On Finding the Right "Tradition"

In the grand scheme of things, your Tradition doesn’t mean much.  When it comes to the Craft of the Wica*, it is all about the coven. There are a number of reasons why this is so.  All of the various reasons condense down to two simple things that when viewed together make this quite obvious.

"Enjoy this famous picture of Alexander Sanders and coven-mates"

The first is that the praxis of the Wica is a group practice.  Period.  Any such personal rituals, practices, and observances are just that—personal.  Sure, a teacher may teach you meditation, or any other number of other skills and expect you to learn them by doing, but all of those are about teaching that which the Witch needs to know in order to function within the framework of the coven.  These things are not specifically about the practice of the Craft.  Since our Craft is group oriented and since our groups are organized into covens, the coven becomes paramount.  The rest is great, and often deeply rewarding, but still secondary.

It should also be noted that the group praxis only matters in the context of said group.  What you believe and do in your personal practice is 100% yours.  For this reason, I like to joke that every Traditionalist is also eclectic.  It is all about putting everyone on the same page for the purposes of the shared practice... and a shared practice is not the same as a shared belief.  Our Craft is orthopraxis, not orthodox.

The second thing is that our covens within shared practices, a.k.a Traditions, vary too much for any real and hard fast “which Tradition is right for me” assertions to be made.  For example, in many covens the directions are associated with elements.  This is by far not a secret and if I said that the elements are associated as follows, I dare bet that most of those reading along would have heard it before.  That is that the east is air, south is fire, west is water, and north is earth.  For many covens found throughout the Wica, this is certainly a part of their practice.  However, it is not always.  For you see, it is an addition to the praxis.  Yep, an addition borrowed and added from elsewhere.  There are today, British Traditional Wicca (BTW) covens that do not include any elemental associations with the cardinal directions into their coven practice at all. 

As an aside note, this is one of the reasons that declaring that one of the differences between our Craft and other practices within Contemporary Paganism is the use of elemental directions as opposed to the three realms is simply not true.  Or not always.  Sometimes it is both, or one of them, or neither, or any other vast array of coven innovations.

You see, anytime a coven hives it must innovate to the location and the individuals of the coven, thus additions are made that fit the land and the Witches of that coven.  Not that any coven truly stops innovating.  Notice though that I specified additions, there are a small handful of practices that in order for lineage to be maintained must be present.  For example, we do not alter our initiation rite.  It is one of the “traditions” as a shared experience that unites us into a Tradition and so it is left as one such hallmark.  

"Just one of my altars."

It is because of all of this, that I say that any potential seeker should not worry about which Tradition is right for them.  Instead, it is all about finding which coven is right for them.  I know for a fact that there are covens within the Traditions I have been initiated into that are not right for me, some are far from right.  Which is cool, because I am not a good fit for them either.  All of this is okay.  Though we have a shared Tradition through tradition, it is the coven that is the vehicle of the Craft and not the Tradition.

So, when and if one begins to seek membership among the Wica, the first thing to worry about is finding a coven and if you discover they are your tribe, a family of choosing, then you have found your Tradition.    

Boidh Se,

-SM

“Lost in a thicket, bare-foot upon a thorn path.”

*It is my personal preference to use the spelling "Wica" as often found with Traditionalists as opposed to "Wicca" with the double "C" that has been popularized.  Both are correct in their own way.