"The Wiccan Minister's Manual, A Guide For Priests and Priestesses, " was inspired as a training aid for those who would like to become Wiccan Ministers, as well as an aid for Wiccan/Pagan Priests and Priestesses. The Craft is evolving, becoming more and more accepted by society, and there is beginning to be a definite distinction between Wiccan Laity and Wiccan Clergy. Part One - Guidance - Making the spiritual connection to personal deity through love, prayer, meditation, ritual, and myth and how to guide others to create their own personal connections. Part Two - Wiccan religious philosophy and guidance - How to live a spiritual life in the modern world. Part Three - various methods of healing mind, body and spirit - Including some legal pit-falls to avoid, plus chapter eleven presents an extensive discourse on Pastoral Counseling. Part Four deals with psychic self-defense and rituals of protection. Including House Clearings, Banishings, and Exorcism. Additionally, the author explains what to look for and what to look out for while determining if an exorcism is really needed or if the client is suffering from psychosis and is in need of a professional therapist. Part Five focuses upon the spiritual support roles. It covers, dealing with death and dying, Funerals, Prison Ministry, Legal requirements of doing Handfastings in all 50 states, plus a discourse on whether or not to incorporate. This work begins to fill yet another gap in this area of the Wiccan religious structure as it brings back much of the older knowledge and philosophy that seems to be waning from the collective Wiccan memory.

Reviewed by Edain McCoy; "Kevin, I received my copy of "Wiccan Minister's Manual” It’s terrific! You cover everything... Personally, I think you did a great job at making your book useful to all trads."

When people become closed off, or disconnected from their Divinity, they feel anger, hate, jealousy, envy, bitterness and other negative emotions. People have become out of balance, out of tune with the harmony of the Universe. Many find themselves on a quest, searching for truth, justice, and beauty, but to no avail. Although it is all around us, all the time, people just do not know how to see it. Our social programming has blinded them to it. They need help to unlearn what has been drilled into them all of their lives. This is why ministers are needed, for it is the minister’s role to show seekers how to cast aside those blinders so that they can finally see and complete their quest. This holds true for any faith. The problem with the Pagan paths is that up until now, the only training available for most of us has been the “School of Hard Knocks.”

As Clergy, it is important to understand that people have become afraid to live. Really live. People have lost the joy in life, because they are so busy catering to the whims and demands of others and to the demands that our society has placed upon them. People need spiritual leaders who can help them to learn how to cast off those binding chains, without fear or guilt, and to take the risk to actually learn to live. It is one of our roles as Priests and Priestesses to help others to learn to understand and accept themselves. We, in the role of clergy, need to help them learn to love themselves just as they are. We need to teach those who wish to learn how to become more in tune with their Divinity and to stop punishing themselves for not being an image of social perfection. Those images are false images. We as ministers of the Wiccan faith need to help our people to learn to look within themselves and discover that they are already the image of perfection in their own individualistic ways because they are also Divine.

Pagans, as individuals, know that we need not live our lives by the standards of others. We tend to be independent and understand that we need not live our lives in order to be accepted by others. But many Pagans have not discovered that they need not live in fear of not being considered good enough because, in truth, they already are good enough. All people are perfect just as we are. Most who follow the Pagan paths already know that they do not have to change to fit anyone’s mold or opinion of what they should be. Because over time we have come to understand that we fit perfectly within our own molds, just the way we are now. However, those new to this path still need to learn to accept this, and they need to learn to love themselves without worrying about looking “Kewel,” because they are already the image of divine perfection. True Perfection. Not some false persona hiding behind a mask. Our clergy need to show our people that it is OK to throw that mask away and to just be themselves, rather than something that they are not. We need to show these newcomers how not to be afraid to be themselves. We all must learn to accept ourselves and to love ourselves, and most of you who aspire to become clergy have already begun this process. But in order to complete this process, you must first understand yourself. Once you do, you can then help others to learn to understand themselves and to be true to themselves so that they can learn to begin living spiritual lives………..

Yes, you have made mistakes along the way. Yes, you will make more mistakes as you travel life’s path. But you will now see those mistakes for what they really are, a process of learning and a potential for growth and self-improvement. The pain of growth and dispelling stagnation, although unpleasant, is part of the natural process of evolving into a higher being. The struggles we undergo are a means of helping us to become stronger so that we can fulfill the tasks and meet the challenges that lie ahead of us. We, as Priests and Priestesses of the Wiccan faith, must be able to understand this so that we may be able to serve as guides to others who are seeking a way to evolve into a higher state of being. Still, we ourselves must learn that we, too, are experiencing this learning process.

So, when you stumble and fall, do not waste your time and energy in beating yourself up. Learn the lesson that is there for you and go on. Don’t waste time whining over what could have been. Deal with what is and prepare for what is to come. Without pain, we cannot know joy. Without pain, we cannot grow and become better than we are. Growth is change, and change is the evolutionary process of becoming more and more Divine as we ascend that rainbow ladder of Spirit, evolving into a higher state of being and becoming more and more in tune with the Godhead as we begin to live in harmony with the Universe.

This can only happen if we choose to learn from our mistakes, rather than lamenting our imperfections. These imperfections are there because we have chosen to incarnate into this life during these times so that we may learn and grow. Our divine selves are already perfect, but our characters and our personalities are not. We are flawed because the knowledge we have been taught, the knowledge possessed by humanity, is flawed. As we each acknowledge our fl

For much of my life, I have lived and worked in rural areas in tune with the seasons and tides of nature. Even as a child, I recognized the divine hand in everything that surrounded me. As a country boy, I knew and understood that life can only exist through death. I graduated high school in 1974, and set out on my own, trying to make my way in the world. Along the way I discovered the Craft, and like most who are drawn to the Wiccan faith, I knew that I had always been Wiccan. I just didn’t know what it was called.
    In 1978, I joined the Army Military Police, was stationed in Panama where in November, I helped clean up a mess created by Reverend Jim Jones. The experience molded me, and showed me how a charismatic religious leader can lead others down the wrong path. I was forced to take life, and I came to understand that all of us have that darker nature. Finally coming to terms with my own darkness, I found it was the source of our strength. But it must be balanced with our light. We all possess the power and capacity to kill, crush and destroy, but when balanced with love and compassion, that power can be channeled into positive directions.
    Initiated in 1980, I began teaching and training others in 1986, while continuing my own Craft education, study & practice. In 1997, I began teaching more advanced courses and developed a Clergy course for advanced practitioners in 2006. Early in 2008, I accepted a Bishop’s appointment with Four Winds Fellowship, an interfaith organization, and a Clergy position with the U.S. Federal Prison system. Additionally, I have had articles published in Fate, Pan Gaia, Circle & Blessed Bee magazines.