Some Witch Rituals

The major witch rituals are among the few things most writers on contemporary witchcraft agree upon. They are greatly varied, but a handful stand out as most significant.

Contemporary witches usually work in covens (groups of adherents of the craft, or faith), which are traditionally thirteen in number, but may be any number from three to twenty. The group begins by “casting the circle,” isolating and purifying the holy place where magic will occur, where gods and goddesses will manifest, where time will disappear, where faith will become incarnate. The magic circle is nine feet in diameter and is cast—drawn in the air—with the athame. It is the place between two worlds—the realm of the gods and that of the humans. It is a place where cosmic power is concentrated.

We all recognize—whether from meditating in groups, dancing in groups, praying in groups, or doing yoga in groups—that we are social creatures who derive psychic strength from working together for common ends. The witch coven has this concentration of psychic power as its practical basis.

Here are some rituals covens perform:

Drawing Down the Moon

This is a ritual by which the High Priestess, or leader, of a witch coven takes the power of the goddess into herself, becoming, in effect, the goddess for the duration of the ritual.

The rite is performed on the first night of the full moon, at midnight, the “witching hour.” The witch evokes the goddess within herself—that is, becomes the goddess incarnate. The goddess is she whom we call the triple goddess, the moon goddess, with her three phases—waxing, full, waning. She is Diana/Artemis, Astarte, Aphrodite, the Mother Goddess, and thus associated with birth, death, rebirth, and the lunar cycles. Meditation, chanting, dancing, and singing may all be used to evoke the goddess. The point is to reach a state in which human and divine merge for a time within the person of the leader of the coven.

Raising the Cone of Power

The cone of power is a metaphor for the will of the group, the psychic power of a circle of like-minded worshipers, spiritually united to procure the same end. Some English witches claim that during World War II they helped prevent a German invasion of Britain by raising the cone of power against Hitler (just as their ancestors supposedly helped defeat the Spanish Armada by the same means). Perhaps the RAF also played some part.

Witches raise the cone of power by means of dancing, chanting, meditating.

Initiation

The next ritual most universally practiced by contemporary witches is the initiation of the convert. The initiation is a metaphor for rebirth, and sometimes involves the use of a ceremonial scourge.

The initiate is welcomed into the group, given an oath and a ceremonial name, and anointed with water and wine. This initiation is in every respect different from the “initiation” reported by the tortured witches—which nearly always involved abjuring Christ and Christianity, the Blessed Virgin, the saints, father, mother, heaven, earth, and so on. This was followed by baptism, the receiving of a witch’s mark (perhaps a tattoo?), a new witch name to symbolize conversion, and a kiss to the Grandmaster of the coven—usually the “kiss of infamy” (kiss on the Devil’s ass) so beloved by the inquisitional recorders.

All these elements of witch initiation are ancient, and are followed in many religious traditions. Catholics still kiss the Pope’s ring symbolically, and both baptism and the renaming of converts are among the most holy of ancient rituals. Whether the initiation of late medieval witches really included these things (the “kiss of infamy” in particular), or whether they are projections and distortions on the part of the Inquisitors, we cannot ever really know. We read the inquisitional accounts with horror and disbelief—but so, too, do we read about Nazi death camps, disbelieving the evidence even as we meet survivors in the flesh.

Self-Blessing (or Self-Dedication)

A personal ritual whereby the witch dedicates herself to the service of the Mother Goddess and the Horned God. It may be done with a coven or before one’s own altar, using oil, incense, and candles, or else water, wine, and salt. It is done when the need to rededicate the self to its path is great.

Margot Adler relates a self-blessing ritual originally devised by Ed Fitch, a noted American neo-pagan. It is performed in the nude in a tranquil place, using salt, water, wine, and a votive candle. The devotee stands upon sprinkled salt, lights the candle, then with water and wine anoints first the eyes, then the nose, then the mouth, then the breast, then the loins, then the feet, while saying the following invocation:

Bless me, mother, for I am your child.

Blessed be my eyes, that I may see your path.

Blessed be my nose, that I may breathe your essence.

Blessed be my mouth, that I may speak of you.

Blessed be my breast, that I may be faithful in my work.

Blessed be my loins, which bring forth the life of men and women as you have brought forth all creation.

Blessed be my feet, that I may walk in your ways.

This is a powerful, meditative, and healing ritual despite its seeming simplicity.

It is important to remember that though we live in a written-word-oriented culture, where we never quite believe any information unless it appears in print, witchcraft is primarily an oral tradition, learned apprentice-fashion rather than from texts. Many witch traditions forbid disclosure of secret rites, on the assumption that secrecy breeds spiritual power. Also, witch traditions vary widely from country to country, from coven to coven. All witches would agree, however, that witchcraft was—and is—a joyous, ecstatic religion in which the gods and goddesses are better served by merriment than by moaning.

As the faithful of the Old Religion say:

Blessed be.