This vision statement was put together at the 2015 retreat, and is offered here as a reference point.

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Morningstar Mystery School is a place where students who have already mastered basic esoteric knowledge and magical skills can expand and specialize their knowledge and skills, rising from competence to expertise, to the possibility of adepthood.

Students enter the school after completion of a rigorous course that explores the sacred Elements and Directions and orients them in their lives and in relationship to both the seen and unseen world. The students who continue on to the mystery school crave even greater understanding and knowledge, and they are presented with a curriculum that draws them deeper into themselves while expanding them out to shine in all the realms as they grasp ever more clearly the Work of their Gods.

This is what Morningstar is now, a beautiful thing we love, but it has no mechanism to sustain itself, relying almost entirely on Thorn to teach and mentor all students. It also leaves us with a growing number of students who have exhausted the available curricula, but who do not feel complete in their work. Thus, we enter the purely visionary, the shift that we hope will make Morningstar Mystery School into an institution that will sustain itself so that it can offer its Promethean Flame to future generations.

At the completion of the core curriculum, we envision that there will be some type of graduation or acknowledgement, and the student will be presented with the option of becoming an alumnus. That is, leaving the school without necessarily severing all ties. Alternatively, a student may wish to continue to work actively with the school, to teach, or to do deeper work or research within the supportive environment of the school.

Continuing students would be expected to take on certain teaching or mentoring functions as well as to come up with their own course of study and research, under Thorn’s guidance. The teaching functions would initially involve assisting with the core curricula, but might evolve to include additional courses that stem out of the individual student’s research. Such additional courses might be open to the public, or limited to Morningstar students and/or alumni, depending on their nature. Of course, the student research may result in other types of expression than teaching, such as art, performance, published writing, acts of service, or other manifestations that are aligned with the student’s Work.

Over time, it is expected that the continuing students will reach adepthood, to the point that they will be able to take on the role of advisor to new graduates and of primary teacher for the core curricula. Additionally, the continuing students may take on increasing responsibility in the organization and maintenance of the school itself.

The school will be run through a system of organized consensus. A steering committee will be tasked with ensuring that the school has what it needs to function, including outlining the basic school structures, as well as coordinating between and among the various arms of the school. Subcommittees will be tasked with creating and implementing all of the school’s functions. At this point, Thorn will remain outside the committee structure, to advise and assist.

The current steering committee consists of the following individuals: Tony Rella, John Mirassou, Jennifer Herbert, Ealasaid Haas, Sarah, Ken Irwin, Sophia Bonnie Wodin, Rynn Fox, and Sandra Pomeroy.

The subcommittee anchors and descriptions are posted separately (http://www.morningstarmysteryschool.org/moodle/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=2683). Below is a calendar of what we hope to accomplish over the next six months:

By Solstice 2015: Subcommittees recruit members, define their scope, prepare a first draft of materials and assemble questions for Thorn.

By Lughnasadh 2015: Integrate Thorn’s responses and prepare a more final set of materials for the steering committee to review.

By Mabon 2015: Take comments from steering committee and prepare materials to be reviewed by the wider school.

By Samhain 2015: School-wide review period is completed.
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