A not-for-profit doth not a legally sound church make. Nor is a not-for-profit necessarily legal outside its state of origin. Beginning
with the twelve attributes by which the IRS evaluates the legality of a proposed church -- which your presenters helped to define -- and moving on to the famous precedent-setting
case of Dettmer vs. Landon, learn how, for under $2, you can form a church that is legal in all states. Many of you know that in their street clothes, Gavin and Yvonne are professional ballroom dance teachers.
In fact they teach for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Besides the other presentations listed here, G&Y would very much like to offer one-hour sessions of beginner lessons in
ballroom. At your festival, it is suggested that swing and mambo/salsa be offered for the young at heart. Argentine tango is suggested for those who like to be
simultaneously modern, sexy and timeless, and waltz or rumba for the slower dancers who like to take their time on the floor.
A religion, not a philosophy, not an ideology, is the foundation of a church. The key? Belief in a deity of some kind .. though a named deity makes
only a cult, not a church or a spiritual path. The Mission Statement is essential to eventual success. By-laws, Articles of Association, and the laws governing the IRS and its
examination of records, will all be considered.
The lecture will also examine:
1. Getting your TIN;
2. Becoming a 501(c)(3) {Not a $2 option};
3. Form 990;
4. FICA, excise taxes;
5. Workmen's compensation, volunteers, and paid sub-contractors.
You cannot afford to overlook any of the above listed essential elements.
Most lawyers will advise you to form a corporation -- because that's what they understand! Only when the lawyer's future is at stake will
that person admit that other paths might be better.
The battles have been fought and won. You don't need to re-plow old ground to form a church and to keep control of it. Just get it right the first time.
Advanced Level Class
Dance, Pagan, Dance!
If you are having a dance, or even a band at your festival, let Gavin and Yvonne teach your attendees patterns appropriate to the
music you anticipate. We can offer up to an hour of instruction just preceding the dance. This will ensure that your participants enjoy the dance with even more
confidence and self-assurance than they might already feel!
(Includes Wicca 101) A detailed exposition of the underlying philosophy of the Church of Wicca as it has developed over the thirty-some years
since the Church's founding. Understand the Deity and the god-esses, together with a look at each tenet, ranging from the Wiccan Rede through Reincarnation. Wicca (the Craft) is not
a fixed, dogmatic religion; it continues to evolve since the Frosts founded the Church and School. The tolerance of diversity found in the Church of Wicca has
resulted in a truly democratic way of spirituality. Everyone's views have a chance to be heard; and, provided those views do not imply harm to anyone or promote the idea that the
speaker's path is the one and only path, they are accepted. Here is your chance to reach a definitive understanding of each of the Church's tenets.
This is a general overview class on Wiccan philosophy, something which many Wiccans have needed. You've heard the rumors -- now is your chance to judge
for yourself. Gavin and Yvonne will answer your questions, provided that they are not ad hominem attacks. Through discussion perhaps we can find common ground and can learn better to
articulate our beliefs.
Beginner Level class
Book for review: The Good Witch's Bible, Frost and Frost
As much as we love and honor our miraculous bodies, it can be beneficial to leave them temporarily behind while we travel in spiritual planes.
The relationship between meditation, altered states of consciousness, and astral travel will be discussed, based on the Frosts'
best-selling Astral Travel. Prayer is only one side of the coin; listening for guidance is the other. Answers can come through meditation, but too much has been
made of techniques -- the logistics -- of the process. Here we describe the simple, non-gasping approach we have used successfully in over forty years of empirical work with
50,000 students.
There will be a discussion of understanding and using three different types of meditation; namely active, passive, and astral.
Particularly in the astral-meditation phase, the presentation offers tips on finding an urgent necessity, what to expect in time travel, and how all this relates to
getting the magical blue BMW.
After the theoretical part of the workshop, those who wish may participate in a meditative journey to meet their own animal
ally and to find their safe place.
Class needs a secure, private, quiet, and comfortable site.
Please bring a blanket or a chair with no metal parts.
Book for review: Astral Travel, Frost and Frost
Starting with Rousseau and the Age of Enlightenment, this lecture considers various myths generated in modern time about the roots of Wicca.
Chief among them will be the myth that Gerald Gardner was the founder of modern Wicca. Many overlooked heroes and martyrs turn out to have been formative in our present spiritual
path. Thomas Paine, Sojourner Truth, Chief Sequoyah: These and more wrought changes in consciousness that led to today's understanding. Alistair Crowley, the OTO, the Transcendentalists, and
MacGregor Mathers all have words to say in this presentation. Gardner, the grand old man of Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente, Sybil Leek, and Ray Buckland make brief appearances.
Learn when, where, how, and why Llewellyn Publications' Carl and Sandra Weschcke formed a kangaroo court to "try" the Frosts. Here we meet the defense
counsel, Bonewits and Zell, as well as prosecutors Herman Slater and Lady Sheba aka Jessie Whicker Bell.
Intermediate Level Class
Book for review: High Magic's Aid, G. Gardner
This usually skyclad (depending on the festival grounds' rules regarding clothing optional classes) examines the bars to intimacy that we put up,
ways we use stereotyping to avoid intimacy, and some techniques to establish intimacy. These will help all attendees creat that indefinable connection with another, that removes loneliness. This talk is based on Gavin and Yvonne's newest book,
A Witch's Guide to Psychic Healing, which is quickly becoming a best-seller. The workshop considers not only how personal and group powers can work twoard healing; it also considers the things
you can do in your own life to remain healthy. Ragland's test for stress will be demonstrated. Attendees will discuss proactive control of their own levels of stress through use of the HARP system.
Cutting edge research on the role of the hippocampus, endorphines, and corticoids will show how meditation does not completely repair damage caused by stress. The talk briefly examines the
pharmaceutical industry and its highly dangerous products and takes a look at agribusiness with its demonstrably dangerous crops. This lecture may literally save your life! Reality constructs are at the heart of any religion: What is time? What is matter? What is reality itself? How do Wiccans
operate within that reality? Is the future fixed, or do we invent it as we go along? Can we see around the bend in the River of Time, or do we construct it? Are we the god-esses of
future generations? Once again we see the old puzzle: free will versus predestination.
Psychic healing is one of the most rewarding priorities any coven can have. Pursuing the practice to
the fullest extent possible requires
the ability to raise and send power.
Many things can drive a ritual. Gender and orientation difference is a basic human driving force, though there are many pitfalls to its use in ritual
and in small-group situations. (Orientation difference is not based solely on gender, but on gender attributes as we have learned through our years of working with gay couples.)
Here we show how orientation differences can be harnessed successfully and ethically -- as a means to a higher end -- in a way that is almost un-American. Surprisingly,
when men and women sit down and candidly discuss how to arrange such rituals, common ground and agreement can usually be found.
This workshop explores the use of gender differences, sexual orientation, sexual energy, and the lunar cycle of orgasmic
increase and decrease of endorphines which enables the participants to reach Nirvana via the royal kundalini path. This cycle will be compared to a Wiccan full-moon ritual driven by
gender difference (also applicable for gay couples). Is WICCA an acronym? For what? In a participatory workshop, attendees suggest
various meanings for the letters that spell WICCA. Yvonne concentrates on the positive meanings of the letters, but we often end up with interesting new insights into the meaning
of Wicca. Taking letter by letter, participants suggest concepts that relate to the Craft; for example, W might stand for wit, wisdom, work, wimp, or weep. Our email address is "school@citynet.net"
Our Webmaster is Bronwyn who has not answered an email in over a year!
Copyright © 1997 - 2007 c.e., Church and School of Wicca
Most recently updated:
July 3, 2007 c.e.
The impact of the Black Death on the population of Europe and the succeeding Burning Times will be examined. Such characters as Kramer, Gui, and Corsa will
come alive in their full horror. The Inquisition's early version of John Ashcroft's Patriot Act will show how the church was smarter than the Republican administration of 2001. We will examine such
questions as:
1. Why did they dig up the bones of "heretics" and burn them?
2. Why was the last crusade such an abject failure?
3. Why were the women of the beguinages easy and convenient targets for inquisitors?
4. Why is the latest "scholarly" allegation, that less than 200,000 "witches" were burned, just as wildly astray as the 7 million previously claimed? It all depends on how you define witch, heretic,
or simply shrew.
5. Why the Malleus Maleficarum was not used by the inquisition?
If you are a public Wiccan you need this lecture so that your "facts" will be closer to the reality.
Intermediate Level Class
Book for review: Who Speaks for the Witch?, Frost and Frost
Opening Up to Love and Intimacy:
We like to do this workshop in a relatively closed space and late in the evening, so that it can be as open-ended as participants want it to be. Attendees consider
such things as clothing and stereotypes, that get in the way of real communication. A safe-place technique gets everyone feeling cofortable; then we welcome one another into our own safe place, expressing
things that we wouldn't dare tell in any other setting. Such catharsis sometimes causes tears -- and thus heals.
In today's world, where everyone is careful to inhabit their own space and where stereotypes daily erect more barriers between people, this workshop breaks down walls
and demonstrates that we are all part of one human experience.
Beginner Level Class, please bring comfortable seating, possible sexual contact; therefore only consenting adult couples please, and a secure, private site is preferred.
Book for review: Games People Play, E Berne
A Wiccan's Guide to Healing:
Intermediate Level Class
Book for review: A Witch's Guide to Psychic Healing, Frost and Frost
Please note that although this class is based on the above-referenced text, Gavin and Yvonne do not lecture directly from the text, since they assume those
attending the class can read for themselves.
Wicca 301 -- Reality: Fixed or Fluid?
This advanced lecture is based on the idea that Reality is the only game in town worth playing. Quantum mechanics, physics, mysticism, and plain
old common sense combine to form an interesting experience. After we meet Schrodinger's Pussy, we consider whether creation is up or down, and how evolution fits in.
Many religions work with a fixed dogmatic set of assumptions about the world in which we live. Wicca has always been defined as a fluid
philosophy that changes and grows as new facts come to light and scientitsts explore new realities. That fluidity is its strength -- and its weakness. Strength because it adapts;
it is not like a dinosaur. Weakness because too few of its adherents can adjust to the idea that different is not dangerous.
Advanced Level Class
Book for review: The End of Time, T. Barbour
Wicca 501 -- Power Raising and Circle Dancing:
This lecture starts with the basics and shows how you can add to your reportoire methods necessary to store, tune, and send power --
methods known since time immemorial. Learn to understand traditional tables of correspondences and to construct a new one fine-tuned to fit you best for the group you work with.
Construction and use of stone god-esses, why the dawn sign is usually not used, and how to include many other techniques that will lead to an
improvement in your success rate will be examined.
Starting from the basics of personal polarity and with the Wiccan shuffle, then moving on through the Gardnerian grapevine to more complex
steps, Gavin and Yvonne will show you how to design a power dance. If you brought shoes without a tread, wear them;
if not, be ready to dance barefoot or in your socks.
Class needs an electrical supply (outlet), and a flat floor would be great.
Intermediate Level
Book for review: The Witch's Magical Handbook, Frost and Frost
Sex Magic: Theory and Practice:
This workshop distills more than 50 years of research with hundreds of groups in the Church of Wicca, starting with the solitary, moving
to the duet, and then on to the small chamber orchestra. Techniques for raising power through gender differences, the control of the raised energy, and the ultimate sending will
be demonstrated. Attendees can feel how their own power varies with a range of methods for the raising of power and approach to copulation.
The workshop will wrap up (for those who wish) with hands-on research. All orientations are welcome. Over-18 couples are preferred.
Please bring a blanket or something comfortable to lie on.
Advanced Level Class, Skyclad preferred, Sexual Contact; therefore only consenting adults, please.
Class to be held in a secure private site only.
Book for review: Tantric Yoga: The Royal Path to Nirvana, Frost and Frost
Tantric Yoga, the Royal Path
The lecture explores the meaning and use of chakras in the monthly cycle. The meaning of the chakras becomes clear only when the gods and
goddesses are separated. The goddess principle activates, and the god principle illuminates. During a typical chakra meditation, attendees will explore the (East)
Indian colors, sounds, tastes, and imagery of a chakra and bring it all into a western frame of reference.
This workshop generally draws a large crowd because many groups have trouble in dealing with such a hot-button topic. As the movement has matured,
Wiccans/pagans have paradoxically been less willing to employ this, probably the most powerful driving force, in our work -- or even to admit that it is an option. The Church of Wicca may
have been a leader in demystifying a subject that fills many with fear.
The lecture is based on Gavin and Yvonne's successful book of the same title, now available in four languages, and selling well in India -- the first
by a westerner to do so.
Intermediate Level Class
Book for review: Tantric Yoga: The Royal Path to Nirvana, Frost and Frost.
Please note that although this class is based on the above-referenced book, Gavin and Yvonne do not lecture directly from the text, since they assume those attending
the class can read for themselves.
What Does WICCA Stand For?
Beginner Level Class
Book for review: Good Witch's Guide to Life, Frost and Frost
What do Men and Women Really Want?
In a special seating arrangement (circles, back to back)
first women and then men talk about what they really want from life, and also, more intimately, from their
sexual encounters. If time permits going further, we consider the fact that the Tantric system shows
that sexual energy can be successfully harnessed as a means to a higher end.
Here we deal mainly with companionship and with what men and
women hope for in a Significant Other. In today's "open" world one might think that people could let their
hair down and say what they want. By dividing the group into two, by letting one gender hear the other discuss
their needs, without either gender knowing who is speaking, we have been able to facilitate useful, candid
discussions regarding this very sensitive subject. Rather surprisingly, we have frequently found that both
men and women very nearly want the same things. And, yes, this workshop is flexible enough to work for gay
couples as well as het.
This workshop requires a private site with moveable chairs, or participants should
ideally bring their own comfortable chairs if they can. Beginner's level class preferrably skyclad depending on festival
site policies.
Book for review: Games People Play, E. Berne
Gavin and Yvonne typically have a busy travel schedule, but an
all-expenses-paid trip to your town (including speaking at your festival) or to some nearby college town
to support your pagan/Wiccan activities is not out of the question. E-mail them at the School's address
with a reference to festival speaking engagements to see what can be worked out. This is their current travel calendar
updated as frequently as we can:
How to Get Gavin and Yvonne to come to your festival!
Here are some exciting events coming up for Gavin and Yvonne!
NEW BOOKS!
Listed below are some of Gavin and Yvonne's unique insights as posted on our website in the last ten
years:
Death as a Graduation
Ethical Use of Psychic Power
Festivals and Harmony
Get Out and VOTE
Time Out for Calendrics
Thoughts on September 11, 2001
True Friends and Non-Wiccans
Most Recent Posting!
Watchtowers, Spirits, Elementals, Guardians, or You Name It?
To our catalog:
Mail: PO Box 297 - IN, Hinton, WV 25951-0297 USA
Fax: 304-466-1518.
