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Coven structure & roles

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 2 Comments

I recently listened to an interesting podcast from Circle Talk: Four Witches on Coven Hierarchy. I was pleased to note that most of the speakers on the podcast were advocating for a pretty flat hierarchy. I have written a fair amount about the roles and expectations of the different degrees in Wicca (in All acts of love and pleasure: inclusive Wicca) and quite a lot about coven leadership and the concept of “elders” (in The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation). I regard the Wiccan degree system as being like the apprenticeship system in medieval guilds (apprenticeship, journeyman, master). There was very little in the podcast that I disagreed with, except the one guy who makes his first degree coveners clean the coven brassware. I’m with the woman who said she is happy when people volunteer to help, but she doesn’t make them do tasks.

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Missing Witches

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 3 Comments

I was on the Missing Witches podcast recently. It’s a new and original format for a podcast: more like a structured group chat, ably facilitated by the lovely hosts.

Among other things, we discussed the subject of the book I’m currently writing, Changing Paths, which is about changing from one spiritual path to another. I was also really pleased with the circle opening that I did for this episode.

You can catch the episode at Missing Witches.

Call for contributions – Changing Paths

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 3 Comments

Have you changed from one religion to another, or from a religion to none? Did the process take a long time or was it a sudden change?

I am writing a book to support people through the process of changing paths (leaving a religion, joining Paganism, or changing paths within Paganism).

I am looking for contributions of around 1500-3000 words from people who have joined a Pagan tradition from elsewhere, or left a Pagan tradition for another path.

I am especially interested in people who have left Paganism and then rejoined it, and people who have joined a Pagan tradition from a religion other than Christianity.

What annoyed you about the religion you left? What attracted you about the religion or path that you joined?

Contributions from marginalized people (disabled, BIPOC, LGBTQ2SIA, neurodiverse) are especially welcome. Were you marginalized within the tradition you left? Is that still the case with the tradition you joined?

Email for contributions is yaburrow@gmail.com

Nature, tradition, and ancestors

/ Yvonne Aburrow / 6 Comments

I am very keen on rejecting, resisting, and repudiating the infiltration and co-opting of Paganism by the far right, and so I found Amy Hale’s article on The Pagan and Occult Fascist Connection and How to Fix It a very useful resource, particularly the questions at the end. I would encourage you to read the article, and use these questions as journaling prompts.

So here are my answers to those questions for initiatory Wicca (in some cases, I have previously written blogposts on these topics, so I will link to those).

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