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A little Info on First Degree Witches In a formal sense, first degree initiation makes you a rank - and - file witch. But of course it is more complicated than that. As every experienced witch knows, there are some people who are natural witches from birth - often maybe from a past incarnation. A good High Priestess or High Priest is used to spotting them. Initiating one of these is not 'making' a witch, rather it is a two way gesture of recognition and acknowledgement - and of course, a ritual of welcome to a valued addition to the coven. At the other extreme, there are the 'slow starters' - often good, sincere and hard-working people who the initiator knows very well have a long way to go, and maybe a lot of hang-ups and false conditioning to overcome, before they can be called real witches. But even for these, initiation is no empty formality, if the initiator knows his or her job. It can give them a sense of belonging, a feeling that an important milestone has been passed; and just by giving a sincere postulant, however apparently ungifted, the right to call him or herself a witch, you are encouraging him or her to work hard to live up to the name. And some presumed slow-starters can take you by surprise with a sudden acceleration of developement after initiation; then you know that it has been 'taken'. In between are the majority, the postulants of average potential and blossoming awareness, who realize more or less clearly that Wicca or any other pagan path is the path they have been looking for, and why, but who are still only beginning to explore its implications. For these, a well conducted initiation can be very moving and powerful of an experience. A good initiator will do everything to make it so. Every initiation, in any genuine religion or fraternity, is a symbolic death and rebirth, consciously undergone. In Old Wiccan practice, a man was always initiated by a woman, and a woman by a man, thus to create a balance. The first exception being that a mother could initiate her daughter or a man his son. Excerpt from "The Witches' Bible" written by Janet and Stewart Farrar A bit on second degree
Second degree initiaition promotes a first degree witch to be a High Priestess or High Priest; not necessarily, of course, as the leader of her or his own coven. The distinction is the same as between "a" colonel and "the" colonel; the former implies that one is speaking of a holder of that particular rank; whatever his actual job; the latter means one is naming the commander of a particular unit. A second degree witch may initiate others - only, of course of the opposite sex, and only to the first or second degree. Self initiation is another matter which i will discuss at a later date. Initiating anybody lays a responsibility on the initiator, both in deciding whether the postulant is suitable (or ready) for it, and in making sure his or her training will continue. Initiation can have deep psychic and karmic repercussions, and if it is irresponsibly given, the results may become part of the initiator's own karma. Another implication of being a second degree witch is that you may, with the agreement of your High Priestess, leave the coven and form your own with your working partner. In that case, you are still under the guidance of the parent coven until its leaders decide you are ready for complete independence; they will then give you your third degree initiation. Excerpt from "The Witches' Bible" written by Janet and Stewart Farrar | 
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