I have been a Witch since 1987, when I
Self-Initiated into Wicca. A few months after, I was studying Tarot
with Francesca
De Grandis, who was then Francesca Dubie. My Initiation came up
in discussion and Francesca went out of her way to acknowledge that
this was valid under Faery Tradition as she and Starhawk taught, and
that her basis for this statement her first hand knowledge that Victor
Anderson recognized initiation into Faery. "It's his tradition, so he
gets to say that Self Initiation is valid," she concluded.
(Faery should not be confued with Feri, which as far as I can tell
are different directions that Victor's students took his teachings.
Feri recognizes the validity of self-Initiation per se, but not
into Feri proper.)
In my Sophmore year in college, I met Peregrine, then a 2nd Degree
Witch and member of Crystal Unicorn Coven based out of Mason, Ohio.
Crystal Unicorn was a Coven formed by five Witches from five different
traditions (Gardnerian, Seax, Dianic, Faery, and I forget what else)
that met at Goddess Gather one year and were Divinely instructed to
form a coven together.
Peregrine was forming a Grove (a Wiccan teaching Circle that isn't a Coven)
and being very interested in furthering my education I became a
founding member of White Horse Grove. Things progressed the way these
things usually do, and in 1988 White Horse Grove became
White Horse Coven with Peregrine's elevation to 3rd Degree and the
Initiation of several of his students, including me. This process
continued such that I was elevated to 3rd Degree Samhain 1990, when
the first of my students reached Initiation. Those who had Initiated
concurrently with me also reached their 3rds, concurrently with most
of their graduations. (I had graduated the year before.)
What traditionally happens at this point in a Coven's lifeline is
that the 3rds all hive off and form their own daughter Covens. This
isn't at all far from what we did, but it's not all we did, either.
Over the course of the development of White Horse Coven, we rejected
religiously what we rejected politically: hierarchy and particularly
gender based hierarchy. We wanted to preserve our kinship, but the
Gardnerian model simply didn't work for us. We sought a flatter organization, and we got
it when we created White Horse Tribe.
Thirteen years have passed since then. What happens within the
Tribe is not the concern of those outside the Tribe, so I won't detail
the joys and growing pains of so diverse a body as we grew to be all
working togther as closely as we had when we were able to get a dorm
together in college. In that time I've founded Groves and been part
of Covens, I've taught and I've learned. With the passage of time, I reached a point
where I decided that my path and White Horse's had to part ways, and
in late 2001 I withdrew from White Horse.
Since then I have been in solitary practise, getting to know myself
outside the context of White Horse. At this point I've come partially
out of the chrysalys and begun meeting with people again. If the
right student comes along, I'll teach again. Beyond that, only the
Great Ones know what awaits.
If you'd like to correspond, feel free to e-mail me.
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