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How important is lineage in the context of such a recently created path?
The emphasis on "lineage" is very much a feature of early Gardnerian Wicca, and might well have been 'borrowed' by Gardner from his research into South Asian religious practices during his time in Malaysia (although the notion of a 'unbroken lineage' was also present in Margaret Murray's writing).
The shift in emphasis away from lineage towards self-initiation is laid at the door of Ray Buckland (at least by Wiccan friends of mine who were initiated in the 1970s). It's well-known that Buckland started the first Gardnerian coven in the USA and did much to promote Gardnerian Wicca in America. Buckland 'created' the Seax-Wicca 'tradition' in 1974 which made no claims of historical continuity, and moreover, allowed for self-initiation, rather than the rather stricter insistence on initiation and oral transmission of knowledge in the British Gardnerian manner. Apparently, its been claimed that one of the reasons Buckland created "Seax-Wicca" was that he wanted to bring Wiccan principles to a wider audience, and was becoming increasingly aware of the problems of geographical distance in the USA between would-be practitioners.
The whole issue of 'lineage' has of course led to many arguments and a lot of bad blood between lineage-initiates and self-initiates (claims of authenticity, exclusion etc.), but I think there's also another side to 'lineage' that's worth considering - the social dimension - in that accepting someone as a fellow 'initiate' makes it easier to establish a level of trust between individuals that otherwise, might take much longer to build up. So for example, when I was in a Wiccan coven, my high priestess would often introduce me to other Wiccan priestesses she knew in the region. Being 'accepted' not only meant that I didn't get excluded from certain levels of conversation, but also that I'd get invited to stay with people, offered hospitality and help, and generally accepted as 'one of the family'.
In the early 1980s, there was a 'scandal' in the UK Witchcraft community that cut to the heart of this dimension of mutual trust through recognition. Chris Bray's "Lamp of Thoth" magazine ran a column penned by a couple jointly writing under the pen-name "Galadriel" who claimed that they were hereditaries and described some of their practices & beliefs which were quite radically different from either Alexandrian or Gardnerian Wicca, and led to some contraversy. So much so indeed, that a fairly well-known Wiccan 'spokesperson' (who's dead now) decided they had to be 'shut down' lest they bring the Craft into disrepute. So, through intermediaries, he brought to this couple's attention a 'fellow initiate' who was in some kind of trouble. They invited this person to stay with them, accorded him hospitality; freely discussed their beliefs with him and so were shocked and surprised when, a few weeks later, they found themselves 'exposed' in the pages of the "News of the World". |
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