Friday, August 17, 2012

Reclaiming Feri

I wrote this many years back for the British Reclaiming Newsletter - I have been going through both my blog and old articles and felt compelled today to post this... with a few small edits. More will follow!

For many years now, when asked what flavor of witch I am, I reply “Reclaiming Feri”. Considering myself such, I make an uneasy peace with what formerly felt at odds. I now practice, teach and initiate from this perspective, and there are a growing number of Witches and priestesses who identify similarly, many who are active in British Reclaiming. So, what is Reclaiming Feri? Answering this question requires first an understanding of the relationship between Reclaiming and Feri. My coven Matrix and Windhag sister Starhawk was one of the founding mothers of Reclaiming. She brought to it a Feri flavor, being a Feri initiate of Victor and Cora Anderson. Her book, the Spiral Dance, primer on Reclaiming style magic, is full of what previously was considered solely Feri concepts and teachings. Some of these concepts, like the pentacles of iron and pearl, and the three souls/selves, have become core teachings of Reclaiming.

Although many of the teachings of Reclaiming and Feri are in alignment, there is one huge difference between them. Reclaiming in not an initiatory tradition, while Feri is. You can be a witch and priestess in Reclaiming and never get initiated. It is purely a personal rite, with no special privileges or material you can’t access otherwise passed on. In Feri, you are only considered a Feri witch and priestess upon initiation, and material which is core to the tradition is revealed only at that time.

For the first decade after Reclaiming was founded, there was considered to be two Reclaiming initiations. The second one was, in fact, a Feri initiation. This is how I, and others in the Reclaiming coven Triskets, came to be Feri initiates. This coven sprung from all of us (myself, Reya, Thorn, Gwydion, Anne Hill, and Patti Martin) preparing for “second initiation” in Reclaiming. At this point, there were only five or so others who’d gone thru “second initiation”. We conversely made things simpler and more complicated in Reclaiming regarding Feri. We simplified things in that we all became clear that this “second” initiation was really initiation into the Feri tradition. To my knowledge, no one in Reclaiming considers there now to be a second Reclaiming initiation. We complicated things by popularizing even more Feri concepts into wider Reclaiming, like the Black Heart, the Peacock God, and aligning the three souls. We both made it clear that Feri was a separate and distinct tradition, meanwhile infusing Reclaiming with a stronger dose of Feri flavor and tools.

Feri had previously been a tradition that did not publicize or advertise itself, most practitioners believing that students would magically find the path to the right teacher, and many not charging for their teaching. Reclaiming, on the other hand, is one of the most public traditions in the Craft, with no qualms about advertising itself, recruiting students, and charging for teaching.. Reclaiming stresses openness and accessibility for all, while Feri has valued selectiveness and a low profile.

Just as Feri has influenced Reclaiming, now Reclaiming witches who have been Feri initiated are now influencing the tradition of Feri. In the past, to study Feri by it’s very definition meant you were on an initiatory path with your teacher. Now, there is a rise in Reclaiming style workshops and trainings which teach Feri concepts and materials, with no common goal of students being initiated into the tradition. My Triskit coven sister, Thorn Coyle, with her book “Evolutionary Witchcraft”, and her advertised large trainings, is a perfect example of this, but by no means the only example. More and more Reclaiming witches who have been initiated into Feri are teaching Feri material within Reclaiming community and beyond.

Naming myself a Reclaiming Feri witch and priestess, I acknowledge that I, like many others, am a hybrid of the two traditions. I honor and respect my friends, family, and students who choose to not become hybrids, who strongly believe in the Reclaiming value of non-hierarchy, and want to keep initiation as a personal commitment, not a requirement to be part of a tradition or community.

As with everything, both Feri and Reclaiming traditions are made of both shadow and light. The same can be said of the hybrid – Reclaiming Feri. I helped create Reclaiming’s Principles of Unity and try to live by them. As a Feri initiate, I also gave my oath to not pass on, except at initiation, certain Feri materials. This is arguably antithetical to the values of Reclaiming, a tradition that strives for all to be in circle as equals, with no inner and outer court of secret material. In Feri, there are inner and outer court names for the Guardians and Gods, the inner court being revealed to initiates only. Calling in a circle with inner court names with non-initiates present would be considered sacrilegious to Feri. In Reclaiming, all hangs out, with an open door to access to the mysteries, initiation or not.

To be Reclaiming Feri is to struggle with contradictions and marvel at paradox. For over a decade I’ve been theologically examining what I’ve gotten from both traditions and what it means to be a hybrid. I’ve tweaked and shifted many of my practices, and even the way I initiate. My black heart of innocence now beats in harmony with a green heart of consciousness and a pink heart of compassion. I’ve found that, for me, the point of power on the Iron pentacle is better balanced by a point of compassion on the Pearl pentacle than with liberty. I honor the power of names that I’ve received from Feri, the magic that resides in each and every syllable and letter, but in Reclaiming style, I’ve reclaimed each and every name I’ve received, listening intently until I have found my own names for the sacred, deepening my relationship to each God/dess and Guardian. The secrets I hold are now my own.

What is Reclaiming Feri? How have elements of each tradition impacted the other, for better and worse? What does it mean to combine them? What mistakes have been made? These are questions that could be widely asked, with no rush to answer definitively. There is something distinct and particular being created as more and more Reclaiming witches receive training and initiation into Feri. Feri continues to be impacted as a tradition by the influx and interest of Reclaiming Witches. There is power in recognizing that something new continues to be created, and for all of us to examine the theological underpinnings of the hybrid, continuing to invoke in supposed Reclaiming fashion, the questioning attitude.

2 comments:

Anne said...

I'd completely forgotten all that stuff we did. My goodness, we certainly caused a ruckus! I may need to take a nap now just remembering.

Anne-Marie said...

Thank you for your words on this and honoring that the work in this theology continues.