While there are many catch up blog posts that I have waiting in the wings this has been nagging on my mind since the weekend so it wins for first cab off the rank in a while.

I am also sure that this is going to stir up some controversy and annoy some more traditional minded people but I feel it needs to be said.

This weekend past was the Combined Covens Social Club annual camp which is always a fantastic weekend. This year S.C.O.T.I.F (my coven) held four lectures on different subjects and also volunteered to cook the feast after the ritual. We really enjoy getting involved in the community and had a great time doing so. (hats off to the committee members, it had been a while since I had been a kitchen witch and it is very tiring)

The great thing about the Combined Covens group and social events like this is that it aims to bring our community together, to form friendships and share knowledge. We also have an environment of openness where all forms of Paganism are welcomed. Which is so important.

During one of my coven sisters workshops a well known and respected Elder in the community started asking about her practice. Now we are out there folks, anyone who knows us knows that we work together we even have Coven T-Shits (yep we were those witches lol) this year so it is hard to miss. She explained her path and talked about our coven a bit.

Just a side note, we have never said that we are a traditional coven, we are an Modern Eclectic coven. So we are not pretending to be something that we are not.

This Elder then proceeded to say that she could introduce her to a HPS and HP around her area that could ‘initiate her properly’. 


BACK THE TRUCK UP, WTF?

It is not a secret that this Elder is hard core traditional and I respect that and her but that for me was out of line.

A. She has been initiated properly, I have known and worked with this talented, connected, beautiful woman for years and there is not a single cell in me that doesn’t know that she is a Priestess in her own right.

B. It is very rude to say this belittling her own practice, path, linage and dedication not to mention her Coven sisters and me as the HPS.

C. NO ONE has the right to tell you that you are not a Real Witch/Wiccan/Pagan because you have not been initiated by someone THEY deem worthy in a ritual that they deem worthy.

D. NO ONE has the right to tell you that the spiritual path that you follow is less than or incorrect because it is not what they approve.

A statement like this is bordering on Christian (being in the way that only one path is correct and only a few can ordain you or give you connection to your power/god) control.

Aren’t we supposed to be in a community that recognizes diversity and the divine in its many incarnations?

Shouldn’t you get to know the practices of the coven that you are essentially calling a bunch of try hards and its members before you say something as narrow minded as this?

Now I know that this little rant is not going to change this persons mind, heck they will probably never read it. I have known this elder for over 7 years now and I know that they would probably deem a small percentage of the people in the community a ‘real witch’. Each to their own. But it is a dam shame that so much of what this person can do for the preservation of our history is going to be lost because they don’t want to acknowledge and share with others. I wish that more community members who are all hiding away would come out of the wood work and share with the new generation. What you all know is dying out.

Wicca needs to evolve or die. There is not a lot in the hard core traditional Gardenarian craft that is going to have any context to a younger generation and to those who are new to the Craft. Times have changed, technologies have changed and so have we. Which is fantastic. We now have science and quantum physics to enhance our magic, we now have multimedia to help share our knowledge with others. We have different forms of magick and traditions being born and that is all about the growth of Paganism in the world.

I don’t care who initiated you. I don’t care if it was an four hour long ritual where you were declared naked under a full moon or if it was you alone with your deity making a spiritual vow. What Goddess and God you resonate to. If you follow a Northern Hemispheric practice or a Southern Hemispheric practice. If you call yourself Pagan, Wiccan, Witch, Druid, Viking or Faery. Your path and connection to the divine is between you and the divine alone. It is all of our rights and as long we we are harming none we are all right.