel right charging money for things we all do all the time... we live and breathe a pagan life, and for us it is more about sharing what we know with those people who have a genuine interest and a willingness to learn. These are not necessarily the people with the deepest pockets, and we feel it is more important to make our courses available to everyone, not just those with money to burn!

Thats not to say that some more expensive classes aren't worth the money, some of them will be - just like everything else, there will be some that are worth every penny and some that just rip you off. The best thing to do if you can, is talk to some people who have done the course before and find out what they thought about it before committing to anything.

We always start our courses by saying we aren't going to be teaching the RIGHT way to do anything, we are just teaching OUR way... and there is plenty of information out there for anyone who goes looking for it. I would be wary of any classes that claimed to have all the answers, or to be teaching the only correct way to go about things, but most real pagans (at least the ones I have come across) don't do this anyway, they know there are lots of different methods and teachings out there and won't claim to be masters of everything. Those people who do make claims like this usually find their egos get popped somewhere down the line anyway, lol

Hi

I went on a Wicca Study Group recently, it was 8 weeks and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd become sick of reading books and doing things on my own and wanted to experience magick/ritual with others. The facilitators couldn't have made a profit, it cost about £10 per session which included all food/drink materials etc and was run out of Atlantis bookshop in Central London so you have to work their travel costs into that as well. We averaged about 10 to 13 people per session.

The course was a beginners one, so we covered all the key points, ie, history of Wicca, chakra opening, some basic energy work, the elements, circle casting, god and goddess work, some simple magic using sigils and a little bit about divining. I had covered this already in reading and in solitary work but did find it interesting to work within a group setting and to be part of the ritual structure, and of course I'd never worked magic in a group before so that was very rewarding.

I know you requested 'witchcraft' courses in general, however I am a member of the ADF (which does have some Groves in the UK) and once you are a member the courses are completely free and there are many directions one can go within the ADF.

The ADF to those of you who have no clue what it is: Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, you can see more details about them here: ADF.