From time to time questions arise about degrees of Wiccan initiations. What are degrees, what do they mean, by whom and how are the levels determined? Do degrees indicate a hierarchy of authority or a level of training and experience or something else entirely? Those who regard any degree as bragging rights, as in "I'm an eighteenth degree black belt and can whup you," pretty much have no place in Wicca, or so say most of us who rejected the hierarchy of monotheism long ago. However, I've noticed an unsettling tendency of folks trying to sell something (like books, courses or other services) to declare that they have so many years of experience or so many and kinds of training and certificates. I suppose it's nice to think your author, teacher or service provider knows more than you do, but years and certificates have only limited value if the heart, soul and mind are not sound. Of course, there is also the tendency to time warp -- just as Pagan standard time means things will get started from fifteen minutes to two hours after the stated starting time, so some people can bend time to turn five years of experience into ten or the ever popular thirteen years. But none of that addresses the question, what are the use of degrees and what do they really mean?

My husband's tradition, learned by him on the East Coast, regarded degrees as nonsense. You were either an initiated witch or you weren't. If you were initiated, you had been trained in all the ways you would need and your personal responsibility was to continue throughout life learning and growing. Gardnerian tradition, on the other hand, is very specific about the training and selection of initiates of the three degrees. Certain secrets are revealed only to those of proper degree and training.

I have seen both systems work with varying levels of success. Probably the silliest thing I've seen is a group or system that awards degrees then subverts their own system by either never elevating anyone to the next level or deciding that two months (or ten minutes) is enough training to allow the initiate to jump to the next level. The former can occur when the people determining worthiness of initiates have such a strangle hold on the group and are so jealous of control that they are unwilling to relinquish it by training and initiating peers. The argument for fast track initiation in some cases has been that the person needed the level to allow her to take over certain responsibilities (like running a coven). Unfortunately, while the person running through the initiation cycle too quickly may feel honored, she is cheated out of the time and practice it takes to prepare herself for changes in focus and responsibility. This practice also cheapens the value of degrees.

My personal opinion (you just knew we were going to get to this, didn't you) is that either system can work. Additionally, there is some value to degrees as a way of recognizing levels of training and of commitment to service. A witch trained and initiated who desires nothing more than to work within his coven and from time to time take a role as high priest may never feel the need to go beyond a single ceremony of initiation. On the other hand if a person has found that she wants to train beginners, take the responsibility of running a coven, and perform handfastings and other services for those in her community, then she may feel the need for the recognition of that community. In this case the second-degree initiation might be regarded as a sort of ordination, a public statement of commitment. My attitude toward third degrees is that only those willing to teach teachers or to serve as elders need be bothered with a third initiation. In this case, I regard a third degree more asa statement of life stage achieved than of a level of training. Croning ceremonies are my idea of third degree initiations, but that's my prejudice. By tradition, training for any degree requires at least a year and a day. I regard this as hasty, but traditions vary both in what the degrees mean and what is expected of initiates. Certainly, all bets are off when the Gods take the situation in hand and do their own initiations. You can usually tell whom these initiates are by the way they glow in the dark. Can't argue with that. Wouldn't try.