PREPARING FOR DEDICATION*
(*written early 1991, again by who-I-was-then, not who-I-am-now. Note that I was then part of a structured, formal group with a direct experience of a need for confidentiality, very different from the freedom-loving environment of my current Circle! Further, it was written to be (and was) reused as we worked with others in our community.)
A dedication is a personal pledge to study Wicca for one year. It is intended as a prepararation for initiation, traditionally performed a year and a day after the dedication.
Before you ever heard of Wicca, or studied Paganism, you were referred to as a “cowan”--an unaware person to be cared for by the Wiccans around you. Having studied a bit (whether or not with us), you are now considered an “informed cowan”--still someone to be cared for, but at least aware of the world around you. Those Wiccans who know you will help you choose a positive path, and hope that you grow within your own spiritual goals and framework. You have at this point only two responsibilities with regard to what you have learned of us: 1) to respect the privacy of those who have taken the risk of informing you, and not make thier identities known without their express permission, and 2) to speak accurately, if you speak at all, of what you have learned and experienced, without sensationalizing or misrepresenting our religion.
Should you choose to perform a dedication, you would be known as a “novice”--someone who is actively studying the Craft and plans to undergo initiation. You will have dedicated yourself to the ancient paths of Wicca, to the deities and forces who walk these paths beside us. A dedication indicates a decision to practice Wicca. At the end of your novitiate, you will make a choice. You may decide that your choice was wrong, and forego initiation, returning to the status of “informed cowan”. You may decide to delay initiation, taking more time to master the knowledge and skills of a novice; in this case you would simply renew your dedication and continue as a novice. Or, you may decide to be initiated fully into the Craft, at which point you would be called an initiate.
In an analogy to Christian practice, a cowan would be similar to a local resident who is not Christian, but may someday decide to be. An informed cowan would be like the person who attends church and is learning, but is not yet a member of the congregation. A novice is much like a confirmed Christian layman, and an initiate like a priest. Most Wiccan novices do go through initiation, thus becoming Wiccan priests or priestesses. Further initiations are available when further rites of passage are appropriate. Terminology varies from one group to the next, particularly after the first initiation.
At your dedication, you will renew the promises you made when you first began to study, involving privacy and responsible speech. You will also design and make new promises: for example, to develop your Self in mind, passion, emotion, body, and spirit; to interact with Nature and the Deities as a responsible, aware creature; to care for the area in which you live and the various forms of life who share it with you. You will also promise, specifically, to devote the next year of your life to learning the Craft. During this year, you will develop your ability to tend your Covenstead through both mundane and magical methods. You will meet individual gods and goddesses, each contributing to the general concepts you have developed of “the God” and “the Goddess”. You will learn to work with different kinds of life than you may have experienced before. You will decide on a magical working name for yourself. You will celebrate all the seasonal rituals, and learn to construct your own rites. Probably you will celebrate one or more of the Rites of Passage--Birth Rites, Handfasting, Crossing Rites, or others. If you are joining our existing coven, you will get to know each of us, forging personal bonds of friendship and love that will help you become good working partners. In turn, we will get to know you, and learn whether we can rely on you to make responsible, ethical choices and to follow through on your given word. You will work with your coven in many ways, from magical healing to cleaning up litter. You will still work with an individual teacher, but you will begin to assume responsibility for yourself. You will be Wiccan.
So, consider carefully what you already know about us. Examine your own feelings. Ask questions, meditate, read. Decide if you want to perform a dedication. If you do, decide when you are ready, and discuss your decision with your teacher. Be sure you know why you want to dedicate yourself, and be prepared to justify yourself. Your teacher is obligated to challenge you, to make you question your decision so that you can be certain you are making the right choice. Further, your teacher is obligated to evaluate you honestly, on many levels, and decide whether s/he is willing to accept responsibility for training you further. If you are dealing with our established coven, we will also make a formal decision to accept or reject your dedication, based on personal assessment and the recommendation of your teacher. If we do not choose to work with you, you may still choose a solitary dedication; being Wicca is NOT dependent on membership in any group. Or, you may investigate the possibility of joining a different coven.
Probably, if you are honest in your assessment of yourself and sincere in your desire to practice Wicca, those who have been helping you will be thrilled to continue to do so. Wicca does not evangelize, and in fact one of the responsibilities of your teacher is to help you investigate other paths that may better suit you. But, having invested this much in you already, she is likely to be excited and happy that your spiritual path lies with her.
You’ve already done most of the work. That is, you have learned, questioned, and experienced a lot of new material. Your view of the world has probably changed since you began to learn about Wicca. You may not have all the answers, but you’ve learned how to ask the questions.
Having acquired a basic knowledge of what Wicca is and what is involved in its practice, your next step is to approach your teacher and express your desire for a dedication, as discussed above. Assuming s/he agrees you are ready, you need to plan the actual dedication rite.
Read other dedication rituals; there are many published versions, and your teacher can supply other, private rites. Decide what you like about each one. Decide on a format you like, and work from there--remember that this is *your* ritual, and will be what you write it to be, but also that if you are dedicating to our Circle as well as to a Wiccan path, that what you write involves us all.