Determining the Grades of lessons and new handouts

This post also was issued to the members of Bast Temple on their private forum.

During the midst of labeling one of the documents for the local Tarot class, I realized that perhaps I should say a few words about how the Grade of a lesson, or handout, is actually determined. Or at least, the way that I am doing it.

The Grade that a lesson/handout is labeled can be based on one of four things (though there might be more reasons that I haven't thought of off the top of my head).

1: Tradition---this is where the previous generations of GD leaders and instructors placed it. Some people are big on insisting that the papers be issued to only those of the proper Grade; personally, I am not a big supporter of this camp. And it bears no weight on how I label new stuff.

2: Ritual---the material is first showed to you in a specific Grade ritual of the system which creates a bottom Grade that it can not be issued ahead of. For instance, if you are introduced to geomancy in the Theoricus Grade (2=9), then you can not have geomancy papers labeled Neophyte (0=0) or Zelator (1=10).

3: Foundational---the material is Graded according to the steps that you need to learn it in. For instance, you need knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet, the Sephiroth, basic elements and astrological lore to understand stuff that you are exposed to in the Zelator ritual, therefore you are issued a lecture about these items in the Neophyte Grade.

4: Testing---the material is Graded for the Grade where you have to pass the test on it, or have to work with it and submit a report. Not all the material is Graded in that fashion, a lot of the material is introduced in an earlier Grade and not tested on until a later one.

So there you have it, this is how I decide the Grade for the handouts that I issue.

Morgan