Underage magicians

[Animeharpy]

How do you feel about teaching underage people online?  

[Crimson Fox Of Tempests]

I myself Think it is quite appropriate to start learning such thinsg when your are young. because itis easier to learn at a young age. and Knowledge is power.  

[~[Alula]~]

When it comes to the psyche, there is no age limit. If you prepare for it at a young age you could do amazingly powerful things that you would never be able to do if you train for it after you've grown and have lost half your power. Children are very powerful because nothing really obscures their psychic vision. They don't have all these problems older people have like concerns about health, money, friends, love, etc, etc. Why do you think it's children that are always used in horror movies of the dead? It is very common for little kids to constantly be seeing the essesnces of those who have passed on.  

[LadyEladrin]

I see no harm in answering questions about the Occult or recommending reading about it to someone who's underage and interested, but actually taking them under my wing and teaching them what I know would be a different matter. Until they hit 18 that person is underage and still governed by what their parents want for them. If they come to me and want to bring me to court for 'corrupting' their child's mind, then they can, unless I got their written permission first.

Of course, I'm planning on raising my child in a Pagan and occult environment. cool  

[SHGGryffindorKeeper]

I think younger people are often far too easily attracted to the occult due to the attention the media plays it. Often, it seems they get into this sort of thing, and declare themselves experts after a bit of reading. However, I will not judge someone just because of his age. A ten year old has very much the potential to be wiser and more mature than an adult, it just seems to be rarer...  

[TheCrazy_writer]

Being that I am 17 myself making me underage. I think it is a very good thing, I dont think your ever to young to start learning about magick, the occult, religion, spirituality or philosophy. Although I do realize that many practices and beliefs requires a certain level of maturity. Some people reach that maturity early and some never do. And I dont believe in any age discrimmination. I myself am mostly self taught and have learned from books and websites as well as from my own experiences. But I would really like to have a teacher or a few teachers to help me out from time to time and give me advice.  

[The Bottle Fairy]

It completely depends on the individual and the situation when it comes to teaching someone the arts of magic. However, I have always felt that teaching such things online is shady. Magic, I usually find, is a very personal thing. It is not something that can so easily be dealt with on something as cold and distant as a computer.  

[Yvaine]

Firaos

It completely depends on the individual and the situation when it comes to teaching someone the arts of magic. However, I have always felt that teaching such things online is shady. Magic, I usually find, is a very personal thing. It is not something that can so easily be dealt with on something as cold and distant as a computer.

Seconded. I mean, my toddler is probably picking some things up just from being around Mommy and Daddy while we natter. But at the same time I'd never even presume to provide online instruction for somone else. That's how you end up with idiots who keep asking the same uninformed questions until they get a sufficiently uninformed answer that they like the sound of - and then they wander around proclaiming themselves experts and spouting sometimes-dangerously erroneous information to anyone who will listen. Online is for *discussion*, not tutoring.  

[Worst_Witch]

I won't specifically teach anyone, no matter the age. I'm too busy learning myself. But if I did, I wouldn't teach anyone underage. There's so much information already available to everyone, there's nothing a young person needs to have a personal tutor for this early on. They should focus on just seeing what's out there and learning the whats and whys before tackling the hows. There's no rushing the learning process and just exploring options early on will put a young person way ahead of those who jumped in feet first and may have to go back and unlearn and relearn something that only seemed important years ago...she says from experience. wink  

[Chibi Kenko]

It's mostly situational. To whatever extent it's no different from teaching anyone else. I've known younger people who's intelligence levels have far exceeded that of adults. However, on the average I've noticed embracing a "pagan" religion is a form of rebellion against parents with more orthodox views.

I think in this particular case the reasoning is suspect. If you don't believe in it, you're wasting your time.  

[LadyEladrin]

I think the biggest problem with teaching someone over the net is trying to lead by example. You just can't. You can talk all you want, but until your student has seen you walk the walk you're just another talking book.  

[Rustig]

EladrinStarmist

I think the biggest problem with teaching someone over the net is trying to lead by example. You just can't. You can talk all you want, but until your student has seen you walk the walk you're just another talking book.

Second that.

I myself probably wouldn't teach anyone full-stop, since I find a lot of magick-related practice and theory to be pretty personal; you can teach basic concepts, but sometimes even those concepts can be skewed once you've been practising a while. When it comes to underage folk, you'd have to gauge their mental maturity beforehand - you can't just say "No underagers" or "All underagers", simply because some just won't be ready to play with fire, so to speak. And then to do it all online... I second what Eladrin says, and append that it'd be a better idea to introduce them to basic concepts, ideas, suggestions, paths, even religions, in order for them to get a broad scope on things before practising, in case they just become a clone of their teacher.

I'd say advising a mentally mature kid online would be okay. Ish. XD  

[A Murder of Angels]

I have two points to make. First, you could very well replace "occult" with "religion" and have a similar debate. When I was a child learning about the bible, I learned all the happy, inspiring stories. The teachers seemed to just push aside all the accounts of murder, rape, betrayal, etc, for an older audience.

I don't see how the occult should be any different. Instead of stories, we teach practises and technique. Children should be learning simple things like how to meditate and focus the mind. Not advanced things like binding someone's will and summoning the dead.

My second point is thus: Advanced technique is something that needs to be built up to. You need a strong foundation and understanding of basic techniques. When something is truly understood, practise is then okay. Often times, mental maturity is a requisite of true understanding.

Therefore, for underage magicians especially, a knowledgeable mentor should be present to judge when the student is understanding.  

[Vampyrik]

Definitly should be taught while young, mostly so the implanted sterotype of "The Occult is a tool of Satan" does not have time to become the only logical thought process, and free thinking is still an accomplishable task.  

[LadyEladrin]

The only problem I see with that is a young mind is TOO impressionable at a certain age. I'm going to make sure Gabe is aware of what I do and comes to rituals and things with me where appropriate but I wont be actually teaching him visualization and spellwork until I know he's old enough to do it properly, probably around his 10th birthday. Any younger than that I'd doubt his discipline and dedication to the art.