Young Masters - Jenny Schumaker
Witchvox Article:
Just about everyone has their own story now about the obnoxious 15 year old high priestess they encountered, or the equally obnoxious 14 year old grand high master of Thelema, both of whom know it all. I’m sure there are plenty of them still out there, though I haven’t run into many lately myself, probably because I don’t frequent the same online places I did when I was first starting out in Wicca. In fact, I now see just as many older people making the same claims, which is just as silly (if not worse) for the same reason.
It isn’t the actual age of the practitioner; it’s the amount of practice.
Just because you’re 63 doesn’t make you an instant elder, any more than it makes you an instant Ph.D. in a new subject of interest. Similarly, a 24 year old with a Ph.D. shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand within his or her field just for being young.
Currently I find myself in a place in between. I’ve been Wiccan now for just over eight years. I’m no longer a youngster, but I’m not an elder, either. I’m over 30 and I’m married with children, my coven just celebrated its second anniversary, and I have a couple of batches of offline students behind me.
So far I’ve gained a lot of experience, and yet it all serves to show how much I have yet to learn. Really, this isn’t a bad place to be, as far as things go.
It was much more difficult to start out, and I think that was partly because of my age. If you’re doing the math, I wasn’t a teenager. I started studying Wicca when I was 25, and completed the First Circle of UEW and started the Second before I turned 26. The thing I loved the most was helping even newer students over rough spots they were having.
Teaching has always been a passion of mine, and I already knew I wanted to teach what I knew about Wicca. After less than a year of study I was no great sage, but having finished First Circle I was technically qualified to teach it, and I believed I had a firm enough grip on the material to do a decent job.
Since I would love to have been able to find an in-person teacher, I thought there would probably be others like me, especially in a relatively conservative corner of the Midwest. So, I decided to set up shop.
Ultimately I had three people who were interested in learning UEW—until they met me.
Yes, I was up-front about who I was and what my training was, but apparently these three people didn’t read my biographical info very carefully, because they all assumed I was in my 40s. I even had pictures, and at the ripe old age of 26 I’m pretty sure I didn’t look 40-anything.
They met me, each of them in turn made some remark about my age, and they never contacted me again. My age relative to theirs made them decide I had nothing of value to teach them.
That wasn’t true.
Am I a better, wiser teacher now than I was then? Of course! Or at least I hope so. I learn new things all the time, and life experience is a valuable teacher in general.
It remains that I did have a sufficient base knowledge of my material to pass it along to someone else, and I could have learned a lot from each of him or her in return.
I wasn’t given a chance because of my age.
A lot of people tend to equate age with maturity in general, and in the Wiccan community with which I am familiar, with spiritual maturity specifically. From my own experiences I can say this is not the case.
In and out of the community I see people all the time, of all ages, at various stages of spiritual maturity, just as people are at various points in their educations. Education alone, mundane or otherwise is also no reliable gauge of maturity or wisdom.
The afore-mentioned 24-year-old Ph.D. might be as wise as any sage, or s/he might be an emotional 13- year-old. Most likely it’s someplace in between, but you’ll never know on sight.
A persons words and actions are the only way to get a true reading on maturity and wisdom.
Let’s face it: anyone who spends time fluffing their feathers and shouting to everyone how great they are probably isn’t all that wonderful. “Don’t you know who I am” and ”How DARE you” can come out of anyone’s mouth, regardless of age.
Waiving a title and/or supposed years of experience around as “proof” of your greatness doesn’t work very well when your actions say “7th-grader.” An exceptional 7th-grader might well be able to put you in your place with a little logic or—gods forbid—common sense.
Western society makes it difficult for people who would once have been regarded as adults to be taken seriously. This isn’t all a bad thing.
From some of the earliest times in Western thought there has been a move toward treating children and youth with a little more gentleness than adults rather than expecting them to bear the same burdens.
Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle both regarded childhood and adolescence as different states of life from adulthood (1). That view experienced a backward slide during the Middle Ages, like so many other advances made by earlier civilizations. Again in the 18th Century French philosopher Rousseau put forth the idea that children and youth weren’t just miniature adults (2). Out of that philosophy we gained such things as reform in child labor and education laws.
However, adolescence has now been extended into the early 20s. Young people are often staying in school longer and in greater numbers than ever before, delaying financial and emotional independence from their parents. Of course, just like the two-earner family issues, this is also a function of what it takes to maintain the same standard of living once available with less formal post high school education with only one parent employed outside the home.
Tell someone today that you’re married and purchasing your first home at the age of 20 and they’ll look at you like you’ve grown a second head. I know, because my own little sister married and bought her first house at the age of 20, and I thought she was crazy (but it’s working fine). The young are not incapable simply because of their age, nor are they necessarily bound by what’s expected of them.
Joan of Arc commanded the entire French army at the age of 17. George Washington held his first public office at 17. Louis the XIV took the throne at 5 and actual power at 18, and Julius Caesar became the High Priest of Jupiter at the age of 17. Alexander the Great had essentially conquered the world by the age of 33 (3).
The young in many different times and places have shown not only competence, but also greatness.
Obviously this doesn’t mean that every 17 year old is capable of holding office, ruling a country, leading an army, or conquering (or changing) the world. Most of them are average for their age, just like most of us who’ve been there were average for our age. Some of them are obnoxious idiots, just like some adults.
The thing that official adults should keep in mind is that there are always those young people who are capable of greatness, each in their own way. Greatness aside, another benefit of youth is an abundance of energy and new ideas that come without the jaded filter that grows from life experience.
The young, partly because of their lack of life experience, often see and pursue possibilities that those of us who’ve aged even a little would dismiss out of hand. We call them naïve and foolish, and maybe some of them really are, but those are qualities that can lead to innovation and better ways of doing things.
I see too many people who are quick to say, “that’s just not the way we do it here” without a good explanation of why. Simple resistance to change isn’t a fantastic explanation for a refusal of trying something new.
Youthful exuberance for the novel paired with a solid sense of what’s come before often makes for a powerful mechanism for the better, and I believe that’s the case in religion and magic as well as more worldly concerns like science and technology.
Surely there are capable priests and priestesses who just happen to be teens. I know there are people in their 20s who are making great efforts to becoming leaders in their communities, and who are deserving of our respect for their efforts.
We read so much about the need for the Pagan community to respect and value its Elders, and usually that specifically means elder Elders. Maybe its time we expanded our definition of “Elder” to include anyone who has earned that title through their work and dedication, and stopped limiting it to a single age category.
Our youth need our support and encouragement; such as we can morally give it to them, just as do those in the later years of their lives.
For every one of us is a Star, and a true Master at any age should be acknowledged.
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Afterward: For those of you under the age of 18, this isn’t a rallying cry to assault the adult Pagan community demanding to be taught and/or seen as an authority figure, just because you say so.
Responsible Pagan adults won’t typically teach or even regularly interact with people who are not legally adults, in part because of the potential for legal problems, and in part out of respect for your parents. Those of us who are parents want other adults to respect our wishes and our rights to raise our children as we see fit, so we give that same respect.
Continue to study, continue to learn, and most of all, continue to THINK for yourself. It’ll serve you well in the years to come, and when you do enter the adult community it’s more likely to be as a full-fledged contributing member.
If you want respect then show people you deserve it through your actions, and always remember that humility is part of wisdom.
Footnotes:
1. Santrock, John W., "Adolescence." McGraw Hill, 2007.
2. Ibid.
3. Please see Wikipedia article on each historical personage for simple biographical data.