The Four Areas of Skill

The Gaia Tradition divides the Wiccan knowledge and skills that we study into these four overall areas:

Leadership:
- Background material -- group dynamics, basic psychology, ethics, mythologies, other Traditions, other religions
- Techniques -- organization and scheduling, leading meetings, moderating discussions, ritual planning and construction, leading of rituals, energy raising
Teaching:
- Background material -- thealogy, history (especially the history of the Old Religion and Christianity), psychology of learning
- Techniques -- lesson planning, presentation style, types of classes, use of training aids, guiding of discussions
Healing:
- Background material -- basic anatomy and physiology, herbs, nutrition, relationships between the body and the mind in healing, disciplines of healing (e.g., western medicine, homeopathy, Chinese medicine, etc.), types of magickal healing
- Techniques -- physical and emotional evaluation, meditation, counseling, use of medications and herbs, self-confidence, spellwork
Magickal Working:
- Background material -- types and sources of energy,systems of magick, materials (crystals, stones, metals, colors, etc.), plants (especially trees), incorporeal beings (faeries, elementals, etc.)
- Techniques -- shielding, divination, invocation, protection, restraint, banishing, trances, astral projection, psychic powers (empathy, telepathy, clairvoyance, etc.)

The four worthies and the four skill areas are related to each other, as the following table shows:

	Teaching	Healing	Magick	Leadership
Self	Learning throughout our lives; staying open to new experiences.	Taking responsibility for maintaining and restoring our health.	Doing magickal work to help heal and improve ourselves.	Taking charge of our lives and maturely accepting responsibility.
Community	Sharing the knowledge we have gained with the coven and the city.	Healing those in our communities who ask for our efforts.	Doing magickal work to help both our communities.	Working in formal leadership positions in both communities.
Earth	Teaching people what to do to effectively care for the Earth.	Doing what we teach others to do n caring for the Earth.	Doing Earth-energy magick and magick for the Earth.	Being active in causes that nurture the Earth.
Divine	Teaching the religion of Wicca to seekers and students.	Bringing divine healing -- physical, emotional and spiritual -- to all.	Using the power of the Divine ones to enhance our magick.	Demonstrating that the religion of Wicca is a positive force.

Each of these sixteen intersections is discussed below:

Self & Teaching -- Teaching ourselves means committing ourselves to a lifetime of learning, from our experiences and from others, knowing that to stop learning is to die. It also means keeping ourselves flexible and open to the new -- new experiences, new people, new ideas, etc.

Self & Healing -- Healing ourselves includes such things as:

Eating well (avoiding junk food, buying and consuming organic foods, etc.)
Taking care of our bodies (exercising, avoiding addictions, etc.)
Taking charge of our medical situation (participating in health care decisions about ourselves, being responsible in the use of medication, etc.).

Self & Magick -- We include within our magickal practices work for our own benefit, not just for the benefit of others.

Self & Leadership -- To lead ourselves means to be in charge of our lives. Living in mental and emotional maturity, we strive to accept responsibility for our decisions, and not to look outside ourselves for justification or approval.

Community & Teaching -- We teach others what we have learned, sharing our knowledge with our coven community (seekers, students, and covenmates) and with our larger community.

Community & Healing -- Healing within the coven means using our healing skills to work for each other’s healing when requested. Healing in the larger community means being available to put our skills to use for outsiders who ask for our help.

Community & Magick -- We do magickal work, in both our communities, in general (for example, bringing harmony into a divisive issue) and specifically (for example, to influence the outcome of a critical issue) -- carefully following the Rede in all things.

Community & Leadership -- Leading the coven means serving as High Priest/ess or in another position (such as training coordinator). Leadership in the larger community means actively participating in its life, for example by volunteering for community task forces.

Earth & Teaching -- We open the eyes of others to the things that are being done to harm the Earth and her biosphere (pollution, overconsumption, global warming , etc.); we then teach them what we all must do to save her (from ecological living and recycling to actively reducing our consumption -- our "footprint on the Earth".

Earth & Healing -- Healing the Earth means doing the things we teach others to do, "walking the walk." Some examples of what this means are:

Living ecologically -- recycling, minimizing waste, etc.
Not supporting industries that raise food animals in misery
Participating in actions, demonstrations, etc., to cause political changes in this area

Earth & Magick -- The Earth is a part of our magick in two ways:

She is the source of our working, by giving us a large part of the energy to do our magick.
She receives the benefit of the working that we do on her behalf.

Earth & Leadership -- Leadership on behalf of the Earth means being active, with our voices and with our bodies if necessary, in defending, protecting, and advocating her cause.

Divine & Teaching -- We make the knowledge of the Lord and Lady, and of the religious path that worships them, available to all true seekers.

Divine & Healing -- We bring Divine healing to the people around us:

Physical healing -- We offer the healing touch of the Divine to people are sick, injured, or in pain.
Emotional healing -- We offer a way out of addiction and codependency to people whose lives are ruled by them.
Spiritual healing -- We offer fulfillment to people whose inner light calls them to the spirituality of the Old Religion.

Divine & Magick -- The Divine ones are the major sources of our magickal powers, and they are the ones by whose example we compare both the objectives and outcomes of our workings.

Divine & Leadership -- By our leadership in the world, we show those who follow us, as well as those who merely observe us, that the Lord and Lady are worthy of being followed. In doing so, we demonstrate using the example of our lives that Wicca is a religion that not only must be respected, but also will become increasingly important as humanity transforms into its next stage.