How many "masters", teachers, guides, whatever have you had?

[mindsword]

I've met around 5 people who had a significant impact on my choice of path and use of techniques.

• I lived with a half apache shaman for about a week or two who taught me some basic shamanism/healing and about omens etc.
  I also met a chaos magician in a, yes, mental hospital who taught me a lot about sigils, hypersigils, crystals, alot of other very strange stuff and where and how to get some very good information for a few months.
  I was together with a chaos magic / withcraft practicioner from greece for about 7 months. Alot of psychic activity, telepathy, more about reading omens, voodoo and a whole fucking lot of everything. Although she was only 18 at the time, she was extremely powerful. On some read your mind from the other side of the continent type stuff.
  A South African political science student a year younger than me i think, that i corresponded with online and by mail for around 5 years. She was around my own level or knowledge, so there were a lot of information exchanges back and forth, and mutual intellectual challenging i guess... We discussed alot of very general things and a very wide spectrum of different topics and its hard to pinpoint just one. I met her like twice or thrice in person.
  My grandfather. Definitely. I only knew him when i was about a meter tall tho.

Sadly i have lost contact with the lot of them. I think there is some saying like, the master never stays for too long or something like that i guess... Some kind of Hero's Journey archetype thing maybe.

Almost forgot:
Myself. For about 28 years now. I did a whole lot of searching around and experimentation, seriously, since about the age of 15. Very good guy for the most part and very dedicated at times.

I still havent met that recluse monk with a long white beard in the Himalayas yet. I look forward to studying for a few years when i figure out how to actually get there, without getting stuck in Kathmandu without money again.
I also looked for a Sangoma in South Africa (Around Gauteng and Joburg)... No real luck.

Do you have any interesting Yoda, Mr. Miyagi type people that came into your life at strange moments when it seemed like that was exactly what you needed in order to grow spiritually and as a human?

[mindsword]

I also met a strange old homeless guy wearing all white with a long white beard sitting on a bench in Germany. I swear he jedi mind tricked me into walking into the river just so he could talk to me while i was drying my clothes. Always laughing at stuff. He was always just sitting at the same bench. I ended up calling him God cause thats kinda what he looked like and his name was difficult to pronounce.

Its a large and strange world, we all need someone to tell us directions so we dont get lost once in a while.

[Caerdon]

None, I'm a self-taught man, though that was more from lack of resources and opportunity during my developmental time rather than conscious choice.
However, I've given some consideration to being a mentor/teacher for others after recently reaching out and helping someone in their own development, and found it quite rewarding and helpful for my own continued development.
Speaking of, I've been giving thought on writing a basic early beginners guide to energy work for on the forum here... assuming I find a need for it here [moresarcasm]

[mindsword]

None, I'm a self-taught man, though that was more from lack of resources and opportunity during my developmental time rather than conscious choice.
However, I've given some consideration to being a mentor/teacher for others after recently reaching out and helping someone in their own development, and found it quite rewarding and helpful for my own continued development.
Speaking of, I've been giving thought on writing a basic early beginners guide to energy work for on the forum here... assuming I find a need for it here [moresarcasm]

Noone is self-taught, no matter how much we want it so... We are all here for a reason. If the reason is your own, or the universes doesn't really matter. We are not here on our own.

Also, I would not accept your guidance just like that. Nobody started a Master.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLBdmta4aXk

It's real.

[Caerdon]

None, I'm a self-taught man, though that was more from lack of resources and opportunity during my developmental time rather than conscious choice.
However, I've given some consideration to being a mentor/teacher for others after recently reaching out and helping someone in their own development, and found it quite rewarding and helpful for my own continued development.
Speaking of, I've been giving thought on writing a basic early beginners guide to energy work for on the forum here... assuming I find a need for it here [moresarcasm]

Noone is self-taught, no matter how much we want it so... We are all here for a reason. If the reason is your own, or the universes doesn't really matter. We are not here on our own.

Also, I would not accept your guidance just like that. Nobody started a Master.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLBdmta4aXk

It's real.

Have to disagree with you there. Lack of resources, experimenting on your own, making discoveries on your own, learning from your successes as well as your mistakes with no guidance, no one to show you what you are doing right or wrong or to help you or where to look for for information... yeah to me that's being self taught.

To learn something without having some guidance or to have someone teach you is being self taught.

I think that you are confusing something here. I'm not claiming, nor has anyone even brought up, that being self taught is denying your reason of being. I have no idea how you made that jump of logic. It's a completely different and unrelated matter, separate from whether you've had a guide or not in your development. I'm willing to go into it the topic with you, but that's neither here nor there.

Also, I never claimed to be a master. Neither am I just starting out. I just noticed a lack of a guide on the forum for energy work basics, or atleast not one that I'm aware of, and just want to know if there's a want or need for one as I'm willing to write one.

[777Sloan]

I'm also self-taught. I learn from life, personally, directly. No gurus, masters, teachers, or guides. Only life. Though in a sense, life is all of those and more, if one is willing to see and hear.

[mindsword]

Wow. You guys must be such cool people. [razz]

I see everyone as some kind of teacher. You can learn from everyone. Someone wrote that book you read.

[Caerdon]

Wow. You guys must be such cool people. [razz]

I see everyone as some kind of teacher. You can learn from everyone. Someone wrote that book you read.

Again, lack of resources buddy. I.E., no books to be read that I could get at the time of my development and exploratory discovery of the occult ways.

I honestly don't want to get into it with you for a multitude of reasons. It sounds like a brush off, I know, but at the same time, I don't want to sit here trying to make a point that makes it look as if I'm tooting my own horn.

All I will say is that some people cannot get or find any resources when they are starting out and develop their own practices in the occult world. True, it's getting rarer and rarer in todays day and age of internet connectivity, but it's still there and possible. However, when I started my path in the occult well over a decade ago, there was only dial up internet, and I lived well out in the country so there wasn't exactly alot of places that would conceivably have occult books laying around that I would be able to have gotten my hands on.

I can go on and explain my own personal journey and explain in depth as to why I say I am self taught, but frankly I don't want to do so in a context such as this. It's a personal thing that should be shared in good faith and good company, not to be used in a pissing contest over an internet forum.

Honestly, you don't have to be patronizing to us who say we don't have a teacher or a mentor just because you don't like our response, or that it goes against what you believe.
It's not about wanting to be seen as "cool", and you using a belittling attitude is uncalled for and is quite unbecoming and immature. This isn't highschool, and attitude tells alot about a person.

I am more than open to discussing the different view points that you and I have over the matter, but only if both of us goes into it with an open mind and with respect towards one another, with the goal of presenting our sides to one another, and listening to what the other is saying, trying to convince eachother with our viewpoints, but most importantly not trying to force one another to align with either viewpoint.

And I don't disagree with everything you said, I mainly have problems with your attitude. I do agree that you can learn something from anyone and everyone, however, there is alot of variables that goes along with that, such as if the person is willing to teach it, if you are willing to learn it, or if you are observant/patient/reasonable/etc. enough to get what the person is trying to teach or have to teach.

It's great to have viewpoints like that, however, it is also important to not allow those viewpoints to allow you to become...stagnant. Complacent. You have to learn to see the dangers and weaknesses of viewpoints and beliefs and ideals that you have as well as the benefits and strengths of them.

[mindsword]

Honestly, you don't have to be patronizing to us who say we don't have a teacher or a mentor just because you don't like our response, or that it goes against what you believe.
It's not about wanting to be seen as "cool", and you using a belittling attitude is uncalled for and is quite unbecoming and immature. This isn't highschool, and attitude tells alot about a person.

Welcome to the internet bro.

Also im not trying to belittle anyone, im just finding it har to believe that no one has influenced your beliefs in any kind of way. Unless you grew up on a deserted island. In which case you would most likely still have some animal or plant spirits/friends around.

Sorry if my answer came out a little sarcastic. Just trying to make a point and make sure it wasnt just your egos talking. Im still kind of in doubt tho, but i guess you may just be a little secretive about it. Which i guess is allowed too.

[inMalkuth]

I am with mindsword on this one, though I understand the other perspectives about being self taught.

I have not had the benefit of a physical master- but I have had the benefit of many authors (be them masters or not, I cannot know), and so I would conclude that I am not self taught. My language, my knowledge, and my ability to reason came from somewhere, and it wasn't until I was able to acknowledge that it has a root that I was able to process the events in my life. All of this- who you are- did not come from nothing. Every person we meet in some way is influencing our awareness and process.

[Caerdon]

Honestly, you don't have to be patronizing to us who say we don't have a teacher or a mentor just because you don't like our response, or that it goes against what you believe.
It's not about wanting to be seen as "cool", and you using a belittling attitude is uncalled for and is quite unbecoming and immature. This isn't highschool, and attitude tells alot about a person.

Welcome to the internet bro.

Also im not trying to belittle anyone, im just finding it har to believe that no one has influenced your beliefs in any kind of way. Unless you grew up on a deserted island. In which case you would most likely still have some animal or plant spirits/friends around.

Sorry if my answer came out a little sarcastic. Just trying to make a point and make sure it wasnt just your egos talking. Im still kind of in doubt tho, but i guess you may just be a little secretive about it. Which i guess is allowed too.

So, you are purposely being ignorant and belligerent... good to know.

Honestly, pissing contest aside, your views on what constitutes as a teacher/guide and the criteria you label them under is kinda too vague and broad. Do people influence you, your thoughts or your beliefs? Yes, obviously they do for everyone. Every word, every action, even those that aren't taken, influences you in some way, shape, or form.
However, should everyone you interact with be constituted as a guide or teacher or master of yours? No, they should not be. A Teacher/Guide/Master/whathaveyou, should be someone distinguished from everyone else, who played a vital, intentional, and valuable roll in your development. It should be someone who had taken an interest in you and purposely taught you something, whether it be a lesson in life, lesson on how to do something, or just shared a pathway for you building your own core beliefs/code/system, all within in a specific system or area of study. These people add to what you are setting out to learn in.

So when I say I am self taught, I'm not saying I didn't have outside influences in some way, I'm saying I didn't have access to books and resources in order to gain the specific occult knowledge I needed, I didn't have a person, spirit, or other authoritative figure to teach me or give advice, and I had to figure out how to do things on my own, figure out what worked for me and what didn't. I don't have anyone that I can say specifically helped shape my foundation in the magickal arts, I don't have anyone I can say acted as a guide, even peripherally, to point me down the path I wanted or point me in the direction I needed to go.

This is not being egotistical. It was hard work with alot of false starts and wasted time.It doesn't make one stronger by any means, doesn't make what you do any better or any worse, and is more often than not slower and just a confirmation that what is taught by others actually is true. There is no real benefit for teaching yourself as compared to learning from others, to claim otherwise is foolhardy. It is my belief that people who have access to teachers are in fact luckier and should take the chance to learn from someone as to not make mistakes that others have made and to gain the knowledge needed. It is, to me, the purpose of the previous generation to give the knowledge they have to the next generation, just as it is the next generation's purpose to build upon and surpass the previous generation.