Coming to the Edge of the Circle A Wiccan Initiation Ritual [Paperback]

Imagine yourself sitting on the cool damp earth, surrounded by deep night sky and fields full of fireflies, anticipating the ritual of initiation that you are about to undergo. Suddenly you hear the sounds of far-off singing and chanting, drums booming, rattles snaking, voices raised inharmony. The casting of the Circle is complete. You are led to the edge of the Circle, where Death, your challenge, is waiting for you. With the passwords of perfect love and perfect trust you enter Death's realm. The Guardians of the four quarters purify you, and you are finally reborn into theCircle as a newly made Witch.

Coming to the Edge of the Circleoffers an ethnographic study of the initiation ritual practiced by one coven of Witches located in Ohio. As a High Priestess within the coven as well as a scholar of religion, Nikki Bado is in a unique position to contribute to our understanding of this ceremony and the tradition to which it belongs. Bado's analysis of this coven's initiation ceremony offers an important challenge to the commonly accepted model of rites of passage. Rather than a single linear event, initiation is deeply embedded within a total process of becoming a Witch in practice and in community with others.

Coming to the Edge of the Circleexpands our concept of initiation while giving us insight into one coven's practice of Wicca. An important addition to Ritual Studies, it also introduces readers to the contemporary nature religion variously called Wicca, Witchcraft, the Old Religion, or the Craft.

1. Dancing between Binary Poles: Life as a Scholar-Practitioner
2. Stumbling toward Wisdom
3. The Merry Circle
4. The Path toward the Circle
5. The Rite of Dedication: Getting behind the Wheel
6. Coming to the Edge of the Circle
7. Concluding Remarks
Epilogue: She Changes Everything She Touches
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index

As a scholar, Nikki Bado islÓ,