Wiccan in training?

[TheDeadlyEntity]

Am I right in believing some covens don’t practise a great deal of magic but, there only existence is to pass on there religious knowledge or are covens set-up solely for the magic?

I personally would like to be part of a coven however, after speaking to many people I believe it would be very hard to find one that would be willing to accept someone new, never mind finding one that felt right for me. That’s why I thought about starting one, but then again I probably don’t know enough to start one anyway lol

[Skylights]

It depends on the coven. Even if a coven doesn't do actual spells, they often do rituals and observances together.

I'd also love to be involved in a coven. Unfortunately, my small town area doesn't have a lot of Wiccans.

[juliaki]

I'm curious how many individuals here who are talking about what a coven is, does, and believes have actually studied with a coven. Almost everything that I've read in this thread runs counter to what I've learned studying with a coven and for the decade and change as a solitary practitioner. I'm just curious where everyone is drawing their information from, since it varies so wildly from what I've been taught.

[Doe]

Skylights, I know what you mean when you say
theres not alot of wiccans in your small town.Same
here,or at least any willing to admit it. However
I have learned of a pagan group close by who has open
meetings supposedly but I have'nt been able to contact
them yet. I dont know if I would be even interested in
joining a coven if I actually found one but would very
much like to at least find a person or 2 or a group that I
could discuss like interests and learn from.

juliaki, would love to hear more about your coven.

Doe

[juliaki]

Sure thing....

I'm a petitioner to a CTW coven. I've been studying with them for about 3 years now, and hope someday to be eligible for initiation. (Like many other traditional covens, initiation isn't a guarantee...there are some people who have been studying with this particular coven for more than a decade who have not yet become eligible for initiation.) The training that I went through was pretty intense and time-consuming (probably about 25-30 hours per week for the first 2 years), but well worth it. Hmm...not sure what you want to know about it, so I'll just leave it open-ended.

[TheDeadlyEntity]

The more I think about it the more I think its a good idea, even though I don’t think I have enough knowledge to take lead of it. I do think it would be a great Idea to have a coven and learn with others. Im sure it would bring the group closer together too as they all learn together

Hmmm, My mind id ticking over now

[Skylights]

Juliaki, in answer to your question, most of my information comes from the personal experience I've had with the two covens I've come across, and from a few books I've read on the subject.

I hope I don't come off as trying to sound like an expert; I'd never want to give that impression. I just like to offer what I know.

[Amber]

i think it may be a wiccan who has not yet been initiated but i do aree with you

[Nackin]

It doesn't require training in order to agree with the central beliefs of wicca. I think that you are coming from the viewpoint of someone who was raised Christian. Naturally you just have to agree with the central tenants of Christianity in order to be a (protestant) Christian. I can understand this. And people in covens are normally dedicated as soon as possible as recognition of the fact that they believe.
But there are skills in which wiccans are trained normally as part of the craft aspect. You can think of wicca as having two parts, the religion and the craft. The only training involving the religious aspect of wicca is training to deepen the connection with the divine. The most well known technique for doing this is called "calling down the moon." Essentially, the priestess channels the deity into her body.
The rest is the craft, things like learning about herbs, meditation and energy work, etc. Does that clear things up a bit?

[TheDeadlyEntity]

technique for doing this is called "calling down the moon." Essentially, the priestess channels the deity into her body.

I am fairly familiar with the calling down of the moon, even though the technique seems to change from place to place, I was lead to believe it involves both a priest and priestess both of which symbolically connect. Usually with the use of a ritual knife being thrust into a chalice.

This being said it does interest me how some people completely ignore the priest within there rituals. I am a big believer in balancing the “energies” so anything I was to do would need to have counterparts this just seems to make sense to me.

Anyway going back to the training aspect, I have had a lot of feedback about this and I think I now understand why people say there in training I suppose there are aspects were it would be needed however, A lone practitioner could still manage to do them im sure

[Kitsune]

I'm not Wiccan so I can't say for them, but in Neo Cullis, the "sex" of the energies just insn't important. The energies are just that, energy. They can be put toward any purpose. Balance is very important, but it's more a balance of spirit than a balance of people. If you aren't balanced then in magic, or religion, if something throws you off guard then you will topple.

A little closer to topic, I've heard of Wiccan rituals that call down the goddess using only female priestesses, and I've also heard of one ritual where you can call down the god. I believe that if they don't have a male to take the roll, they simply designate a woman to hold the masculine energies for the ritual, and that works just as well.

[TheDeadlyEntity]

has anyone ever heard of both the god and godess being drawn into one person?

[juliaki]

I am fairly familiar with the calling down of the moon, even though the technique seems to change from place to place, I was lead to believe it involves both a priest and priestess both of which symbolically connect. Usually with the use of a ritual knife being thrust into a chalice.

I think you're confusing the Great Rite (symbolic) with Drawing Down the Moon. The Great Rite (symbolic) is the joining of the male (in the form of the blade) to the female (in the form of the chalice). DDtM can be performed during the same ritual but is not the same rite.

This being said it does interest me how some people completely ignore the priest within there rituals. I am a big believer in balancing the “energies” so anything I was to do would need to have counterparts this just seems to make sense to me.

That's always been a beef of mine about Neo-Wicca...it seems to be very matrifocal, to the point of ignoring the male aspects of divinity. There rites in which the priest is also possessed by divinity (there's a Drawing Down the Sun rite, for instance, although that's one you don't see done often).

Anyway going back to the training aspect, I have had a lot of feedback about this and I think I now understand why people say there in training I suppose there are aspects were it would be needed however, A lone practitioner could still manage to do them im sure

Speaking as someone who has been a solitary practitioner for a decade and has been working with a traditional coven for a few years beyond that, there are quite a few things that a lone practitioner couldn't manage.... and part of that, at least from the traditional teachings, is that you don't even know that certain things are out there because they are oathbound. It's hard to do something that you don't even know exists, ya know?

as anyone ever heard of both the god and godess being drawn into one person?

Nope, and after witnessing what happens to have just one drawn down into a person, I'm not sure a person could live through the experience of having both drawn into them at the same time. I know I certainly don't want to be the guinea pig.

[LaFiamma]

Personally, I don't see how someone can be 'trained' in Wicca, let alone 'know it all' in a year and a day. If you choose to follow the Wiccan path, you shouldn't be told you can't be Wiccan until you learn a certain whatever.

Learning the Craft, as in learning anything, is an on-going process, where "practice makes perfect" but perfect is never attained. Wicca, like any spiritual path, is an ever-changing lifestyle we choose to live. You get out of it what you put into it, not what someone tells you to believe.

Wicca is a specific religion with a number of different traditions. It's debated and argued as to whether those that don't have a linear connection to Gardner and his original tradition actually are Wiccan or not, for that exact reason.

For example, your average everyday solitary ecclectic probably isn't "Wiccan". they may have Wiccan influences, but if you haven't studied within a specific tradition, how can you lay claim to it?

Before you get your knickers in a twist, I'm not saying that one way is less valid than another, i'm just saying they're not the same.

As for the training, if someone claims to kow everyhting after a year and a day, or ten years and ten days, they're full of it. The idea of a year and a day of learning is to establish the basics of a particuar tradition and lay the groundwork for further learning. In degreed systems, you'll often find that each degree requires at least a year and a day of training and study.

I personally don't think it's a requirement to study a year and a day before becoming a 'true' Wiccan, although I fully agree that the study is invaluable.

But if you truly believe in Wicca and are already fully committed in your mind and heart, I don't think you need an initiation at all, unless you are being initiated into a specific coven.

I don't plan to be initiated into Wicca, but if I were ever to find a coven that fit, I would gladly go through their process, out of respect to their traditions. I think a lot of people are initiated mostly out of tradition; after all, if you got through the year and a day, you're probably already feeling quite witchy indeed.

I should hope that if you were to want to join a group, you would want to go through whatever training and initation they require as more than a mere courtesy. As I said before, Wicca is a specific religion, with specific traditions and if your heart isn't completely in it, you might fit in better with somethign else. when Gardner started Wicca lo these many centuries ago, way back in the 1950's, there were no "solitary Wiccans", no doubt there were plenty of solitary witches, but they weren't Wiccan. Gardner developed his specific tradition, and the Wiccans were the ones that went through the specified study and initiation.

and by the way, a lot of people will go through a course of study and chose NOT to be initatied. I iknow several people who have taken a year and a day of study in a Wiccan tradition with no intention of being initated. I am seriously considering doing so myself. I have plans to study to serve as clergy within my own tradition, but I believe that if I am going to do so, it would serve me well to have a basic working knowledge of the religion that has had such great impact on the neopagan movement.

[PorcObby]

Speaking from my own vantage point, you could potentally call me a Wiccan in training, although it's not the word I would use. I've been interested in Wicca for about 6 years now, ever since I first heard about it. Somewhere along the line I desided it was the religion for me, and I set out to study it at my own pace. While I have accepted the basic beliefs of Wicca as my own, I genrally don't practice the craft as I don't feel i've learned enough information to comfortably do so, although I have confadence that some day I will. So in a way, you could say i'm a Wiccan in "training", that is learning more about the religion and how it's practiced by others until I amalgamate enough information to practice comfortably.