How to Become a Witch (33 page)

1. Achieving Balance

• Energy management: Controlling your own energy; sensing others’ energy; balancing your chakras; daily exercises.
  
• Thou art God/dess: Taking care of your body, mind, soul, and emotions; a mixture of self-care, nutrition, breathing exercises, etc. Also recognizing the divinity in others.
  
• The Witches’ Pyramid and the pentagram; self-assessment in terms of air/fire/water/earth/spirit balance.
  

2. Ritual Format

• Circlecasting, calling quarters, invoking Deity, and techniques for raising power and grounding.
  
• Ritual design (identifying ritual themes and purposes, selecting deities to work with, choosing activities).
  

3. Meditation/Trance

• Grounding and centering; solitary meditation.
  

4. The Deities of the Old Religion

• The Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone, and other feminine faces of the Divine.
  
• The God: the Hornéd God, Green Man, and other masculine faces of the Divine.
  
• Goddess and God are One; the many-facets model.
  

5. History and Tradition

• Terminology, symbols, myths, legends, and traditions of Witchcraft.
  
• The history of ancient religions, evolution of the Craft, and modern Wicca.
  

6. Ethics

• The Rede, the Law of Return, the Ordains, and informed consent.
  

7. Spellcasting

• Defining your goals; tools, design, and Words of Power; amulets and talismans.
  

8. Psychic Skills

• Exploring intuition, clairvoyance, psychometry, telepathy, etc.
  

9. Divination

• Ethics, issues, and methods (tarot, astrology, runes, etc.).
  

10. Ritual Tools

• The functions of the basic four, designing or choosing them, and hands-on fabrication.
  

11. Wicca in the Modern World

• Overview of modern Paganism; Wicca’s relation to ecology, feminism, civil rights, peace, religious freedom, and interfaith efforts.
  

12. Wheel of the Year and Esbats

• The eight sabbats, solar and lunar cycles, rites of passage.
  

This list of subjects is only a sample—each coven will teach in the order it feels is appropriate, and some material may be expanded or deleted. You may use this as a checklist at the end of your year and a day—have you covered all of these subjects, or are there some that require more in-depth exploration before you call yourself a Witch?

Many traditions of Witchcraft recognize one’s progress by conferring initiatory degrees on their students. These degrees can be structured in many ways. In the most traditional way, you begin by dedicating yourself to the study of the Craft for a year and a day and become known as a dedicant, candidate, seeker, or simply a first-year student.

After the year and a day, if you have finished all the classes and readings and have shown that you are ready, you may be initiated into the first degree, and you can call yourself a Witch. At this stage, you are considered a priest or priestess to yourself—you know the ethics of Witchcraft and some religious history, you are familiar with the Goddess and the Old Gods, you know basic spellcraft and ritual and are co-leading rituals, you understand the elements and basic correspondences, and you have a connection to nature, the greatest teacher of all.

There is one more requirement, and only the dedicant can know if he or she has achieved it—he or she must have undergone a spiritual initiation, had an up-close-and-personal experience of the Goddess or the God, and have formed a personal relationship with Divinity. The requirements listed here are derived from the Coven of Our Lady of the Woods but represent one way a person might be prepared to assume the title of priestess (or priest) and Witch.

Sample Requirements for First-Degree Initiation

As a minimum, candidates:

1. Must have experienced initiation on a spiritual level.

2. Must find the common beliefs, traditions, practices, and ethics of the Craft compatible with theirs.

3. Must have freely chosen Wicca as their spiritual path.

4. Must have been actively exploring the Craft for at least a year and a day.

5. Must have basic magickal skills and knowledge of Craft terms.

6. Must have read the required books and several of the recommended ones.

7. Must be willing to live by the Wiccan Rede; take an oath to honor and act in accord with the Goddess and God within, in daily life as well as in ritual; keep certain information confidential; and to aid and defend their sisters and brothers of the Craft.

8. Must devise a personal oath, declaring their present spiritual and magickal goals.

9. If in a coven, must be working to develop and maintain strong, wise, and caring relationships with each coven sister and brother, and communicate their needs, expectations, and resources to other coveners.

10. If in a coven, must actively participate in most coven activities and take a fair share of responsibility for planning, organization, and leadership.

11. If in a coven, must support the needs of the coven by exchange of energy through teaching or mentoring and by giving money, supplies, and/or time and energy to help with coven projects or fundraising.

12. Must create or obtain the basic garb and tools of the Craft and coven: a robe, athame, chalice, wand, and pentacle.

13. May choose a Craft name to mark a new stage of spiritual growth, and explain to the coven where and when it may be used.

After another year and a day of learning and practice, getting to know the Old Gods better, and doing shadow work, the Witch may be granted the second degree—sometimes considered a priest or priestess to others. At this stage, they can help newer students, lead rituals, teach some subjects, and assist with coven leadership—perhaps as maiden or summoner (who are often the high-priestess-in-training and the high-priest-in-training, respectively). The titles and duties will vary from one Witchcraft tradition to another.

The box below contains the most commonly used symbols in modern Craft traditions with three degrees. However, many who consider themselves Wiccan, or who are self-initiated, wear jewelry with the second-degree pentagram (point up) to show their spiritual inclination. It has effectively become the symbol of Wicca.

During the third year, Witches will work on the
hieros gamos
, or sacred marriage within—the balancing of male and female energies—so they become fully actualized people, free of limiting stereotypes. They continue to lead rituals and perform magick, and if planning to create a new coven, they learn about group dynamics, teaching techniques, and pastoral counseling.

When all this is completed and they are considered ready for leadership, they are granted the third degree—often considered priests or priestesses to the community. They will often take on a leadership role in their community, perhaps in a local council of the Covenant of the Goddess or the group that runs the local festival and public sabbats. They may assume leadership of their coven as high priests or high priestesses, or hive off from the coven and start their own.

Some traditions have a five-degree system, in which the entry level focuses on earth issues like prosperity and health, before students attain the earth degree. The next degree involves water issues like compassion, intuition, and silence. It’s followed by the fire degree, where they work on issues of power, purpose, and will; then they hone skills of intellect and imagination before being granted the air degree.Finally, they work on connection to Deity to attain the spirit degree.

Some traditions have only two categories of membership: non-initiates—Witches in training—and initiates. All learning beyond the initiate level is considered a deepening of one’s practice but is not recognized by any formal degree.

The colors of the cord

It is common for Witches to wear cords of different colors to mark their degree of initiation; different covens and traditions have different color schemes. Our own tradition has white cords for dedicants, green for first-degree initiates, red for second degree, and either silver (female) or gold (male) for third-degree initiates. Another tradition adds another color for each step up, not necessarily for degrees but for achievements, and their cords are eventually a multi-colored wonder. But when you meet someone in the Craft for the first time, you may have to ask what their cord color signifies.

Beyond their highest degree, most traditions encourage further training and deeper focus in a specialty or vocation within Witchcraft. No further degrees are granted within the coven, but Witches might earn academic degrees or certificates at an institution like Ardantane or Cherry Hill, or a secular educational program, or they might apprentice with a master in a particular skill. Some examples of Witch specialties or spiritual callings follow—or you may invent your own!

Spiritual VoCations Within Witchcraft

Activist:
Some Witches are called to work for causes in harmony with the Craft: environmental issues, social justice, feminist legislation, the peace and anti-nuclear movements, and many more. Starhawk is the founder of the Reclaiming Tradition, known for its political activism with a spiritual, nonviolent slant. Activism can also occur in the context of the judicial system, as in the coalition that won Wiccan military personnel the right to have a pentagram on their headstones in the national cemeteries.

Animal Advocate: One whose energy is directed toward helping animals: as a worker at the local animal shelter, an animal communicator, an animal-rescue specialist, an animal rights activist, a veterinarian, a habitat restoration specialist, an educator, and more.

Artist/Artisan: The arts can celebrate and express the God and Goddess, and thank them for their gifts. The Craft includes visual artists, costume designers, ritual toolmakers, stained glass craftspeople, dancers, choreographers, and many other kinds of artists.

Bard: While the Craft does not have a formal designation for bards, as the Druids do, we do have many musicians, singers, storytellers, and other performing artists among our number. Some Witch musicians earn their living with concerts and CD sales, while others simply use their talents in ritual and celebration whenever called upon by the Pagan community.

Chaplain: A chaplain is a spiritual counselor in an institutional setting, like a hospital, military unit, retirement home, youth program, or prison. (The military currently has no Wiccan chaplain. However, perhaps the time has come, and you may be the first officially recognized Wiccan chaplain!) This requires a degree in counseling or theology and credentials such as those available through the Covenant of the Goddess. Some chaplains work with prison inmates, teaching them about Wicca, leading rituals or classes, and counseling on spiritual matters.

Communicator: Many Witches work to keep information flowing in the Craft community as newsletter or magazine editors, Internet forum hosts, website designers, bloggers, or radio hosts. Communication makes us a worldwide Craft community rather than a collection of isolated, vulnerable groups.

Community Leader: Coven leaders are usually known as high priestesses and high priests, though some egalitarian covens do not use the old titles. Some are spiritual guides to individual students or visionary leaders of the wider community. Many Witches serve as officers of regional and national organizations, and others teach and serve on a local council of elders when needed. Some act as meeting facilitators or conflict mediators to form a stronger, more interconnected community.