A word from your Captain.
Greetings to all at
Grey School of Wizardry,

I hope everybody is doing well, and happy 17th anniversary!!July was a wonderful month here at the school, and I feel encouraged for August.This last month, we had our first in a long time physical conclave. I want to give a report on that and encourage everybody to make plans to come out next year.We had the great honor of having our Headmaster at the event. We got to spend the weekend listening to his stories and wisdom. We laughed together, we had serious discussions and a few profound moments of connection.We got to spend quality time on the conclave grounds connecting with nature and with ourselves, as well as a wonderful ritual.I can't wait to return for next year myself.

Along those lines, the school has announced that we will be having physical classes in the near future. The school is going the extra mile to serve our community.I want to give a shout-out to our prefects, they work hard under the hood to make sure this is a productive environment for everybody here. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything at all. We can all be reached at gswapprenticeleadership@gmail.com. Please put the lodge in the subject line of the prefect you would like to reach.

I also want to mention that we have leadership opportunities coming up. If you are inclined to serve your lodge, it is a wonderful and rewarding experience to do so. There are also working scholarships awarded for those who do so. Send an email to your prefect if you are interested.

Be on the lookout for announcements and of course, we have our weekly meet'n'greet, every Wednesday at 6 pm Pacific on VGSW. If you need access, send me an email and I can help you get on the second life campus.Thank you all for your work and for making our community as great as it is. 

Captain Rievahdel Lazulifire

The Coterie of the Flowing Waters
Salutations, fellow Undines!

Congratulations to Apprentice Malachite Forestfoot for earning merit points for our Lodge by completing classes with a final grade of 100% last month.  Remember each time you get a final grade of 100% in one of your classes you gain another merit to help our Coterie keep the Lodge Cup. 

Be sure to comment on the Waters Lodge forum under the Completed Classes post so I know to award the merit for your accomplishment! We still have a lead in the Cup tournament. You can track our progress on your My Account page. 

Where we really excel is in class credits, so keep completing those assignments!  We are doing well with school merits, too.  There are so many ways for us Undines to gain a merit.  Did you know that you can earn two merit points just for reading a new magickal book?  Well, it isn't quite that simple; you also have to write a 250 word report on the book and submit it to our Waters Lodge forum.  I can't think of an easier way to grab two merit points, and your fellow Undines will appreciate your comments about the book. Another way to earn a merit is to participate in the monthly Lodge challenge.  This will earn extra merit points as well as expand your own knowledge and skills. 

If you have any questions on the Lodge challenge please reach out to me via our Apprentice Leadership email (gswapprenticeleadership@gmail.com) for further guidance! 

Remember, if you need assistance or guidance in anything relating to your classes or to activities here at the School, please do not hesitate to reach out to me, your Prefect, at the above email address. 

Yours in service,
Prefect Apollinaris

The Circle of the Standing Stones  
Hello Stones!

As we step into the month of August, I can literally feel the energy shift! August begins the harvest season, so think abundance and getting things done as we transition into a new season. This is also an incredibly creative time of year, so use that energy to make space and explore artistic and imaginative methods of self expression. 

We host Meet & Greets every week on the virtual campus as well, and there are a number of courses available there too! If you’re not yet on vGSW, but would like to be, this post will help you get access!

Psst… have you scored 100% on a final exam? Post it here and earn your lodge a merit! Please join me in welcoming Apprentices Obsidian Ravenmoon, Wisdmawk, Hanfinity, Soran Mahnus and Dakayl as the newest members of the Stones Lodge - we’re glad you’re here!

We’ve also got a new challenge for you this month, and details on a few exciting transits coming your way… all in this month’s newsletter. 

And last but not least…We’ve got just under two months left in this term, Stones and we are on track to win the LUMOS award (exciting, right?!), but there’s still some requirements we need to meet… And I need your help.This forum post spells out where we are and what we need; if you don’t yet have forum access, just go here to sign up. Have questions or problems signing up? Email me and let’s remedy that. 

Prefect Selah Nyx

The Order of the
Dancing Flames

Greetings Flames Lodge!

As acting Prefect, this newsletter will continue our focus on the Flames Lodge Moot Celebration, August 21, 2021. As I mentioned last month, I’m excited that one of my final duties and privilege's of being your Prefect and Vice-Captain is to organize and participate in the Flames Moot.

This is where we show the other Lodges our Courage to venture into the unknown; our Passion for our Lodge with the Vitality that ignites the world with Action every time we venture forth. As always it is through our Passion for Grey School that we have the Courage to infuse Actum Vitae (Vital Action) into our classes, scholarship, and Lodge; but above all we set the example that empowers others to make something wonderful.

June saw the increase of 38 merits to our lodge.  That is a whopping 10 points more than June (WOW!), Very Awesome Indeed! Below you will see who ignited the GSW with their efforts that resulted in merits. You bring honor and character to the Order of the Dancing Flames and you deserve your bragging rights:
Medea MoonStone, BlueMountainRose, Grey_Owl, Alvar, Krasuu, Rievahdel, Phantasmagoria, SilvermoonWisdom.

August 21 will be the Flames Lodge Moot: For those who wish to present a workshop or a talk on the Flames Lodge Values, personal experiences, and/or to educate those on what it means to live the motto of The Order of the Dancing Flames. I invite you to send an outline with the words "Flames Moot Workshop Outline" in the subject line to gswapprenticeleadership@gmail.com

I wanted to take these final moment and continue to talk about the Apprentice Leadership. What a better way to share our virtues to fellow apprentices than through Apprentice Leadership.To learn more about what the requirements for Leadership are, Click here.
As Prefect of the Flames you'll help to create vgsw Moots, challenges for our Lodge, and make decisions pertaining to the GSW Apprentice Body at large.

Rise to your rightful place in GSW Apprentice Leadership and Empower Vitae, Virtus, and Fervor in those we serve!

Vice-Captain Merqatyl Draconis
Acting Flames Prefect

The Society of the
Four Winds
Salutations everyone!

 Prefect Skywalker here coming to you with this month’s Winds Newsletter. 

 Before we begin, it’s “SHOUT-OUT TIME”!  Thank you so much to Apprentice “Raven Rose”. For completing the “Energy: Introduction to Theory & Practice” class with a 100% Final Exam grade, and earning a Merit Point for the Winds Lodge. Keep up the fantastic work.  A huge shout-out to Apprentice “Macanrothaic” for completing the “Lodge Merit Challenge” for the month of July, and earning Merit Points for the Winds Lodge. To those of you who don’t know, I asked the members of our Lodge to choose at least three (realistic) things that they might want to “manifest”, and then create sigils out of them. I did this in hopes to inspire our Lodge-mates to get ideas for their own magickal works. I am hoping our next challenge will do the same.  Speaking of our next challenge. This month, I ask my Lodge-mates to make affirmations for themselves. But not just any affirmations. Affirmations that give us the confidence to achieve results. I look forward to seeing what you come up with. 

  Now then, onto the main announcements.  Would any of you like to become Prefect next term?

You get a working Scholarship for the Grey School Of Wizardry. This means you won’t have to pay your next tuition until the tuition date that’s after your term is done. As long as it’s appropriate and realistic, you get pretty much full control over the decorating of your Lodge on our Second Life Campus. You can post your monthly Challenges on your Lodge Forum Page to help earn our Lodge Merit Points.  If you’re interested, you can read more about the position, it's responsibilities and requirements here.  

All of that being said however... Since the end of term is fast approaching, I suppose now is a better time than any to tell you all this: It has been an absolute honor getting to know each and every one of you. Being Prefect has taught me a lot about not only Wizardry and magick, but also about myself. Before I got this position last year, I spent a lot of time thinking about the possibilities I could achieve. Being Prefect helped give me a sense of purpose and it's been a pleasure. 

All the best and magick always,
Prefect Skywalker