Ok, I rubbed you the wrong way by implying you were reiterating racist, sexist tropes common throughout history in what I saw as your proposed mechanic. A mechanic which I then went on to find and say is actually part of the game already but for some reason I had previously missed it. A mea culpa you have chosen to ignore, so later.
Is that what you were trying to say? Completely missed that, no wonder I couldn't parse it.
No harm done. Now to sleep.
I find this entire discussion hard to understand.
Isn't it about equally plausible that the folk magic theory provides a unifying framework which can accommodate new powers and that it does not? We know that such unification is part of the merit of Bonisagus, but folk magic was never described in such detail.
That said, folk magic seems to have more in common with mystery cults than the flexible TeFo system of Bonisagus. Can mystery cults integrate foreign traditions like Hermetic research can? On one hand, they certainly have the mechanics to invent or integrate new powers. On the other hand, cults have an ethos which is not necessarily compatible with arbitrary powers. That is not an issue in the academic mindset of Bonisagus, but is it an issue for folk magic? Well, I think that is intentionally left to troupe decision.
It is called hedge magic because it is borderline in scope for the game. It goes without saying that canon is not suppolsed to answer all the relevant quesitons.
Your Mea culpa was acknowledging you read the rules wrong. I never saw an apology to lvgreen about your accusations.
Most people accept if a lot of resources are allocated to a group or person, that group or person will be more successful than those with less resources. For example, a well trained knight is going to be a lot more successful in a fight than a peasant. A queen in Africa, even though being a person of colour and a woman, will have more agency than a white European peasant, because she has access to a lot more resources.
One of the generally accepted discussion points in the late 20th century onwards, is that historically white males hoarded resources for themselves whenever possible, often taking them through force from other groups. I'd suggest many people consider white males are doing it still, however, that doesn't matter for what we are discussing.
It's reasonable to suggest a folk witch who is likely illiterate and has limited interaction with other folk witches, due to an oppressive male dominated system which in canon also fears witches and persecutes them, will not be as successful or knowledgable as Order of Hermes magi, due to the huge gap in available resources and opportunities..
Bonisagus had the means to travel the world speaking to other incredibly well educated people. Add to that hundreds of year of well educated, well read people adding to Bonisagus's original work, suggesting folk witches could even be close to the body of knowledge of the Order of Hermes is ridiculous. There could be some niche elements they do better, but in general, clearly folk witches would have less knowledge, skills and power than order magi.
I might quote Ricky Gervais here "Just because you're offended doesn't mean you're right”. You're argument is "It's problematic to say Bonisagus is better than folk witches." Being problematic doesn't make something untrue.
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Yes, that is accurate. I only apologized for reading the rules wrong and not realizing the proposed rule was an actual canon rule. It is still terrible as I said in that previous post.
Your bringing up increased resources is adding something completely new to this discussion about enshrining a supremacy of theory into different rules between Hermetic and other magical theories. What you are arguing for is more like the difference in being able to use the theory as well because one person has a lab and the other does not and that is a whole different topic, resources, from whether a theoretical model can incorporate new insights as easily.
I'd disagree resources is a new point. Here's your first response to lvgreen
Resources are there from the beginning.
I also think you missed my point. If you disagree about something, you should depend on the persuasive power of your argument to convince people. Resorting to ad-hominem attacks by calling someone chauvinistic is not useful.
Anyone, let's go past the ad-hominem and discuss the issue.
I am assuming you mean the rule giving a malus to folk witches is terrible?
Do you also think people with the wealthy virtue getting double the experience of poor people is terrible?
Not at all. What I am saying is money and experience matter.
For example, lets look at modern medicine. It's integrated willow bark (now aspirin), opium poppies (opiates), research that was originally physics based such as X-Rays and radiotherapy, prosthetics which is more engineering and electronics, etc. The amount of resources thrown at medicine, gives it the ability to integrate things.
If I have a sore throat, I might listen to some wise person and take the home remedy. When I had my stroke due to the hole in my heart (luckily both were minor), I'm happy I got to speak to a neurologist and cardiologist, not a wise person.
Has crystals done anything new in the last 100 years? Acupuncture? I don't think so. The ability to integrate new ideas generally requires a lot of resources and experience. Considering the order integrated Merinita's fae aspects, Bjornaer's heart beast, Criamon's enigma, and Verditus item dependency, makes it logical they are better at it.
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Well, they didn't. That's why they are mysteries and not teachable virtues.
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I never said that of him. I said that of the rule then perceived his reaction as taking it personally but i don't plan to discuss anything further with you Fishy, i have seen you attempt to defend what I perceive as indefensible positions on more than one occassion.
The 4 original mystery cults can cast Hermetic magic and still do those other things, so while maybe not fully integrated, are somewhat integrated.
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Perhaps a better list of examples might include Merinita's Familiar, Criamon's consistent Twilight experience, Flambeau's spell invention, Diedne's spontaneous magic, the Columbae's of ex Miscellanea circle wards, and Tremere's Certamen, among others.
Tone down the Flame War please. I, too have made mistakes on these forums, like the time I made an unfair reply to someone who said a rule regarding "Magical Blood", and I interpreted as "Mythical Blood". More than a month later I realised my mistake, but it was too late to raise thread necromancy and take back my words.
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Necromancy is not against the Code - not even thread necromancy 
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This has certainly changed a bit from the original question I asked. But these have been some very illuminating answers.
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Hi,
You've inspired me to descend from my chilly mountain cave into the fetid swamps of discourse.
One of my games had some Folk Witches trying to do this! We simply had her check for Insight in the normal manner, with a bonus equal to her Hermetic Magic Theory. This generally resulted in her getting an insight related to a kind of potion to be made, with the ease factors being based on the guidelines in HoH:S. It worked out pretty well- as per the guidelines in Hedge Magic, we doubled the target number of Breakthrough points required.
I think now, I'd probably write up something like this to be a goal for a Folk Witch looking to learn something from Hermetic Theory in a reasonable timeframe:
Folk Witch Ritual Magic
Major Breakthrough (90)
This breakthrough grants the major breakthrough virtue Witch Ritual Magic:
Witch Ritual Magic
This virtue allows the folk witch to adapt the powerful and, relatively speaking, quick ritual magic of the Hermetic order to allow her to create effects that normally require the use of Potions with much better speed.
When performing a Ritual spell, the Folk Witch pays 2 pawns of Vis of the appropriate form (in addition to any normal vis cost, such as using Healing) to use one of her Supernatural Abilities. She then spends two hours in careful and exhausting ritual activity, expending a long-term fatigue level. After this, the Witch is able to use her Supernatural Ability in an altered way. She may bestow the effect of it onto another touched person as if that person had drank a Folk Witch Potion of that ability, using her Casting Total as the Brew Potency for the effect.
If this breakthrough includes at least 20 points of Insight from Spell Mastery texts, it also allows the Folk Witch to learn a new Arcane Ability called (Ability) Ritual Mastery. There exists a version of this ability for each of her Supernatural Skills usable with her Folk Witch Magic. When using Ritual Magic, she adds her (Ability) Ritual Mastery ability to her Casting Totals.