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Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com


 
 
                       TO WICCEN OR NOT TO WICCEN......
                               by Vivienne West
 
      Christians  "christen"  a  child  shortly  after  it comes into the
      world. Surely, then, it would make sense for Wiccans to "wiccen"  a
      child at the same age - or even earlier.
 
      I have an objection to the christening ceremony based on my  funda-
      mental belief in the right of the individual to make their own free
      choice.  The  christening ceremony, usually if not always performed
      on a person who is far too small to speak for themselves,  condemns
      the  child  to  at least nominal Christianity all their life. Their
      parents are sworn to raise the child as a Christian no  matter  how
      obviously  unhappy  that  makes their offspring, and statements are
      made in ritual about the actual belief-system of the child. This is
      abhorrent to me: no one should ever make binding  magical  promises
      (and  all  rituals, even Christian ones, are magical) about someone
      who cannot speak for  themselves  and  whose  preferences  are  not
      known.
 
      Now, I have read short articles in various Pagan magazines  in  the
      past  (one in particular I remember, but Murphy has got to my mind,
      so I can remember neither the title  nor  the  authors'  names)  in
      which people have laid out ritual events ar scripts that do exactly
      the  same  thing,  only  in Wiccan terms instead of Christian ones.
      This, too, even as a Wiccan, I  find  distasteful.  Once  again,  a
      person  (even  if  they  think  of  themself as a concerned, caring
      parent) is forcing their own belief-system and value-judgements  on
      someone who is too young and helpless to speak for themself.
 
      I  do  believe  in  celebrating the event of birth. Birth is a huge
      step:  it  is  a  statement  about  the  individual's   choice   of
      environment  and associates for up to the next hundred years or so.
      It marks the beginning of a period known  as  life,  in  which  the
      individual  is  offered  chances to grow and develop, as well as to
      experience pleasures and pain. Birth should be celebrated,  and  it
      is fitting to celebrate it in front of the Gods.
 
      But  even  as  a  part  of such celebration, do I have any right to
      insist that my infant child is going to grow up into being  Wiccan?
      Obviously,  as a Wiccan whose every aspect of life is influenced by
 
 
 
 
      my belief-system, I am going to teach my child about the Craft  and
      try  to instill a love of the Gods that I know and love. I am going
      to try to teach a love of the magical way of looking at the  world,
      as opposed to the boring old way everyone else looks at things. Yet
      if my offspring, while knowing all they can about the Craft, decide
      it  is  not for them and some other path (or no path at all) is the
      only right and fitting way to live their life, then that  is  their
      decision.  I  have  no  right, even at this early stage, to condemn
      them to a lifetime of Wicca, no matter what.
 
      On the other hand, though, as a caring parent I  have  every  right
      and  every emotional need to do whatever I can to protect and bless
      my child. I will definitely do a working  when  this  infant  I  am
      carrying  is  born. This will be along the lines of an introduction
      or presentation of my child to the Old Ones, and an asking of their
      blessing and protection on him/her. It will  not,  however,  be  an
      ceremony  formally  inducting  the  child into Wicca. That can wait
      until such time as he/she expresses an interest in initiation.
 
                                                                             2388
 


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