What Makes A Witch? Some people insist that "Only a Witch can make a Witch." In other words, to become a Witch, one must be Initiated by a Witch, who was in turn Initiated by a Witch, who was in their turn Initiated by a Witch..... But who Initiated the first Witch? Other folks say, "Only the Gods can make a Witch." In other words, regardless of whether or not any human ceremony is performed, true Initiation comes only from the Gods. A ritual of Initation - whether performed by an Initiator or group, or by oneself - serves only either to attempt to trigger that process, or to acknowledge and recognize that process as having occurred. Still other folk appear to believe that one can make oneself a Witch, simply by declaring "I am a Witch." And then there are those silly folk who have been heard to declare things like "Of course I'm a Third Degree High Priestess! I've been circling for six months, and I've read all but three chapters of StarHawk's Spiral Dance!" -- and are outraged when they are not accorded the recognition they believe they are due. I hold to: "A Witch is born, not made; or if a Witch is to be made, then tears must be spilt before the Moon can be Drawn. For the Lady chooses whom She Will to be Her Lovers, and She rends Her Servants apart before finally making them Wise."
[For anyone interested, this is my reworking of someone's reworking of two separate statements originally written by "Robert Cochrane" of The Regency (Britain) and 1734 (America) fame - or is it infamy?] And how do I interpret that statement?
A Witch is born;
It is necessary to "make" - to awaken, to actualize and bring into manifestation - that which was born within one;
"To learn it is necessary to suffer and be purified..." ;
Only the Gods can make a Witch because the Goddess is the Source of the Initiatory Current, and She can, and will, bestow that Current when, and upon whom, She chooses. For priesthood is a vocation, and it is She who calls us: "Arise! And come unto Me!"
Initiation is essential to becoming a Witch. While I think the term "self-Initiation" is a misnomer, nevertheless it is possible to attune oneself to the Initiatory Current, and thereby become Initiated - not into any particular lineage or family, of course, since nobody can adopt themselves into someone else's family, but into "Wicca". However, it takes a considerable amount of work, study, and effort to attune oneself to the Current - and it takes being Proper Person enough to be able to know what is wheat, and what is chaff, out of the publicly-available material to properly prepare onself to attune to the correct frequency - to tap into the proper Initiatory Current. So I still hold to "only a Witch can make a Witch" - although there are those for whom both instances of the word "Witch" refer to the same individual; and I also still hold to "only the Gods can make a Witch" for the Lady chooses whom She Will.... And I also hold to "declaring 'I am a Witch'" because it is we, each of us individually, who must answer Her Call - and accept that possibility, and bring it into manifestation.
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