Introduction:

The work of a clergy-person takes three distinct forms. Clergy members counsel their friends, neighbors and colleagues in times of need and crisis, and at significant life passages. They teach about religion and spirituality, to children and to adults. Thirdly (and most evident to the public eye), they conduct rituals of worship, consecration and passage. It is primarily with rituals of passage that these notes are concerned, although the other two functions do come into play.

As Witches, we understand the word 'Wicca' to refer to one particular order of neo-Pagan clergy. In our opinion, all Witches are, broadly speaking, Pagans, but not all Pagans are Witches. Any Pagan clergy-person might be called upon to conduct rites of passage, both for people of their own denomination and for those of other faiths. We therefore dedicate these notes to the use of all who serve the Pagan community as clergy, and to the Earth. We ask our Druid, Asatruar, Reconstructionist, and other Pagan friends to make due allowance for the fact that our vocabulary is mostly Wiccan; we mean no disrespect to other Pagan groups.

Translator's note

This book was originally published as a handbook to accompany an elders' intensive workshop. In translating the text of this book for publication on the Web, some adaptations and amendments have been made in order to address copyright issues, changes in format and readability, and the constraints inherent in broader distribution. The wise reader will, we trust, understand the need for such changes. Translation into HTML 3 format was done at Wobbly Raven Webworks.

About this book

This book is intended for use by people who are working as or training to become Pagan clergy, and for those who are training towards Elderhood in their particular Order or Path, and who are working with the guidance of an Elder. These notes are only what we have learned up until now -- they are hardly the final word on the subject. They are not intended to become the basis for the next Pagan fad, nor should they be construed to replace the rituals of your own Pagan tradition, or the guidance of your own Elders.

As usual with us, this is a work in progress. We hope to receive advice, corrections, inspirations, great ideas, criticisms and manifestos concerning this book from those who are using it. Please let us know what you think should be different in the next version. Comments and corrections may be sent to us at: judyharo@comcast.net.

About the authors

Judy is High Priestess of Proteus Coven, a liberal Gardnerian Wiccan congregation in northeastern New Jersey. She is a chair of the Pastoral Counseling Program at Cherry Hill Seminary, having retired from an earlier career in civil service. Judy holds an M.S. degree in Counseling from City University of New York. In her copious spare time, Judy conducts rites of passage for Pagans and their friends, and she also writes for various venues.

Gwyneth commutes between the very westernmost West Coast and New Jersey. She holds an advanced degree in an utterly unrelated field from an obscure provincial university. For fun, she edits religious texts, including little books like this.

Judy and Gwyneth have been arguing over nit-picks, collaborating on magical projects, and happily married to each other since the spring of 1994. We have never been able to agree upon the superiority of English or American spelling rules - therefore you will find words spelled in both fashions within these pages.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to our colleagues who shared their work with us: Eleanor for her croning script, Spellweaver for her pre-marriage questionnaire, Elsa for her handfasting script and good advice about the responsibilities of clergy. We also acknowledge the creative work of the late Herman Enderle of the Pagan Way.

For their wise advice we thank Donna, S., Moose, and Rich. We also owe thanks to the people who, over the years, have paid us the honor of having us officiate at their handfastings, child blessings, and memorials.

Copyright

All authors, as identified in these notes, retain copyright of their work. We claim right of authorship and copyright on our work only. The works of other authors have been quoted and excerpted in these notes with due permission, for purposes of private study and teaching, subject to the fair use provisions of Canadian and American copyright legislation. You may not incorporate these notes or portions thereof in a work for commercial sale or distribution via any means electronic or otherwise.

You may, however, use these notes as the basis for teaching your own students, or for in-service education of your group members.You may freely make copies of this entire notebook for use with your own students and colleagues, provided that this book may not be reproduced for commercial gain.

We would very much appreciate news about how you're using these notes, feedback, suggestions for improvement, etc. Please contact Judy Harrow for this, or to request permission for any commercial use.

Thank you!

Further readings

Rather than give you one great big heap of references to wade through at the end of these notes, we've sorted them out by topic at appropriate places within the notes.

Most of these books and articles came from our personal libraries. We also made use of the Library of Congress' wonderful on-line catalog to do searches by subject.

We have noted International standard book numbers (ISBN's) for your convenience in ordering books through your favorite bookseller. Cataloging-in-publication (CIP) numbers given are those under which the book might be found in the collections of library that, like most larger research libraries, uses the Library of Congress classification system.

Cautions to the reader

Rituals can induce psychological changes within their practitioners. As a clergy-person, you are obliged to consider the well-being of the people that you are working with, as well as your own.

The responsibility for wise conduct of these rites is yours.

Only those who already have healthy ego boundaries should voluntarily suspend such boundaries. The condition of having weak or absent boundaries is schizophrenia, not mysticism. When guiding other people through rites of passage, do not direct them to open any personal cans of worms unless you are ready, willing and able to help them work through the issues that may arise.

Opinions expressed within these notes are solely those of the authors and are not to be construed as being the opinions or positions of our covens, the organizations to which we belong, or any particular Tradition of our Craft.


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