I had had the idea a week or so ago of floating the idea of "student readings" on the MB board for the purpose of learning EA - having the opportunity to practice EA astrology in the moment, somewhat like, say, they do at massage schools, ie have student clinics. I'd thought of it as a way of 1) giving students the opportunity to do interactive readings, thus increasing their experience with real life examples and 2) possibly earning money for the school (perhaps a small fee could be charged..; I'm not sure that this is a good idea...). I'm not sure that this (offering student readings) is a good idea or that it is an idea that would be given the go ahead, but Prometheus' post prompted me to bring the idea up. One question for me would be how realistic it would be, with all the other posts going, to be able to put enough time into it. The other question would be: who could participate (ie, anyone at all, regardless of level of EA understanding, or only those who have advanced to some degree of proficiency...?) Also, would moderators have the time needed to adequately facilitate the thread? Prometheus' post also brought up the idea of not charging any money for the readings...
Any thoughts?
Peace,
Ellen
My thoughts, Ellen, are that it is quite a dire responsibility giving readings to others who may be in a psychologically or emotionally disturbed or delicate state. We are dealing with Souls, and we would have to be prepared for the fact that our words could influence them. We have to think of ourselves also, in that what we write could be construed in any number of ways, and do we have the skill and emotional strength to deal with a "real" person, since that could bring on a karmic situation. Know what I mean?
Words by astrologers are usually taken to heart. It would have to be made very clear to the public that we were only "practising." These practice charts would not be anything like the present Practice Chart threads, but would use REAL charts.
I think we would need to get a commitment from one of the moderators. I feel this would put too much pressure on Rad (I could not do that to him knowing how busy he already is.) As far as the students work is concerned, who is to judge what is "correct" and what is not? What is going to be "accurate" and what is not? And what of the person getting their chart read: what are they to make of our practice, what are they to believe? They may pick up wrong impressions or information.
Another difficulty exists for us, as students, because of the importance to learn this paradigm properly and accurately. But I guess it does take making mistakes and practice to learn anything.
On the other hand, it could work out quite well. It could give us a chance to do practice readings and get valuable feedback from real people. This is an area that has not been covered enough on the messageboard. Not all of us would feel ready to do a whole reading, and so could just give some of our thoughts on charts. A good spirit of camaraderie could be built. The feedback would be immensely valuable in that we would be able to directly observe and correlate our results.
Do you think this is a bit overly-ambitious? Some of us I'm sure would be more that capable of giving a good reading. Once again, who's to be the judge of that?
They're my thoughts. What do the moderators think?
Ellen,
This is not a good idea at all. Linda shared the reasons why it is not a good idea, and I totally agree with what she said. This mb is to learn about EA in every way possible. And we do have a practice chart thread to help facilitate practicing doing charts from an EA point of view.
God Bless, Rad
Hi Rad & Linda,
Thanks so much for your feedback. I agree with all your concerns and appreciate your bringing them up.
Peace,
Ellen
Hi Longhouse,
I appreciate your response. I felt very tentative about the idea and felt that there could be some problems with proceeding. I wanted to put the idea out there to generate feedback. I very much respect and appreciate the feedback given by Linda and Rad (and others on the MB, generally). My feeling is that the primary consideration has to be the impact/effect on the client when working with any healing/counselling modality, including EA. Linda and Rad bring up extremely important points and I feel, having read their responses, that the wise thing to do would be to not go forward with the idea. The possible harm that could be done to others (particularly in a public internet setting such as this) is quite real and I would not want to proceed in that direction. I also think that the integrity of the MB has to be considered, and, reading Rad's response, I think that to proceed with such a thread would really alter/compromise the basic intention of this MB. Longhouse, I would just say that for me, it is, or at least can be, a tricky line to walk - the line of wanting opportunities to put into practice what we are learning (and also opportunities to help others/ be of service in some way) and, on the other side of that line, needing to be sure that we do not let our own needs jeopardize the integrity of our service and the safety of others. While I do appreciate your support - your sticking up for me - I want you to know that, as I go along, I feel more and more gratitude for the container of this MB and the moderators who provide that containment. I am learning a tremendous amount here about patience, about healthy boundaries, about generosity, about love and about the necessity of making a genuine, deep, profound commitment to something - to really go deeply into learning something - before proceeding to try to help others. That is where I am now - at the very beginning of making that commitment - at the point of desire (true desire) to want to do this and make it real. I hope this all makes sense to you.
Wishing you peace,
Ellen
An alternative idea for the future could be practising with the charts of famous people. We could draw upon the personal and public events in their lives and correlate to the chart.