Paganlore.com

Rites of Passage

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A "Rite of Passage" is a transition from one state of life to another.
Birth, marriage and death are examples. Van Gennep, a Flemish anthro-
pologist, was the first to so label such rituals, in 1909. The main Rite of
Passage that you will be concerned with is that of Initiation. It is impor-
tant that you be aware, and have some understanding, of the different
parts of the initiation ritual and its symbolism.

In its most general sense, initiation denotes a body of rites and oral
teachings arranged to bring about a very definite change in both the
religious and the social status of the person undergoing the ritual. There
is a catharsis: a spiritual cleansing. The person becomes, in effect, another
person. The central theme of an initiation (any initiation, whether it be
Witchcraft, primitive tribal or even Christian, in form) is what is termed a
Palingenesis: a rebirth. You are ending life as you have known it to this
point and are being "born again" ... and reborn with new knowledge.

All initiation rituals follow the same basic pattern. And this is
worldwide: Australian aboriginals, Africans, Amerindians, Eskimos,
Pacific Islanders, Witches, ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, to
name but a few. All include the same basic elements in their rites.

First comes a SEPARATION. With many peoples this is a literal
separation from friends and especially from family; from all they have
known so far. Oftimes there is a special hut, cave or building of some
sort, where the novices are taken. There they begin their training.

A CLEANSING, externally and internally, is the next important
part. With some primitives this might include complete removal of all
body hair. It would certainly include a period, or periods, of fasting and
of sexual abstinence. In certain areas there are also various dietary
taboos prior to fasting.

A SYMBOLIC DEATH is one of the major parts of initiation, though
some primitives do not realize that it will be only symbolic and fully
expect to actually be put to death. With some tribes it does include actual
dismemberment; perhaps circumcision, tattooing, the amputation of a
finger or the knocking out of a tooth. Ritual scourging is another, more
common, symbolic form of death. Or the death could take the form of a
"monster"-perhaps the tribe's totem animal--swallowing~ the initiate.

 

After "death" the initiand then finds himself in
the womb, awaiting his new birth. In some societies he
finds himself in a hut which represents the world.
He is at its center; he inhabits a sacred microcosm. The
initiate is in the chthonian Great Mother--Mother
Earth. There are innumerable myths of great heroes,
gods and goddesses, descending into Mother Earth
(remember the myth of the Seax-Wica Goddess,
given in Lesson Two) and triumphantly returning.
Within that earth-womb they invariably find great
knowledge, for it is often the home of the dead who,
traditionally, can see into the future and therefore
know all things. Therefore the initiates, by virtue of
being in the womb, will learn NEW KNOWLEDGE.
This is underscored in the Congo, for example,
where those who have not been initiated are called
vanga ("the unenlightened") and those who have
been initiated are the nganga ("the knowing ones").

After receiving this new knowledge, the initiate is
REBORN. If he has been swallowed by a monster, he
may either be born from it or disgorged from its mouth
(the mouth is often a substitute for the vagina). In
some African tribes he will crawl out from between
the legs of the women of the village, who stand in a
long line. He is now given a new name and starts his
new life. Interestingly enough there are several paral-
iels of this renaming to be found in the Roman Catholic
Church: a new name is taken at confirmation; on
becoming a nun a woman takes a new name; a new
name is given to a newly elected Pope.

On excavating at Pompeii, there was found a villa,
named the "Villa of Mysteries". This was where every-
one in ancient Italy originally went to be initiated into
the Orphic Mysteries. In the Initiation Room itself
there are frescoes painted around the walls showing a
woman going through the various stages of initiation.
In this instance the symbolic death was a scourging.
Part of the revelation of knowledge came from the
initiand scrying* with a Polished bowl. The final scene
shows her, naked, dancing in celebration of her new
birth. The scenes are typical of the Palingenesis of
initiation.

The full initiation into Witchcraft contains all the
above elements. There is not quite the literal separa-
tion, at the start, but you will, of course, have separated
yourself from others in the sense of absorbing your-
self in your studies of the Craft. You will also spend
much time alone, meditating on what you are about to
undertake. You will cleanse yourself, by bathing and
fasting-only bread, honey and water are allowed for
twenty-four hours prior to the actual initiation--and
by sexual abstinence.

At the ritual itself, rather than any rigorous
symbolic death or dismemberment, you will exper-
ience a blindfolding and binding, which symbolize
the darkness and restriction of the womb. As you are
"born",= these restrictions will fall from you. You will
gain new knowledge as certain things are revealed to
you, and then receive a new name. You will be
welcomed to your new life by your brothers and
sisters of the Craft. The full initiation is a very moving
experience--many claim it to be the most moving of
their entire lives.

The usual process is that you find a coven and,
after a trial period, are accepted into it and initiated.
But supposing you are starting from scratch; a group
of friends who are going to form their own coven and,
basically, start their own tradition? How does the first
person get initiated, so that s/he can initiate the others?
Similarly, if you are a Solitary, not wanting to join a
group, how do you go about it? The answer is, through
Self-Initiation.

Some years ago the majority of Witches (myself
included!) frowned on the very idea of a self-initiation.
We didn't stop to think of (a) what might have been
done in the "old times': for those living miles from any
coven, or (b) how did the First Witch get initiated?
Today some of us at any rate are more enlightened.

The Self-Dedication is exactly that--it is a dedicat-
ing of oneself to the service of the gods. It does not
contain all the elements we have mentioned above,
but is none the less a moving experience. A full coven
initiation may always be taken at a later date, if you so
desire of course, but note that it would not be manda-
tory--just a matter of personal preference.

A question often asked is, "How valid is self initia-
tion?" To some traditions it is not valid at all (though
one might question the whole "validity" of those
traditions themselves!). Certainly you couldn't self-
initiate yourself as a Cardnerian, for example. But the
point here is, how valid is it to YOU? If you are sincere;
if you wish to become a Witch and to worship the old
gods; if you have no ulterior motives . . . IT IS VALID,
and don't listen to anyone who says it is not.

Obviously if you want to be part of a particular
tradition and that tradition has its set initiation rite (as
with Gardnerian, as I just mentioned), then you must
go through that particular rite to join that tradition. But
no one tradition has the right to say what is correct or
incorrect for another. It seems to me that far too many
people get hung-up on a "line of descent"--who
initiated whom, and through whom?-rather than
getting on with the business of worship. One of the
oldest of the modern traditions is the Gardnerian and
that (in its present form) is only about thirty-five years
old, as of this writing. Not very old when we look at the
whole picture of Witchcraft. So if a Gardnerian initia-
tion (for example) can be considered "valid", then so
can yours.

 

Taken from Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft