Should I do a self-dedication?

[Arinya]

I've been studying wicca, witchcraft, and just generally pagan things for about ten years now but it's been very sporadic. I'm 22, a college student with little time, but I get these feelings built up inside sometimes - like right now. I don't know if it's the weather or my mood, or what it is, but I feel this desperate need to learn and further myself in the craft until I can actually call myself a Pagan. I call myself that now if someone asks but...I'm not a practicing Pagan but merely someone who thinks along the same lines.

I need this to change.

So I'm considering doing a self-dedication ritual to learning what my path is. I won't be doing it to any path specifically - and perhaps this means I should not do it? It'll be more along the lines of dedicating myself to studying and learning. Although because of my classes and job I really don't have that much time - so I don't want to offend anything (deities, guides, who knows?!) if I fail yet again.

Is this something I should not be doing yet? I'm torn between doing this because it might give me the push I need to truly practice and learn. However, maybe I should just make a study outline and try to stick to it until I find my own path?

Thank you for all your help and opinions!

Oh, and if one dedicates themselves to something/someone and fails...is that going to come back to me and hurt me later on?

-Arinya

[Fiamma]

So I'm considering doing a self-dedication ritual to learning what my path is. I won't be doing it to any path specifically - and perhaps this means I should not do it? It'll be more along the lines of dedicating myself to studying and learning. Although because of my classes and job I really don't have that much time - so I don't want to offend anything (deities, guides, who knows?!) if I fail yet again.

Is this something I should not be doing yet? I'm torn between doing this because it might give me the push I need to truly practice and learn. However, maybe I should just make a study outline and try to stick to it until I find my own path?

Thank you for all your help and opinions!

Oh, and if one dedicates themselves to something/someone and fails...is that going to come back to me and hurt me later on?

-Arinya

I would say that if you both fully intend to take the time to do what you're planning to to, and are able to take the time to do it, then it might very well be a good thing to do.

With what I'm reading here, it does not look to me like you intend to make any promises or commitments to anyone but yourself, so I think that any repercussions due to lapse in pursuit or "failure" are going to come solely from yourself. I don't see anything in what you've said that should in any way offend anyone- human, deity or otherwise, unless you make promises and commitments to them and do not keep them.

If you think that this will be beneficial to you, and if you think you can keep to your intent and not beat yourself up about it if you slip a bit- I know how it goes...I've been in college with jobs before- then I'd say go for it, but be very specific as to what you're dedicating yourself to, and maybe think up some sort of plan of how you can realistically stick with it beforehand, then go for it. Can you read for fifteen minutes every night before you go to sleep, or spend five minutes meditating in the morning when you wake up? There are lots of little thngs that you can do to find time if that's your main barrier. Do you take public transportation? Take a book along and read on the bus. How about reading while you eat lunch? Or between classes? Might also want to consider putting a time cap on it too- perhaps three months to begin with, and once those three months are up, sit back and evaluate your progress, see what worked, what didn't, what you've learned, what really jumped out at you and what bored you to tears, and use that maybe to dedicate the next four or five months in pursuit of more specific things, or perhaps you'll decide to keep with the very general learning (I know, three months isn't a very long time...but sometimes you do trip over somethign right away and want to get more seriously into learning about that, and sometimes you don't.)

Rituals have a lot of psychological impact, and a dedication is a serious undertaking. As I mentioned before, you would want to seriously consider what is realistic for you and what precisely you're dedicating yourself to and word anything you may be saying carefully around this. Since in this case, you'd only really be owing anyhting to yourself, you don't really have to consider just yet what you owe to the gods or anything else, so you can add in clear intentions to work "to the best of your ability" and to not let this be detrimental to your work or academic life, or health, family etc. Don't make any commitments that you know you won't be able to keep, that'll just set you up for disappointment in the end, and allow yourself some flexibility.

As for the calling yourself pagan, I wouldn't worry too much about that, it's a very general term, and there are many folks who consider themselves to be non-practicing pagans fo sorts, but still hold such beliefs. Were you calling yourself Wiccan or Asatru or somehtign else without actually practicing the religion, that would be different.

[Chaos Hawk]

I don't think you need to do any type of dedication to learn more about things. I would wait on a formal dedication. I would say that there are more informal type things that you could do instead.

I have never heard of something bad happening to someone who "failed" at something they were dedicated to.

Only you know what's in your heart though. If that's the path for you, you'll know.

Good luck!

[RainInanna]

What Fiamma said.

Seems like it would benefit you to simply get practicing - whether it's doing a dedication ritual or working on grounding and centering, visualizations, meditations, circle castings, raising energy, cleansing and charging items, or working with a divination tool. As long as you make no promises to anyone, you have nothing to break. Still you should start *doing*.

[darkchild]

In my opinon, you don't need to dedicate yourself until you have a specific path to dedicate to. I've spent lots of time learning, and I agree with Raininanna, *doing* is so much more than merely learning. To me, dedication should come when you want to commit yourself to a particular path.
My 2 cents worth.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Arinya,

I'll probally be in the minority here but to walk a pagan path can be a spiritual calling, a physical event or a combination of the two. When they all fall together I think they make a great balance of self and spirituality.

That said sometimes one may walk upon the physical path and get their feet wet and come to understand what the spiritual part will ential. Sometimes this portion of the path is long and drawn out or a rapid series of events and lessons.

Thier could and probally will be many starts and stops as the inner self comes to understand and change and accept the spiritual part. It may feel as if we fall away only to re-discover it at a later date. I think this is all part and parcel to the discovery of the spiritual facet of the path.

I believe that the spiritual comes to us after we have allowed the physical to allow us to learn to look beyond the confines of our inner self and blockages that may have been placed thier.

I believe in a devine presence that is always present and touches us when we need it and leaves us semi-alone to discover or inner self also. It provides us encouragement and guidance in many shapes and forms. Sometimes directly sometimes threw intermediaries.

I don't think we can fail in the human concept as long as we try our best and be true to ourselves and our beliefs. I think that is a major tenant of the spiritual side of the path. If we are to take responsibility for our actions then we must be allowed to experience failures or setbacks to understand the nature of our successes.

If doing a self dedication is what your inner self calls for then it is the thing to do. If it is a notion that doing so may help you stay on your path then I would say no for your spirit must inspire you to move forward not a crutch that I am doing so only becasue I dedicated myself to a given path or god / goddess and don't want to fail.

Some gods / goddess are tricksters and test daily, some are arogant and demand test to make sure your going to get up after each failure. Some are loving but will test you just as hard as the arogant do. Some will test to see your growth, some will test to see if you have learnt a lesson or requirement.

My connection to Spirit has always told me failure is always the first step to success. It is when I come back and try again that it shows I am dedicated and committed to them.

[RuneCast]

"but I get these feelings built up inside sometimes - like right now. I don't know if it's the weather or my mood, or what it is, but I feel this desperate need to learn and further myself in the craft until I can actually call myself a Pagan."

-Sounds like faith to me, or at least the road to it.

"I call myself that now if someone asks but...I'm not a practicing Pagan but merely someone who thinks along the same lines."

-Only you can know, but don't hold yourself to an external ideal that you've never experienced. How do you feel? What do you know to be true? If anything will lead you to divinity it will be the answers to those questions. Modern paganism, tends to be what its practitioners make of it.

"So I'm considering doing a self-dedication ritual to learning what my path is. I won't be doing it to any path specifically - and perhaps this means I should not do it?"

-My opinion, don't worry about being specific.

"It'll be more along the lines of dedicating myself to studying and learning."

-A noble objective.

"Although because of my classes and job I really don't have that much time - so I don't want to offend anything (deities, guides, who knows?!) if I fail yet again."

-If you were a Celtic Shaman or a Roman Priestess way back when, you'd have plenty of daily concerns, many of them more viceral than those framiliar today, to get in the way of activities related to your spiritual development.
-As to failure, that will be for your deities and guides to judge. They know things we don't.

"Is this something I should not be doing yet? I'm torn between doing this because it might give me the push I need to truly practice and learn. However, maybe I should just make a study outline and try to stick to it until I find my own path?"

-The decision must be yours. Personally, I'd say go for it, but that doesn't make it the right advise to give to you. I'll say this, you remind me a lot of the year 2002. I've been in a place very similar to the one you're in now.

"Oh, and if one dedicates themselves to something/someone and fails...is that going to come back to me and hurt me later on?"

-How do you define failure in this regard?

[Mesektet]

Go for it. It can never hurt to freshen ones resolve towards something.

[novimarra]

I'm in a similar position right now, and I find it helpful to surround yourself with things or people that will help you on the path - it could be books to read, or Pagan friends to chat with, or even to study with. Going to a monthly public ritual helps immensely.

It's really the small things like this that count. I know it's tough to even consider meditating when you've got exams to worry about, so try to weave your practice into your life as a gradual process. Dedicating yourself to something/someone demanding right now and not following through may hurt your own belief in yourself, or the extent to which you'll trust your own promises... if that makes any sense. :)

[FiresSong]

I believe that if you truly feel you're ready, then go for it. There is no rush, no time frame, no deadline you have to follow - it's your spiritual journey. If you feel that the time is right, then by all means. If not, hey, there's nothing wrong with that. Just keep on learning and growing until you feel you're ready to commit.

[Morgaine_cla]

Greetings,

In order to respond to this question I would need to know what it is that you intend to gain from doing a ritual to "dedicate yourself to learning your path" that you have not already gained (or would not ultimately gain) simply through seeking?

The reason I am asking is that it is important to be clear on what you hope to gain from the ritual. There are many possibilities. Do you hope that the answer will come from doing the ritual? Or that the process of finding your answer will be made easier or quicker? Or do you hope that the ritual will endow you with the ability to commit?, etc., etc., etc.

In my experience, no ritual can make the journey easier or shorter, or create a willingness to commit (i.e. make the time) the necessary time, energy, and consistent effort to walk a spiritual path as anything other than a tourist. So if your reason for dedicating lay along these lines I would tell you not to bother. If your wish is to do a dedication ritual as a means of clarifying for yourself your own reasons and motivations for wanting to make such a commitment, then a ritual might prove very useful.

To do a ritual properly requires clarity of purpose and intent first, before anything else. The more specifically your ritual is keyed to your intent the more powerful it will be as a vehicle for manifesting your will. The very act of trying to make your ritual as specific as possible could prove very useful to you. It all depends on why you feel you should do it to begin with...

That's my two cents and, however you choose, may your journey be blessed!