Priestess: "Are you willing to suffer to learn?"

Apprentice: "Yes."

The Priestess takes the apprentice's hand, and, with a needle properly purified by fire and water (that is, sterilized), p.r.i.c.ks her finger, squeezing a few drops of blood onto the measure.

Priestess: "Repeat after me: "I, ________, do of my own free will most solemnly swear to protect, help, and defend my sisters and brothers of the Art."

"I always will keep secret all that must not be revealed."

"This do I swear on my mother's womb and my hopes of future lives, mindful that my measure has been taken, and in the presence of the Mighty Ones."

The apprentice is then told to kneel, place one hand on her head and the other beneath her heel; she says, "All between my two hands belongs to the G.o.ddess."

Coven: "So mote it be!"

Coven members grab her suddenly, lift her up (if possible), and carry her three times around the circle, laughing and shrieking. They lay her face down before the altar and press her into the ground. Gradually, the pressing changes to stroking. They chant her new name, raising a Cone of Power over her, giving her power to open her awareness and work magic. The blindfold is removed, and she is told, "Know that the hands that have touched you are the hands of love."

The Charge of the G.o.ddess is spoken, and other myths, mysteries, and secrets are revealed. Generally, the new initiate is given time to scry in a crystal, to find her own personal sources of power and inspiration. She is told the coven names of other members, the inner name and symbols of the coven.

The sponsor consecrates her on b.r.e.a.s.t.s and forehead with oil, with a coven symbol. The Priestess returns her measure, saying: "In the Burning Times, when each member of the coven held the lives of the others in her hand, this would have been kept, and used against you should you endanger others. But in these more fortunate times, love and trust prevail, so take this, keep it or burn it, and be free to go or stay as your heart leads you."

The new initiate is then given a set of tools, which other coveners have made or collected for her. One by one, they are handed to her, their use is explained, and they are consecrated and charged. (See Exercise 36-although the process is often shortened within the initiation ritual.) Food and drink are shared, and coveners relax and party. An initiation is a joyful occasion.

Before the circle is opened, the new initiate is taken around to the four quarters for a final time. The Priestess says, "Guardians of the East (South, West, North), and Mighty Ones of the Craft, behold ______, who has now been made Priestess and Witch, and member of the _________________ coven."

G.o.ddess, G.o.d, and Guardians are thanked and dismissed, and the circle is opened.

CHAPTER 11. Moon Rituals.

Between the Worlds.

ESBATS.

The coven meets in moontime, new, full, or dark. The rituals are healing rituals, magical workings, times of growth, inspiration, insight. They change constantly, are never static. We make them anew, rewrite them, re-create them, but always on the same pattern: the creation of the sacred s.p.a.ce, the invocations, the use of magical symbols, the raising of the Cone of Power, trance, sharing of food and drink and laughter, and the formal return to ordinary s.p.a.ce and time. The ritual may be formal or informal; scripted or spontaneous; structured or loose-as long as it is alive. As long as it sings.

"The first and most important effect of a living mythological symbol is to waken and give guidance to the energies of life."

Joseph Campbell'

The rituals that follow in this chapter and the next are scripts meant to be changed, reworked, improved on, or used as they are. If you use written words, they should be memorized rather than read aloud. Speaking memorized words may itself create a trance state; reading entraps us in the left-brain, flashlight mind. If you cannot memorize, improvise. Don't worry about literary quality- simply say what you feel. Or better yet-let your rituals be wordless.

WAXING MOON RITUAL.

(To be performed after the first visible crescent has appeared.) On the altar, place a bowl of seeds. Fill the central cauldron with earth, and pace a candle in. the center.

When the coven gathers, begin with a breathing meditation. A Priestess says, "This is the time of beginning, the seed time of creation, the awakening after sleep. Now the moon emerges, a crescent out of the dark; the Birthgiver returns from Death. The tide turns; all is transformed. Tonight we are touched by the Maiden who yields to all and yet is penetrated by none. She changes everything She touches; may She open us to change and growth. Merry meet."

Purify, cast the circle, and invoke the G.o.ddess and G.o.d.

A covener chosen to act as Seed Priestess takes the bowl of grain from the altar, saying, "Blessed be, creature of earth, moon seed of change, bright beginning of a new circle of time. Power to start, power to grow, power to make new be in this seed. Blessed be."

Going sunwise around the circle, she offers the bowl to each person, asking, "What will you plant with the moon?" Each person replies with what she plans to begin, or hopes will grow, in the month to come. "The blessing of the new moon be upon it," the Priestess answers.

Each person visualizes a clear image of what they want to grow, charging the seeds with the image. One by one, they plant the seeds in the earth in the central cauldron.

Together, they raise a Cone of Power to charge the seeds and earth with energy, and empower the projects they represent. The Cone is grounded into the cauldron.

Trance work or scrying may focus on clarity of vision for the projects now begun.

Feast, and open the circle.

FULL MOON RITUAL.

(To be performed on the eve of the Full Moon.) The circle gathers, does a breathing meditation, and a Priestess says, "This is the time of fullness, the flood tide of power, when the Lady in full circe of brightness rides across the night sky, arising with the corning of dark.

This is the time of the bearing of fruits, of change realized. The Great Mother, Nurturer of the world, which is Herself, pours out her love and her gifts in abundance. The Hunter draws near to the Brilliant One, She who awakens yearning in the heart and who is the end of desire. We who look on her shining face are filled with love.

Merry meet."

Purify, cast the circle, and invoke the G.o.ddess and G.o.d.

One covener moves into the center of the circle, and speaks her name. The others repeat it, and chant it, raising a Cone of Power as they touch her, earthing it into her and filling her with the power and light of the moon. She returns to the circ e, and another covener takes her place, until each in turn has been the focus of the power.

While chanting, other coveners come to recognize that each individual is, in truth, G.o.ddess/G.o.d.

A final Cone can be raised for the coven as a whole. Earth the power, trance or scry, then feast and open the circe.

DARK MOON RITUAL.

(To be performed on the waning moon. A gazing crystal or scrying bowl should be placed in the center of the circe.) Gather, and meditate on a group breath. A Priestess says, "This is the ending before the beginning, the death before new life. Now on the ebb tide the secrets of the sh.o.r.eline are uncovered by the retreating waves. The moon is hidden, but the faintest of stars are revealed and those who have eyes to see may read the fates and know the mysteries. The G.o.ddess, whose name cannot be spoken, naked enters the Kingdom of Death. In the most vast silence and stillness, all is possible. We meet in the time of the Crone, to touch the deep power of the dark."

Purify and cast the circle, but do not ight the altar candle. Invoke the G.o.ddess and G.o.d.

The leader begins an antipbon chant: a repeated ba.s.s line, with spontaneous lines interjected between.

Leader: "She lies under al, She covers all."

All: "She lies under all, She covers all." (Repeat several times.) Covener "She is the teacher of mysteries."

All: "She lies under all, She covers all."

Covener: "She is the motion behind form."

All: "She lies under all, She covers all."

Covener: (Improvised line) All: "She lies under all, She covers all."

Continue as long as there are energy and inspiration. (This type of chanting requires sensitivity and openness, both to personal inspiration and to others. While at first there may be some hesitations, silences, and collisions, in a cohesive group it will soon flow naturally. It is a powerful way of opening the inner voice.) Build into a wordless power chant, and earth the cone into the scrying bowl gazing crystal. Scry together, sharing what you see. Feast, and open the circle.