Wicca is something done before it is something believed. This section sets out what a Gardnerian coven does when it meets, in as much detail as we are free to give.
What follows is an account of what witches do. It is necessarily an outline. The words of the rites are oathbound, and in any case the Craft is learned by doing it in company, not by reading. But the shape of the practice is no secret, and Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente both described it in print.
The rhythm of the practice
A Gardnerian witch's religious life has three rhythms, one inside another.
- The month
- The coven meets at or near each full moon for an esbat. This is the regular working meeting: worship, training and magic. There are twelve or thirteen in a year.
- The year
- The coven meets eight times more to keep the Sabbats of the Wheel of the Year. These are festivals. Little or no magic is worked, and there is usually a feast.
- The day
- Between meetings each witch has a practice of their own. It may be a few minutes at a household altar morning and evening, a greeting to the moon, a walk taken with attention, study, or the slow copying of the Book. Nobody prescribes it, and a witch without it is not really practising.
The shape of a rite
Whether it is an esbat or a Sabbat, a Gardnerian rite follows the same general order. In outline:
- Preparation. The room is cleared and swept, the altar is laid, and the candles are set at the quarters. Those taking part make themselves ready, in body and in mind.
- The casting of the circle. The circle is drawn and consecrated with the four elements, and the coven is brought into it. See the circle.
- The calling of the quarters. The guardians of east, south, west and north are summoned to witness and to guard. See the elements and the quarters.
- The invocation of the gods. The Goddess and the God are called upon. At an esbat this is the rite of Drawing Down the Moon, and it may be followed by the Charge.
- The work. At a Sabbat, the rite of the season. At an esbat, the raising of power and the working of magic, or an initiation, or teaching.
- Cakes and wine. The wine and cakes are blessed and shared. See cakes and wine.
- The closing. The guardians are thanked and bidden farewell, and the circle is closed.
Then the candles are snuffed, the furniture goes back, and everybody eats.
In this section
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The Coven
Who leads it, how it is run, where it meets and how a new one is founded.
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The Circle
The temple that is made and unmade in a night, and the custom of working skyclad.
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The Working Tools
The athame, the sword, the wand, the pentacle and the rest, and what each is for.
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Esbats and the Moon
The monthly meeting at the full moon, and the rite of Drawing Down the Moon.
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Cakes and Wine
The shared meal that ends every circle, with a recipe for the cakes.
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Magic
What witches mean by it, how power is raised, and the limits they set on its use.
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Rites of Passage
Wiccaning, handfasting and the rites for the dead.
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Solitary Practice
What a person without a coven can do, which is a very great deal.
How the practice is learned
Nobody is taught the Craft in a classroom. A newcomer to a coven's outer court learns the things that can be taught to anyone: the festivals and their lore, the elements, how to still the mind, how to hold an image in it, how to move and speak in a circle. An initiate learns the rest by standing in the coven's circles month after month and being given, a little at a time, more to do.
It is an apprenticeship in the old sense. It takes years, and it works in the way apprenticeships do, through repetition and correction and the example of those who are better at it. The witches who are best at it make it look easy. It is not, and that is part of its worth.
What the practice is for
The rites are beautiful, and they are enjoyable, but neither is the reason they are done. They are done to bring those who take part into the presence of the gods, to keep them in step with the moon and the year, to give them the means of helping one another, and over time to change them: to make them steadier, more attentive and more fully themselves. A practice that does none of this is play-acting, however correct. One that does it is the Craft, whatever its imperfections.