Initiation

The other night I took an important step. I went through a first degree initiation. I'm a Wiccan, although if people ask I just tend to say Pagan as it seems to draw less questions. I've considered myself pagan since the age of 13 when I first started to learn about it, but it wasn't until January 09 that I finally found a local group and joined a training coven. After more than a year of study I am now considered a priestess and witch. I'm not so keen on the witch part at the moment, it's a word that I associate with cartoonish women on broomsticks, but you never know, I might get used to it someday.

I've had a google around expecting someone else to have already come up with a good description of wiccan initiation that I could quote but haven't been able to find anything. So I would attempt to describe an initiation (first degree anyway) as a little like a baptism, where you are brought in and made a part of a religion, and also an oath, where you swear to protect secrets and other members.

I first became interested in Wicca because I felt that I needed something to believe in, I needed a religion. I was raised loosely Christian but never really 'got it'. When I found a nature based religion with both a male and female deity, it just seemed like common sense. I enjoy marking and celebrating the passing of the seasons. I take responsibility for my own actions. I do not believe in the Christian heaven or hell, so I cannot be saved or damned. I think that right now I'm happy with who I am and where I'm going.