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This book offers an ethnographic study of the initiation ritual practiced by one coven of Witches located in Ohio. The participants are members of the religious community that describes itself as Wicca, the Old Religion, or the Craft. Within this community, initiation is seen both as the ceremony through which an individual becomes a member of the community and as a central transformative religious experience, expressed through performance and bodily praxis. In addition to contributing to our knowledge of this secretive religious movement, Nikki Bado-Fralick's analysis of the Wiccan initiation ceremony offers an important challenge to the commonly accepted anthropological model of "rites of passage." As a High Priestess within the coven as well as a scholar of religion, Bado-Fralick is in a unique position to contribute to our understanding of this ceremony and the tradition to which it belongs. Arguing the value of her dual role as scholar/participant, she also offers a thoughtful and perceptive self-analysis of the dilemmas this role involves.
E-Book Content
Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual NIKKI BADO-FRALICK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS COMING TO THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF RELIGION ACADEMY SERIES SERIES EDITOR Kimberly Rae Connor, University of San Francisco A Publication Series of The American Academy of Religion and Oxford University Press CREATIVE DWELLING Empathy and Clarity in God and Self Lucinda A. Stark Huffaker HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS Empathy and the Physician-Patient Relationship Dorothy M. Owens THE BONDS OF FREEDOM Feminist Theology and Christian Realism Rebekah L. Miles THE SPECTER OF SPECIESISM Buddhist and Christian Views of Animals Paul Waldau INCARNATION AND PHYSICS Natural Science in the Theology of Thomas F. Torrance Tapio Luoma OF BORDERS AND MARGINS Hispanic Disciples in Texas, 1888–1945 Daisy L. Machado HSIEH LIANG-TSO AND THE ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS Humane Learning as a Religious Quest Thomas W. Selover YVES CONGAR’S THEOLOGY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Elizabeth Teresa Groppe GREGORY OF NYSSA AND THE CONCEPT OF DIVINE PERSONS Lucian Turcescu GRAHAM GREENE’S CATHOLIC IMAGINATION Mark Bosco, S.J. COMING TO THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE A Wiccan Initiation Ritual Nikki Bado-Fralick COMING TO THE EDGE OF THE CIRCLE A Wiccan Initiation Ritual - 1 2005 3 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright 2005 by The American Academy of Religion Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bado-Fralick, Nikki. Coming to the edge of the circle : a Wiccan initiation ritual / Nikki Bado-Fralick. p. cm.—(American Academy of Religion academy series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13 978-0-19-516645-3 ISBN 0-19-516645-0 1. Initiation rites—Religious aspects—Ohio. 2. Rites and ceremonies—Ohio. 3. Witchcraft—Ohio. I. Title. II. Series. BL615.B33 2005 299'.94—dc22 2005002176 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United St