Starting Out....
Once I knew that I wanted to practice Wicca and I thought I was ready for my Self-Initiation, I planned the perfect day. The moon was aligned, the time was right and I felt good.
I prepared for weeks for this. I even went as far as making up cue cards. (My Book of Shadows is started on index cards). I picked just the right ritual for me. There was a little of this one, a little of that one, and a little of me. My ritual tends to be on the long side because that's the way I wanted it. You don't have to do it exactly as you read it in any literature. That's the unique thing about being Eclectic - you can do your own thing.
I had made my own personal Wand, I had just the right Chalice, I found the perfect Athame, whatever I needed was there. When I began my ritual I was a little nervous but confident. Everything went very well. Almost everything....
You have to understand that the Goddess and the God have a sense of humor and must have chuckled a bit at me. The main part of the ritual went well until I came to the part where I wanted to play music and dance. It would have worked nicely except I forgot the tape player on the other side of my Circle. So...I hummed a little. I asked the Goddess to forgive me for being off-key. When it was time for Cakes and Ale, the cakes were within my sight except (you guessed it) on the other side of the Circle. I blessed them anyway and kept saying things like, "if it was sitting here..." I explained to the Goddess that I would bring double next time since I cheated her of goodies this time. I'm sure she was laughing at this point.
We meditated again instead. I was thinking of all the little mistakes I made and how I would do better next time. She was probably thinking of how hungry she was!
In any event, I closed my Circle and felt real good with myself. Thank you Diana for finding humor and for guiding me through my Self-Dedication. Blessed Be!
If you would like to see a copy of my
The artwork on this page is from a painting entitled, "Constance" by Jonathan Earl Bowser. His Goddess Artwork can be seen by clicking on the image to the right. 
The music is a Welch song entitled,"Rotha's Lament"