What are the responsibilities of a leader?

[The following was written for the Hearthstone Community Church's September 2012 newsletter.]

One of the questions that I occasionally kick around is: What are the responsibilities of a leader? In particular, what are the responsibilities of a leader in the rarified atmosphere of modern paganism and the occult? In addition, if a person does not fulfill these responsibilities, are they still a leader?

The reason I typically kick around this set of questions is someone accusing me of being a leader. Normally, the label leader being attached to me is accompanied by the person accusing me of doing behavior that is unbecoming of being a leader. In another words, I am never called a good leader—just the type of leader that someone does not want the rest of the world exposed to.

Now, I will admit that this particular type of behavior both amuses me and annoys me—for the exact same reason. I am not a leader; I am a lunatic with a soapbox; there is a difference. In other words, I do not consider myself a leader. I am merely someone with very loud opinions.

Sure, I am a public representative of a group. In all fairness, to myself that is, I would like to point out that no one else in the group wants to be the public representative. The group also believes that if someone doesn’t like me, then they will not be a good fit for the group. In other words, I am not a leader because I am the public voice of a group—I am a speed bump because of my visibility.

And being an officer of a group does not make me a leader. In the case of said group, I am an elected officer. This means simply that there are jobs to do that no one else wants to do, and that I am not clever enough to recruit someone who wants to do them. I suspect that a trained monkey could do my job as an officer—hmmm, I wonder if I could find a trained monkey who is willing to work for free.

The biggest expectation that I encounter of leaders is that they are supposed to work for free. Only in paganism and occultism are leaders expected to work for free. In other areas, leaders are expected to be paid—not necessarily well, but still paid. In Wiccan circles, I have seen people believe that the leader of a coven should not only give their time freely, but should also foot the entire operating cost of the group. As a lunatic with a soapbox, I disagree. While I am open to the possibility that the leader of a coven or lodge should not charge for their time, I believe that all members of an esoteric community should chip in on the operating costs. Furthermore, I believe that authors and teachers of occultism and paganism should get a token wage for their efforts.

 

The second expectation that I encounter is the idea that a leader in the esoteric community should be open to all ideas—as in they should never tell anyone that they are wrong. I am not sure where this idea comes from, but it completely does not fit into the universe I live in. This idea is often combined with the idea that a leader needs to be a more evolved spiritual being. I am sorry; the two ideas do not support one another. If everyone was right, then we would all be equally evolved. Therefore, in my little universe, a leader occasionally has to tell someone that they are wrong.

So what are the responsibilities of a leader in my universe?

One, they have chosen to put the interests of a group ahead of their own personal interests. A leader serves the needs of a group. It is an unpleasant job. Occasionally, this involves “herding cats” and moving the group in a direction that the individual members do not want to go. A true leader knows that one sometimes has to make unpopular decisions. One cannot please everyone when they are a leader. A leader also has to place the interests of their group ahead of other groups—if all opinions and interests were the same, we would not need leaders in the first place.

A leader leads by example and/or suggestion. They do not need to be officially in a position of power. Their ability to lead does not spring from the position that they hold in a group, rather it springs from their innermost being. Sometimes, a true leader seems more like a force of nature than a human being.

And most importantly, a leader needs to know the following two sentences: “I do not know,” and “I made a mistake.” A leader has to be able to admit when they do not know something, and they have to be willing to admit to occasionally (or often) making mistakes. A leader does not need to be right all the time, but they do have to be willing to admit mistakes and ignorance, and be willing to change directions when necessary.

Leaders are not leaders because they are popular or agree with everyone. They are leaders because they are willing to make unpleasant decisions, and are willing to put the best interests of others ahead of their own personal interests. A true leader will not change their behavior just because someone says that they are wrong. Being a leader is unpleasant on most days—which is why I am glad that I am just a lunatic with a soapbox.

[The 2012 Hearthstone Community Church's newsletter articles written by Morgan Drake Eckstein will be collected in an ebook sometime in 2013. The 2010 articles can be found in the collection Pizza Boxes on the Floor. The 2011 articles are currently being formatted into an ebook. Three of the best articles can be found in the free ebook--Four Cornerstones.]

Take it outside

There are days that I think that the following quote is a good summary of the interaction between various Golden Dawn students and groups.

"What's the point of havin' a rapier wit if I can't use it to stab people?"--- Jeph Jacques.

Yes, yes---I know that I am wrong. No one is being stabbed; and if they are stabbed, then they deserved to be stabbed because their wit and knowledge wasn't great enourgh to defend themselves. And if you say that something is not part of a flame war, then you are innocent of flaming even as your breath reeks of gasoline.

Let's just be honest for a second.

Every Golden Dawn leader thinks that they are right. And every Golden Dawn follower believes that their leader is right clear up to the second that they decide that they are wrong.

And everyone wants the most (if not all) the students of the tradition to follow them. It is all part of the business of having an ego.

And the way you get the most followers, and prove that your knowledge is the greater, is by stabbing others with your wit.

But there are some of us who do not want to watch this.

So just do us all a favor: There is an alley over there---use it, so the rest of us don't have to see you stab the other person.

[And if you are offended by this commentary, then ask yourself why you think that I am talking about you.]

Exactly when did I become a GD leader?

I have a confession to make---every time someone refers to me as a Golden Dawn leader, I want to slap some sense into them. Thinking that I am some form of Golden Dawn leader is like mistaking my little blog here as a significant portion of the blogosphere. I have seen my numbers; I am under no delusions that I have anything beyond a token readership.

And I have more readers than followers. In fact, I am not even sure that I have any followers. Perhaps the cat who must be in the same room as I am counts as a follower; I am fairly sure that he does not count, but maybe someone is counting him as a follower.

What I do have are people who heckle me---"What symbol is that? Really?! Are you sure? Is it supposed to be said like that? Really?! Are you sure? What is it used for? Really?! Are you sure?"

Yet, periodically people mistake me for a leader or someone who is reaching a significant percentage of the Golden Dawn interest group.

It puzzles me.

Another thing that puzzles me is the fact that they often believe that I should act in certain ways, and believe in certain things, just because I am a Golden Dawn leader. (Today, it is David Griffin---but he is hardly the first or last to feel this way.) First---as I said, I am not a Golden Dawn leader---just because other people call me one does not make me one. Second---I have never encountered a rulebook saying how Golden Dawn leaders are supposed to act, outside of preserving the system and rituals, that is.

Ok, that is not completely true. There was the one HOMSI manual that passed though my hands that gave instructions on such matters---it boils down to perfect obedience to the supreme leader and not fermenting schisms. I am guessing that the manual produced by the Third Order includes a section that says that absolute belief in the official history of the Order is required.

Good thing, I have no desire to be a Golden Dawn leader, isn't it?

Living in a fishbowl

One of the interesting things (as in the Chinese curse) about being a principal in any esoteric circle is that it is much like living in a fishbowl. I have seen this in Golden Dawn circles, Wiccan circles, Norse circles, and several other circles. If you are in a leadership position, or someone like myself who has a public soapbox, and you are traveling in esoteric circles, your opinions and actions get examined with a fine-toothed comb.

This is true to some extent for everyone. But being a principal (aka mover and shaker) increases the double-guessing of every decision you have ever made, and the criticising of every action you make.

I was reminded of this recently as I stood on the sidelines watching a brewing storm gather. A player in the local esoteric community (or at least, they think that they are a player and a major one at that) had some boundary issues: a member left his group, and a falsehood has been tossed in place to explain the member leaving (one that does not even hint at the truth). All the while, I see the departed member sharping a knife because they suspect it is only a matter of time before it gets really ugly.

Now there are some who will point out that this person should have never gotten into a leadership position in the first place. That someone should have stopped them before they before they became the head of a group. Well, that is a nice theory, but this person (to the best of my knowledge) is a self-appointed leader and expert. It is hard to stop someone from seizing the position; anyone can set themselves to be a leader if they have a dollop of charisma and knowledge in the esoteric community (or so it seems).

And even if they would have worked their way up the ranks in a vetted system, such as Golden Dawn, it still might have not made a difference. For instance, make note that I worked my way up the ranks and I am an officer in one of the branches of the system. Obviously, as my critics point out, someone was asleep at the wheel.

In my case, my flaws tend to blown up until they sound like I am an ax-murderer. Honestly, I have never killed anyone with an ax...my name is not Lizzie. (Apologies to any of my readers that bear that name, but surely I am not the first to make that joke, am I?) Mention that you are quite willing to shoot back if someone starts to fire at you; admit that you thought that the military was a suitable career earlier in your life; make one wrong vote (admitting that you made that vote), and you can become the scum of the earth and a menace to society.

Let's take that miscalled vote as an example. Yes, I was present at a ritual. Yes, there was a vote that asked if death was the only way to take care of the problem if we were willing to go that far. Yes, I voted in favor of death if necessary. Yes, all this is true.

What is never mentioned by my critics is that the target in question was a VIOLENT SERIAL CRIMINAL. It is not like we were targeting an innocent person. Trust me: there is no way you could be doing what this person was doing and be anywhere near being innocent. This was the type of criminal that does not stop until they are caught or they drop dead.

The ritual was a binding, and the workers involved were hoping that the police could get enourgh clues to catch them. We were trying to help using the Art. The question arose about what if a simple binding and mistake-causing hex was not enourgh. What if this person would not stop, and hadn't made (or would not make) enourgh mistakes to be caught and convicted---how far were we willing to go?

I have been told by "light-workers" that we should have projected white light and healing at this poor soul. That all of us that voted that yes, if necessary we were willing to pull the trigger, should have never been allowed into any working circle. That none of us are truly members of the RC. That the very fact that we admit that we can kill someone if push came to shove makes us unworthy of the RC.

To that statement, I tend to ask "Do you allow cops into your system?" If you do not see the concept behind that question, I am willing to bet that you are one of my critics.

In love with being an authority

I had an interesting conversation with one of my fellow lodge members the other day. We were putting back together the pillar that I had to take apart during the last heavy snow day---yes, I know that it is bad to leave the pillar undone that long, but it is a two person job to get it back together. We found ourselves talking about one of the local members of the esoteric community and his recent behavior.

There were the standard sexual no-no that was committed, just one more proof that perhaps sex and esoteric traditions have no place standing by one another. Or perhaps it is proof that we need to understand these energies in an esoteric content; it is easy to mistake certain types of links between people as being sexual in nature.

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the whole sexual mystery issue. Nevertheless, you never want to suspect that someone set up their group merely so that they could get laid.

Important fact---this person is not a member of Golden Dawn. In fact, they feel that Golden Dawn has nothing to offer them which brings us to the behavior that they indulge in that I want to talk about.

They have a bad case of being in love with being an authority.

For those of us in the esoteric field, this is not a good disease to catch. We have enourgh temptations already without this one, temptations that threaten to bloat up our egos like sickly toads.

In the case of this person, he is arrogant already (not as arrogant as the person who told me that he was the only person in Colorado qualified to teach ceremonial magic, but close). He has bounced from one tradition to another. And he always ends up starting a group, to teach his lastest passion to others.

A few years ago, I rubbed shoulders with him in a group; we were briefly members of the same system for awhile. I decided that I could not work with him for extended periods; the feeling was mutually returned. In my case, he was teaching that any technique not in the original documents was improper. Being a modern student of the mysteries, I was using some techniques that I picked up elsewhere; as long as they produced results, I could care less if people a thousand years or more ago did not know or use the techinques. He also has never mentioned a single living teacher...his knowledge is all his own brilliant decoding of old books.

(I am not sure why he does not want to work with me...class clown, dangerous experiments, the willingness to question and talk back---take your pick.)

And being arrogant, he believes that his knowledge about one system qualifies him to criticize another tradition. He has actually walked out of public rituals, during the middle of them while loudly saying that the people doing the ritual knew nothing about the system that they were working. This is one of those people who do not realize that it is near impossible to raise a decent amount of energy in public ritual, and that some of us do not care to become a Ph.D. in the history of our traditions---sometimes you just want an entertaining ritual and could care less if one of the Ancients would understand it.

But talking to my friend, I realized that I had misjudged the man. I always thourght that he was smarter than I was (though I managed to aviod the icky sexual misbehavior), and perhaps more spiritiually advanced. This is what I had been blaming his behavior on; I thought that he had higher standards than I did. Now, I realize that his behavior can be explained by him simply being in love with being an authority.

The sad part is that I know several other teachers and leaders that also fall under the same disease. Well, I guess it takes all types.

And for the record, I am not in love with being an authority. I am just a hack writer, who loves the sound of their own voice. I am happy being a follower as long as I am allowed to exhibit my ADHD in a loud and obnoxious manner. For me, the height of the estoeric tradition is being a student---it is just too much work to be an authority figure.

If you are going to get burned…

Earlier this week on one of the forums, I got to watch (read) another episode of When GDers Attack! I wish I could say that I am surprised at what happened, but I am not.

For a long time, I have been watching the community break into various camps. It is natural. Get three human beings together and you get politics.

At this point in time, it has not hit the point where I would label it politics, but it is getting there.

Basically, what I am seeing is the up-and-comers not living up to the standards of the old guard, and the old guard saying it openly and loudly. The up-and-comers believe that the old guard is outdated, and have not a clue. And both sides are dragging out documents to prove it.

Now, I will admit that when I saw what the member of the old guard was complaining about that I agreed with the old guard. This time the up-and-coming member had fallen far from the mark.

If I was to give the up-and-coming some advice it would be: If you are going to get burned, go for broke! Push the envelope!

The worst that can happen is that you end up looking like a fool.

(Think about it using both ways of reading that sentence. Do you want to risk either? If so, go for broke!)

If you do not want to get burned in the Golden Dawn community, you keep your mouth shut. Anyone who opens their mouth is leaving themselves open to gasoline and matches; or rather venom and criticism…gasoline and matches would actually be easier to deal with.

The old guard is being attacked for being respected and in a position of authority. Every young punk with a copy of Regardie is trying to prove themselves smarter than the old guard (or Crowley, Mathers and Westcott if they think the living old guard amounts to nothing).

The up-and-comers are attacked in return. The up-and-comers are supposed to be the next generation of leaders and experts. And if they ever hope to have any real authority, they need to learn to push the envelope and not be happy with the standard that is currently in play.

Full disclosure: Did you notice that I did not mention any names? The reason for that was it was different set of people last week, and it will be another set of people next week. No matter when you read this post, it will remain current if I do not mention any actual names.

Dues, warm bodies, and officers

The dissolution of the RMWT has got me thinking today about the resources neccessary for the functioning of lodges and covens. A lot of people think that all it takes to run a lodge or coven is someone wanting to do so. Yes, that all that it takes to start a group, but it requires a lot more if the group is going to stick around and be functional.

I invite you to stroll around the internet for awhile. There are some groups on the internet that look functional; but in reality, never hold meetings and in fact, can be said to consist solely of the webmaster and a couple of minions. I have heard rumors that one of the Big Name Orders does not have a single lodge in existence, and I know of another that is trying to look like a Big Name Order and doesn't have any lodges. Looking good on the internet does not neccessary mean that a group is actually functional.

And by functional, I mean that members occasionally met face-to-face, initiations and rituals are performed, lectures are given, and the occasional handout is issued. By this standard, many esoteric groups are not actually functional.

So what resources does an esoteric group need in order to be functional?

Dues (money): Money is neccessary for a group to function; it allows them to buy supplies (incense, candles, ink cartridges, the occasional ritual prop) and to rent a meeting place. Some groups also kick in to compensate the chief officers for their time, and it takes a lot of time to run an occult group if it is growing and developing.

Many people object to dues. They say that the wisdom of the ages should be given to everyone for free. These are the same people who think that writers, Hollywood film companies, and musicians should give their product away for free.

"The wisdom of the ages does not belong to you; it should be given away for free to everyone who is interested in it."

By the way, these are the same people who complain almost the loudest about the fact that there are no cutting edge occult books, and that most occult books are just copy and paste jobs. Why are there no cutting edge occult books? Simple, no one is willing to pay for them; therefore, publishers do not commission them, and writers do not write them.

(In fact, many occult books are now being done by small publishers or print on demand services because the bigger publishers only want mega-new-age books that sell better. The quality suffers because of this.)

Furthermore, these are the same people who believe that all the expenses of an esoteric group should come out of the wallets of those who run it. They don't want to chip in for incense and supplies even. Of course, if they become leaders, they will expect their members to chip in. And so it goes.

There are also some people who scream loudly that certain occult leaders are robbing their members by charging them dues. Ironically, some of the loudest in that category charge their own members dues.

(Yes, some of the politics of the occult community is actually about money, and who is making it.)

And there are some leaders who generally have an aversion to collecting dues, and believe that the wisdom should be taught for free. Generally, the groups they form dissolve because they don't have enough resources to continue operating.

When Bast Temple formed, the costs for the meeting were read out loud for all to hear, a custom lifted from Hathoor Temple. A couple of the members were surprised to learn how many expenses were actually involved in running a group; it was something that they were never exposed to before. Within a couple of meetings, one of the members (not the founder of the lodge) proposed a dues structure, and it passed; to this day, the Bast Temple dues are set by the active membership of the lodge.

Dues come from the members; and if you have enough members, most of a group's needs are taken care of.

Members (also known as warm bodies): One of the most important resources a lodge can have is members. Without members, a group is just a paper and/or an internet group, existing only in the mind of its founder and whoever falls prey to the illusion.

From the members come the dues, the experiences, and the people neccessary to actually do the rituals. Without members, rituals are impossible to do in a group setting. It is possible to get away with less than a full number of members, as Bast Temple has proven with their revised Neophyte ritual; but some members are always neccessary.

And without members, especially the occasional new member, an esoteric group is doomed to extinction. The reason for this is that the membership is the pool that new officers are pulled from.

Officers and leaders (the people who attempt to herd cats): Without officers and leaders, it would be impossible for occult groups to exist. The number one case of occult group dissolving and disappearing is the lack of leaders and officers. The history of the occult is littered with groups that died out and disappeared when its leadership got burnt out or died.

For any occult group to survive more than a single generation, officers have to be replaced. And for a group to survive for more than a couple of years, officers must be able to avoid becoming burnt out and/or bankrupt.

Of course, the real trick here is for the officers to learn to set their egos aside, teach younger members to replace them, and actually step aside and allow them to take over. This is harder to do than it looks. It depends on being able to say, "I don't know. I need help doing this work. It is no longer my problem." Tough words to say under most situations.

And looking at the RMWT and its dissolution, I know that the cause of its death was rooted in the fact that only a couple of people were carrying all the expenses, the membership numbers were dropping, and a couple of people were stuck doing all the work. It was a deadly combination for any esoteric group.

What has the current GD leadership taught us

Feeling a little grey and under the weather, and with my Scorpio Moon acting up, I started to think about the lessons that the current leaders of Golden Dawn are teaching us.

Now, there are good leaders and then there are the bad ones. It is the bad ones that I am thinking about today; the ones that make me glad that I have no potential to ever become a leader.

In part, because they have a nasty habit of leaving lawyers on your doorstep. Not that I have anything against lawyers, one of my friends is studying to be a lawyer, it is just that my idea of a good time is not spending it in court.

Nor do I consider it a good time to have oneself, friends and family dragged though the mud. Character assassination is something that I experienced enough in High School; there was also a lot of it in my family.

Of course, to be a leader in today's Golden Dawn, you must pet sharks and fling like a monkey. That is the first thing that some of today's leaders have taught us.

The second thing that they taught us is that a leader in Golden Dawn can not have any honor. Nor can they afford morals. After all, they going to throw unmentionables at us, and leave things on your doorstep. And if you respond in kind, they will point out that you have no honor or morals.

They have also taught us not to share information with our own members. They have brought a whole new level of secrecy to the system. From now on, we must destory any member who leaves our lodges so that our sacred knowledge is not published as a public service, and proof that we ripping people off. Or we must publish it ourselves in self-defense (after all, the thing on the doorstep is trying to get a legal action together to make us cease operations).

But they are fair...never forgot that...if you allow them access to your secret materials, they will check them against their own documents, and declare you a brother. Of course, your documents may just meet their photocopier, and they may tell you that they have better documents and lineage.

They have taught us that being able to make it rain, to summon up angels, and actually know something about our tradition is nothing. Only the sacred lineage counts. And the legal right to use the name Golden Dawn.

Today, they are going after their fellow leaders because they are competition. Tommorrow, they will go after the writers because they help create competition. And the day after that, they will sacrifice and kill the Golden Dawn tradition because it creates competition.

And the most important thing they are teaching us is to make sure that we never appear to be leaders, or give any hint that we have the potential to be leaders, because they are swore to crush anyone who has the potential to be a leader. All that matter is our wallets, and the money that we can provide them in the forms of dues; love of our tradition does not matter; nor the ability to affect our world in a positive way.

The bad leaders of Golden Dawn are teaching us one and one lesson only: it is better to be the only one left and the tradition to die than to have it continue in the control of someone who might actually be in the game to help people with their spiritual development.

I am a happy little cynic, ain't I?