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Hermione Granger and Voldemort Voldemort oooo Voldy Voldy Voldy Voldemort!
What is your favorite book, how many times have you read it, and why do you love it?
TBH i don’t know if I have a favorite book? I like lots of books and i’ve reread a bunch?
If you were to create a Horcrux(s), what would it be and why?
my tarot decks, because think how hard it would be gather each and every deck and card once i sent them to other people...
Fool, Hierophant, Death
The Fool: What tarot deck did you start with?
I’m totally going to go into further detail than needed, BUT. My very first deck was a traditional Rider-Waite with pip styled suits which I found utterly usless in trying to learn to read tarot. My second deck was the Mystic Dreamer Tarot and the first deck that I bought for myself. Unfortunately I hadn’t looked up the art before buying it and found that I didn’t end up liking it as much as I had thought I would. Right after buying that deck the meta shop stocked The Shadowscapes Tarot and I fell in love. tl;dr I consider The Shadowscapes Tarot as my first deck.
The Heirophant: Who is the highest authority on tarot that you look up to?
@hellboundwitch forever. Also look up to @coffeeandtarot, @thecrackedamethyst, and @loganscove.
Death: What deck would it kill you to lose?
Either The Oracle Tarot by Lisa Chow or The Idiosyncradeck by Jai Bott since both are out of print.
hey there, some seminary questions for you! How did you choose which seminary to attend? Could you please talk about the application/acceptance process? What's the average week like as a seminarian?
Oh gosh, you sent this ages ago, I’ve been meaning to answer!
How I picked a seminary:
I looked only at seminaries in my denomination, PC(USA), that were at least sort of near my area of the USA and that seemed like they’d be LGBT+ friendly. I visited two of them, McCormick in Chicago and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in the fall of 2015 and applied to them both the spring of 2016. Both seemed like excellent choices, I selected LPTS because I liked the housing situation, the campus in general, and the students and teachers I talked to seemed like a better fit for me. And indeed, I am extremely happy here!
Applications and Acceptance:
So yeah, the two seminaries I applied to both had applications due for the following fall in early spring, and I think that’s fairly standard. When looking at various seminaries, check their website for info on that. I highly recommend looking into seminaries a year before you want to attend one, so that you have plenty of time to visit, gather recommendation letters, reflect on your decision, and apply.
Note that the vast majority of seminaries require an undergraduate degree before you can apply, since it is a masters program – but that undergrad degree can be in anything. See this post.
This is the admissions page of my seminary. LPTS offers several degrees, the most popular of which at the masters level are the Masters of Divinity (MDIV, what I am doing) and the Masters of Family Therapy (MFT). To apply to these programs, there are forms that request general info and also ask that you undergo a background check, write some essays, and three letters of recommendation.
The last of those things, the rec letters, might sound overwhelming, but it’s doable. One of them needs to be from a pastor, so if you don’t currently have a pastor in your life who knows you well, that’s something to think about before applying to seminary – how can you get active in your current church so that your pastor can write you a good letter? The second letter must be an academic reference and the third must be a “personal or professional reference” – see this webpage for more. Note that these were the letters my two seminaries of choice required, and while I think it’s fairly typical, other seminaries may do it differently.
I’m pretty sure some sort of interview was required too, but it’s super informal and you can do it via skype if you can’t get to the seminary in person. I do recommend checking out the seminaries you’re interested in person though, if at all possible – they let you tour, talking to various teachers and students and possibly sitting in on classes.
On to the acceptance process: if the two seminaries I looked into are any indication, if you get all the application stuff turned in, you’re very likely to be accepted. The big thing is financial stuff they’ll offer you – the more impressive your application is, the more likely to get academic scholarships. My seminary also had me fill out some forms explaining my financial situation, so that they would know to offer me more financial aid as needed. The amazing thing about my seminary though is that they offer full tuition to everyone who gets in! And all seminaries as far as I know are pretty great about helping with financing their students’ education. See this post for more on financial stuff.
An average week in seminary:
Okay, the average week at any seminary is likely to be different. Note also that I’m going to describe the average week of a first-year student – it changes for second and third year students.
Oh yeah, to mention that: at my seminary at least, the MDIV takes three years and the MFT program takes five. You can also be a part time student which means it’ll take longer. For MDIVs, you have to take Hebrew and Greek and you also have to intern for a year at a nearby church to graduate. I’m doing my church placement my second year. And if you are pursuing ordination, you likely want to be working on whatever your denomination requires for ordination while you’re at seminary – you don’t magically get your ordination when you graduate, just your masters. For my denomination, for instance, I have to do some work as a chaplain in order to be ordained, so I’m likely doing that next summer.
Let’s start with classes and homework in an average week:
I take four classes, and workload-wise they remind me a lot of undergrad. Most classes meet either two or three times a week, and are either 50 minutes or an hour and 15 minutes each time. Some classes are primarily lecture, most involve lecture and discussion, and some are primarily discussion. They all involve a lot of reading. Many students get away with not always doing all the readings though, haha. Fall (September through mid-December) and spring (February through early May) are the main two semesters, but there are also short classes available in January and summer.
Along with reading, homework varies; I’ll describe my typical homework for my four current classes:
For Black Church Studies, we basically read one book and have one 1000-word essay due every two weeks.
Scripture II (New Testament) is sort of bizarre in that there are no major essays due and we only have one textbook (well, plus the Bible). Homework is to read a chapter of the textbook and write a 300-600 word summary on it for each class meeting. Each chapter is on a different book / letter of the New Testament. For this coming Monday, my summary on Ephesians is due. (On a side note, at the end of this semester I’ll probably share a google doc of all my summaries if anyone is interested; they’re good for quick overviews of the content and contexts of the Gospels and letters!)
History of Christian Experience I (the first century CE through 1453) has us write three 1200-1400 word essays throughout the semester. For each class meeting, a fifty-word sentence answering a question about the reading is due. This class has the heaviest reading load – seriously, some nights I don’t actually get to read everything thoroughly; I try my best to, but every now and then I have to skim instead.
Hebrew Exegesis (my fave!!) has five papers throughout the semester (that counts the final). For each paper, we translate a short passage from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and provide historical context, talk about literary structure, do word studies on it, and so on. There were also several (6 I think) translation exercises due throughout the semester, in which you have to translate around 10 sentences from Hebrew. This class also involves reading, but not as much as the other classes. You have to read commentaries and look through dictionaries in order to write the papers.
I had a good number of quizzes and some tests for basically every class last semester; this semester, I have literally zero tests or quizzes in any class, just a lot of papers (all my finals this time around are take-home essays).
It’s hard for me to really explain how fun the classes are? but I love them. They teach so much, and challenge you to think.
Moving on to worship at seminary:
We open every class meeting with a prayer. And on Thursdays and Fridays, there are chapel services led by either a teacher or a student (usually seniors). Because so many different people lead the services, you get a really wide variety of services, which I think is really cool! Not only Presbyterians attend this seminary – in fact, I think it’s something like 50 or 60% of students and faculty here are not Presbyterian. I love seeing how different traditions worship.
And community life here:
Classes are small and therefore tight-knit. I love my class; there are around 30 of us in total I think and around 20 of those are MDIV like me. We all joke around and support and pray for each other, and study together and help one another out when needed. When you need anything, whether it’s notes from a class you missed or a ride to the airport or some groceries because you’re low on cash, someone will help you out.
There are so many groups on campus you can join. We’ve got students in governmental positions, for instance, and students in various committees, from the Faith Life committee to the More Light (LGBT) committee, and from the Worship committee to the Gender and Ministry committee. I do a lot to help out with the community garden. There’s also a grassroots group for environmental stuff – I am assigned to take out the recycling in one of the school buildings to do my part with that. My seminary’s “big thing” is racial dialogue, so there are many classes, workshops, and other events that deal with that. Unfortunately the More Light group isn’t all that active this year, but when there are events I go to them!
If there’s an issue you care about that is not already addressed by a group on campus, it’s possible to make it happen. I just gave a workshop on how to make ministry more welcoming to transgender people. And a classmate and I plan to hold some workshop type events on accessibility and ableism this coming fall.
Conclusion:
So yeah, life in seminary involves balancing schoolwork with participating in the seminary community, your own life (many students here have jobs and/or kids), worship / your faith life, and doing the “field ed” aspect of seminary – church placements and chaplaincy for MDIVs, counseling/therapy for MFTs.
I personally find myself exhausted pretty often thanks to the ol’ mental illness and neurodivergence, so it’s important to take care of yourself. Teachers for the most part are very understanding and willing to give extensions on papers and the like, so that helps. And like I said, when you need something, classmates have your back.
I cannot emphasize enough how enriching the classes are, how intelligent the teachers are, or how warm and family-like the students are. It’s all wonderful.
If you have more questions about seminary, let me know!
baronmagdalene replied to your post “I… I… I just read a peer-reviewed article that… that tried to argue...”
...........??????? why was this article even written???
academia is the art of putting forth controversial ideas in order to get tenure?
baronmagdalene replied to your post “My sister picked out a $200 bridesmaid dress. My dresses for K and B...”
ugh that's such a crappy thing to do to your loved ones :(
It’s ridiculous. I’m going to wear the dress for one day. I made her put her dress on to make sure they didn’t clash, and the one she originally wanted looked awful against her dress. So there is that. I just have to keep repeating: It’s not my wedding, it's not my wedding, it's not my wedding ...
1, 2, 6
1: What book did you last finish? When was that?
Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken about a week ago?
2: What are you currently reading?
Theft of Swords by Michael J Sullivan
6: Which book was the last one you really, really loved?
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Viktor Krum and Albus Dumbledore
If you were a Quidditch player, what position would you play?: Whatever the position is that knocks the bludgers away from your teammates. What Fred and George did. Yeah.
What is your proudest accomplishment?: Recently? Giving a workshop at a conference.
