Is this program all about the Goddess and is it just for women?
No: This magical path is not gender-specific, nor do the Avalonian Mysteries focus upon the feminine principle to the exclusion of, or diminution of, the masculine principle. We believe that a mature and comprehensive understanding of the worlds both inner and outer can only be achieved through balanced work with both the feminine and masculine poles. This was the norm in Western magical schools and orders up until the Goddess movement of the 1980s, when a plethora of Dianic or feminist magical paths emerged, which emphasized the Divine Feminine over the Divine Masculine. At the time, this was a healthy and necessary corrective to centuries of repression and marginalisation of the Feminine. Thirty years or more on, the need is now to bring both Feminine and Masculine into balanced alignment. Like two pillars of a dolmen gate, they must both be strong, firmly rooted in the earth, and also soaring to the sky, both immanent and transcendent, if they are to provide a genuine and reliable gateway into the Mysteries.

But if you’re looking for something like “The Mists of Avalon,”  I’m afraid that is an imaginative work of fiction, and although it’s an excellent and inspiring read, it was created in the imagination of a California novelist.

I'm not sure whether to begin with the Avalon Course in Sacred Magic or the Course in Sacred Earth Magic - what's the difference?
While they both involve inner journey and ritual work, the Avalon Course focuses on working with the Inner Powers of Avalon in a home temple setting, while the Earth Magic course focuses more on the spirits of Nature in the Green World, so you'd be spending more time out of doors.

Is this a pagan course or not?
It's neither pagan nor Christian. The training programme sets out to facilitate the spiritual journey of each individual through the Western esoteric teachings without recourse to dogma or labels, which only serve to limit the experience. The Avalonian magical stream of tradition encompasses many strands of the ‘perennial wisdom’ of the West, with an emphasis on the Mysteries of Britain. This goes back in time to embrace the Neolithic and Bronze Ages when the indigenous peoples of Britain and Ireland built the great stone circles on the land; mythologies of the early Celts; the magnificent Arthurian and Grail corpus of the Middle Ages; Qabalistic teachings of Renaissance magicians; and other underground streams of wisdom that flowed beneath the current of orthodox thought, including the inner teachings of modern masters like Dion Fortune, Wellesley Tudor Pole and Gareth Knight.

How do I become initiated into the Mysteries of Avalon?
In our view, (one shared by Western esoteric traditions in general), it takes both psychological maturity and a strong commitment to selfless service to become an initiate of a mystery path. Unfortunately, this calling has been somewhat degraded in recent years by opportunistic groups and organizations that hand out such “titles” after a minimal training period. Becoming initiated is about being a skilful mediator of magical energies from the higher levels of the invisible worlds to the physical world for the evolution of the human race and the balancing and healing of our planet. It is not particularly glamorous, but nevertheless highly rewarding work for its own sake, which, for many, is the only work worth doing!

Initiation is best imagined as a series of concentric circles around a centre. In this training programme, successful completion of the first course enables you to pass from the first to the second of the Mysteries through a rite of self-dedication, based on a commitment to continuing on this path. The second course enables you to take a further step towards the centre by demonstrating that you have learned sufficient skills to perform an Earth-healing working. After successful completion of the work in the third course, you may wish to apply for Initiation, a much-used term which needs to be defined. In brief, an Initiate is one who feels able to offer what is called “The Unreserved Dedication” of herself or himself in service of the highest spiritual powers for the awakening of humanity and the restoration of the Earth. This is not for everyone; even if you have worked through all three grades of this training programme, it may not be your specific calling, so you will have to decide.

Another factor is that true spiritual initiation cannot be handed out by any person. Although it can be facilitated by a human teacher, initiation can only be granted by the Inner Council of Light: Inner Plane Adepts who have finished their cycles of evolution as incarnate beings, yet turn back from furthering their own spiritual progress in order to aid their younger siblings on Earth. If you apply and are not accepted, however, you will still graduate with the title of Companion of Avalon.