Whenever a person decides to investigate esoteric subjects, the first problem they encounter is sorting through the huge amount of material available online and in bookshops, to find that which is real and meaningful. Finding likeminded people, or better still a teacher, is a huge bonus.

Familiarity with the Tarot and Qabala is important for many who engage in esoteric study. For the last 15 years, those of us living in Sydney had the luxury of attending Tarot and Qabala classes on Tuesday evenings at the Theosophical Society run by Elias Ibrahim. For the first few years the classes were on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, and then were held every Tuesday. While a donation was asked for, this was to cover the running expenses of the Theosophical Society. Elias gave up his time and his expertise freely.

Elias had a core of fairly regular attendees. [I myself was a fairly regular attendee in the 1990s, and would occasionally drop in to say hello whenever in Sydney over the last few years.] Numerous seekers would turn up periodically looking for guidance. Some of these seekers would become regulars, while others would move on. In Elias, there was an accessible reliable resource for seekers.

In early March, Elias had a severe stroke while at home. (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 4:59 am
filed under: Pagan Issues
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As indicated in my bio, I am on the board of Cherry Hill Seminary, as a non-paid volunteer.

Cherry Hill Seminary is the first and only graduate-level education for pagan ministry in the modern world. It offers online distance-learning classes, regional workshops and intensive retreats. Cherry Hill Seminary aims to produce a professional, competent, educated and recognizable group of scholars, leaders, teachers, chaplains and clergy who have been educated at the graduate level – in a pagan learning environment, by pagans, and for pagans. Cherry Hill (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 4:35 pm
filed under: Economy & Finance, Events, Pagan Issues
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For those not familiar with the Amazon Associates Program, it was established to pay a referral fee to website owners who were sending users to Amazon. While the revenue earned by high traffic websites may well be quite considerable, the revenue for the average pagan website is comparatively modest.

On 6 April 2009, I received an email from Amazon announcing a “change” to the Amazon Associates Program starting on 1 May 2009. They stated that “After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to … Amazon websites in the US or Canada.”

They then added “We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program.”

This means that all of us who have websites in North America (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 1:52 am
filed under: Economy & Finance, Pagan Issues
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On Saturday 28 March 2009 the Orange County Local Council (OCLC) of the Covenant of the Goddess (CoG) held an Ostara Picnic in Anaheim. The event had a strong children’s focus with a retelling of the story of Goddess and the Hare, an egg hunt and craft activities.

Alicia, the OCLC Second Officer, invited Jo and myself to talk about Cherry Hill Seminary and how it can be supported through the SCRIP programme which Jo had initiated.

After I had finished my talk, there were a number of important grassroots level issues of concern which cropped up. (more…)

posted by Tony Mierzwicki @ 8:39 pm
filed under: Events, Legal, Pagan Issues
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