Liber ab Nomen (Book of Name)^21

Liber ab Nomen

(Book of Name)

The Path to the

Inner Circle of Wicca

21

his is the Book of Name. Here we see two Rites of Passage in which a new

name is given. In the first rite, the Wiccaning, a name is given to the, for

lack of a better term, initiate. I say ‘for lack of a better term’ because al-

though the Wiccaning is indeed a rite of initiation, it is not one in which

the initiate is being initiated. It is a rite in which the community is initiated

to the initiate. The second Rite of Passage discussed here is the Rite of

Self-Dedication. This rite is just as the name implies; it is the rite of an individual’s

dedication not only to Wicca but also to the Wiccan community. As such, it is often

conducted first in private and later in public. To understand why this is so, talk to some-

one who is gay or lesbian who has come out of the closet. Often there is first a step

where one comes out of the closet only to oneself, followed by a time when one comes

out to the community. So know right now that in my view of Wicca, there are no soli-

tary practitioners and, at the very same time, everyone is a solitary practitioner.

Know also that these Rites of Wiccaning and Self-Dedication are not finite. They

can be repeated when necessary. Such might be the case if a community feels it has

strayed from one of its members. If that is the case, a second Wiccaning might be per-

formed to apologize to the member and to reaffirm the community’s commitment.

Likewise, should a member of the community feel he or she has strayed, that person

might want to perform another Self-Dedication rite to tell oneself that they have strayed

but reaffirm their original commitment to the ways of Wicca.

T

g WB Chap 0.p65 21 7/11/2003, 5:47 PM