A Self Dedication Ritual

Needed:

  • Incense
  • Salt water
  • Water
  • Essential oils, herbs or sea salt
  • Oil
  • Altar cloth
  • Chalice of wine
  • Bread or cake
  • Platter
  • Censer
  • 2 altar candles
  • Anointing oil
  • Athame
  • Ritual jewelry (optional)
  • Sea salt
  • Images or statues of the Lord and Lady
  • Pen
  • Book of Shadows

Preparation
When you decide that you want to do a self-dedication, plan the date of the ritual at least a month in advance, choosing a suitable time, perhaps consulting astrological tables, or at least the phases of the moon. It is best done on a waxing or full moon.

Start your preparation at the new moon. Make sure that you have a day off work for the initiation itself. You may already have decided on a magickal or witch name. If you haven't yet decided on your witch name, find one through meditation and pathworking in the daily ritual leading up to the rite of self-initiation.

Begin preparing for the self-initiation by performing a daily ritual. Start by creating a sacred space. Purify the area with incense and sprinkling salt water. Visualize a sphere around yourself, and call on the powers of the four quarters, visualizing the elemental landscapes.

Call on the Goddess and the God, by whatever names you prefer to call them. Declare to the Elements, the Goddess and the God that you are embarking on the path of dedication, and ask for their help in preparing you.

Spend some time in meditation on the meaning of dedication, and opening yourself up for any messages from the Goddess and God. Thank and say farewell to the Goddess, God, and Elements, and close the circle.

Closer to the time, try and spend time every day in the week leading up to the self-dedication rite working out your vows and meditating. Make sure that the vows you make are realistic! It is better to make less demanding vows than to make highly demanding vows and not live up to them.

The Ritual
Spend the day in quiet meditation and fasting. Drink only pure water, or if you really cannot do this, allow yourself a small quantity of apple or grape juice. Do not smoke, drink alcohol or take drugs! If you are on prescribed medication, consult your doctor. If the medication is short term, wait until you have finished the course of medication before doing the ritual.

If possible, go to a sacred site or wild place and attune yourself with nature. Communicate with the nature spirits, and ask for their blessings.

Think about the vows that you wish to make in your initiation. Think of a vow to yourself, one to the Goddess and God, and one to the Earth.

Before you start the ritual, have a purification bath. You may put essential oils, herbs or sea salt in the bath. Whilst in the bath, meditate on purifying your aura. See your aura as gray and dirty, but gradually becoming lighter and cleaner, until it is brilliant.

When you emerge from the bath, allow yourself to dry naturally. Do not use a hair dryer, or rub yourself with towels. Rub your entire body with oil. This may be olive oil, grapeseed oil, or other vegetable oil, scented with pure essential oils of your choice. Perform the ritual skyclad if possible.

Have an altar set up, with an altar cloth on it, with a chalice of wine, a piece of bread or cake on a platter, a censer, two altar candles, some anointing oil, your athame or other tool, any ritual jewelry which will be put on at the end of the ritual to mark your dedication, and two small dishes containing sea salt and water (from a spring or sacred well if possible). You may also wish to have images or statues of the Goddess and God on the altar.

Light the candles and the incense, and purify your ritual space. Hold your hands over the water dish and say:
"I purify you, oh water, in the blessed and mighty names of the Goddess and God."

Visualize it glowing with white light. Do likewise with the salt, then tip some of the salt into the water, and mix it in with your forefinger.

Sprinkle the salt water around your ritual space. Visualize a circle around you (or cast a circle in your usual way). Call on the elements, then on the Goddess and God.

Declare your intent, saying:
"I (ordinary name) am prepared for dedication. I have followed the path and fulfilled my vows, and I now call upon the Goddess and the God to confer on me wisdom and integrity. I ask for the blessings of air, fire, water and earth."

Spend some time in meditation, and controlled breathing to gather energy and achieve an altered state of consciousness. You may also wish to use a mantra or chant.

Meditate for a while on finding the stillness inside yourself. When you are ready, stand before the altar, and anoint yourself first with oil, then with salt water and lastly wine, saying:
"I am reborn into my true and magickal self, and I take on the name of (Witch name). I ask for the blessings of the Goddess and God on my endeavors, and I vow (make your vows)."

When anointing yourself you may wish to anoint your chakras, or anoint yourself with a circle, pentagram, or personal symbol. It is good to write down your vows in your magickal diary, and sign the entry with your witch name.

Present yourself to the quarters, stating that you are now dedicated to the solitary path. Consecrate your ritual jewelry with the four elements (incense, water, salt and candle flame), and anoint it with oil for spirit before putting it on.

Consecrate your athame or other tool in the same manner, then hold it to your heart, feeling a link with it, and filling it with your energy. Say:
"I am a child of earth and starry heaven."

Hold it up to the moon and stars, and ask for the blessings of the cosmos on it, then touch it to the ground, and ask for the blessings of mother earth.

Lastly, consecrate the wine and cake by touching your athame to them, and channeling energy through it. Drink and eat, earthing yourself, then thank the Goddess, God and Elements, and close the circle.

Remember: Write up your experiences in your Book of Shadows. Refrain from ritual for at least the next week, whilst you integrate the work.