Dedication - necessary or not?

[IAN]

Hi all

Further to my post on 'initiation - necessary or not?'
I decided to start this new one
I personally feel that dedication is by far more important to us as pagans than initiation, after all initiation is only being initiated into one particular group/path/gang whatever you want to call it, this as far as i can see is all of 50 years old (whats the point).
More importantly dedication is something between you and the god/goddess, personal for you, you are honouring them instead of following someone elses made up path.
Retreats to a safe distance!! ;D
Discuss.

[admin]

Hi Ian

You raise a very important point. Particularly as I feel that sometimes the dedication aspect is taken far less seriously than initiation.

The oaths taken when we dedicate ourselves to our Gods are important and real. I shudder sometimes when I read about someone who's read a couple of books, been pagan for a whole 3 months and decides to dedicate to Kali, Morrighan or Hecate without fully understanding what they are making oaths about.

Personally I didn't dedicate to my Gods until last year, as it was something that I'd never felt the need to do before. It wasn't that I wasn't dedicated to my path, just that I'd not felt was necessary at that time.

Would anyone be willing to share their dedicant oaths here? Personally I dedicated to be the best pagan I could be, and to help other pagans where I could. It was a short and simple ritual (from Patricia Crowther's Lid off the Cauldron) but it's beauty was in its simplicity. Just me and my cat and my Gods.

bb
Rhiannon

[hogbear]

I did my delication with other pagans and I found it a great experience. After ten years of being a pagan I finally admited it to the world! made more special by the fact that I shared it with a group of loving friends.

rob

[sam]

dedications - now they are important ;D
after learning and discovering the path of wicca for a year i finally dedicated my life to the gods on april 18th 2000. every year since on that date i have re-confirmed my vows to the gods cause to me i find this important as it was a very special time in my life. it was the day that i woke up to the reality of what i had tried to deny myself and that was that i was a pagan and i wished to live that way of life. i dedicated myself to the gods and began my life as a pagan and hhave never looked back. it has helped me in more ways then i could ever have imagined and i feel that for most the day that you dedicate yourself to the gods is far more important that being initiated into a certain path/tradition/coven.