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Storyteller Wicca Tradition
Author:
Posted: April 14th. 2001
Times Viewed: 20,624
History
The central group of the Storyteller Wicca tradition, Thalia Clan, was founded on Beltaine 1992 CE at a campout at Burr Oak State Park in Gloucester, Ohio. At the time, the group was merely a place for celebration of friendship, family, and a mutual interest in Paganism and the occult. However, within three years Thalia Clan was a fully functional Neo-Pagan group following a distinctive ritual framework and practice. Centered out of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, the group and tradition has mostly remained in the area, although individual Initiates of the Clan have moved to other locations within the United States.
Philosophy
Thalia Clan is an eclectic NeoPagan Mystery tradition with strong Wiccan elements, a spiritual family who celebrate the seasons with joy and emphasize spiritual and emotional development through community. Ours is not a religion of dogma or creeds, but of individual faith and experience, in communion with fellow travelers on the Road, of the Lord and Lady in all of Their myriad names and forms. We explore the mysteries of Self and Deity through flexible, responsive rituals that tread the balance between mirth and reverence, and laugh in the face of darkness, for evil cannot abide mockery. Thalia is our Lady of Comedy, and Dionysus our Lord of Dreams: in a community that shares joy and sorrow, laughter and tears, we sing, feast, dance, make music and love, and take care of our own.
The terms 'Thalia Clan' and 'Storyteller Wicca' are not interchangeable. Thalia Clan is the direct and linear manifestation of the Storyteller Wicca ritual framework; the Initiates of the Clan form a central body for guidance and continued growth and evolution. Storyteller Wicca refers to the ritual framework and cosmology that Thalia and other groups have developed over the last ten years, and is still -- and always -- a work in progress. There are individuals who practice Storyteller Wicca without being a part of the Clan; these individuals generally value smaller-group intimacy rather than the larger extended tribal structure of Thalia Clan.
Group structure
Individual working and celebratory groups within the clan are called Hearths. Each Hearth is led by at least two Initiates, usually in the role as Priest and Priestess, and traditionally has other officers called Kinships who are responsible for specific facets within the Hearth's functioning. The Kin to the Fire provides magical training and guidance, the Kin to the Air provides communication services and coordinates events, and the Kin to the Earth provides oracular guidance and record keeping. Most, but not all, Hearths also refer to the Priest as Kin to the Water, signifying his role as mediator and emotional support for the Hearth, and the Priestess as Kin to the Center, signifying her role as gateway and guide in and into the other worlds.
Thalia does not use a traditional degree system. Instead, the Clan's internal rites of passage are called Deepening Rituals, so called "because they are experiences that deepen your connection with your Gods and your Clan, not something that "raises you above" anyone else" (from the extended essay "What Is Thalia?", located at http://www.geocities.com/cecylyna/thalia.html). The first Deepening, Dedication, is an affirmation of the individual's willingness to take responsibility to aid in the day-to-day operation of his or her Hearth. The second, Initiation, is an affirmation of the individual's willingness to take on the responsibility of guiding and developing the Clan as a whole. While individual groups may have differing requirements for Dedication, candidates for Initiation must go through specific training on both Craft- related and general pastoral issues or provide proof of experience that makes such training superfluous.
Despite this, Thalia is not primarily a training tradition. (Separate Storyteller Wicca groups may change this influence.) The Dedication and Initiation rituals both contain mystery elements, as do the celebrations of the cycle of the seasons -- stories and drama that are designed to illustrate central principles of the Storyteller Wicca cosmology through experiential means. Thalia has changed its influence to become more teaching and knowledge based over the last few years, however, and as with all things this is a work in progress. These stories are meant to echo tribal and pre-modern communities who passed on history, mythology, and entertainment through storytelling. Thalia is not, however, Reconstructuralist; the stories told are new ones using old elements.
Role of Clergy
Clergy within Thalia have a unique role. Each Hearth has a Priest and Priestess; however, often those individuals will facilitate other working pairs or individuals within the Hearth to perform Full Moons or Sabbats, both for training purposes and to weave other influences and worldviews into the Hearth's ritual gestalt. It is the intention of Thalia to bring every person, if not to group priest/esshood, certainly to personal priest/esshood to their own deities. Thalia values multiple pantheons and views of the gods, and therefore despite its name and patron deities does not limit itself to the Hellenic pantheon. Current members celebrate the Welsh, Irish, Egyptian, Hellenic, and Native American mythic cycle, among others. Ways of Worship
Thalia values multiple pantheons and views of the gods, and therefore despite its name and patron deities does not limit itself to the Hellenic pantheon. Current members celebrate the Welsh, Irish, Egyptian, Hellenic, and Native American mythic cycle, among others. Standards of Conduct
Thalia endorses the simple form of the Wiccan Rede, requiring candidates at both Dedication and Initiation to avow their continued belief that they are responsible for their own behavior and whatever they give out will come back to them. Thalia also has general guidelines for conduct and communication best summarized as 'if you have something to say, say it to the person who needs to hear it' and a general policy of discouraging rumors. Many guidelines for interpersonal communication come from Amber K's Covencraft and Kenneth Haugk's Antagonists In The Church. Reading and References
Other references for influences on various facets of Thalia and Storyteller Wicca include the following: Craft resources: Scott Cunningham's Living Wicca; Janet and Stuart Farrar's Witches' Bible Compleat; Starhawk's Spiral Dance; Ellen Cannon Reed's Invocation Of The Gods; Genette Paris' Pagan Grace; Tzipora's Celebrating Life; and Judy Harrow's Wicca Covens. Non-craft resources: the collected Callahan's and Lady Sally's series by Spider Robinson; Robert Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land; the works of Richard Bach, especially One and Illusions; Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists Of Avalon; Richard Carse's Finite And Infinite Games; M Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled; Michael Harner's Way Of The Shaman; and the Principia Discordia, but only on Friday.
While Storyteller Wicca has not been as of yet trained long- distance, truly interested parties are welcome to email the High Priestess of the Storyteller Wicca tradition, Cecylyna Dewr, at cecylyna@yahoo.com, or the High Priest, Dagonet Dewr, at dagonet_dewr@yahoo.com.
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