A Rite of Passing West

In many traditions across the world, from ancient Egypt to modern Witchcraft, the West is often associated with death. The ancient peoples of Ireland, Wales, and Gaul, too, associated the Land of the Dead with the West, or sometimes specifically, a land west of today’s United Kingdom. As the direction where the sun sets each day to end one cycle before beginning a new one, perhaps it’s not surprising that different cultures continents apart might come to see the West as symbolic of death and so it is after these common threads that I take the name of this rite.

A rite that, sadly, has become increasingly necessary over the last, difficult year. Friends have lost loved ones to more tragedy than I care to count and while looking for an easily-accessible, public, and Pagan-ish friendly ritual a friend could use to mark their own friend’s passing, I was finding a great number that were either too tradition specific or full-blown funeral rites, none of which were suitable for my friend’s needs. As such, I have written this rite to be simple and, I hope, helpful for those grieving.

Required Items:

• A representation of the deceased. This can be a picture but at minimum their name stylized with care on a piece of paper.
• A candle, preferably white.
• Incense. If you know their favorite scent, use that. Else, anything you think they would find pleasing. Absent any specific preferences, frankincense and myrrh are always great choices.
• A glass of cool water.

Rubric and Script

Set the above items at a table in the West.

Prepare yourself properly in your normal way (e.g., center, ritual cleansing, etc, whatever you usually do).

Light the candle. Take it to the North and raise it above your head. Do the same for the East, South, and West, where you should set it back down.

“I leave this candle in the West, the place of rest and peace, for you, [Deceased’s Name]. Its light shall burn doubly bright at your journey’s end in the Blesséd Realms of the Dead. May it be a beacon in the darkness and may it guide you safely from any corner of the Underworld, [Deceased’s Name].”

Invocation of any Gods or Spirits with Whom you already have a relationship, including your own personal Ancestors.

“[Gods, Spirits, Ancestors], I ask you to hear me: A loved one, [Deceased’s name], has left this World and begun their journey West. I ask for Your aid and power to safeguard [Deceased’s name]’s journey. 

Guide [Deceased’s name] to the Blesséd Realms of the Dead safely. Protect [Deceased’s name] as you would protect your own. Offer [Deceased’s name] comfort and wisdom as you would offer comfort and wisdom to your own. For [Deceased’s name] is a worthy soul learning the Last and Greatest Mystery.”

Light the incense and raise the water high with a light bow of your chin. Then set the water back down.

“[Gods, Spirits, Ancestors], I offer these gifts as thanks for your guidance and wisdom. May they sate and please.”

Close your eyes and listen, should your spirits choose to share any messages with you.

Let the incense and candle burn out.

Let the water sit until sunrise.

Gender Variance in Wicca

A butterfly that shows both male and female characteristics.

 

Our friends and family who do not identify in whole or in part with the gender identity that society attempts to impress upon them have made great progresses in society and so, naturally, issues of gender variance and gender identity are often topics of public discourse. Trans* visibility has increased with women like Laverne Cox and Jazz Jennings becoming household names and men like Ben Melzer making history as the first trans-man on the cover of Europe’s edition of Men’s Health and Aydian Dowling winning first runner-up in the the US counterpart’s cover contest. But along with the great gains made, so too, have there been terrible sorrows. Violence continues to disproportionately affect trans-men and -women, like the 20 who have been murdered in the United States as of August 10th. Therefore, it’s no surprise that gender identity would also become a focus in both greater Paganism and Traditional Wicca with increasing frequency. It should also be no wonder that I would find myself wanting to deconstruct the flawed and illogical arguments made by a few in Traditional Wicca to advocate for the lack of room for our trans* and gender-variant friends. And by deconstruct, I mean completely destroy three of the most pervasive.

The Tradition has always been about cis-gendered identities!/It’s Tradition!/You are fundamentally changing the tradition! 

This argument reveals that the person expressing this point of view suffers from a fundamental lack of understanding of sex, gender, and identity.

Sex is the word used to describe the physical difference between males and females (but there are also intersex individuals). Sex describes one’s secondary sexual characteristics and in fact that’s what is used to determine sex at birth. Whereas gender is the social identity of “man” or “woman” (or other variances like non-binary, non-conforming, transgender, etc.) that describes one’s social role, behavior, manner of dress, and self-image, among other things. Despite what some misguided folks will claim, gender identities are not universal. Each society has very different ideas and ideals regarding what is masculine and what is feminine, who is a man and how to attain or demonstrate manhood, and who is a woman and how to attain or demonstrate womanhood. Gender identity has no litmus test; it is a social construct and therefore no more inherently natural than money or religious identity.

Therefore, to suggest that one must be born of the male sex to be a man and that one must be born of the female sex to be a woman (that is, everyone must be cisgender) is reflective of your own personal belief in Western society’s imposed binary gender construct. It is not something that is demonstrable in practice as evidenced by the myriad gender constructs and expressions we find throughout the world’s cultures across both time and space. And Wicca, as I was taught, is an orthopraxy. This means that Wiccans are bound together by a shared practice and not a uniform belief. Accepting trans* and gender non-conforming identities has nothing to do with our Tradition and everything to do with your beliefs on what is or who can be a woman or man.

Well then, it’s not about gender, it’s about sex!/Ours is a fertility religion that celebrates the mystery, polarity, union, and procreative power of the male and female sexes and so one should act in the capacity defined by our Tradition according to sex!

I’m nude and stroking my long, hard spear. TOTES SUBTLE, right? Under-stated masc 4 fem.

The tradition I learned does not prescribe behavior according to sex (male and female). There are roles and functions for men and women (gender) but the Tradition does not define who qualifies as a man or woman. Further, by suggesting that the sex of a person is paramount and must determine their role, you are suggesting that there is something inherently necessary about having male sex characteristics to be a man and female sex characteristics to be a woman. You are equating a person to their sexual characteristics, reproductive anatomy, and procreative capacity. Therefore, if the physical characteristics and procreative ability of the sexes are the foundational definition of what it means to be a woman or man in the Craft, then by that logic:

– infertile males and females must either not qualify as men and women, respectively, or must be lacking
– females who have had their uteruses (and males their testicles) removed or damaged must not qualify or must be lacking
– males who have breasts and females who do not must not qualify or must be lacking

Such is the necessary and logically-consistent result of harboring beliefs that sex must determine gender, role, and ability in the Craft. There is no alternative reading that is logically sound. What’s more, a definition of people relying solely on sex cannot account for the sheer complexity of nature. After all, where would intersex individuals fall in such a worldview? If someone shared anatomical organs with both males and females, how would you decide if they were a man or a woman? Why should it even be up to you to decide on that which Nature has created and that which another person lives?

This is not how Gerald B. Gardner or other Craft Elders would have thought or done!

Gays can’t do Witchcraft? LOOK (clap) AT (clap) HOW (clap) FABULOUS (clap) I (clap) AM (clap) AT (clap) IT (clap)! … and I can tell your weave is fake.

Certainly, Gardner and the first generations of Wiccans had their ideas about it and it’s almost guaranteed that they would probably define man and woman using cisgender descriptions. But as evidenced by the fact that several of them would have refused admittance to homosexuals in their day on the grounds that homosexuals were aberrations and unfit or incapable of the practice of Witchcraft, clearly our fore-fathers and -mothers suffered from a lack of knowledge of the reality of sex, gender, sexuality, and the intersections of such realities with identity.

So while it is often wise to refer back to their wisdom on matters concerning the Craft, they are neither infallible nor unquestionable. They, like us, are products of their time. And as products of our time, we have learned much about Nature and Reality since their days and part of those revealed Mysteries includes the dispelling of the beliefs that heteronormative and cisgender identities are the only natural reality and that all else are aberrations, unnatural, and undesirable.

To adopt the anachronistic beliefs of our fore-parents would mean turning our backs on the wisdom and knowledge we have gained in the last six or seven decades. It would be no better–indeed no more wise–than adopting the belief that the Earth is flat because our spiritual forebearers believe it so. And as Witches, many of us are driven to learn more about Nature and Reality (i.e., Existence) and Its Mysteries, not ignore them to imitate the Dead.

If I have missed or not addressed other important arguments against the inclusion of trans* or gender non-conforming individuals or the lack of room for their involvement in the Craft, please share them with me. I welcome further discussion on the topic. Even more importantly, though, I am a cisgender gay man and while I do my best to educate myself on the realities and issues facing my trans* and gender non-conforming peers, I recognize that I may sometimes fail, so if I’ve misspoken or misrepresented something above and you wish correct me, please feel free.

And to learn more about the realities, daily lives, and issues that impact transgender and other gender non-conforming people, check out the following resources:

• GLAAD Transgender Resources
• GLAAD Transgender FAQ
• IAM: Trans People Speak
• The Trevor Project Support Center
• National Center for Transgender Equality

The Philosophical Crutch

The Crutch is pretty pervasive among modern Pagans and it comes in many different variations. Some of these variations masquerade as theology (“This is a lesson from a higher power”) or as eschatology (“You must’ve chosen to experience this before you were born”) but it all boils down to the same thing:

“everything happens for a reason.”

This pseudo-philosophical explanation is often paraded out when Pagans face adversities or tragedies, oftentimes as a sort of coping mechanism for those circumstances. It attempts a philosophical explanation for the events to which we find ourselves subject but it fails miserably. It’s not philosophy–there’s no rationale, no reason, and no critical reflection or introspection. In fact, it is the opposite of philosophy: dogma.

The Philosophical Crutch, circa the advent of Christianity

Let’s be clear, though: everything does happen for a reason. That is, everything has a cause. Everything that happens to us, every circumstance in which we find ourselves, and every event we witness or in which we participate happened because of conditions set in motion by our own actions or the actions (and inactions) of others. Many of these things began moving long before we were born and many more were set before our grandparents were conceived. But having a reason is not the same as having purpose. That’s what people who espouse the dogma of the Crutch actually mean. They are saying that everything that happens to us has a purpose or meaning and that, if true, is quite problematic in at least three different ways.

It was all planned long ago.
If everything that happens must happen for a purpose, then it must necessarily have been planned and caused by an intelligence intervening in one’s life. If an event that occurred has a purpose for the person (or persons) to whom it happens, then it must have been intended for them for that purpose and the conditions and circumstances which led to the event must have been manipulated and set before the event itself occurred. There are, as one can imagine, thousands of circumstances one must manipulate in order to get just the right combination to lead another into a specific event. We many thousands of choices everyday–turn right or left, leave early or on time, take the bus or a cab, etc–and all of these variables must be accounted for if the right circumstance is to occur to lead one to any particular event. Indeed, not only our own actions and circumstances but every other action and circumstance of our universe–the many billions of threads that intersect with our own–must be accounted for and shaped. And if these variables, the very decisions we all make every day, are being manipulated then we have no free will. If everything that happens has a purpose, then our actions must be planned and our lives predestined.

It’s not your fault.
Following from the first problem: if our lives are predestined and our actions predetermined, then we have no agency in our own lives. No amount of reflection or introspection makes a bit of difference on our choices, ultimately, because our actions were predetermined long before we were born. Having no agency, we must not then have any responsibility for our actions. How can one be responsible for deeds one had no choice in making? How can we be held accountable? How can we hold each other accountable for misdeeds and violations? We can’t. It’s not possible. If all is predetermined, we have no free will, we have no agency, then we have neither responsibility nor accountability for our actions. Nothing is our choice and nothing is our fault.

Who designed this one? This shit is fucked.

An unethical and immoral Universe.
If everything that happens to us is not by our own making but by the power and decree of a greater power, then all of human suffering both great and small is by its design and will. This power would necessarily be responsible for personal misdeeds and personal tragedies like the time someone stole your identity and destroyed your credit or the death caused by a drunk driver to great injustices and atrocities like slavery and ethnic cleansing. And all for what purpose? A lesson, a motivation, an experience? There is no lesson to be had in the experience of being murdered. There is no value to being a newborn who dies at birth. If everything happens for a purpose, then we find ourselves in a Universe where those who suffer and die become merely fodder for the lessons and experiences of others.  They have been determined to be acceptable collateral damage by whatever power designed this Universe that purposefully causes everything that happens. And so, we must find moral lacking in the very design of such a Universe and thus with its Creator, which constitutes a whole other set of problems and quandaries.

Watch me fuck this shit up

Therefore, if one does not believe that we are Will-less creatures predestined to act in accordance with some greater power’s plan, if one does believe that we are capable of willful choices and are responsible and accountable for those choices, and if one does not believe that the Universe was created by a morally-questionable and ethically-impaired power, then one must reason that while everything may have a cause, it does not have a purpose. But that isn’t to say we cannot find meaning in the tragic and terrible things that happen to us. We can certainly draw or make meaning out of anything. In fact, it’s one skill for which humans are singularly well-suited. Living in a Universe where events don’t have purpose is quite liberating in that way because it means the tragedy in your life does not have to define you, you have the ability to assign meaning and learn from it, and you have the agency and power to change your circumstances to navigate the future endless possibilities. As someone wiser than me often says: “Shit happens and fucks you up, so fuck shit up right back.”

How Witchcraft Liberates

Don’t need these anymore. kthnxbai.

In discussions of Witchcraft, it’s common to hear or read about how peoples’ lives change for the better through its practice. One can easily find accounts of witches who improved their lot in life: better jobs, more romance, a greater sense of belonging, or protection from enemies. Also common are accounts of witches who find spiritual revelations: a greater connection to Nature, a personal relationship with god(s), or the discovery of one’s own divinity. But the most important power granted by the practice of Witchcraft I’ve discovered is one that is least often given the place of importance it’s due: personal transformation—specifically, the sort of personal transformation that liberates the witch from the deleterious shackles placed upon us by society—through the power of Witchcraft’s inherent subversive nature. And so, I discuss how Witchcraft can liberate through its ability to empower, its rejection of sexual repression, its opposition to body-shaming, and it’s utter antagonism towards the patriarchy.

What’s this? Oh yeah, my power and agency all up in your ship, Rob. All sea, no shade.

Witchcraft certainly, as previously mentioned, does grant us an ability to create change in a real, manifest way through its practice. It can deliver us more options in careers and love, more material wealth and position, and even more control over people that we would otherwise lack without it. The practice of Witchcraft allows us to affect the physical world in very real ways but I found that the real value in that is not the effect itself but that I am empowered. That is, Witchcraft grants me the ability to exert influence and agency in my own life even when mundane, i.e., non-magical, means of doing so prevent it and the value of that is profoundly empowering for one’s psyche. As a young man, Witchcraft enabled me to put an end to an abuser’s power when mundane options proved impotent. While it was immensely satisfying to be able to put a stop to the abuse, it was even more critical to realize that I did and could affect my circumstance and that I was not and would never again be powerless. This first liberation of Witchcraft was the realization of my own power and agency.

Witchcraft also empowers and therefore liberates by requiring that the Witch think for himself by developing a personal ethical system as opposed to simply inheriting a morality from society. Witchcraft has no dogma. It offers neither any moral commandments nor prohibitions. In Witchcraft, developing one’s own set of ethical principles, founded on reason, becomes a necessity. In order to determine how best to use one’s aforementioned power and agency, the Witch must possess an understanding of ethical action. And instead of simply accepting the pervading morality of our culture, which is arguably antiquated and Abrahamic, I had to determine for myself what was ethical and what was unethical; I had to critically evaluate society’s moral judgments on topics such as sex and sexuality, the meaning of and qualification for life, violence, drugs, and personal autonomy. This exploration of fundamental human questions and the requisite formation of a personal philosophy as a means to live a good and meaningful life liberated me from many of the prejudices and assumptions with which I had grown up and helped me become a person whose ethical judgments are based on reasoned reflection. The second liberation of Witchcraft was the rejection of socialized moral systems without reason and the subsequent development of a rational personal philosophy.

The Gay Pride After-Party, circa 450 BCE. Iolas, we’re all happy you can adopt now. But seriously, get a fucking babysitter.

Much of the Western world’s views on sex and sexuality are colored by the Judeo-Christian worldview, which historically has taboos or moral prohibitions against perfectly natural aspects of human sexuality like homosexuality and recreational sex. This prejudicial attitude towards natural expressions of sexuality are so ingrained in our society that it had been heavily legislated against in decades past and continues to be the source of legal battles throughout our culture. But, as already discussed above, Witchcraft has no dogma nor codified morality; it offers no judgment on human sexuality and sexual practice. Instead of establishing taboos or prohibitions, I found that Witchcraft celebrates sex and sexuality—all forms of it—as sacred: “all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals”, says the Goddess of Witches in Valiente’s seminal prose. What’s more the frequent celebration of sexuality, fertility, carnal passion, and life in Witchcraft through ritual, symbolism, and mythology revealed an inherent openness, acceptance, and reverence towards human sexuality that is not present within broader society, least of all the dominant religions of broader society. It was through Witchcraft that I found not only acceptance of my own homosexuality but a celebration of it. Witchcraft is the foundation from which I was able to demand my rights and needs as a non-heterosexual person; and it was Witchcraft that allowed me to fully own my sexuality—my desires, my needs, my expression, and the frequency with which I engaged in sex—without condemnation, judgment, or shame. The third liberation of Witchcraft was escape from sexual repression and oppression.

Robes? To cover up all this deliciousness?

Undoubtedly due to its values regarding sex and sexuality, mainstream society also has a deeply flawed relationship with the human body. Beyond the social taboos society continues to reinforce on public nudity, nudity in art, and nudity in other media, society even legislates against it for entirely natural and necessary reasons such as breastfeeding. We are explicitly told that our bodies should be covered and hidden and then implicitly told that exceptions are made and encouraged for those who fit the ideal physical aesthetic through art, media, and social pressure. But Witchcraft instills no shame of the human body. On the contrary, if anything, Witchcraft celebrates the human body, the vessel without which, celebration of sex, sexuality, fertility, passion, and (human) life would not be possible. So much so that it’s traditional to practice Witchcraft entirely in the nude, contrary to what society would expect of a religion. It’s not uncommon for Witches to stand naked before one another as equals and this, seeing each other laid bare, engenders an acceptance, appreciation, and love for one another and onseself. So, it’s no wonder that it was through Witchcraft that I, previously plagued by a nearly debilitating sense of shame for my own body, came to truly see myself and find comfort in my own skin. And this gift—the gift of freedom from body-shame and total ownership of my body—was the fourth liberation of Witchcraft.

He said, “Well, actually”. Crystal Ball, how many fucks do I give? … Well, actually, NONE.

And so we come to the most important ways that Witchcraft can liberate us from the one of the sickest of our social ills. Our society is founded upon a narrative of powerful men and it perpetuates that narrative like a virus. Our society is, for all intents and purposes, rooted in patriarchy. It sees women as secondary persons, if it sees them as persons at all; it devalues womanhood or portrays it as obscene; and, it teaches men that power is what defines them and separates them from women, among many other things. (Here I must admit that I am in no way the best voice for how Witchcraft can liberate us from patriarchy—to that end, the most profound voices on the topic would be women—but I can speak on how it began to liberate me from this social influence and how it continues to do so.) But Witchcraft, arguably, empowers women more so than any other religion. There exists in Witchcraft a recognition of the Divine Feminine, or a Goddess, as not only a figure worthy of worship but one on equal footing with the Divine Masculine. It requires no explanation to suggest that this isn’t so of the dominant religions of our culture. Women themselves, too, are often leaders in Witchcraft and can more easily be found leading groups and religious organizations than female members of mainstream religions. Womanhood, Women’s Mysteries, and the power of women are recognized as sacred and are not treated with derision, contempt, or made to seem obscene. And so, this natural tendency in Witchcraft to have powerful women as leaders, in turn, teaches men that power is neither integral nor unique to being male. It, too, teaches men that their manhood nor masculinity need neither be threatened nor lost by being a supporter instead of director, and an ally instead of a champion. And that is the fifth liberation of Witchcraft: it unfetters and loosens the grip of the patriarchy on both women and men.

So, that’s how Witchcraft has liberated me. Has it liberated you?

10 Misconceptions about Traditional Wicca(ns)

10. Traditional Wicca and eclectic Wicca are basically the same because all the rites have been published and/or Traditional Wiccan authors published a book about Wicca that has rituals!

“Did you see Beltheseda? She walked into the Sabbat like she was the Pope. Hashtag-awkward.”

It’s certainly true that many a number of Traditional Wiccans have published volumes on Witchcraft and Wicca and I certainly would never suggest that these Elders of our Craft are not experts or pioneers deserving of the name. However, there are at least two problems with this argument.

In the first, one must remember that Traditional Wicca is a living tradition and an experiential praxis. It cannot be replicated with rubrics and texts. It would be not unlike suggesting that one could know what it is like to experience one’s first orgasm simply by reading about others’ experiences, impressions, and analyses of the experience. It simply cannot do it any sort of justice, let alone approach any meaningful understanding. What’s more, the experience of the cult can vary greatly from coven to coven in many regards and any attempt to reduce and replicate those varied experiences into a book would be doomed to failure.

Secondly, Traditional Wicca has neither a centralized authority nor a single spokesperson who can encapsulate all that Traditional Wicca is and package it for the masses. There is not nor has there ever been a Wiccan Pope who could “authorize” a version of Wicca fit for public consumption.

9. Traditional Wiccans think everyone should do what they do!

Absolutely not! There’s a common belief amongst Traditional Wiccans that those who are meant to be among us will find their way and those who were not meant to be will either never find the path or will not last very long. Many Traditional Wiccans recognize and appreciate that this particular path is not for everyone and, conversely, not everyone is a fit for this particular path! Traditional Wicca is not messianic; there is no desire amongst Traditional Wiccans to convert the unsaved masses to our cult.

8. Traditional Wiccans want to stop non-traditional/self-taught/bootstrap Wiccans from using the word Wicca!

Granted, in recent years, there has been a lot of discussion and debate about the use of the term “Wicca”. There are certainly people, initiated Traditional Wiccans and not, who believe that the term Wicca only applies to Traditional Wiccans. But likewise, there are Traditional Wiccans who believe that the term can apply to any number of related Witchcraft traditions. But the idea that those in the former group want to actively prevent people who are not Traditional Wiccans from using the term is hyperbolic. Discussions and debates on the matter tend to incite passions and spirited arguments but I have yet to witness any concerted effort or campaigns to stop others from using the term.

7. Traditional Wiccans don’t recognize the validity of other traditions or persons calling themselves Wiccan.

You will find that many of the aforementioned discussions and debates on the proper use and matter of who is entitled to use the term Wicca is based on semantics. It is a matter of terminology, not validity. No one can determine the validity of another’s spiritual practice and Traditional Wiccans are not in the business of arbitrating on the matter any more than Druids or Unitarian Universalists. Questioning the authenticity of someone’s choice in label is not the same as questioning the validity of someone’s spiritual path; the label is not the thing.

6. You can be a Traditional Wiccan and not a Witch.

Quite frankly, no. While great pains are made in modern Pagan circles and communities to make it clear that not all Witches are Wiccan, the inverse is not true. Traditional Wicca was the first Witch cult of the modern era and before Traditional Wiccans no one identified as a Witch. To practice the rites of the Wicca is to practice Witchcraft; a Traditional Wiccan who is not a Witch is an oxymoron. But, a more detailed and far more humorous analysis of this can be found at our favorite Gardnerians blog. 

5. Being a part of Traditional Wicca means that every ritual is exactly the same; there’s no room for innovation, experimentation, or novelty.

Nonsense. While you may have seen it said many times by Traditional Wiccans of all stripes that we share a common praxis as an orthopraxy, that does not mean that every ritual is exactly the same in every respect nor does it mean that Traditional Wiccans do not innovate, experiment, or try new things. In fact, the coven setting is the perfect place to do all of those wonderfully enriching things!

4. You can’t be LGBT+ and a Traditional Wiccan.

Again, more nonsense. In all fairness, many of our early leaders did make statements to such effect and claimed that the “Curse of the Goddess” would be laid upon them. But as clearly stated above, there ain’t no Pope in Wicca and what any Elder, even the Father of the Movement, said in the past is neither binding nor a timeless truth. In reality, I have yet to meet a living Traditional Wiccan who shares this sentiment and find myself in a community not only accepting and welcoming of LGBT+ persons but one populated by many, many proud LGBT+ persons! And for that, I am thankful.

3. Traditional Wicca forbids harm to anyone or anything.

This has been addressed many times in various different outlets but I repeat it here because it is one of the biggest and most common misconceptions. Traditional Wicca is largely regarded as an orthopraxy that offers little in the way of hard rules and proscriptions. Perhaps my favorite piece to address this misconception is by Deborah Lipp here. 

2. There are no more secrets.

Untrue, though there is no good way to write exposition for why this is untrue, so I must—if you’ll forgive me—rely on anecdote. Prior to initiation, I was very well read on all things Wicca, both eclectic and Traditional and I steeled myself against the possibility that I would be very disappointed with what I would learn upon and after initiation. Suffice it to say that despite how voraciously I read (and I’ve read just about all of it), I was amazed at how much I did not know and well-kept the Mysteries are!

1. Traditional Wicca requires sexual initiation.

Traditional Wicca requires a lot of things of its adherents. It challenges us, it makes us uncomfortable at times, especially at first, it forces us to deal with things we would rather ignore, and it makes demands on us. But you should never be asked to have sex with someone as a requirement to join a coven or for initiation. If someone tells you that you must have sex with them, run away–run far away–and alert as many friends and Elders as possible.

Unbroken Traditions, Or, How the Death of Traditional Wicca Is A Myth

The kids these days just don’t want to learn!

A popular blogger, Sarah Anne Lawless, re-posted a version of her article “Breaking Tradition…” she initially wrote two years ago with additional comments. It’s an interesting read and she is undoubtedly a talented writer, so I invite you to read her post before reading mine. However, with all due respect to Sarah Anne Lawless, while it provides an interesting insight into the perspective of another Witch (and thereby to some parts of the Witch/Pagan community as well) her post demonstrates some problematic and inaccurate perceptions of traditional paths and those who follow them. In fact, I found her post expressed a very myopic view of the matter and suffered greatly from an issue with numbers.

The Many “Many”
The first problem with her post is her frequent use of the word “many” when describing the needs, wants, and experiences of “the younger generation” of which she focuses much of her post. I, as a member of this younger generation she discusses, take issue with how she speaks to our experience as if hers defines it, even if she tries to couch it with broad adjectives like “many”, no matter how many good friends and Elders she’s spoken about this with in-depth. I found her use of the term to be intentionally nonspecific while simultaneously and obviously implying a real and appreciable quantity of the Witches of my generation agreed with her opinion when, in fact, a more accurate quantification (without actual statistical data) would be more appropriately phrased as “many of the Witches SHE knows/has spoken to.” This is the sort of generalization that gets circled in red-ink on a college paper with the notes “HOW MANY? WHO? SOURCE?”

Now while this might, at first glance, seem like minutiae, when part of her premise is founded upon the idea that traditional spiritual paths have become unappealing to an entire generation en masse, it becomes a rather important detail. Without actual research (something she bemoans later on in her paragraph about “fakelore”), we only have anecdotes and can only speak to our own experiences and those with whom we’ve shared discourse, which is what I do herein; not an entire generation or even a trend.

Results Not Typical
Case in point, my experience and “many” of those of my peers (with whom I’ve discussed this topic) has been the exact opposite of what she describes: we have found this “evolution” of witchcraft to be lacking and unfulfilling and have instead sought out these so-called “outdated” traditional paths. In stark contrast to hers, it has been my experience that a lot of young people are coming to traditional paths having found insurmountable limitations to what is freely available and published on witchcraft. And as a member of one of these traditions, I would characterize the current growth of these traditions as driven by the renewed interests of my generation. As a matter of fact, every serious seeker and almost every new addition to our numbers that I am personally aware of (and there are quite a few each year) has been a member of my generation–this “younger generation” Sarah claims is “not interested.”

I invoke your citations!

YMMV But Are We Even on the Same Road?
The most problematic parts of her post, though, are her completely alien (and inaccurate) descriptions of these traditions. I do not know Sarah’s background beyond what she has published here, which does not indicate any sort of initiation into a traditional Wiccan coven, but the way she writes of these traditions leads me to the conclusion that she isn’t personally familiar with their practices.

There is nothing to prevent one from being a participant in a traditional path and also experiencing “personal gnosis, mysticism, direct ecstatic experience, and spirit initiation.” She frames these things as if they are mutually exclusive; they are absolutely not.

She talks about “ecstatic ritual … full of nudity, body paint, drumming, trance, possession, and ecstatic dance” as if this doesn’t or couldn’t happen in traditional groups; it does. Hell, in my experience it happens to a greater degree of frequency and intensity than it does in a “non-traditional” group, or, to borrow her phrase “informal group”.

She refers to an elder of a “well-known and well-lineaged witchcraft tradition” who only taught and practiced “… controlled external rituals, not wanting anything to do with internal process or personal gnosis.” I do not know this elder or what tradition (s)he practices but it sounds unlike any traditional Wiccan praxis I’ve ever experienced or heard of. Nor does a praxis that requires “the same ritual format for every type of ceremony performed in the group…. the same ritual at every esbat and sabbat rite, every spell-working for the coven, and every handfasting and baby blessing…” or one that only ever does a circle-casting.

The only thing Sarah seems to hit on the nailhead is that traditional covens require that its members devote the time needed to do the Work. But while she clearly sees this as a drawback, I would frame it as a boon. The Work is serious, it’s deep, it’s life-altering (sometimes shattering, by reports), and it requires its pound of flesh. Not everyone is in a place in their lives to make such a deep and intense commitment and our traditions not only survive but thrive because only those who can actually do.

A beloved Elder keeping up with the latest research.

All about That Fakelore
It only makes me wonder more how familiar Sarah is with the inner-workings of traditional covens that this should even come up as a point of contention. Certainly, there are many people in these younger generations “who know that the burning times, ancient Wiccans, ancient matriarchal goddess-worshipping cultures, and the maiden-mother-crone are modern myths….” but there are just as many, if not more, I’d dare to say, in the older generations. (For evidence, go jump into any pagan or witch forum on the internet and talk about “NVR AGAIN TEH BURNING TYMES” and see the composition of the age make-up.) And what’s more, this “fakelore” that concerns her so much is not really native, let alone integral, to the practice of traditional Wicca.

And, as an aside, I’m not sure what Elders Sarah is using as reference for her comments but they are surely unlike any of the Elders I know. None of the Elders I know “simply stopped reading and researching new material after a certain point along their spiritual paths.” Paired with her earlier comment that many of the Elders she knows are “horrified” at the goings-on at a pagan festival make me ask what these particular Elders she’s familiar with have been doing all these years while the Elders I know not only continue to research, learn, and innovate but can recount lascivious stories of a bygone era that would make even the most sex-positive, leather-clad, freak-flag-waving queen blush.

All in All
The only thing Sarah and I seem to agree upon is that many in my generation have sought or are seeking “a spiritual path that would challenge them on a psychological as well as spiritual level, heal them, and help them face their fears and demons.” But despite her arguments to the contrary, “many” of us have found that in traditional paths.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Initiation

I’ve read a number of great posts for Pagan Blog Project on this topic. Kylara at Kylara’s Musings provides her thoughts on initiation as a marker of accomplishment or progress and Lee, the Chaos Witch, discusses The 5 Steps of Initiation. But, I want to approach the topic from a bit of a different perspective.

Allow me to start off a bit contentiously: I do not believe in ‘self-initiation’; I think it is a contradiction in terms. There are, yes, two meanings of the verb word “initiate”. The first, relating to sundry matters, simply means “to cause to begin” and this is the definition used by many to justify the cacophonous pairing of the word with the prefix “self-“. The second, which is specific to group dynamics and of particular relevance to spiritual traditions, refers to a process by which one is brought into a group by another. With respect to spiritual traditions, I exclusively use the latter. There are a number of reasons for this and perhaps I’ll discuss the issue in more detail in a subsequent post (maybe “O” for “oxymoron”), but, in brief, one cannot induct oneself into an exclusive group. One can certainly “cause to begin” a new, solitary spiritual journey but the use of the word “initiate” in this context seems to intentionally attempt to obfuscate and equate this use with the one that applied to group dynamics. Else, other more appropriately colloquial terms would be used to describe something that’s really rather common, i.e., the start of a new endeavor. For example, we don’t say “I have self-initiated myself into nursing studies.” No, we say, “I started to study nursing.” But, like I said, a topic for another week.

We often read great insights about the process of initiation, the types of initiation (e.g., spiritual, fraternal, vocational, etc), and the practical purposes or meanings of initiation (e.g., the ritualistic commemoration of a new phase). But we don’t read too much about the spiritual purposes or significance of it, of which there are a number and which I believe to be the primary motivations in many initiatory traditions before all other considerations like commemoration or recognition of progress and standing. So what are these primary spiritual purposes of initiation?

To Bond. Initiation connects and bonds (and binds) the initiate to their peers, their community, and their spirits and gods. The ritual act of initiation not only inducts the neophyte into the group as discussed above but forges and solidifies a very real spiritual bond between him-/her-self and his/her peers, community, and spirits/gods.

To Change. The initiation not only binds the newly-made initiate with the other parties but it then therefore must also change him/her. Oftentimes, the change is not only spiritual but mental, emotional, and even physical (as in a change in the physical universe [e.g., job change, marriage, divorce, etc.] not like growing a literal third eye)!

To Reveal. In many initiatory traditions, the non-initiate is kept at an appropriate distance. It might be to protect the mystery of the tradition or to protect the non-initiate, him-/her-self. Secrets are passed and knowledge is given, both of which are a form of power in their own right, which brings me to my final purpose of initiation.

To Empower. In addition to being bound together, the initiate is also empowered by the tradition, peers, and spirits/gods. Whether one is empowered as a priest(ess), a non-clerical initiate, a witch, etc., the ritual will have granted the new member powers or abilities not previously retained.

To bond, change, reveal, and empower: these are, in my opinion, the primary and most important purposes or functions of initiation and ones that I also personally find to be the most meaningful.

An Outfest Story: The Queerest Thing on the Streets

I have weird dreams. They’re not often poetic or make much sense but I find myself compelled to write them down. Disclaimer: I’m also not much of a writer.

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It swelled and thinned, wound along narrow corridors and truck-wide streets.

Walking amongst the vibrant-colored hair, wild outfits, and the outlandish behavior of the performers, drag queens, and fetishists, she was completely inconspicuous. After all, she was hardly out-of-place in such company. And yet, everyone could not help but notice her. She was dressed in a gossamer, silver gown made of a soft see-through fabric that hugged her shoulders and followed her curves from breast to hip to ankle. The gown skated the ground as she walked but there was not a single blemish on it to be found—dirt dared not to stick to it. Through the gown, her undergarments could plainly be seen: black lace underwear and top.

The crowd was exceptionally large and, as usually happens, most people were not paying attention to where they were going or into whom they were colliding. But with more grace than would seem humanly possible, she navigated the chaos of the crowd without being hit by a single partier. Walking through the crowd barefoot as if she were walking across lily pads, she had a serene expression that more often than not found itself changing into a warm smile.

It was the smile that was the most amazing thing about her despite her unusual dress. Those in the crowd who happened to catch her eye found themselves instantly filled with warmth and possessed with the irresistible desire to bow their heads in gratitude and respect for some reason even they could not articulate. Those in the chaos of the crowd who noticed her made it their utmost priority to clear a path for her as she walked by. Regardless of the unusualness of these occurrences, every single person who had laid eyes upon her would never think to give their behavior a second thought; they were paying her the proper honor they knew, intimately and instinctually, she deserved. But just beyond this immediate crowd an something unpleasant connected with her.

“’If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable!” The man, balding and gray of an impressive stature, grasped a bullhorn in one hand and a homemade sign in the other that read: REPENT! SINNERS! ACCEPT JESUS! He would occasionally point out to the crowd of those who stood by and watched him with bemused expressions on their faces as he gasped his proclamations. “Turn away from the hell-fire; turn away from the brimstone and eternal damnation, brothers and sisters! Cast off your sin and come to the One True God!”

Luminous and numinous she was for all to see as she slowly made her approach towards the bullhorn-armed man. She had nothing but a warm smile painted delicately upon her features but even still the man braced himself for a close-encounter with which he was obviously uncomfortable. “Ha-have you come to seek Jesus, miss?”

Her smile widened and she took his hand into hers. For a moment, he had an expression of confusion, which quickly turned to terror as she brought his hand to her breast, beneath which her heart beat with a strength he could feel down to his heels. As quickly as it was donned, his terrified expression melted into concentration and then into tear-stained sadness.

“I’m so sorry,” he fell to his knees and grabbed hold of her waist; his tear-soaked face buried within her robe. “I understand… How could I…?” She allowed pallid fingers to reach up and stoke the back of the man’s head sympathetically.

She did not ask him for penance for She did not require him to ask Her for forgiveness. She had no threat of pain or damnation or even of consequence at all to offer him; She had only shared with him another path. And so, She let him cry himself to his own peace until he was ready to begin his new work—Her work.

Gardnerian Wicca

Originally, I had planned to write about the intersection of gender and paganism, particularly from the perspective of my two traditions: Gardnerian Wicca and Kemetic Orthodoxy. But that’s a really heavy and heady discussion and it’s finals week, so instead I figured I would write about Gardnerian Wicca. Recently, I participated in a book club that surveyed Wicca from a traditional perspective using authors who were themselves, traditional Wiccans, and much of the discussion generated focused on the differences between Traditional Wicca and eclectic or neo-Wicca, so I figured I would continue that discussion here.

Gardnerian Wicca is an orthopraxy; not an orthodoxy.

Gardnerian Wiccans are bound together by a shared praxis. Gardnerian Wiccans share the same ritual system that has been handed down through the generations. Gardnerian Wiccans share in a constellation of common rites and practices that are recognizable by all of their initiates.

However, as an orthopraxy (and not an orthodoxy), there is very little that Gardnerian Wiccans all share in belief. No two Gardnerian Witches will believe the same thing and the system, itself, that is, the religion of Wicca, does not prescribe a particular set of beliefs which all members must share. Indeed, Gardnerian Wiccans who worship in the same rites may have entirely different beliefs on what is occurring, why, and how.

Unlike neo-Wicca for which in any book you can find chapters detailing what Wiccans believe about the Gods, the Universe, morality and ethics, magick, or the Afterlife, Gardnerian Wicca is an experiential religion. Gardnerian Wicca does not teach what to believe but how to experience.

Gardnerian Wicca has two traditional deities.

Gardnerian Wiccans work with two specific deities whose names are oath-bound. These Gods have specific attributes, titles, and lore. They are not interchangeable with other Gods and Goddesses; They are, as Gardner describes Them, “tribal gods.”

This is in stark contrast to neo-Wicca wherein one can mix-and-match Gods and Goddesses from various cultures as one might fancy. The pervasive idea throughout neo-Wiccan paradigms is that all Gods are one God and all Goddesses are one Goddess and as such it does not matter which God or Goddess you invoke in any rite.  Also, the common duality of Goddess as Mother and the God as Son and Consort is not Gardnerian.

Gardnerian Wicca does not teach “harm none.”

Those first learning about Wicca, especially from published self-study books (i.e., neo-Wicca), will be very familiar with the concept of the Rede and it is often presented to the reader as a fundamental belief. In fact, it’s not uncommon for it to be written of as law a of the religion to which all Wiccans must or should adhere. However, this is far from the case. While Gardnerian Wicca does feature the Rede, it is not treated as a law.

The Rede (“An it harm none do what ye will”) is an adage, a piece of advice or counsel, which any Witch would be wise to heed. It is not a prohibition that tells the Witch (s)he cannot harm. In fact, the Rede only offers the advice that if an action does not harm, one should go for it. It does not say that you cannot harm. Indeed, the Rede is mute on harmful actions. (But more on that for letter M or R, perhaps!)

Gardnerian Wicca’s “Threefold Law” isn’t about punishment.

The idea of the Threefold Law as a moral belief in which “what energy one puts out into the Universe comes back threefold”, that is, if one puts out bad, then the Universe/the Gods/karma bad will return to individual magnified by three times, is not something commonly found among many Gardnerian Wiccans. In fact, I have yet to meet a single Gardnerian Wiccan who actually believes in this interpretation of the Threefold Law. And, indeed, I, personally find the Threefold Law a bit of ridiculous amorality (read more about how the Threefold Law is not moral here.)

Gardnerian Wiccans don’t celebrate Mabon.

Admittedly, this one is not entirely true. You will find that “Mabon” is not a name that is commonly used for the Autumnal Equinox amongst Gardnerian Wiccans and many, in fact, have a bit of disdain for it. Instead, this holiday is often referred to by its traditional names: Harvest Home or (*drum roll*) the Autumn Equinox.

There are a great number of differences between Gardnerian Wicca and other varieties and the above only represents a small sample of those differences.

Familiars

It seems fitting that this topic would naturally follow after my last (empaths) because nothing makes me roll my eyes more than when neo-pagans start talking about their half-Betazoid empathic powers or rather plain (even if idiosyncratic) pets as “familiars”.

In European witchcraft lore, familiars were a class of spirits that were believed to assist or protect the witch or conjurer. There were a number of ways to obtain a familiar, of course, and they varied by sources. According to some sources, a familiar will present itself before the witch in times of great need or duress or simply in the middle of a humdrum day while other sources indicate a witch is given or inherits the familiar.

However, you will note that what’s not in the lore: the idea that one’s pets become familiars. How many times have we seen it? A newbie who has just started studying the occult and witchcraft with a hopeful question, “I’ve had Miss Kitty Fantastico for years and I’ve just realized that she’s always doing [X], [Y], and [Z]–do you think she could be my familiar?”

What’s more, traditionally, a familiar was a tutelary or mentoring spirit with whom a witch had a working relationship; it wasn’t a pet who did quirky or circumstantially “witchy” things like walk the circle, lick your athame, or watch intently at your feet while you invoke the Gods. The familiar spirit taught the witch

Oddly, though, there is a type of spirit that fits the traditional mold of a familiar spirit but it’s been couched in terms that have been appropriated from other cultures. Many witches and neo-pagans today will speak of a spirit or spirits with whom they work who guide, teach, and help them in many spiritual or occult matters but they are referred to as “animal guides”, “spirit animals”, or even “totems”.

It would seem to me that these spirits are exactly what tradition describes as a familiar spirit, so why do we eschew tradition for appropriative terms born out of colonialist exoticism? Why do we use other people’s terminology of a concept for which we already have a term in the lore?

Now, I, myself, do not work with familiars (and certainly not “animal guides”, “spirit animals”, or “totems”), so I can’t answer my own question; I can only posit it. So, what say you all? If you work with these sort of spirits, do you by chance refer to them as familiars? If not, what do you call them? If you use the latter three terms (or variations thereof), why?