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Crafting a Tradition
By Devia WildOak, HPS Coven of the Tangled Pines
A few years ago, I heard a High Priestess of another coven say that people who lead covens are usually called to do so by the gods, and if you hear that call, you can't ignore it. I have also heard a High Priest of a different group in my local community say that he can't understand why new people come onto the scene and start new groups, when there are already perfectly good covens in the area that these people could become a part of. On the surface, these two opinions could seem to be completely contradictory, but in truth...I agree with both of them for different reasons.
I am one of those people who has heard the call of the gods to lead a group, and I can say that it feels like just that…a call that you can’t ignore. Though I had been involved in several different groups earlier in my path, and had even unintentionally become the default leader of one or two of them, it wasn’t until about five or so years ago that I really heard that call. Even then, it wasn’t really a decision. It was more like I woke up one morning and suddenly knew that I had to start and lead my own coven. Honestly, at first I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it. I questioned everything. Who am I to do this? Do I have enough experience? Enough knowledge? Do I have the skills to organize and lead a group? But with every question I came up with, it seemed as if the gods were there to whisper in my ear, telling me not to worry and to just take the plunge. So I set out to do my research, decide exactly what type of coven I wanted to create, and find people who were looking for the same thing I was looking for.
The first coven that I started from the ground up was a great one, but it really turned out to be just as much a learning experience for me as anything else. I learned by doing how to handle some of the situations that I never could have anticipated before I was I the thick of it. I also learned that the role of High Priestess is not nearly as glamorous as many people seem to think it is. If you have a close and healthy relationship with your coveners, if they ever were mystified by you and in awe of your power, they won’t be for long! If you have the feeling that you get to do everything the way you want, call all of the shots, and count on the members of your group to bow down to you and feed your ego…your group probably won’t last very long! What you do get to do is all of the planning, administrative and logistical work that most other people have no interest in. You get to listen to the concerns and interests of all of the members of your group and do your best to balance them all against each other. You get to be the one to break the bad news to those members of your group who aren’t working out, and to those individuals who aren’t going to be accepted for membership. And you get to suffer the pain of losing members, and the aftermath of the close friendships that come to an end because of that. Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? Really, who would want to do all of that without the gods constantly whispering into their ear and giving them no choice not to?
Of course, I’m making a joke here. It’s a volunteer position, and I wouldn’t be in it if I didn’t want to be. The truth is, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Leading a coven is one of the most important aspects of my life, and when you find the right group of people (as I feel that I now have), it is one of the most rewarding things you can do. I’m incredibly proud to look at my coven and see how much this little thing that I set into motion a couple of years back has grown. I’m thrilled that the members of my group would choose to share their path with me, and the rush that I get when we accomplish something amazing together is better than any other drug. It is completely exciting and humbling to have the opportunity to teach others who are new to the Craft, and to be able to offer them some of their first experiences in it. To see the look on their face when they have one of their first deeply moving and intense spiritual experiences and they suddenly “get it” is one of the things that I live for. As much as it’s easy to joke about some of the less glamorous aspects of the life of a coven leader, I really feel honored to be one of the people the gods have sent that call to.
For me though, when things have fallen perfectly into place, it doesn’t take long before I’m ready to take things to the next level. It’s not about being dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, but rather a desire to foster an environment that is even more rewarding for everyone involved and in no danger of stagnating. I want to always push myself beyond my own limitations in my Craft, and I feel that it is part of my job to do the same for my coven members. I believe it’s because of this that I’ve begun to hear a second call in the past year. Not just a call to create and lead a thriving coven, which I’ve already successfully done. This is a call to take things a step further, and create and lead a thriving Witchcraft Tradition. Which leads me back to the statement of the High Priest who I said I agreed with before. In my opinion, the only reason to start a new tradition is if you believe you have something to offer that isn’t already easily available. And it just so happens that I believe I do.
I don’t feel that I can single-handedly take credit for the way that my coven has developed. I do still maintain a significant amount of authority. I still do a lot of the organizational work and take on a lot of the responsibility. But I feel that the path and patterns that have emerged and transformed into our specific style of Witchcraft couldn’t have come about without the influence of each of the members that are currently a part of the group. I believe that what has developed is powerful and unique, and unlike any other tradition that has been developed to this point. I also believe that organizing it, elaborating upon it, and constructing it into a proper tradition would not only be rewarding to us as a group, but would also create something of value that we could share with others who are searching for a type of Witchcraft that falls in line with our own.
Of course, forming a tradition isn’t an easy task. Traditions are often considered valuable to people because it gives them a sense of history. They feel like they are a part of something that people who have come before them have also taken part in, which creates the feeling of being part of a larger community. To create a new tradition would be less about adhering to a tried and true format that has been set forth by someone who has come before, and more about looking to the future in the hopes that those who come after us will see value in what we’ve done and want to take part in it. Therefore, even if only a very few people ever become a part of your tradition, for the benefit of those few it is important to make sure that it is clear, well-organized, and offers the practitioner something that is worth the effort it will take them to become a part of it. In other words, it is important to recognize the elements that make up a tradition, and determine how you will address each of these elements in a way that will make your tradition unique enough to make it worth pursuing.
For a lot of people, tradition is about lineage. British Traditional Wiccans, such as Gardnerians and Alexandrians, are very proud of the fact that each of their members can trace their lineage all the way back to the founder of Wicca, Gerald Gardner. In fact, asking one another to reveal their lineage is on of the ways that they ascertain whether or not another individual is truly a member of their tradition. In doing research about forming a tradition, many people refer to the task as on and the same as forming a new lineage. If your tradition is initiatory, this is certainly part of what you are doing, whether you mean to or not. However, I feel that there is so much more to a tradition that this. To me, the people who make up a tradition are people who are coming together under a shared set of beliefs and ideals about what Witchcraft means to them.
One important element to consider is whether or not your tradition will actually be Wiccan. A fact that many American Pagans are unaware of is that Wicca is only one (and definitely the most well-known) type of Witchcraft. Particularly in Europe, many people were already practicing various forms of Witchcraft in a more solitary and secretive form well before Gardner introduced Wicca to the masses in the mid 1950s. While many of these individuals were happy to stay quiet about their path in the past, which they refer to as Traditional Witchcraft, groups of them are now emerging in an effort to educate the larger Pagan community, and inform them that there is in fact a difference. The task isn’t an easy one when you consider the huge volume of books on the market that all have to do with Wicca, and that give the impression that it is the only form of currently practiced Witchcraft out there. It is easy for a beginner to get the impression that being Wiccan is the only real way to be a Witch. Especially in the States, most newcomers are introduced to Pagan spirituality via Wicca, and would have no reason to assume that there are other options out there. But when you learn your history, and you begin to realize that due to your own preferences you have begun to systematically eliminate most of the things that make Wicca specifically Wiccan, following a path of non-Wiccan Witchcraft begins to make sense. This is one of the things that I feel is severely lacking from the available choices of traditions. There are a wide variety of Wiccan traditions to choose from, but very few that openly, intentionally, and proudly follow a non-Wiccan path. This is one of the unique things that I feel a tradition crafted by my coven would have to offer.
Another important aspect of creating a tradition would be determining your stance on theology. Many traditions adhere to a specific pantheon, or even choose one Goddess and one God from that pantheon to honor. For instance, a coven that incorporates a lot of Celtic influence might choose to solely honor Brighid and Lugh as the Goddess and God. Other traditions might choose to focus only on either the male or female aspect of the divine, such as the Dianic tradition, which honors only the Goddess. In my case, I envision a tradition where divinity is approached by paying equal homage to the male and female aspects of the divine, and honoring most of the traditional symbolism attached to those two faces of the divine, while remaining open to exactly how each of its members personifies deity. Each member could choose to work with any pantheon that speaks to them, and to decide whether or not they dedicate themselves to specific deities within that pantheon. It could even be taken a step further, and be up to them whether they saw the divine as one male and one female, many Gods and many Goddesses, or one entity that has both masculine and feminine attributes.
Of course, determining the structure of your tradition and of the covens within it is another topic to consider, and this is often one of the primary focuses in many Wiccan traditions. Will your tradition be hierarchical, or more egalitarian? If you follow a degree system, what will your specific criteria be for advancement to each degree, and what will advancement to that level entitle you to? How will you handle the teaching of your tradition to newcomers? Will you require initiations by an existing member, will you allow self-initiations, or will you skip initiations all together? How will new covens form? What will the traditional dress of your tradition be? Which days will you meet on and which holidays will you honor? It is important to address each of these little details at the onset, and the way your tradition handles each of them will help give it its own unique identity that is separate from other existing traditions.
Secrecy is another issue for many traditions. Most traditions are oathbound to some degree, and it should be decided whether or not your tradition will be one of them. Of course, there are many different degrees of secrecy, and you must determine which aspects of your tradition’s practices will be oathbound, and which ones will not. If you hope to attract newcomers to your tradition, you must strike a balance between giving them enough information to help them decide whether your tradition is the right one for them, and protecting the spells, rituals, etc. that you have put effort into creating from those who have not yet proven themselves worthy.
The moral and magical code of ethics that your tradition adheres to is another important subject. Codes like the Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law are rarely recognized outside of Wicca itself. Even the law of Karma would not have been present as a part of ancient European Paganism. If you see value in these codes of ethics, there is no reason why you cannot include them as part of your own tradition. However, there is also no reason why you can’t construct your own moral code that more closely suits the beliefs and practices of your particular tradition.
Last but not least, the month-to-month practices that you will encourage your members to adhere to, and the overarching theme that unifies the members are paramount in creating a tradition that stands apart from the rest. Some traditions enact the exact same full moon rite every month, and this specific ritual is passed on to all members and all covens within that tradition. On the other hand, some traditions prefer to have more fluidity in the practices at a typical esbat or sabbat, and have only a few traditional rituals that remain consistent from occasion to occasion and coven to coven. Most traditions also have some theme behind them that initially attracts members to them. British Traditional Wicca incorporates many practices of secret societies, and function in much the same way as these groups, which is very attractive to some individuals. Others may be drawn to the Dianic focus on the Goddess, women’s spirituality, and feminism. There are traditions that have been constructed just for homosexuals, or that focus on partnering standard Wicca with Native American spiritual practices. Will your tradition be Bardic, focusing on music, arts, and poetry? Will you have an environmentalist, political, or charitable slant? Whatever your decision, the set of interests and ideals that your tradition has been formed under will be the main cornerstone of its personality.
On the whole, crafting a tradition is not very different from forming a new coven. It is simply done on a grander scale. Maybe the planning is a bit more intentional, and the details are more closely scrutinized. But in the end, you still have an organized set of beliefs and practices that can serve to unify a group of people with the same interests. Only in this case, rather than just being shared from member to member, you have something that can be shared from coven to coven. And rather than attracting people who are simply looking for any kind of a group to be a part of, you will start attracting people who are looking for your kind of a group to be a part of. In essence, creating your own Witchcraft tradition means creating your own Witchcraft community…one that brings together people of like minds into a family that may just become big enough and strong enough to go on without you!
Crafting a Tradition
By Devia WildOak, HPS Coven of the Tangled Pines
A few years ago, I heard a High Priestess of another coven say that people who lead covens are usually called to do so by the gods, and if you hear that call, you can't ignore it. I have also heard a High Priest of a different group in my local community say that he can't understand why new people come onto the scene and start new groups, when there are already perfectly good covens in the area that these people could become a part of. On the surface, these two opinions could seem to be completely contradictory, but in truth...I agree with both of them for different reasons.
I am one of those people who has heard the call of the gods to lead a group, and I can say that it feels like just that…a call that you can’t ignore. Though I had been involved in several different groups earlier in my path, and had even unintentionally become the default leader of one or two of them, it wasn’t until about five or so years ago that I really heard that call. Even then, it wasn’t really a decision. It was more like I woke up one morning and suddenly knew that I had to start and lead my own coven. Honestly, at first I wasn’t even sure how I felt about it. I questioned everything. Who am I to do this? Do I have enough experience? Enough knowledge? Do I have the skills to organize and lead a group? But with every question I came up with, it seemed as if the gods were there to whisper in my ear, telling me not to worry and to just take the plunge. So I set out to do my research, decide exactly what type of coven I wanted to create, and find people who were looking for the same thing I was looking for.
The first coven that I started from the ground up was a great one, but it really turned out to be just as much a learning experience for me as anything else. I learned by doing how to handle some of the situations that I never could have anticipated before I was I the thick of it. I also learned that the role of High Priestess is not nearly as glamorous as many people seem to think it is. If you have a close and healthy relationship with your coveners, if they ever were mystified by you and in awe of your power, they won’t be for long! If you have the feeling that you get to do everything the way you want, call all of the shots, and count on the members of your group to bow down to you and feed your ego…your group probably won’t last very long! What you do get to do is all of the planning, administrative and logistical work that most other people have no interest in. You get to listen to the concerns and interests of all of the members of your group and do your best to balance them all against each other. You get to be the one to break the bad news to those members of your group who aren’t working out, and to those individuals who aren’t going to be accepted for membership. And you get to suffer the pain of losing members, and the aftermath of the close friendships that come to an end because of that. Sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? Really, who would want to do all of that without the gods constantly whispering into their ear and giving them no choice not to?
Of course, I’m making a joke here. It’s a volunteer position, and I wouldn’t be in it if I didn’t want to be. The truth is, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Leading a coven is one of the most important aspects of my life, and when you find the right group of people (as I feel that I now have), it is one of the most rewarding things you can do. I’m incredibly proud to look at my coven and see how much this little thing that I set into motion a couple of years back has grown. I’m thrilled that the members of my group would choose to share their path with me, and the rush that I get when we accomplish something amazing together is better than any other drug. It is completely exciting and humbling to have the opportunity to teach others who are new to the Craft, and to be able to offer them some of their first experiences in it. To see the look on their face when they have one of their first deeply moving and intense spiritual experiences and they suddenly “get it” is one of the things that I live for. As much as it’s easy to joke about some of the less glamorous aspects of the life of a coven leader, I really feel honored to be one of the people the gods have sent that call to.
For me though, when things have fallen perfectly into place, it doesn’t take long before I’m ready to take things to the next level. It’s not about being dissatisfied with the current state of affairs, but rather a desire to foster an environment that is even more rewarding for everyone involved and in no danger of stagnating. I want to always push myself beyond my own limitations in my Craft, and I feel that it is part of my job to do the same for my coven members. I believe it’s because of this that I’ve begun to hear a second call in the past year. Not just a call to create and lead a thriving coven, which I’ve already successfully done. This is a call to take things a step further, and create and lead a thriving Witchcraft Tradition. Which leads me back to the statement of the High Priest who I said I agreed with before. In my opinion, the only reason to start a new tradition is if you believe you have something to offer that isn’t already easily available. And it just so happens that I believe I do.
I don’t feel that I can single-handedly take credit for the way that my coven has developed. I do still maintain a significant amount of authority. I still do a lot of the organizational work and take on a lot of the responsibility. But I feel that the path and patterns that have emerged and transformed into our specific style of Witchcraft couldn’t have come about without the influence of each of the members that are currently a part of the group. I believe that what has developed is powerful and unique, and unlike any other tradition that has been developed to this point. I also believe that organizing it, elaborating upon it, and constructing it into a proper tradition would not only be rewarding to us as a group, but would also create something of value that we could share with others who are searching for a type of Witchcraft that falls in line with our own.
Of course, forming a tradition isn’t an easy task. Traditions are often considered valuable to people because it gives them a sense of history. They feel like they are a part of something that people who have come before them have also taken part in, which creates the feeling of being part of a larger community. To create a new tradition would be less about adhering to a tried and true format that has been set forth by someone who has come before, and more about looking to the future in the hopes that those who come after us will see value in what we’ve done and want to take part in it. Therefore, even if only a very few people ever become a part of your tradition, for the benefit of those few it is important to make sure that it is clear, well-organized, and offers the practitioner something that is worth the effort it will take them to become a part of it. In other words, it is important to recognize the elements that make up a tradition, and determine how you will address each of these elements in a way that will make your tradition unique enough to make it worth pursuing.
For a lot of people, tradition is about lineage. British Traditional Wiccans, such as Gardnerians and Alexandrians, are very proud of the fact that each of their members can trace their lineage all the way back to the founder of Wicca, Gerald Gardner. In fact, asking one another to reveal their lineage is on of the ways that they ascertain whether or not another individual is truly a member of their tradition. In doing research about forming a tradition, many people refer to the task as on and the same as forming a new lineage. If your tradition is initiatory, this is certainly part of what you are doing, whether you mean to or not. However, I feel that there is so much more to a tradition that this. To me, the people who make up a tradition are people who are coming together under a shared set of beliefs and ideals about what Witchcraft means to them.
One important element to consider is whether or not your tradition will actually be Wiccan. A fact that many American Pagans are unaware of is that Wicca is only one (and definitely the most well-known) type of Witchcraft. Particularly in Europe, many people were already practicing various forms of Witchcraft in a more solitary and secretive form well before Gardner introduced Wicca to the masses in the mid 1950s. While many of these individuals were happy to stay quiet about their path in the past, which they refer to as Traditional Witchcraft, groups of them are now emerging in an effort to educate the larger Pagan community, and inform them that there is in fact a difference. The task isn’t an easy one when you consider the huge volume of books on the market that all have to do with Wicca, and that give the impression that it is the only form of currently practiced Witchcraft out there. It is easy for a beginner to get the impression that being Wiccan is the only real way to be a Witch. Especially in the States, most newcomers are introduced to Pagan spirituality via Wicca, and would have no reason to assume that there are other options out there. But when you learn your history, and you begin to realize that due to your own preferences you have begun to systematically eliminate most of the things that make Wicca specifically Wiccan, following a path of non-Wiccan Witchcraft begins to make sense. This is one of the things that I feel is severely lacking from the available choices of traditions. There are a wide variety of Wiccan traditions to choose from, but very few that openly, intentionally, and proudly follow a non-Wiccan path. This is one of the unique things that I feel a tradition crafted by my coven would have to offer.
Another important aspect of creating a tradition would be determining your stance on theology. Many traditions adhere to a specific pantheon, or even choose one Goddess and one God from that pantheon to honor. For instance, a coven that incorporates a lot of Celtic influence might choose to solely honor Brighid and Lugh as the Goddess and God. Other traditions might choose to focus only on either the male or female aspect of the divine, such as the Dianic tradition, which honors only the Goddess. In my case, I envision a tradition where divinity is approached by paying equal homage to the male and female aspects of the divine, and honoring most of the traditional symbolism attached to those two faces of the divine, while remaining open to exactly how each of its members personifies deity. Each member could choose to work with any pantheon that speaks to them, and to decide whether or not they dedicate themselves to specific deities within that pantheon. It could even be taken a step further, and be up to them whether they saw the divine as one male and one female, many Gods and many Goddesses, or one entity that has both masculine and feminine attributes.
Of course, determining the structure of your tradition and of the covens within it is another topic to consider, and this is often one of the primary focuses in many Wiccan traditions. Will your tradition be hierarchical, or more egalitarian? If you follow a degree system, what will your specific criteria be for advancement to each degree, and what will advancement to that level entitle you to? How will you handle the teaching of your tradition to newcomers? Will you require initiations by an existing member, will you allow self-initiations, or will you skip initiations all together? How will new covens form? What will the traditional dress of your tradition be? Which days will you meet on and which holidays will you honor? It is important to address each of these little details at the onset, and the way your tradition handles each of them will help give it its own unique identity that is separate from other existing traditions.
Secrecy is another issue for many traditions. Most traditions are oathbound to some degree, and it should be decided whether or not your tradition will be one of them. Of course, there are many different degrees of secrecy, and you must determine which aspects of your tradition’s practices will be oathbound, and which ones will not. If you hope to attract newcomers to your tradition, you must strike a balance between giving them enough information to help them decide whether your tradition is the right one for them, and protecting the spells, rituals, etc. that you have put effort into creating from those who have not yet proven themselves worthy.
The moral and magical code of ethics that your tradition adheres to is another important subject. Codes like the Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law are rarely recognized outside of Wicca itself. Even the law of Karma would not have been present as a part of ancient European Paganism. If you see value in these codes of ethics, there is no reason why you cannot include them as part of your own tradition. However, there is also no reason why you can’t construct your own moral code that more closely suits the beliefs and practices of your particular tradition.
Last but not least, the month-to-month practices that you will encourage your members to adhere to, and the overarching theme that unifies the members are paramount in creating a tradition that stands apart from the rest. Some traditions enact the exact same full moon rite every month, and this specific ritual is passed on to all members and all covens within that tradition. On the other hand, some traditions prefer to have more fluidity in the practices at a typical esbat or sabbat, and have only a few traditional rituals that remain consistent from occasion to occasion and coven to coven. Most traditions also have some theme behind them that initially attracts members to them. British Traditional Wicca incorporates many practices of secret societies, and function in much the same way as these groups, which is very attractive to some individuals. Others may be drawn to the Dianic focus on the Goddess, women’s spirituality, and feminism. There are traditions that have been constructed just for homosexuals, or that focus on partnering standard Wicca with Native American spiritual practices. Will your tradition be Bardic, focusing on music, arts, and poetry? Will you have an environmentalist, political, or charitable slant? Whatever your decision, the set of interests and ideals that your tradition has been formed under will be the main cornerstone of its personality.
On the whole, crafting a tradition is not very different from forming a new coven. It is simply done on a grander scale. Maybe the planning is a bit more intentional, and the details are more closely scrutinized. But in the end, you still have an organized set of beliefs and practices that can serve to unify a group of people with the same interests. Only in this case, rather than just being shared from member to member, you have something that can be shared from coven to coven. And rather than attracting people who are simply looking for any kind of a group to be a part of, you will start attracting people who are looking for your kind of a group to be a part of. In essence, creating your own Witchcraft tradition means creating your own Witchcraft community…one that brings together people of like minds into a family that may just become big enough and strong enough to go on without you!
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