PSA: Respect People Whose Traditions Require Initiation!
This is something that has been bothering me for a long time. I want to preface by saying I am 100% pro accessibility. Everyone who wants to be a witch; I want for them to be a witch, too! I want them to study things that they're passionate about and pursue the craft that speaks to them!
Now that that's out of the way, indulge me in my stance for a minute.
Witchcraft is a series of practical, spiritual, esoteric, occult traditions that has been passed down for centuries upon centuries by right of initiation. Initiation does not exist to gatekeep. Initiation does not serve to make anyone feel superior. It is not elitist or exclusionary in nature. The point of initiation is to ritualistically acknowledge your hard work and accomplishments through study and practice in front of your entire family/coven/order/whatever. It is also generally considered a ritual of commitment to your tradition or order, and loyalty/good practice oaths are almost always involved. In almost every tradition or organization certain rights and privledges are extended to initiated degrees, but again, this is not for the purposes of excluding anyone or asserting authority. 99% of the time it's acknowledging that you've achieved at least a working knowledge of the initiatory witch, and then they bestow more knowledge upon you, and help you to better understand and grow your craft with more experienced people. The initiated then often go on to take ritual or teaching roles within their temple.
This used to be (and largely still is) the way that someone dived into the world of the occult. Before the internet, the only way to learn was to seek out an established group and ask them to teach you. However, now the internet is very easily accessible to most people, and information is more easily and readily available than ever. Unfortunately, with the vastness of the internet, the ability for anyone to contribute to it, and the lack of fact/source/credibility checking on behalf of the users, misinformation is very, very easily spread. This is why some of us believe in the credibility of lineage. I want to stress again: this is not for elitist or exclusionary reasons. Some people want to learn from groups who are able to prove that they know what they're teaching. So often here on tumblr we see association lists and charts and all sorts of "information" posted without any source, or from a debunked source, or with the author saying "that's how it is because that's the way I feel about it".
While I can't speak much on this next point specifically, I will at least mention it to cover my bases. So: this same aforementioned mentality can also be extremely offensive for god worshipers and/or cultural students/dedicants. A lot of people take their religious beliefs very seriously, and rightfully so. They've spent years upon years of their lives studying their faith, culture, and god(s), among other things. So, when a well knowledged dedicant says something like "this god hates x", or "x is very offensive to this culture" and someone comes along and says "I personally feel like this isn't offensive so I'm going to keep doing/saying this" or "I personally connect x with this god for no real reason beyond my personal feelings" it can very easily create conflict.
If your personal craft is something entirely your own and it works for you without harming anyone else, then that's fantastic for you! Just avoid speaking like your word is law without anything to back up what you're saying beyond subjective opinions. I can't even begin to say how many times I've seen someone write a spell or ritual and then when questioned about certain aspects of it the author just says "oh, there's no real reason for why I used that particular ingredient, I just associate x with y". Again, that's great for you if it works for you. The very least you can do, however, if you want to share your experiences, is be honest about it. If it's an association you made on your own, say that somewhere in your post.
Furthermore, I want to state for the umpteenth time that I am NOT AGAINST people identifying as witches regardless of their craft. Just, please, understand where we're coming from. A lot of us spend literal years studying, writing research papers, taking exams, demonstrating ritual proficiency, among other things. Stop trying to destroy initiatory traditions. Stop accusing initiatory traditions of gatekeeping and/or being elitist without any evidence to support your claim.
Finally, if you think you've found a path/craft/tradition that speaks to you, please do yourself a favor and reach out to experienced practitioners! Question everything! Find and save your sources! Learn! Grow! Become the experienced practitioner!
-Stop accusing initiatory traditions of gatekeeping and/or elitism without evidence!
-Stop trying to destroy the idea of initiatory traditions!
-Study! Learn! Know where your information is coming from!
-Cite your sources, or if something is a subjective opinion, make that clear!
-By rule of thumb you generally shouldn't proclaim yourself a full fledged witch until you've studied your craft for at least a full year. Many new aspiring witches seem to like the term "witchling" or "baby witch", which is intended not to be demeaning, but just to identify you as someone who is still just starting out and might appreciate some guidance or understanding if you mess up.
-You have every right to identify as a witch if you practice witchcraft; just understand that it can come across as demeaning if your credentials are "collected crystals and made tea for two months" compared to those of us who have spent years earning our degrees/initiation.
As of writing this, I am speaking as a master mason, knight templar, and first degree (soon to be second degree) priest in my tradition. I have eleven years of experience studying and practicing many, many different paths, both in and out of initiatory organizations and traditions.
If anybody would like to discuss any part of this, I will be happy to speak respectfully with all my fellow witches and witchlings of all paths.
