Blood Initiation as a Christian Witch
What does initiation as a Christian Witch mean and entail?
We’ve received hundreds of requests about initiation in our programs at the Christian Witches Mystery School, hence the inspiration to share in detail our preparation and practices for initiation into Christian Witchcraft as is practiced in the Covenant of Christian Witches Mystery School (CCW for short).
Here’s what’s laid out here, in case you’d like to skip to the section you’re most keen on:
My Bizarre Religious Roots
My First Initiation
What Initiation Meant for Me
Initiation Across Traditions:
African Traditional Religions (ATR’s)
Wicca
Christian Witchcraft
Blood Initiation
Why Blood?
Is It For You? Next steps & resources if you know initiation is right for you.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that initiation takes place in ‘spirit’ realms or higher dimensions of consciousness before it takes place in the physical realm. This has been my experience in my initiations and in initiating others.
Let’s begin…
My Bizarre Religious Roots
When I first broke with traditional Christianity (I was raised in the cult of Jehovah’s Witnesses and spent the better part of 26 years there from age 3-4 to near 30), I didn’t know I’d be initiated as a witch.
I just knew I had to leave where I was.
I was stifled.
Depressed,
The walls were closing in on me.
Fast.
I was like a ‘dead man walking’ with nothing to look forward to, other than being one of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the rest of my natural born days, which meant living in absolute rigidity.
I couldn’t do it.
I’d reached my fork. Either I would leave or I would die a long and slow, painful death.
Leaving the cult was preposterous to my conditioned mind. Where would I go? All my friends and associates were in bondage like me, in the very same cult.
Deeper than my conscious mind, there was a knowing that I had to leave, even if I didn’t know what I would do or where I would go next.
I didn’t need to know the next step to relinquish what I had.
My First Initiation
There was a gap between leaving Fundamentalist Christianity and my first initiation (a story I’ll cover in future articles). For now, let’s skip forward to witchcraft.
Over the process of several years of study and ridding myself of head trash I began to be deeply engaged in learning about Wicca.
This was over 25 years ago as of this writing. With an undeveloped internet, Barnes & Noble quickly became my best friend in learning on this new found spiritual path.
I gobbled book after book about Wicca, with Scott Cunningham being one of my favorite authors on the topic of magick and witchcraft.
Eventually, I was ready, mentally and spiritually, for my first initiation. A self-initiation is what it was called, and the idea spoke deeply to my soul.
I prepared relentlessly.
Select the appropriate day according to astrological correspondences.
Check.
Receive your new magickal name. I prayed and meditated until it came.
Check.
Prepare your implements. I went to the metaphysical store and gathered up all I was led to for the occasion.
Check.
Prepare yourself. Sage, cleansing and clearing my space and myself were time honored rituals at this point.
Check.
Set the space. Incense, which I was forbidden to use in the cult, was a mainstay in my spiritual practice. Altars were my love as well.
Check.
I performed the self initiation. And began use of the new magickal name, which I didn’t share with anyone.
I took careful note of all the happenings and associated thoughts, feelings and moves of Spirit that I could intuit in my grimoire.
I instantly felt different.
More powerful.
More ‘magickal’ somehow.
Like a real witch.
What Initiation Meant For Me
After the self initiation I realized that I’d just begun. Initiation was a ‘start’ and not an accomplishment.
The meaning is in the word itself: to initiate, to start.
Initiation didn’t mean I’d arrived, even though it was a pinnacle moment for me.
It meant that I’d committed:
to my path as a witch…
to live as a witch no matter how challenging it would become…
to heal and use my gifts for benefit and not harm (I took a vow of harmlessness as well)…
to teach and share what I would subsequently learn from books and practice…
to be a boon to the witchy community as a whole…
to do my part in helping humanity understand that we’ve all been duped about the true nature of witches and to be instrumental in shining a light on what witchcraft truly is, and not what Hollywood or the Church says it is…
And all else the initiation would call upon me to be and do over the course of my life, without knowing specifically what those would be.
I’ve never looked back.
Initiation Across Traditions
When witches join our community or connect with us, more often than not, they’ve come from traditional Christianity.
They’re de-converting or de-constructing, and no longer resonate with the Christian religion as a whole, though there are some aspects of it that are still dear to them.
Here are 3 examples of initiations:
African Traditional Religions (ATR’s)
Once they exit traditional Christianity, some turn to Yoruba or Santeria or others of the African Traditional Religions (ATR’s). I was blessed to attend a Bembe (an event for the Orisha or gods and goddesses) for a High Priestess who was being initiated.
The initiation culminated in this event after she’d been in a process for 1 year, and involved drums, singing, prayer, the killing of a goat and a ritual meal. There was more involved, yet I’m giving the abbreviated version here.
The celebration also entailed a hefty financial commitment, as many great ceremonies do, such as weddings.
Everyone wore white, except the new High Priestess, who wore the garb of her Orisha and sat on a throne. No one could touch her or approach except those who were tending to the initiation.
This initiation was so moving it’s seared into my consciousness.
Wicca
Others go to Wicca and are initiated in a rite that lasts a year and a day, according to prescribed Wicca tradition.
I am not familiar enough with Wicca and its initiations to elaborate on it here. I recommend books from practicing Wiccans that are far more informative from a space of actually practicing Wicca. (I recommend these books on Wicca.)
Christian Witchcraft
Those who do not desire to leave everything behind that they loved about Christianity (that was me) have found Christian Witchcraft, or Bible Magick, or some form of the ‘alchemical marriage’ of aspects of the Christian experience with magick and witchcraft.
These initiations I am very well familiar with, and practice. Here you see us pictured at a robing ceremony with me in the middle of 2 newly initiated High Priestesses.
In the Christian Witches Mystery School (founded by yours truly in 2018) our initiation process consists of these 5 components:
Completion of 200 hours of classroom training in the Mystery School (similar to Yoga Teacher Training or YTT that consists of 200 hours of training). The curriculum includes the Foundations Course, which are 40 lessons foundational to becoming a practicing High Priestess, High Priest or High Mage. The Foundations curriculum is HERE though there are many other classes we offer in the Mystery School.
Attendance at 8 in person live rituals to ensure that each initiate is well versed and masterful in the creation and implementation of rituals that are deeply moving and transformational for self and others.
An interview to connect with other High Priestesses who question the initiate in their motives, willingness and desire to serve the universe as a High Priestess, High Priest or High Mage for self and on behalf of others.
Travel to the initiation site for the formal initiation - our initiations take place out in nature in places chosen for the occasion and are attended only by those who have already been initiated.
Robing Ceremony - after the initiation, a Robing Ceremony is held for the newly initiated High Priestesses and/or High Priests in which they receive a ceremonial robe. (The Robing Ceremony is open to anyone who would like to attend.)
This initiation is into the Ma’at Temple of Love, Light & Truth, the formal temple of the Christian Witches Mystery School.
Once initiated, High Priestesses, Priests and Mages are fortified and equipped to conduct rituals for the community at large and often do so at our events (especially the Christian Witches Convention held annually in New Orleans on Memorial Day Weekend).
Of course, initiation into the Temple with the Christian Witches Mystery School entails a significant investment in oneself, one’s transformation, curriculum, travel and supplies.
The investment is in both time, energy and money.
Over the years, I’ve invested significantly in my growth and development. The practice has paid off beyond all expectations.
Blood Initiation
Now is a good time to state that our initiation is a blood oath between the initiate and the Universe (or God/Goddess or whatever the initiate calls the Universal Life Force), using the initiates own blood that they themselves collect.
I used one of the most potent blood collections of all for this initiation: menstrual blood.
Initiates create their own ‘blood oath’ that they themselves write as a commitment to their initiatory promise to the Universe.
They then seal it with their own blood, collected at the ritual site, or in advance (in the case of an initiate’s desire to use menstrual blood).
During the course of preparation for initiation, care and discussion is devoted to the collection of one’s own blood, use of it in blood magick, and what it means.
Of course, if a witch didn’t desire to undergo a blood initiation, they wouldn’t initiate with the Temple in the Mystery School as this is the only initiation we offer.
Why Blood?
In the Bible, blood is often mentioned and referred to as sacred.
As occultists, we know this to be true.
If a witch or magician seeks to make a magickal tie permanent or at least steadfastly forged, blood may be called upon for its unparalleled binding effects.
Blood magick cannot easily be undone.
Further, the act of collecting one’s own blood and using it in ritualistic practice is akin to rites and practices of witches throughout the ages, regardless of tradition.
Blood is a common bond we share as witches.
Our strongest magick runs in our blood, from the ancestral line.
Therefore, we are forging our initiatory path and our practice of magick with both ancestral ties and energetic ties to witches throughout the ages.
This makes for a powerful connection to those who have gone before us.
There are more reasons we use blood, much of which is discussed in the Mystery School.
Is It For You?
Only you know if initiation is right for you, and which initiation is best for you, given your stage of development and practice as a witch or as a Christian Witch.
This decision is so deeply personal that only you can make the call. Of course, the higher divine forces always guide us true.
If you do make the decision that initiation is right for you, especially in Christian Witchcraft, reading the full Initiatory Order of Rites we follow in the book How To Be a Christian Witch: Includes Initiation Instructions could be helpful.
The detailed Initiatory Order of Rites in the book provides the exact steps and wording that can be used or modified to conduct an initiation on one’s own when the initiate is ready.
Self initiation was my first of many initiations, and I still deem it the most powerful.
If you’d like to be notified when the initiation program opens again in the Mystery School, go HERE.
Peace be unto you,
Rev. Valerie Love - KAISI, Practicing Christian Witch & Head Mistress of the Christian Witches Mystery School in the Solomonic Tradition