Reading Materials:
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Now that you've completed, or very nearly completed, The Second Circle, some
of you will go onto the Third. The Third Circle harkens back to UEW's
foundations in the Silver Chalice intentional community. It is a 100% Wiccan
experience, in which you dedicate YOUR LIFE to being Wiccan and service to your
community. This means, for example, that if you are a doctor, you are a doctor
to further the Wiccan community, accountable to it. If you are a metalsmith, you
make Athamés and swords for Wiccans, if you are an artist, your art is inspired
by your faith. Third Circle members do not HAVE broom closets, because their
life is all about being Wiccan.
I don't think I can stress the following enough:
YOU DO NOT have to join the Third Circle as the inevitable outcome of completing
the Second.
The joining process is labor intensive, the demands on you extreme, and the
"benefits", that is, those things you can be as a member of the Third
Circle BUT not otherwise, are few.
You may be a Priest, High Priest, or Lay minister having completed the Second
Circle. You may perform marry and bury rites, as per your state/countries
procedures, as a second circle member with a Third Circle member in
consultation.
Before you go any further, go to the CUEW.org website, and read the clergy
handbook... all of it. It will take maybe 20 minutes.
CFFN members no longer have their $5.00 AUEWC fee waived, by the way, but it is
worth your time/energy to join.
If you are interested in pursuing the Third Circle, please contact me to make
arrangements for your one year Great Work. Tell me what path, if any, you are
considering. While unusual, I can count the one-year spent creating a working
group and the one-year great work concurrently if you do them both. We also have
allowed people to do 4 smaller projects, taking a total time of a year. Some
method of documenting your great work will be required, and I will have to
approve it, so PLEASE DON'T BEGIN until you have talked to me. Any work from
before the date of approval will not count.
In answer to the question some have sent regarding ordination: Yes, we ARE firm
on that.
At this time I do not wish to pursue the Third Circle. Not that I am not interested in going for Third Circle, someday, but right now I am focused on being a mother to my children, a wife, a daughter and granddaughter. I am also focusing my time and efforts on getting back to work and finishing my college classes (which is a bit more difficult now that I'm expecting my second child). But if I do, I think the path I would be most likely to pursue would be more than likely the Scribe, though I admit that I am also thinking of the Bardic path for myself since I do have such a passion for lore. The reason I say the Scribe is because I have an intense love for the written word and have often said that if I could be guaranteed success as a writer, I would stop everything that I am doing right now to go after it.
So that's what's going on at this time, I have completed all the material that was available for 1st and 2nd Circles when I first began to travel this path back in June of 2003. It's been a year, and it's been a wonderful year at that. Thank you for reading through this information, I've poured my heart and soul out in these pages. All of these lessons has helped me learn more about myself, and along with my offline classes, I've become more confident in my skills and knowledge. I also know that all the answers I have ever sought have always been right there waiting for me to find them.
"If that what you seek you cannot
find within; you shall never find it without."
~ Charge of the Goddess
I feel that over the past year, I have really grown as a Wiccan Woman. I have learned to Walk my Walk as well as Talk the Talk. It's taken a lot of work, a lot of pain and hurt has come to the surface, but I have learned to face my "Shadows", that is my fears. I have learned to look into the Cauldron and face the Dark Goddess within. I have learned to embrace myself fully, and to love myself for who I am, and not what people want me to be. When I started on this path, I never really expected to come face to face with myself. I mean, I was told that I would, but it didn't really register in my mind that I would. It's been a blessing, and sometimes a bane. But I have loved every minute of this journey, and I hope with all my heart that I will do more learning and growing as I continue to Walk my Path as a Wiccan Woman.
~ Ravenna Angelline, July 31st, 2004
