Yesterday, one of the readers asked “How can I find a mentor?”. So because I know that this is a question that bothers a lot of you, I decided to write an article about it!
So… How to find a Mentor after all?
BUT first of all “Who” and “What” is a Mentor!:
In Wikipedia you can find this simple information about the historical facts:
In Greek mythology, Mentor (Greek: Μέντωρ, Méntōr; gen.: Μέντορος) was the son of Alcimus or Anchialus or Heracles and Asopis. In his old age Mentor was a friend of Odysseus who placed Mentor and Odysseus’ foster-brother Eumaeus in charge of his son Telemachus, and of Odysseus’ palace, when Odysseus left for the Trojan War.
When Athena visited Telemachus she took the disguise of Mentor to hide herself from the suitors of Telemachus’ mother Penelope. As Mentor, the goddess encouraged Telemachus to stand up against the suitors and go abroad to find out what happened to his father. When Odysseus returned to Ithaca, Athena appeared briefly in the form of Mentor again at Odysseus’ palace.
Because of Mentor’s relationship with Telemachus, and the disguised Athena’s encouragement and practical plans for dealing with personal dilemmas, the personal name Mentor has been adopted in English as a term meaning someone who imparts wisdom to and shares knowledge with a less experienced colleague.
The first recorded modern usage of the term can be traced to a 1699 book entitled Les Aventures de Telemaque, by the French writer François Fénelon In the book the lead character is that of Mentor. This book was very popular during the 18th century and the modern application of the term can be traced to this publication.
Of course these days we know that most of the Greek mythology was not even mythology. It was history, that because modern Europeans could not understand how Greeks could have such a civilisation and technology back then, they renamed history to mythology. By now we have lots of archaeological evidence and realised that most of Greek Mythology is actually real history.
In Witchcraft, a Mentor, is someone who teaches and guides the new practitioner through the craft. Recognises if the practitioner is a magical or non-magical person, and follows the teaching path that is suitable. In modern society, lots of times strangers approach us, claiming they are “Mentors of the Craft” and they say that they are willing to teach us, mentor us. The problem is that most of them are people who do not even really know a thing about Witchcraft and just want to act as if they are superior to others, or know a bit about witchcraft but in a wrong way and they do not really know how to use Magic. In some rare cases these “Mentors” are darklings who just want to take advantage of the apprentices and use them for their own benefit.
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First there are some questions that you should ask yourself to see if you can have this person as a Mentor:
You have to see if this person has a balanced and successful life.
If this person has knowledge about themselves and knows both their advantages and disadvantages.
If they likes themself and it is not a self hating person, but also not someone who praises themself non stop.
If they are humble and not egomaniac.
If they knows how to encounter different situations in life with wisdom, clear mind, and logic.
If this is a person that you would love to become like.
If you think this is a person that you could walk a mutual path with.
During the mentoring you have to recognise if after all this person is the right Mentor for you! You have to look for the basic details that reveal if someone is a good Mentor and they have the ability to mentor. Most of the times the characteristics for a good Mentor are the following:
A Mentor has to be patient! They have to listen to your every question in patience and never make you feel as if you are a burden.
They will not only Mentor you about the practice of Witchcraft, but also teach you about modern and old sciences and open your mind into the real physical explanations and not fill your mind with fake excuses that everything is just magical so you can be blinded in order to always have the need to follow them.
A Mentor will not always give plain explanations ready to be absorbed by you, but in contrast they will make you look for the answers, and search hard for them.
They will try to make you enjoy the mentoring and not feel as if it is something that only you have to do (always remember that mentoring is a bit like school and you will have homework and lots of personal work to complete).
They will never lie to cover their mistakes. They will proudly admit that they are wrong in something and they will be willing to learn things from you too.
They always answers to your questions and never keep you in the dark. They will answer in the most clear and easy to understand way and will not try to confuse you. Even if they are not aware of the answer, they will tell you so and admit that they simply do not know the answer!
They will ask for your opinion about the way they and mentor you, and your help to make them a better Mentor.
A Mentor is always available for their apprentices, to guide them, protect them, to stand for them.
Last but not least, they will not take money to Mentor you!
There are of course exceptions. A Mentor may be more strict than another or might have a different way to approach the subject. For some Mentors, mentoring is the only thing they do for living so they will take money to do so. But I think that it is very easy to recognise who is the Mentor who is strict and needs money to survive and who is the “Mentor” that just doesn’t care and sees mentoring as a business.
A real mentor, most of the times ( probably never), will not start mentoring a person if he/she hasn’t pass a test to see if this is really a magical person. They will not spend time mentoring someone not gifted just to teach how to do some things with herbs etc., but they will try to find a gifted person and help them evolve. But there are always the cases that the Mentor is a Mentor for living so they will not try to “train” the apprentice but will also have multiple apprentices (gifted or not) and teach them about the craft. Teach them about the herbs, and crystals, about energy and spellcasting, philosophy, and sciences.
Both are great ways to get mentoring, and it is sure that they will help you in your magical future life. Choose wise!
