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Initiate Letter submitted

Anivair

By Anivair
in Rebel Army Base Camp

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Anivair

Anivair

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For those of you who don't know, I'm an ADF druid. It's like being a pagan, but with homework. Some time ago I passed the Dedicant Path training program, which is sort of like Druid catechism. You basically do a lot of work about the faith, go to a lot of rituals, read a lot of scholarly books and wrote papers about them .... it's work, but it's work I like. I passed that and as part of my current challenge I set the goal of writing and submitting my Initiate Program letter of intention.

the Initiate's Program is sort of a Dedicant+ kind of deal. It contains 12 different study programs in things like Divination, Bardic Studies, Indo European Languages, Indo European History and Mythology, Liturgy (and praticum), Trance and Magical Studies. it's a metric ton of work. for scope, it took me 3 days just to get my Google Drive folders set up to accept all the documents.

Anyway, the woot part comes in because I just submitted my letter of intention. There's a 2 week period of QA and voting and then they vote on it for 2 weeks, but with any luck by the time the next challenge gets going, I'll be a candidate in the program. For those who have an interest, below is the text of my letter.

1: What draws you to the path of Initiation within ADF?

I finished the DP and ended many months of regular scholarly work about my faith. I wanted to jump right into the Initiate’s Path. But I did not. I put off writing this letter for a while because I knew that I was in the habit of doing this work and I didn’t want the IP to be something I did because I was used to the work. I wanted it to be something that really called to me.

I can now safely say that it is. Not just because it’s “next†or because I want to do “something†but because being an Initiate means a deepening of my work with the Kindred and a constant struggle for self improvement, which is a worthy goal.

Moreover, I’m not done. The DP showed me new patrons, a new appreciation of the history and tradition of Druidry, and provided me with a good base upon which to work, but I’m not done learning and growing and even perfecting my own practice yet. I think nobody ever is, but the Initiate Program is the path I’ve chosen to help me codify those things that still need to be worked on with as much scholarship and basis in reality as possible. Without a framework it’s easy to get lost in the sea of information and musings that the pagan community can provide. This path will give me an anchor that keeps me within sight of the shore.

2: What does being an Initiate mean to you?

I feel as if an Initiate is sort of the pagan equivalent of being a field researcher. While the clergy has, as one its main focuses, working with and serving the folk more deeply, the Initiate makes a similar path toward the Kindred. The ADF Initiate deepens their relationship with and service to the Kindred so that everyone may benefit from their knowledge and experience.

It means dedicating myself not only to my pagan path, which has already been done via completion of the Dedicant Oath, but dedicating myself to always learning and growing and moving forward, even if I don’t always know where I’m going. My path in the DP was clear. I was forming my own Druidry. My path as an Initiate is unclear, because the ways are uncharted. I see the function of an Initiate as being one who seeks out those paths, new and old, and mines the three realms for useful practices and knowledge. Anyone can walk this path, but an Initiate receives the training required to do it well and to be of most benefit.

More than this, though, I feel that this is only the beginning of what being an Initiate means to me. My hope is that walking the path and completing the work of the program will show me the rest. I’d like to see what truth this uncovers about me and the Kindred.

3: What services do you hope to provide to your community with this training?

As I have stated, I see the Initiate as a sort of explorer or researcher. He does a lot of work alone in his own practice with the Kindred. He experiments with a lot of new ideas and implements them on his own so that he may come back to the community at large and show them what he’s learned. “This is what I’ve been doing and it’s been working for me.†It then falls to the folk to decide whether these methods work for them as a community (as there is a big difference between the work that an Initiate does in their own practice and the work that a grove or community does).

Beyond that function, I see an Initiate as an expert in many deeper fields of study. They focus on these fields in the practical sense, not in the broad way that a clergyman must in order to be proficient or at least knowledgeable in anything that the folk may require of them. An Initiate is free to become an expert in a given field and it is this expertise and experience which will ultimately best serve our community. That is the role I seek for myself and the primary drive for me to become an Initiate. Service to the folk and the Kindred, yes, but through practical experience and knowledge.

Beyond that, it is my hope that this training shows me ways to contribute to the community and the folk that I have never considered and would not have considered otherwise. I know enough today to understand that my understanding is limited and that I can’t possibly see the path before me, only the path behind me. The path before me is a plan, but I’m open to changing my path as I go and learn as an Initiate candidate.

Level 3 Human Ranger
STR: 9 DEX: 5.25 STA: 14.5 CON: 5.5 WIS: 16 CHA: 5.5 
My Current Challenge

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Maj. Bloodnok

Maj. Bloodnok

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Rock on, dude. I once met Isaac Bonewits, at a pagan circle in NYC. Very interesting, very cool guy, and I liked a lot of his ideas. Of course, I was the rebellious, non-joining type back then...

"If you get into trouble, you can always eat something, blow something up, or throw penguins." - Jim Henson

 

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