The Rite of the Grand Convergence

On the night of Friday, February the thirteenth, with hundreds in attendance, thirteen covens converged to change the world for future generations of witches. Our Rite of the Grand Convergence was inspired by a mythical rite by the same name which was said to have protected London from the Blitz during WWII. The magic that evening was palpable and the air was buzzing with old and powerful energy that seamed to cover you like velvet. There was no question that the spirits were pleased and that we had the attention of old allies allies of the craft.

I first learned of the Rite of the Grand Convergence when I was studying Wicca many years ago. My High Priestess loved the story and told it with vigor every chance she got. Powerful witches coming together to save a country, it was quite beautiful. Later I would hear the story told in other ways by different traditions and learned that it was part of a shared history and mythology for many practitioners.

Last year while having a discussion about how we felt our rituals were offerings to the gods an idea sprung forth. Our HPs Lisa Dawn suggested that we do a protection rite for future generations of witches. After only a few moments of thought I knew the Rite of the Grand Convergence was going to happen again. That night an outline was drafted and our menagerie of rituals grew.

Hundreds of hours went into rehearsals, script building, and networking over the next few months. We began reaching out to traditions from all over the US and Canada to find thirteen covens who not only would share in our vision but would lend their magical lineage to the cause.  As if Diana herself had opened the door, one by one we found the witch-kin who would stand with us in circle to honor the ways of the craft and protect the future seekers who would walk the same path.

As we neared the convention and our ritual was announced we received a bit of backlash that we were not expecting. A handful of messages were received asking why we chose to protect the future generations of witches when there were so many other perhaps more needing causes for that magic. Nervously I spoke with other teachers of the craft about their thoughts. We always try to be sensitive and aware as to the bigger issues presenting themselves but we had had such a strong spiritual pull to do this ritual. The best response came from my dear friend Crystal Blanton who said, “Witches are the ones who will change the world through their power, by protecting them you are ensuring the future changes to our world.” She was right and though people might not think it was the best call, it’s one we as facilitators were quite happy with.

The night of the ritual was insane. There were over forty witches acting as delegates from each coven all packed into our suite awaiting the big march down to the ball room where we would hold our rite. I stood on a chair and read off the names and titles for each group and as we neared our witching hour we collected our instruments, brooms, and tools and made our way down.

As the clock struck 9:00pm the doors opened and hundreds of witches flooded the space. Unfortunately there were so many people who wanted to attend we had to close the doors before all in line could make it in. For those who did wait in line all that time, we look forward to seeing you next year! Before I knew it I found myself back in front of a large audience with all eyes and ears on me. I took a deep breath, gave myself over to Diana, and let the goddess of witchcraft guide my words and actions.

After a brief introduction music started to play and the witches of Sacred Fires began their broom dance. The broom dance was inspired by my many years as a choreographer and color guard instructor. Spinning staff and broom has always been part of my magic work and when it was suggested that I choreograph a broom dance for this ritual I jumped! Dressed in all black, complete with conical hat and accompanied by a wonderfully talented group of singers from The Living Temple of Diana they cast the circle. I looked around and saw those in attendance brought to tears and had to look away for fear that I would do the same. This intense moment was broken when at the end after sealing the circle the dancers broke into cackles and ran around the space. They were witches, honoring those who came before. Simply beautiful. I am still beaming with pride and wonder.

After we summoned the guardians we began the process of announcing each delegate group and formally swearing them in as circle members. Each of the thirteen groups processed down an aisle, circled the altar in the center of the room and then was asked, “how do you come to this circle?” Each responding, “In perfect love and perfect trust.” As some groups processed they sang or prayed, bringing power to the circle with each step. With the swearing in of the thirteenth and final coven the vessel for our magic was complete.

The thirteen covens/traditions represented during the Rite of the Grand Convergence were

Black Rose Witchcraft 

Coven Aradia

Blue Rose Faery

The Living Temple of Diana

The Temple of Witchcraft

Firefly House

Sisterhood of the Moon

Golden Gate Kindred

The Blood Root Honey Priestess Tribe

The Green Men

Dust Bunnies Faery

Ash, Birch, and Willow

The Wild Flowers

Storm Faerywolf then opened the Western Gate, a ritual tool given to him by teachers of his craft that opens the door between the world of the living and the dead. We called upon the first witches and the mighty dead of the craft and vocally toned with them to reach resonance. After that I led everyone in the opening of the Eastern Gate, a ritual tool I engineered to open the gates of the future. My theory was that it would only need to take one witch to open the gates to the past, after all many of us are well versed in ancestral magics, but how often is the same attention given to the ability to do this in the opposite fashion? I believed that it would take more than a hundred witches as well as the power of our ancestors to do so. From what I felt standing in the center of that ritual space I believe I can conclude my hypothesis to be confirmed.

Chanting “Mutatis Mutandis” (Latin for “the necessary changes having been made”) over and over again as we channeled this great power into the future, we envisioned a world changed by our work, engulfed in the holy flame of God herself. It was powerful and unique. With so many witches there funneling the power of their ancestors and their lineage there was an energy that was hard to describe.

As we closed our rite and sealed the magic done within I remember feeling that we had done something big, but I was too tranced out to truly know. Over the weekend we would be stopped by dozens of people and thanked for the ritual. People reported having dreams both before and after the ritual foretelling great changes being made with brooms. It was really incredible to hear the stories and know that this magic was in the aether far before our ritual. We received a lot of feedback and many requests to do it again in the future. 

I am still digesting this. For me this ritual was a culmination of my traditional craft lineages and my work with Black Rose Witchcraft as a teacher. Black Rose is a convergence of two traditions and provides the fundamental education for two different priesthoods. This ritual was that convergence made manifest in a much bigger way and that is a lot to take in. I know that I have never been so proud of a group in my life. 

A very special thank you goes to the priestesses and initiates of Sacred Fires for dedicating so much time and devotion to that broom dance! I choreographed a doozy and you made it work, even with odd delays in equipment and less practice than we would have liked. You rocked it, you made the magic happen, you were the sentinels of our ritual! There is one special priestess that I would like to thanks for really stepping up and not only spending extra time learning the dance but also spending time with everyone individually. You are such an awesome priestess and your work truly made a difference. So much love to you. 

For the amazingly talented members of the Living Temple of Diana I have no words to accurately portray my gratitude. You have stuck by me for years and have followed my visions. This year each of you had a big part in one of our rituals and you each rose above and beyond the occasion. You are the reason I made it through 2014 and represent one of the most sacred connections I have to my faith. Most of you were never my students but all of you are my spirit family. I cherish you more and more with each passing year. 

This ritual would not have been possible without the support of the delegate groups. When I reached out to the community I was not sure what I would find. Thirteen very different witchcraft traditions coming together for a greater cause…. Woah! I feel like I made some great allies through this process and that older bonds were reinforced. This gave us a chance to network on multiple frequencies and that is what a convention is all about! Your magic was deeply felt and your presence was irreplaceable. You are all rock stars. From all of us at Black Rose Witchcraft, I would like to offer you our heartfelt gratitude. 

We do plan to share the ritual outline and script with the greater community at a later date. Stay tuned.

The Rite of Humankind

I’ll admit it, I am a huge nerd. I love science and use the scientific method in spiritual practice. When Cosmos: A Space Time Odyssey came on this year I was incredibly inspired. You see my tradition Sacred Fires is immensely focused on blending the ideologies of both Spiritual Humanism and Goddess Worship. This lends to the building of a beautiful cosmology where we see the universe it’s self as a living entity experiencing existence through the beings she creates. During the Rite of Humankind we had the privilege to explore that cosmology with a ritual audience.

Dawned in all black with animal masks representing the primordial spirits we led those in attendance through a very unique shamanic experience. As the lights dimmed a priestess announced, “ We are about to begin take off procedures……” and the scene was set for an interstellar adventure. As drums played Storm Faerywolf would narrate the story of how the universe would come to be and how it would create humankind while Chas Bogan would illustrate the words with shadow theater. An ecstatic reminder that we are the product of over fifty million years of evolution and that the Goddess loves us and created us to thrive.

It’s hard to convey what was experienced during this ritual because it was shamanic and deep for me. Though we ended a little short I still felt we tapped into something beautiful and cosmically sacred. We had a lot of people tell us it was exactly the recharge they needed and it was awesome to share a piece of our mysteries with the pagan community. 

A very special thank you to Chas for the shadow theater! It was an excellent and totally different way to express the magic and I think it may even be a first at Pcon! You are a genius and you made the story so much richer. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Another big thanks to Storm Faerywolf for joining us as narrator. Your voice is pure magic and we were so grateful that you lent it to this piece.