PRE-INITIATORY DEDICATION RITUAL
(a sample ritual)
premise: "Every Witch is a Pagan; not every Pagan is a Witch."
There are many ways to honor Nature in our lives. For some, regular participation in Pagan circles is a way to stay attuned to seasonal rhythms, an enrichment and support for their real work in the world, a way of finding community. An artist, a doctor, a mother, a counselor - such people may find joy and sustenance in Pagan celebration eight times a year, or even at each Moon, but wish to pursue it no farther. They are the Earth Mother's children, as fully as are Her priests and priestesses. Their lives contribute as much as ours to the re-creation of Pagan community, the restoration of ecological sanity. A window is not opened by lifting one side.
Others of us find in active priesthood our life's work, our art form. We will dedicate a larger proportion of our time and energy to the religion itself. We are the producers of ritual and ceremony, not the consumers. Not because we are better, holier, or more devoted; but because this is where our talents, and our delight, seem to lie.
In our observation, people often spend some time exploring the community, reading, attending public circles or festivals, perhaps creating personal rituals or meditations for themselves. For some, this time of exploration fosters a hunger. They wish to study more formally, explore more systematically, aim for initiation into the priesthood of the Goddess.
In the old days, such people would have been initiated before being taught anything of importance. The need for secrecy was so dire that even the simplest information was withheld. Indeed, no public festivals or Pagan circles existed as places of exploration and discovery. Probably we lost many potentially talented leaders by having no adequate channels in; but however much we diminished, this is how we survived. The time for simple survival, thank fully, is past. Now is the time for re-seeding.
At the very end of the initiation, the candidate is declared to be "a Witch and a Priest/ess." We were not willing to make this declaration before the Gods until the person had demonstrated to us their skill and capacity as a ritual leader. Nor were we willing to allow a candidate to make the commitment involved in accepting initiation until s/he had experienced ritual leadership. We ask for a minimum year and a day of study and demonstration of competence by creating and conducting a Circle for our group. There is enough material publicly available now that we can easily provide this training without going into the oath bound rituals in our Book of Shadows.
This decision created its own problems. By withholding initiation for a year, we were leaving an equally important life passage unmarked - the point at which a person decides and formally begins to study for the priesthood. That moment should surely be celebrated! Moreover, there are commitments short of the initiatory oath that are appropriate at this point. What follows is was a first approximation of a pre-initiatory dedication ritual.
Logistics:
One coven elder agrees to enter into an apprenticeship relationship with the candidate. While this would most typically be the coven leader of the opposite gender to the candidate's. Four people make the decision: the candidate, the elder who will be primary teacher, and both coven leaders. We recommend consulting with all elders of the coven if at all feasible. (If we were a bit larger!)
The candidate is given a list of the questions s/he will be asked several days in advance, so s/he will know what commitments are required before entering the Circle. We also recommend encouraging the candidate to respond as fully as possible, rather than with a simple yes or no. Elegant language is less important than giving the candidate the opportunity to state her or his feelings and values within a Circle and before the people whose company s/he aspires to join - and the exercise in personal clarification that inheres in deciding what to say.
elder: (c's name), what do you seek?
candidate: I seek to study Witchcraft. I ask you to teach me.
elder: Do you understand that Witchcraft is the priesthood of the Old Gods and Old Ways of Nature, and that every Witch is a priestess or priest?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Do you understand that initiation into that priesthood will change your life forever, in ways that you cannot now foresee?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Do you understand what priesthood requires: that, if you become a Witch, you serve the Lady and the Lord by serving Their People, to the fullest of your ability?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Knowing these things, do you want to study Witchcraft and its related arts until you know enough to decide whether this is truly your Path?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Do you understand that Witchcraft is one of many means to serve the Old Gods and awaken the Old Ways, and that even this is not your way after all, you may learn and grow while you are here? Can you accept that the decision maybe no?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Teaching what I love is a great joy. But I can only teach in joy if I know that what I love will be used and shared with care and honor. Before I am willing to teach you, there are three things and a fourth that you must promise to me:
Will you respect and protect the confidence of all who you meet in the Circle and all who seek our aid, revealing their identities to no one except by their explicit permission?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Will you practice and teach the Craft for love alone, using this knowledge or teaching it only as a free gift, as I give it now to you, never accepting payment for it in money or goods or labor?
candidate: [respond]
elder: Will you promise never to use what I teach you to the benefit of evil. Avoiding not only baneful magic but all well-intentioned meddling.
candidate: [respond]
elder: And if time brings fullness, as all here hope and expect it will, when you teach new students of your own, will you require these three pledges of them, along with their pledge to similarly bind their own students, so that all that spring from this line may be so pledged?
candidate: [respond]
elder: [ONLY PROCEEDING IF ALL RESPONSES HAVE BEEN AFFIRMATIVE] This being so, I consent to teach you. This is how I value my labor - that I will plant only good seed in good soil, to become fruit both sound and sweet. I will teach you, I will learn from you, I will learn with you. So we begin by exchanging our pledges. Place your hand on this staff and repeat after me:
Rituals will be distributed at next circle.
