Advanced Education Classes

This page hosts links to purchase recordings of advanced education classes offered through the Temple’s Libra Ministry. Ministerial members of the Temple can earn continuing education units (CEUs) towards the renewal of their ordination through the Temple from these classes on an individual basis.

If you are a ministerial member, please email [email protected] or [email protected] for the password to access these classes, please include your full name and the date of your Witchcraft V graduation.

Community Dynamics & Ministry

March 2022 • $20 • 1 CEUs

Although every group and organization is different, there are some common ways groups function, and some common dysfunctions to watch out for. We’ll talk about some dynamics to watch for, and ways to lead groups toward working well together. Bring your questions and sticky situations to discuss, if you have them, or just come to dive into the life of groups.

Erica Baron is a deputy Gemini minister in the Temple of Witchcraft. She is also ordained in the Unitarian Universalist Association, where she serves for 11 years as minister to congregations. She now works as a consultant to UUA congregations. She lives in Massachusetts with her wife and son.

Conflict Resolution

March 2022 • $20 • 1 CEUs

Are you conflict avoidant, a peacemaker by nature? Or maybe you are an avowed debater, relishing the opportunity to prove your point! As a group leader, you will have to deal with conflicts big and small, and your own style may not be the most useful in any given situation.

This class will review the basic conflict resolution styles, offer useful negotiation strategies, and introduce methods for guiding individuals through conflict. We’ll also discuss a basic mediation framework. Done skillfully, managing interpersonal conflicts within your class, coven, or community can strengthen ties and foster greater respect.

Nicole D. served as the Temple’s Libra Minister from 2012 to 2021. She has studied conflict resolution for many years and has mediated conflicts within the Temple for many years.

Ethics

March 2022 • $20 • 1 CEUs

Life is full of ethical dilemmas and the practice of magick adds yet another layer of ethical considerations to consider. What’s okay and what’s not? As with most things in witchcraft, there are few hard and fast rules to blindly follow. Join Cat Kelly and your workshop-mates for a “cuss and discuss” session exploring this murky area of the Craft and examining where each of us draws our own lines — and why.

Cat Kelly is a High Priestess and Ordained Minister in the Temple of Witchcraft, in addition to being co-owner of a metaphysical store and center for conscious living located in Columbia, MO. In 2015, she retired from a 31-year career in the practice of law and opened Heart, Body, & Soul [HBS] with business partner and fellow Temple member, Deborah Carney. Long a teacher of law students, trial lawyers, and managers of law offices across the country, after her retirement, Cat turned her love of teaching to in-person Temple Mystery School classes, which she has offered at HBS since 2016.

Ministerial Leadership

February 2024 • $25 • 1 CEU

A class on magickal leadership within and outside of the Temple of Witchcraft, reviewing both the esoteric and functional skills of leaders in spiritual communities. Through this course we will look at different leadership styles found in Witchcraft and Pagan ministerial capacities, their functions and ways to associate them with familiar magickal archetypes and concepts. In particular we will look at astrological motifs and the division of the three rays in a triad leadership style for groups.

Assess your natural inclinations, tendencies, weaknesses, and most importantly motivations for leadership. Learn some basics around group dynamics and motivations for others in a magickal community. If you have your Natal Chart, please have it available to review during the course.

Christopher Penczak is co-founder of the Temple and Sagittarius lead minister. Debbie Stellhorn is Libra lead minister, directing the advanced education program.

Pastoral Care for the Dying

April 2020 • $50 • 1 CEU

Death and dying are not just a point in time. They are life events that can take years or a day. Where and when we are invited to companion the dying depends on the person dying and/or their family. Therefore, it is important to have an understanding of the energy, phases, legal and medical aspects around death.

This class will expose you to the death and dying process and provide an overview of what to be aware of while working with the dying on mundane, emotional and spiritual levels, including guidance and procedures as well as outside references and organizations you can turn to.

Elsa Elliott is a healer, intuitive reader, minister, teacher, a Temple Mystery School graduate, Internal Family Systems enthusiast, singer, and serves as Lead Minister of Scorpio. She has helped the dead cross over for 20 years. She wrote a chapter on Funerals and Crossing Over for the upcoming Rites of Passage anthology. She facilitates Death Cafes and provides classes on grief, ancestor veneration, and crossing over.

Pastoral Care, Spiritual Consultation, and Magickal Aid

September 2019 • $20 • 1 CEUs

While many Priestesses and Priests in the Craft function as the Cunning One of their community, today we are far from the Witch’s Hut at the edge of the village. We are often asked to assume roles, found in other religions and traditions, that were also part of ancient Pagan temple traditions.

Learn to navigate the various roles requested in these modern times, particularly those of Pastoral Care as a minister, Spiritual Counsel as a teacher and/or diviner through private consultation, and magickal aid as a practitioner, ritualist and healing facilitator.

Learn how to offer these forms of support without diminishing the magick of our craft and the culture of our traditions, while still serving the people and the spirits for the greater good.

Christopher Penczak is the co-founder of the Temple of Witchcraft and the author of the Temple of Witchcraft series of books. His practice focuses on the intersection of Love, Will, and Wisdom as an ethos for today’s Witch, and focuses upon relationships with the plant realm, the patterns of astrology, traditional occultism, and the use of trance in the Craft. He has been an ordained minister since 2000, serving the Pagan and Queer Communities  by keeping an office in New Hampshire and sees clients in-person and online for readings, healing, and personal consultations. His vision is of an evolving Witchcraft culture making magick accessible to all, yet preserving the heart of the mystery. For more information, visit christopherpenczak.com and templeofwitchcraft.org.

Psychology in the Magickal Community

March 2022 • $20 • 1 CEUs

Although most Temple teachers will not have a psychology degree, having a basic understanding of some dynamics that might be at play in the teacher-student relationship can be helpful when teaching. In this class we will look at basic psychological principles such as: avoidance, transference, codependence, defense mechanisms, and catharsis, along with how to (and how not to) respond from a teaching perspective. In addition, we will cover some red flags for potential personality disorders, OCD, and Oppositional Defiance Disorder, and how to refer out for assistance.

Deborah Stellhorn is a High Priestess, Ordained Minister and Libra Lead MInister of the Temple of Witchcraft. She works as a Deputy in the Sagittarius Ministry and is the Temple’s Fundraising Coordinator. Debbie has been a member of the Temple of Witchcraft since 2012 and lives in New Jersey. She graduated with her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Georgian Court University in 1997 and has taught psychology at the college and university level since 1999. Debbie has worked in a social service agency with victims of domestic abuse and their children since 1995 as a clinician and supervisor.

Spiritual Group Dynamics in Festivals, Retreats and Conferences

March 2024 • $25 • 1 CEU

Originally presented in our 2024 Leadership Retreat, a class on the dynamics of spiritual groups, including the esoteric concepts of group mind and group soul, with a particular emphasis on the phenomenon in larger intensive events such as outdoor festivals, close quarter intimate retreats, and larger professional conferences. Examine the magickal and psychological factors in play when both participating in, and leading/organizing such an event. Learn how group consciousness can form, and the mechanics of both how and why it can last beyond the event, and how it can dissolve, and the unconscious responses to both situations of group identity. Explore concepts of homecoming, scapegoating, cliques, glamour, FOMO, and the Kool-Aid Effect. Understand and hopefully avoid some of the perils and pitfalls. Know how to manage expectations, both your own and others, avoid unconscious cult-like behaviors in the group, and learn about the type of after care necessary, both for individuals and as a minister aiding a greater community.

Christopher Penczak is co-founder of the Temple and Sagittarius lead minister.

Deborah Stellhorn is a High Priestess, Ordained Minister and Libra Lead MInister of the Temple of Witchcraft. She works as a Deputy in the Sagittarius Ministry and is the Temple’s Fundraising Coordinator. Debbie has been a member of the Temple of Witchcraft since 2012 and lives in New Jersey. She graduated with her Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Georgian Court University in 1997 and has taught psychology at the college and university level since 1999. Debbie has worked in a social service agency with victims of domestic abuse and their children since 1995 as a clinician and supervisor.

Suicidal Ideation

Strategies and Resources for Awareness, Response, and Pastoral Care
March 2022 • $20 • 1 CEUs

This class will provide an overview of the role of faith leaders in situations of distress and suicidal ideation, warning signs of an individual in distress, personal characteristics to be aware of, action steps you can take, referral sources and tools to help in situations involving suicidal ideation. There will be a mixture of lecture, brainstorming, and resource sharing.

Learning objectives:

  • Understand and recognize warning signs of suicidal ideation
  • Learn the resources available to you in these situations
  • Awareness of action steps you can take as a spiritual leader
  • Guidelines for how to be present with a person in distress and understanding counseling boundaries for those without clinical training

Elsa Elliott (she/they) is a healer, intuitive reader, minister, teacher, a Temple Mystery School graduate, Internal Family Systems practitioner, singer, and serves as Lead Minister of Scorpio. She has been a licensed clinical mental health counselor (LMHC) in Massachusetts since 2012. She serves as a psychopomp, facilitates conversations on death, provides healing sessions, provides custom funeral and memorial services, and teaches classes on grief, ancestor veneration, ancestral line healing, and crossing over.

Virtual Witchcraft Panel Discussion

April 2020 • $20 • 1 CEUs

As most of the world moves to a period of social distancing and self isolation to slow the spread of coronavirus, maintaining our local Temple communities without in-person meetings has become essential, but not everyone has the experience yet to feel comfortable presenting online.

To help fill this gap, the Temple’s Libra Ministry hosted this forum to exchange and learn tips, tricks, and best practices for leading virtual community classes and rituals, moderated by Aquarius lead minister JT Mouradian.

Temple of Witchcraft