There is one situation in which your magick is going to be at its most powerful.  It is also where you gather strength for all of the other magick that you might ever do.

It is also the situation in which you do some of your greatest learning.  As with any field of endeavor which requires developed skills, there is a time when you need to put the book down, walk away from the video, and actually do it.

We're talking about your private rituals.

Even in the best of covens, groups, churches, kindreds or families, you're most likely to encounter more advice and help that you actually need.  And in the larger, more organized churches, there is always the "self-appointed Pope" (even in denominations that don't have a Pope) who makes it their ministry to mind everyone's business but their own.  In your private rituals, they're not there.  What you do is between yourself and your deities.  That's because it's private.

This is where you learn.  This is where you can try things.

This is also where you can substitute.  If all you have for a robe is a blanket, if all you have for a chalice is a styrofoam cup, so what?  You have what you need for this.

There are limits, but the limits are broad, well-known, and the ones you should respect anyway.

And it strengthens all other aspects of your priesthood and ministry!

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SPECIAL NOTE:  The issues concerning FTP transfer speed and time-outs have not yet been resolved, but they have been reduced to the point that it is possible to transfer a file. 

Thank you for your patience while my own patience was being tested.

Putting it all together.  In any learning exercise, it's necessary to do that from time to time.

In elementary school, I often wondered about the sense of what I was being made to learn.  What use would I have for it was one question.  The other question was if the subjects were being presented as separate entities, did they ever come together?

And so, here we look at it from an "all together" point of view to see what is to be seen.  And do you know what?  There's a secret that some elementary school teachers didn't bother to share with me, but it became an important part of my research in graduate school.  The secret is this:  If you put them together, then even more is revealed!

And here in this episode is a quick peek at what I mean.  There will be more of it later, but here is the first peek. 

Coming out in private - a contradiction?  No.  You might "dress for success", but you probably do the actual dressing of yourself in private.  One of a few supposed contraditions which aren't so long as you look beyond the surface.

Some people think that the only way to deal with the world is to try to convert the whole rest of the world to their way, which is why you occasionally see someone trying to "save" you on the streetcorner or in front of a supermarket.  And then there are those who try to deal only with their own kind of people so that they can avoid the real world as much as possible.  And then, there are the people who try to keep anything spiritual in their lives a big secret - announce at work that you saw them in church, and see how they react.  There might be a better way.  I prefer to be who I am and deal with the rest of the world.

There are tools available to help accomplish that.  And most of them are basics that some other folks just don't grasp.  Here they are.

We've talked about coming out of the broomcloset.  Now, let's deal with the one occasion when outsiders are forced to deal with our existence - public rituals.

Most discussion among Wiccans about public rituals deals with how to officiate.  There's more to it than that, and there are some principles which apply whether you're officiating or merely attending.

If you've gotten the point about anything about The Craft, you already know that there is no such thing as "knowing enough" or "knowing all about" any subject that is of any consequence.  But in a public ritual, you sometimes have to deal with people who think that they know all that they need to know.

Four basic principles.  Actually think of them as tools.  Armed with them, you'll disarm those who would be your/our enemies.  Use them wisely, you'll do well for yourself and all of us.

Like so much else, those four tools have been hiding in plain sight.