I have writen this article just because I have seen many people asking for mentors.
Sometimes, people come to us saying that they know the art of magick and they offer to teach us. The problem is that they often are evils who just want to use us or dangerous newbies. Or just.. showoffs.. So, we have to be careful and first check on that guy to see if and how much we can trust him/her. Through mentorship, a bond is created between mentor and apprentice which usualy transfers the powers, fears and ofcourse the thoughts of the mentor to the apprentice. So, you have to choose a person who you admire and respect and MOSTLY a ballanced person.
So, the first questions for you are:
- Does this person have a full knowledge of his/her self? Does he know his/her weaknesses and powers? (Everyone has weaknesses and the ones who dont admit it are not cappable to selfdevelop)
-Does s/he like his/her self but s/he is modest at the same time?
- Does s/he act logicaly and mostly ballanced at dificult sittuations?
- Would you like to share this person's karma with you?
Your answer to those questions must be positive or you better think twice..
Sometimes, we are so unpatient to learn that we do not check our mentors properly. In that case, you should always remember that never is late and when your lessons starts, you can judge how good is your mentor by the way s/he teaches. So, lets have a look at the good spots of a mentor:
~ S/he has patience with you.
~ S/he doesnt only focus on teaching u the practical part of magick, meaning the rituals, spells etc, but s/he also teaches you psichology, good arts phylosophy and science theories. Let me remind you that magick is not only an art, but a science also.
~ S/he wont give it at your dish. A good mentor will not give you the answers for questions like what is god, what is lifewhat is death, you will get your own answers through experience and never ending discussions. Those are lessons that You do not just read, copy and learn, but you explore them, you live them, otherwise you will never learn them.
~S/he has humor. Humor is an advance for mentors who have seen that for someone to learn, they have to have fun with it also, not just read and listen. Thats not a chore. But you have to watch for the golden line between humor and rediculoucity.
~ S/he rewards you for your success. Well done is something that everyone likes to hear sometimes. It gives us courage to go on.
~S/he is not afraid to admit that s/he has done mistakes in the past too. S/he also teaches from his/her own experience.
~S/he is always in possition to protect you but without being overprotective. There will be some time when he will let you do it all alone, or else you will never learn. But he will be close enough to get u "out of the fire" if things go wrong
~S/he does NOT ask for money for his mentorship.
And s/he mostly:
~S/he asks for questions. The mentor who asks to be blindly obeyed and refuses to answer questions is s/he who doesnt know the answers! The good mentor is not afraid to admit that sometimes he doesnt the answer too, and offers his apprentice to search for the answer together.
~S/he asks for your own criticise for his mentorship. A zen saying says that the best thing that an apprentice can di is to tell his mentor to try more and that s/he can be better.
this article is over. As you can see, the answer is not to find A mentor, but a GOOD mentor. Good luck with your quest finding
him/her. And if you fail, dont give up or get disappointed, there are many people (including me) who learned all alone.
Brightest Blessing