Marian Green - A Witch Alone - Thirteen Moons To Master Natural Magic

Within a group there may be pressure to make up the numbers before a particular feast, or balance the males and females in a coven. Some newcomers are just too keen for their own good, wishing to rush into initiation helter-skelter without realising the seriousness of the step, or what is actually involved.

As an alternative you may, if you feel ready, undertake a ceremony of dedication, rather than an initiation. The true initiation may spontaneously occur during the working, if you are prepared and the Goddess is willing to have you reborn as her child, within her Family of the Mysteries.

A dedication is an individual and personal act wherein you promise to follow a particular path of your own choice, realising how serious this step may be, for the good of the work and for as long as that work may take. In return for your offer of time, effort and love of the Tradition, you will gain support from the Old Ones, safe guidance in the inner realms, training, power and the ability to heal, for example.

These are all skills which you have by birthright yet you need help and encouragement in bringing them into practical and controlled use. You will also gain a true companionship, both visible and invisible. There are many seekers on different parts of the Path, many walkers in the Old Ways, and once you join that company their presence will be made known to you, and yours to them. You may well discover familiar faces will suddenly reveal a new appearance for they too have walked the Fairy Path, the Starlit Road and, without ever speaking of such things, have already offered you companionship, trust and friendship, but until your admittance you have seemed as strangers.

Thousands of people are dedicated or are initiates of the inner way in Britain nowadays. Few of those who take their arts seriously will be wearing badges saying ‘I am a Witch’ or ‘Born Again Oracle’.

They live their lives, as you might have to do, in two parts, with one face for the world and the other, inner, hidden face always turned towards the secret starlight. They have learned the power of silence, of the kept word and unbroken promises.

They have seen things and experienced things which few ordinary folk would comprehend or credit as being true. They have entered the Otherworld and returned safe, many times. They have supped with

gods, woven magical spells and brought about changes in the fabric of the world. They are doing it now, working by day and night, healing, mending, bringing about peace after conflict, unseen, yet perhaps next door to you, or in the house along the road. The ones who demonstrate their magical connections by their dress or badges, the mystical rings or whispered hints of secrets are either young souls who are playing, as children do, at things beyond their years, or they are fakes, acting out a fantasy of what they think a witch should be like, or how magicians should behave.

Look hard at them and see if you want to be like them. It is your choice. There are many who have taken oaths of silence and keep them, not because of threats but because they value what they have learned and cherish it in their hearts. They do not wish to brag about the successes they have had, or the failures which even the most experienced sometimes have, because they are working as agents for the Old Ones, the Creative Power on Earth, not for self-aggrandisement or show.

Another misconception about initiation is that it is immediate, and that at the completion of the ritual you will be an instant adept and all the forces of the universe will now bow to your whim. What has actually happened is that you have been given an entrance to a new school. You may have dressed up in the uniform, been given a new satchel full of fascinating books and sources of knowledge, but you are still outside the gates and have not passed your final examinations and gained your certificate of proficiency.

Many years of hard and consistent work lie ahead, just as would be needed to pass through junior, secondary and senior college, and to become really good, you need your Masters Degree in Magic, gained within the University of the Cosmos.

Becoming dedicated is an early step. It is a genuine request for guidance, and an attempt on a personal level to connect with the great powers of the universe, and to gain communion with the gods and goddesses of the land. You will need to know about making a magical circle and the use of the Elements to bless it.

You need a private and special place, and a staff to use as an altar. You need to have spent many months building up the Sphere of Light so that you can do it from memory, almost without thinking, and be aware that you are in a protected place and feel safe and confident. These are the absolute preliminaries, and if you think you know enough or can leave out these vital early stages, then you are either a fool or too foolhardy for your own good. There is no advantage in rushing, any more than it would do you any good entering a marathon race if you had only ever run for a bus in training!

Initiations or rites of dedication should begin with a vigil, preferably all night. You will have to sort this out with your family because it is the first test of your ability to keep secrets. You will need to find a place where you can sit under the stars and ask for help and power and instruction. You need to review your aims and magical ambitions, your sincerity towards service of the Old Ones, and conviction that this is the first step on a path you intend to follow, perhaps at first alone, and later on in the company of others.

It is a chance to resolve all doubts, or to be willing to give in to them, so that you don’t take a step which you might not be ready for, or might later regret. It is also a time to find your magical name.

Although you are working on your own, you are going to be reborn into the Old Ways, and as such you will become a child again!

In the Old Tradition the magical name was never that of a god or goddess (or a collection of them, as is all too common among American witches and others) but was often almost a nick-name. (Old Nick is another title of the Horned God!) Some names are those of plants, trees, animals or perhaps semi-precious stones. It could be an anagram of your own initials, or a variation of one of your ordinary given names.

The less dramatic the name that comes to you at this time, the more likely it is to be a genuine ‘sending’, that is, a message from the Goddess. This name should be absolutely secret, and only ever used on talismans. If you ever hear that name being called, you know it is the Great Ones who are demanding your attention. Sit silently, unprotected by magical circles and really think, all night, under a growing moon. This is your last chance to remain an ordinary human being!

If in the morning you are convinced that dedication is the right move, then you will need to set about your preparations for that. Have a bath and cast into the water cleansing herbs and calming ones. Bask in that and become refreshed, even if you have been awake all night. Later in the day, take a picnic to eat after your dedication, as you should fast beforehand if you are following the old way closely. (This is as near an ordeal as most modern people get during the ceremony, but something more weighty may well occur soon afterwards.)

Stage Two is the making of a promise. This is not an oath with spectacular penalties which you may have read about in books, but a sincere and heartfelt promise to try to be a better human being, to develop your unique and inborn talents for the benefit of the gods on Earth. It is a promise to study and work and help those who seek aid, or to be honest with them and say what they ask is beyond your trainee powers.

It is to realise the value of wisdom and ancient knowledge which you may gradually be gaining, and the responsibility of having the powers of divination. You must speak truth, but gently, so that the listener is not alarmed. These and many more are the ideas which you should promise to uphold. You should promise to keep silent, too, on those fragments of the Old Ways which could put power into the hands of the foolish or unprepared, yet you should also be willing to share your knowledge with others who are ripe to receive it.