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sabrinamariThis system works well for people with numerous ongoing projects. It includes an innovative filing system that works with either a 10 or 12 tab system. Each tab can serve as a project file or as a collection of related project files. You can load each tab with an "Activities Checklist" page that folds out and over in either direction, literally creating "folders" that have tucked note pages and communication logs inside them.
Under Tab 12 - Blue Star, I've created a folder for each of my Craft students. On the outside of the folder, I jot down a dated line of notes each time we speak/email/communicate. Inside the folder, I keep homework and important documents they have give me (I format these to fit the planner note pages, cut them out and paste them onto blank note pages). I also have a folder for classes that I teach at Clover and keep all planning notes and upcoming/recent class outlines here.
So under the Blue Star tab, I have a folder for E., one for J., for T., and so on...: a folder for each person, each group I visit/work with and a folder for planning new classes.
What's great about this: if I get 15 minutes during a work day to give to Blue Star, I can just flip to each student's folder and see when we communicated last, what we talked about last, what I've promised to do/give next to that person and what they last did/gave me. Thus, I can easily see what I should do with my time to keep everyone moving forward.
When I'm done with my task I can flip back to one of my work projects (organized in the same way) and see the same sorts of things: which team members I last spoke/communicated with; notes from the last project meeting; upcoming actions to be taken, outstanding work that I owe and who I owe it to.
If you have many diverse ongoing projects (I have fifteen, including personal work and Blue Star work, although these could be subdivided differently) this system could work well for you.
If you only have a few projects at any given time, it might not make sense to use this system given its expense.
Also, for any Blue Star people considering work above 1st degree: Blue Star at this level is a second unpaid job if you are working with a group of students (at least in my experience). It will be your second job. That's OK if you love what you do and your family understands that this will require your ongoing time and energy. In fact, you should know that this avocation will cost you money, and you will *still* be required to make a living, manage your income wisely, plan for retirement and raise your family despite this. Those core adult responsibilities will remain, regardless of what you do.
So understand that going above 1st degree is like taking on a second unpaid volunteer position before you decide to do it. At 1st degree, you can do the vast majority of what a 3rd degree can do, but you are not required to sustain your work nor put in the hours in the same way.
Just food for thought.
Under Tab 12 - Blue Star, I've created a folder for each of my Craft students. On the outside of the folder, I jot down a dated line of notes each time we speak/email/communicate. Inside the folder, I keep homework and important documents they have give me (I format these to fit the planner note pages, cut them out and paste them onto blank note pages). I also have a folder for classes that I teach at Clover and keep all planning notes and upcoming/recent class outlines here.
So under the Blue Star tab, I have a folder for E., one for J., for T., and so on...: a folder for each person, each group I visit/work with and a folder for planning new classes.
What's great about this: if I get 15 minutes during a work day to give to Blue Star, I can just flip to each student's folder and see when we communicated last, what we talked about last, what I've promised to do/give next to that person and what they last did/gave me. Thus, I can easily see what I should do with my time to keep everyone moving forward.
When I'm done with my task I can flip back to one of my work projects (organized in the same way) and see the same sorts of things: which team members I last spoke/communicated with; notes from the last project meeting; upcoming actions to be taken, outstanding work that I owe and who I owe it to.
If you have many diverse ongoing projects (I have fifteen, including personal work and Blue Star work, although these could be subdivided differently) this system could work well for you.
If you only have a few projects at any given time, it might not make sense to use this system given its expense.
Also, for any Blue Star people considering work above 1st degree: Blue Star at this level is a second unpaid job if you are working with a group of students (at least in my experience). It will be your second job. That's OK if you love what you do and your family understands that this will require your ongoing time and energy. In fact, you should know that this avocation will cost you money, and you will *still* be required to make a living, manage your income wisely, plan for retirement and raise your family despite this. Those core adult responsibilities will remain, regardless of what you do.
So understand that going above 1st degree is like taking on a second unpaid volunteer position before you decide to do it. At 1st degree, you can do the vast majority of what a 3rd degree can do, but you are not required to sustain your work nor put in the hours in the same way.
Just food for thought.
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no subject
Date: 2008-02-27 04:44 pm (UTC)It's a good ego boosting value added system. Not to mention with my triple air sign brain it enables me to remember all of the fabulous ideas I have. :)
____________________________
Not only are degree above 1st like a job they also can't be quit as easily. It's awfully hard to go to your community and turn in a resignation letter. Which isn't to say you don't have any options. But the bar does get raised quite a bit.
Even without the social or financial aspects the energetic parameters would still be in place. I still believe we all really do effect each other.
no subject
Date: 2008-02-27 07:53 pm (UTC)******
Yes, yes and yes...
Clergy == Calling == Job
Date: 2008-02-27 05:53 pm (UTC)Some of you know that I also study with a Rabbi, and she and I are, together, finding a way for me to be a useful clergy person within Jewish Renewal as well as the Craft. I have watched said Rabbi and how she manages her time. There are some things we could learn from her. For example, $$ for time when there isn't a crisis go into a pot for the good of the community. (I don't know, and don't want to know whose dinner my last 90 minute private class bought. I trust that the dinner/groceries were needed.) She also acknowledges that her calling is a job. She has other jobs, but gives being Clergy attention as a CAREER! She is not supported fully by her community, and she is the author of at least 3 books, gets paid for weeklong intensive classes, etc.
Yes, being clergy for a community is a JOB. Yet, some of us can't ignore the fact that the role is already in our lives, even if the Degrees aren't. Not having spiffy titles doesn't stop the phone calls to the Priestess. The phone calls, the demands for time, the demands for services, the requests for specially written liturgy, those happen without the degrees.
So, it doesn't matter that I'm not an Initiate in your community. I am a Priestess to my community with all the JOB and fancy footwork that entails.
Re: Clergy == Calling == Job
Date: 2008-02-27 07:58 pm (UTC)And as to the correlation between degree, title and job, no argument there. Blue Star is a tiny little trad within a small religious sector. Our lovely RoPs and our degrees are good, but by no means definative. Our system does not define reality. It just tries to approximate it, with greater and lesser 'degrees' of success. (hee hee...)
You be who you are, honey. I ain't gonna contest that.
(Smiling with affection and good will...)
Re: Clergy == Calling == Job
Date: 2008-02-27 09:29 pm (UTC)That doesn't however mean "No money for non-Wiccan healing weekends." Think about that part.
For example, Rabbi M will not charge for a funeral, a wedding within the community, visiting a congregant in the hospital, or doing any of the things that a clergy person "just does."
She does, however, see that her time is worth money, as does her partner (Cantor/Hazzan Jack). For example, if I want an hour a week of voice lessons from Jack because my "Warm be the southern flame to thee..." makes people cringe, I expect to pay him for his time.
In terms of Craft degrees vs. Seminary. We never want to be a place where one can buy a degree. Yet, most seminaries charge tuition. What one receives from most seminaries is the equivalent of a Ph.D. and ordination in whichever denomination one has studied.
Do we offer that level of training?
If we do, I'll pony up the bucks in a split second!
I have been seriously debating seminary for years. The skill sets in "Life Cycle Ritual", "Religious vs. Civil Law", "Liturgy as an Art Form," "The Art of Communal Prayer", "The Technology of Ritual," "History of Religion", "Hospital Chaplaincy", etc. are all things I need and I don't see being offered in Blue Star land.
Re: Clergy == Calling == Job
Date: 2008-02-27 10:21 pm (UTC)For the opportune.
Re: Clergy == Calling == Job
Date: 2008-02-29 05:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-28 10:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-02-29 12:02 am (UTC)Musicians---especially ones who are active in their communities---know that they are going to give of themselves, over and over and over again. They know that they will spend money and time on other people. Why do they do this? There is only one reason---we do it for love. Love of music, love of sharing music, love of the people that come to us with music in the soul, wanting more.
It's the same way with clergy. As leader of my study group/Grove, I spend money---for supplies, for feast, for whatever is needed. I spend time and energy, making sure that things are ready, house is cleaned, e-mails are sent, rituals prepared, events planned. I am often asked why I do it. The reason is simple. It's all for love. Love of the tradition, of the people that come to our home for community and companionship, love of the gods who are asking me to give of myself and serve. It's all love.
And as we all know---there is no greater magic in all the world than that of love.
And all this---while I hold down a full-time job, manage my other responsibilities, work on a brand-new marriage, give as much as I can to my children and grandchildren, and still try to learn something new every day, just for me. I'm no model---but I know if I can do it, others can, too. You just have to decide what things are important to you, choose your life battles wisely, and forge ahead. It's not perfect---but perfection is boring! :)