Some Witcan Traditions

A major part of being Witcan is Pathworking, and the Witcan model of Pathworking is in line with the Elements of Self: Mind, Body, Heart and Spirit. And each of these Elements of Self has a corresponding Aspect of the Goddess: Childe, Maiden, Mother and Crone and the corresponding God Aspects, Childe, Youth, Father and Sage. Each Aspect of God/dess is mirrored in the stages of life we each work through... but not necessarily as we pass what might be considered the appropriate age markers. For a Witcan female to advance from Childe to Maiden, it takes more than Menarche or turning 14 years of age. She must grow into being a teenager, within, and be ready to take on the gifts and challenges of Motherhood once that part of her journey is fulfilled. Some women never reach this internal age, even if they die of old age! Certainly, most women, regardless of their inner age, once they reach child-bearing age still go ahead and have children... but if they are to practice the Craft or reach out and find the source of Divinity... they can't forego the unfinished growth required to consider oneself, with certainty, aligned with the Mother Aspect. As it happens, many of the students I receive, are still midway in their development as teenagers. I myself was still one in my 30's! And I had 2 half-grown children at the time. So you see, chronicalogical age has nothing to do with our designation in our practice as Witcans. But you'd be amazed what a relief it is for some who find out that their childhoods or teen years are not yet over, when it becomes apparent that they are not done playing like children or making crazy forgivable mistakes like teenagers do! The beauty of finding out you're still a kid within a Witcan community is that, once it's made clear to all that your inner age is within the range of the young, those around you are honor-bound to give latitude that they would normally not give to someone of your chronicalogical age! You get a second chance to finish the work and heal and grow into spirtual adulthood! It can be liberating if one receives the news with grace.

It is paramount to keep in mind, that we never "outgrow" our different stages, but rather, our Inner Childe, Teenager, Parent and Elder reside in us, after they manifest in us, for the rest of our lives. We are encouraged to keep in contact with these Elements of our Selves, and to heed their particular limiting and liberating characteristics. For some, the Childe will ever make her/his presence known, complaining about the way things are going, wanting to go out and play instead of work, reminding us to sleep when we are tired, and laugh out loud when we are happy. For others, the Teenager will show her/himself more often, and we will know her/him by the defensiveness she/he feels when slighted, the hurt feelings she/he has when snubbed, the deep passions felt for a lover, the abandon one feels when doing something outrageous, and the urge to fight when danger looms. The Inner Teenager is the Inner Warrior, when she/he is cultivated correctly, and she/he can either be the Champion of the Childe, or her/his Tormentor. The Parent in us tends to nurture, feels the losses in her/his life deeply, reflects with regret on mistakes made, takes steps to correct errors, cleans, cooks, works, pays the bills, etc. The Parent is naturally over-burdened, and it is right that she/he feel the strain of every day life so that others can do the work they are busy doing. These burdens eventually have a pay-off in the Elder, who learns to say, "No". It's a short, simple word, and the Parent does use it when needed, but the Elder has a resolve that the Parent has not attained yet -- the certainty that the time has come for Children and Teenagers to take their "petty" concerns to their Parents and leave the Elder to their natural urge to turn away from the bustle of community life to, in some way, work at leaving their legacy behind. Some Elders teach serious, older students. Others do charity work. Still others go back to school and tie-up loose ends in their knowledge. Most write memoirs and websites, like this one. The Inner Elder though, offers is a calm, dark place where one can retreat from the "bothersome noise" of the other three Elements of Self. For life goes on, with all its demands, even when we are Elders. When the Inner Elder is given the serentiy she/he requires to reflect on all she/he has learned, the business of living can go on without disturbing that need for quiet reflection. And so, usually, as the Inner Elder retreats within, the Inner Parent continues to take care of one's daily interactions and interpretations of the events around them, sorting out the needs and issues of the other two Elements of Self, and acting as emmissary for the whole being to the world outside.

One interesting sidenote to the Elements of Self is that, ironically, by the time we reach Elderhood, our Childe is the oldest part of us, while the Elder is new. It's a reversal of roles, to some extent, as one has grown comfortable with the ways of the Inner Childe, while the Inner Elder may seem almost foreign to us. It is best this way. The Elder should be mysterious and somewhat unapproachable. And in any case, the Elder doesn't want to be bothered and would prefer to only be checked in with when there is a true need for wise guidance in some grave matter.

Now, it has become a tradition in Witca that we name (to wiccan, in the vernacular) our different Elements of Self. There are no "rules" to wiccaning, but I can offer some suggestions. So far, the Witcans I know have chosen to give their Inner Childe the same nickname they had as children, like "Bobby", or opt to put "Little" in front of their birth names, as in, "Little Sara". I did neither, but rather took the syllable of my birth name (Leanne) which had been orphaned by my nickname (Lea) and chose to name my Inner Childe, "Anne", the most neglected part of me. The name we choose for our Inner Teenager should be a warrior's name, for teenagers, when treated correctly by their elders, are heroic by nature. They can be encouraged to follow their deeply felt passions and beliefs or be squashed by the disapproval too many elders show them. As the Inner Parent of your Inner Teenager, it is only right that you give her/him either what worked for you or was denied to you as a true teenager. I chose to wiccan my Inner Teenager with "Feyhera", meaning to me, Female Hero of the Faeries and she has a FEARSOME reputation among my Clan! Yet, Anne depends on her for instant defense in moments of potential trauma or danger, and Feyhera is known for growing a foot taller than my normal stature and repelling all comers! Watch out! Feyhera has an impudent side as well, and she can be quick to judge things she doesn't understand immediately. It's then that Leananshae steps in. She is my Inner Parent, the Priestess who has no end of patience and understanding for all who seek her counsel and guidance. Like all Mothers, she tends to take on too much, from too many and doesn't know when to put it all down and rest. She denies herself everything in the name of Unconditional Love. And she quiets any turmoil Anne and Feyhera might experience, being the calm one in an emergency. She's a diiplomat and an ambassador for Witca and it is she who takes on the intolerance of those who cannot abide the Witcan way. And when Feyhera says "Fight!" and Anne says "Run!", Leananshae says, "Teach tolerance by example". Most Witcans I've helped wiccan their Inner Parent have opted to find some rendition of a name that somehow related back to their birthnames or at least started with the same letter. It is felt that since most of us will go by what we in the Heretical Traditions call our "Bearing Name", we tend to want names close to the name we're used to hearing ourselves called by in our daily lives. "Leananshae" shares similarities with "Leanne", like the nickname Lea, and is the phonetic spelling for the way I pronounce "Leanansidhe", a faerie vampire from Celtic mythology, who is reported to live at the bottom of the Irish Sea. This faerie is associated with music, and I am a composer and vocalist, so it felt like a natural fit for me. Last but not least, the name I chose for my Inner Elder arrived somewhat radomly, the day after my Croning, so I haven't much advise there except to say, trust your Inner Elder to tell you her/his name. I was thinking about what my Elder had that the other three could never offer and the word, "Lore" popped into my head. I felt an instant inner affinity for the name immediately, especially since it starts with "L" like my birthname and is only one letter off from the word, "Love". I am the Keeper of the Witcan Lore, and the only Crone in my Clan. So it falls to Lore to make sure that our collective history and knowledge doesn't die when I die. I hope I have many years left to finish my work, but there's soooooo much.... I really hope the Clan Scribe (you know who you are!) finds a way to come spend a few months with me just correlating it all into a few dozen volumes!

After you start wiccaning your Selves and earning degrees, you will be eligible to assume Titles...

So, within Witca we have a tradition of Titling, that is, as one grows within their practice and Pathworking, they advance through a series of degrees and titles. Here is the structure of the Witcan titling system as it has developed over time and with use:

Aspect      Degree                Designation             Title/fem     Title/male    Focus                   

---           Seeker                   The Good Guest         Friend           Friend           being a good guest

Childe      1st Degree HHT      The Good Progeny      Maid             Squire           Mother or Teacher

Maiden     2nd Degree HHT    The Good Sibling         Mistress        Sir                Self

Mother     3rd Degree HHT     The Good Founder       Lady             Lord             Community

Crone       4th Degree HHT     The Good Ancestor      Madame       Master          World

It is Witcan tradition that one must be minimally a 2rd Degree to achieve the Priest/esshood. High Priest/esses are selected from those with at least a 3rd degree. It takes a 2nd degree to confer 1st degree, a 3rd degree to confer a 2nd degree, a 4th degree to confer a 3rd degree and 4th degrees are conferred by other 4th degrees, or when no other 4th degrees can be found, with the blessing of a true child, under the age of 10. I was conferred my 4th degree by an 8 month old baby!

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The Heretical Tradition, which is what the spiritual aspect of Witca is called, is made up of reformed and reforming Wiccans who seek community within a scholastic, innovative group of founders. We hold that no-one can or should try to tell us what our personal Paths are, but that there are some commonly-held Truths that are basic to finding the source of Divinity. The other aspect to Witca is that it is also peopled by witches, who are those who practice the arts of healing, divining, channeling, astral travel, etc., and use Magick to manifest and transform themselves and the world around them in mutually beneficial ways and in accordance with Right Use of Will. Where the spirituality of a Witcan is his or her own affair and particular and specific to each individual, Witca holds that it does "take a witch to make a witch". Now, this can mean a few things. It could mean that without exception, any witch who knows enough to call themselves a witch, has at some point found the works of other witches invaluable in the advancement of their Craft, or it could mean that a teacher is sought for guidance, or it could mean a novice approaches a coven requesting formal training. Even those of you who have read at least one book on the subject of witchcraft has accessed the knowledge and wisdom of all the witches that author learned from and all their teachers learned from, and so on. It is not noble to design Magick from the ground up without some guidance... it is Dabbling. And only those who have no access to information should feel they MUST attempt such a "from scratch" endeavor. And it is wise to seek guidance from reliable sources, or at least sources that do not pronounce that their way is the only way, and no ammendment or addition to their ways will be tolerated. No one human, no one group of humans especially, holds all the information about Magick in their grasp. You will no doubt need many teachers from many fields. Witcan covens offer shelter for those interested in testing old theories, innovating what doesn't work through trial and error and salvaging from the dim past those bits and pieces of real usable material that serve ever enlightened group practices and traditions. Each Witcan is charged with attaining a "real" education -- at formal schools -- in subjects ranging from pure science to history, the arts, sociology, psychology and so on. And we are to live as witches whenever possible, including choosing careers that pertain to our Craft practices. Nursing is a huge sector open to the healers among you and many witches can be found in their ranks. Social work, especially with the old and the very young, is a good field for witches to enter, as are so many others.