one more thought on the witchschool thing
I promise I'll try to stop thinking about it after this. :-)
So, I'll admit: I joined witchschool.com shortly after they'd opened. I was at a point where I felt I must have missed *something* by being self taught, and it seemed like a reasonable way to go about doing first degree work when I didn't have a group available.
Truth is, I learned nothing in their first degree class that I hadn't already done on my own; I got half way through 2nd degree and still hadn't really learned anything new. That's when I realized I didn't have to worry about missing details here and there.
All that said, witchschool.com offers ordination. The offer graduates the credentials to start a "daughter" church in their tradition (which, apparently, may have been separated from the original Correllian Church - I can't find back most of the press releases to this effect, but as I recall, there were questions about the non-profit status of the whole mess, and other drama-laden accusations) - in fact, at least when I was actively involved, they were encouraging local study groups to form, in hopes of starting covens and churches all over the world.
A bit of poking around shows that there is a Correllian Nativist Church incorporated as a non-profit in Hoopestown, IL. So, the websites and production capabilities they're auctioning off are incorporated as a non-profit. But...there's a gap in their incorporations during the time they've been operating, so who knows what's really going on behind the scenes?
More importantly though....if a business (google, yahoo, llewellyn, whoever) buys them out, what happens to the status of all those Correllian churches started by witchschool.com graduates? What happens to their ordination status (which is required by some states when one sets up a church)? What happens to the existing students - can a for-profit company *ordain* people?
So, I'll admit: I joined witchschool.com shortly after they'd opened. I was at a point where I felt I must have missed *something* by being self taught, and it seemed like a reasonable way to go about doing first degree work when I didn't have a group available.
Truth is, I learned nothing in their first degree class that I hadn't already done on my own; I got half way through 2nd degree and still hadn't really learned anything new. That's when I realized I didn't have to worry about missing details here and there.
All that said, witchschool.com offers ordination. The offer graduates the credentials to start a "daughter" church in their tradition (which, apparently, may have been separated from the original Correllian Church - I can't find back most of the press releases to this effect, but as I recall, there were questions about the non-profit status of the whole mess, and other drama-laden accusations) - in fact, at least when I was actively involved, they were encouraging local study groups to form, in hopes of starting covens and churches all over the world.
A bit of poking around shows that there is a Correllian Nativist Church incorporated as a non-profit in Hoopestown, IL. So, the websites and production capabilities they're auctioning off are incorporated as a non-profit. But...there's a gap in their incorporations during the time they've been operating, so who knows what's really going on behind the scenes?
More importantly though....if a business (google, yahoo, llewellyn, whoever) buys them out, what happens to the status of all those Correllian churches started by witchschool.com graduates? What happens to their ordination status (which is required by some states when one sets up a church)? What happens to the existing students - can a for-profit company *ordain* people?