Self dedication ideas, please

[Faery-Wings]

I think I am ready to do a self dedication. No, I know I am ready! But I have a few questions first. How do I do it? :)

Seriously, this is a something I am so excited to do and I want to give it my best but I am stumped on where to begin. And I want to make it special too, personal and close to the Goddess. I don't have much of an alter yet, some candles, incense and a chime. All 4 elements should be represented? What else do I add? And is there a better time to do this, like at a full moon?

Sorry if these are stupid questions, but I know someone here will be able to point me in the right direction and get me started and than I can go from there.

Thanks and blessings

Chris
:sunny:

[bluecat]

That Depends ... If you are interested in Wicca, you might try Cunningham's Guide for the Solitary Practicioner.

How long have your been studying?

Blue

[Faery-Wings]

Whoops! I should really stop posting until *after* I finish my coffee. Sorry!

What I am looking to do is make an official start to my "year and a day" of study. I have felt Pagan all my life, but haven't seriously studied until a few months ago. I am planning on being a solitary eclectic although Kitchen Witchery is an area I want to explore more. I have found very little information on that as of yet.

I have been trying to check out Cunningham's book from my local library, but even though it is listed as available, it is no where to be found.


Chris

[DragonTamer]

Do you have a bookstore nearby? It should be in just about anything that has a New Age section, along with a bunch of others. It's a little daunting, so i suggest sticking with one or two authors until you get an idea of your own viewpoints...

As to a self initiation, all you REALLY need is you, the Goddess and God, and the dedication. My self-initiation was just a little on-the-fly ritual when i felt the time was right--- one candle, Enya in the background, and a spur of the moment pledge to follow where She leads me. It's the ideas and the truths you know inside that make this a religion.

:)

[Faery-Wings]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to try *fingers crossed really tightly* to get out without the kids tomorrow. There is a bookstore about 45 minutes from me. They have wonderful stuff in there but it is not the place to bring a 2 yo and a 4 who love to touch pretty things. The last thing I need to to buy out their entire (broken) inventory he he.



And thanks for describing your dedication. I think I was placing too much emphasis on making it *perfect* that I was losing sight of what the goal of it is supposed to be. I needed that bit of perspective.

BB

Chris

:sunny:

[Shy Hawk]

Some traditions suggest you wait a year and a day to do it. Others don't set a time stipulation....
I suggest just doing something personal and full of emotion.
Sorry this is so short, I'm rushing. :D
Shy Hawk

[Rævyn Cigány]

DragonTamer, your dedication sounds a heck of a lot like my own. I dedicated myself in January, freezing my tail off in my back room (which is insulated, but not heated) with four candles for the four points of the compass (one of which had seen it's last legs, broken nearly in half!) , one in the middle for the Goddess, and my pentacle about my neck. I didn't have any book to follow, so I closed my eyes, opened my circle (dirty and messy though it was ;)) and just said what my heart told me too. I felt such a peace after my dedication, it convinced me that you don't have to have an elaborate altar or a fancy ceremony for the Mother to hear you...

Chryssi, I wish you all the luck and light in your impending journey...if you have any questions, and need an ear, I float about here most nights, and would try my best to answer any questions for you, should you wish to pose them.

Walking with She who is Light,

Rae )0(

[DragonTamer]

Chrissy, i wish you all the luck in the world, and i'm glad i could be of a little help. And i know exactly what you mean about getting lost in it all-- i love the color and the grandure, and because of that, i sometimes misplace the emotion behind all the trappings, but it's easy enough to find again. All things in the world have the Goddess's fingerprints on them ;) !

Rae: I'm glad there's others who dedicated spur-of-the-moment in makeshift rituals. Sometimes i feel like i'm the only one not following the books-- but the best magic comes when it feels right, regardless of how many tools we have around, right?

DragonTamer

[Rævyn Cigány]

You got it, Pontiac!! :cool:

[bluecat]

Originally posted by Rævyn Cigány
You got it, Pontiac!! :cool:

I'm a Chrysler & Dodge Man myself. ;)

Your own dedication ritual is the best. There are many things out there that you can study and memorize, but that is just the point, you are "memorizing" something and it's not from you.

While there are many who will say that memorizing rituals helps you with your dedication to what you believe in I believe it is best if you create your own. As long as you have all of the elements that are proscribed by your beliefs and in some kind of order, if that is necessary, it's best if the ritual comes from your own spirit and not from someone else's book!

Blue :cool:

[SeekerSandy]

Chryss, we are all sole practitioners here who self dedicated at one time or another. Cunningham was an excellent guide but you know what you want to do and you understand the basics of ritual. You don't need any kind of big blowout, just be yourself, and talk the the Lady as yourself. Candles, incense and maybe nice music helps to set the mood and raise some power but what you do with it must be from your heart and nowhere else.
We prefered quiet outdoors desert settings but hard to do in the winter (brrrrrrr).
The Goddess recognizes you, not canned ritual.

Enjoy!8O

[SeekerSandy]

By 'here,' I meant where I live, not this thread or website. We are several solitaries who often practice together. Should have said that the first time. It's hell getting old......:smash:

[Ari]

I include a dedication as part of my Imbolc ritual every year...I guess it's kind of like couples who renew their wedding vows ;) I usually write some resolutions in terms of my spiritual 'work' for the upcoming year and then seal them with wax, then reread and burn the paper at the following year's ritual. It keeps me on track, and clear about what I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the ceremony (or in your hectic life!) if you don't have frequent reminders.

[Faery-Wings]

... and for helping me keep things in perspective.

I did my dedication last week. I got the kids to bed (*whew*) and got everything set up, candles, incense, crystals etc..I took a ritual shower (no time for a bath! LOL) and cast my circle- boy was I nervous! Then as I was standing in the circle, I realized that what I had wanted to read was lying on my bed, *outside* of the circle!!!This was good, though. I just asked the Goddess to help me find what was in my heart and to help me to see what I needed to see and so on. It felt good that I could say what I truly felt and not to have read what someone else had wrote. That was my safety net I believe.

Amyway, I was all buzzy afterwards :) but happy!

Chris
:sunny:

[Elaine]

good for you chryssi!!! I'm glad it went well for you!! I think as long as you feel good about what you did....you did a good job!!:D

[SeekerSandy]

By George, I think she's got it!8O

[WiccanGoddess]

My opinion on self-dedication: Just do it the way you want and all will go well. I am fixing to undergo mine, but I have one problem: No candles and incense allowed in my house. So I figure evoking the Goddess and asking for her help will work. I am kind of in charge of initiating *?* my friends, who started at about the same time I did, and as I've said before: HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I"M DOING!

[SeekerSandy]

Now I'm in a quandry and don't want to add to your confusion.
But, I am not sure that we can work much magick without formal ritual and the assistance of magickal tools such as candles at the cardinal points for the Watchers and a properly equiped altar with incense (for the Spirit of Air, or Wind), a candle (for the Spirit of the South), salt (for the Spirit of the North). water (for the Spirit of the West), an athame and the God and Goddess candles.
I guess serious meditation might work but a self-dedication to me means magick, with all the trappings or at least basic trappings.
Maybe I'm all wet but every book on Witchcraft and Magick that I have indicates that magick doesn't happen if done in the easy, ritual-free manner.
Can you do it out of doors? In the woods, a natural setting? Maybe at a friend's house? Rent a motel room?
I sure hope that whatever you do works alright for you and your friends.

[indigo rain]

i dedicated myself in the middle of the kitchen floor (it was bare and i didnt wanna catch my carpet in the rest of the apartment on fire). i took a journal that had a couple entries in it and tore out those pages and burned them in a dutch oven (i didn't have a cauldron yet, heh), symbolically ending that part of my life that i had written about. then i asked that the rest of the journal be dedicated as my book of shadows and symbolize the new part of my life. and i chose (or rather was chosen by) my patron and matron, and i pledged myself to them.

[TeresaMichele]

Hi. I'm new, so forgive me if I'm out of line. *blush*

I always thought that the magick came from inside you, and then was somehow channeled through the tools. Therefore, it's possible to do Magick with just yourself, though candles, oils, stones, and the like may make it more powerful. For this reason, I think that people who practice ceremonial magick can have things work for them even if they don't follow the Goddess and God.

I realize this is kind of off-topic now.

Sorry.

In an attempt to recover the topic, I'm doing my official dedication next week. I'm nervous but happy. :o)

Teresa