by Rick C.
Member since:
June 25, 2007

The Year and A Day

August 13, 2007 06:59 PM EDT (Updated: August 29, 2007 01:20 AM EDT)
views: 86 | rating: 9.1/10 (7 votes) | comments: 16

Many going into the Craft will note that they need to spend a year and a day of study before they are truly a Witch.  Why the year and a day?  First of all this will take the novice through all the holidays.  What is the day, why not just a year.  We need to look at the Witches year - It ends on Oct. 30 and begins on Nov. 1.  (No, the 30th is not a typo)  The day is Samhain - it was a day between the years. And this is the reason for the time being a year and a day.

Now I know this gets to a lot of "Witches".  Some will say, "Thats only if you are in a Coven" or "I read as many books as I could over my first year for my year and a day" "Hey, I don't' have the time, just let me know what you learned".

There are too many things that are part of the Craft that must be learned that you can't learn from a book.  And there are things you must experience. In that time you must do as well as read.  You must celebrate the seasons, do rituals, lean to write spells...learn be a Priest or Priestess.

Doing this within a Coven or with a teacher is the best way, but a person can learn on their own.  But they still must be willing to use that year and maybe longer. Keep notes on spells and rituals, on what you did, what you saw and in the case of spells the results. Try to go to pagan festival and gatherings if possible to interact with other of like mind.  The Witchvox is a great place to find out about these things - also look for PNO's (Pagan Night Out).

The Craft is all about learning.  So if the year and a day seems to long for you, then it's not the Path for you.

Blessed Be

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Comments: 16

Heather W. Aug 13, 2007, 7:16pm EDT
I agree, but also thing the year and a day is sometimes metaphorical in nature: You yourself must pass through seasons of life, and allow your mind to go through the cycle as well. Truly learn to appreciate the world and all she has to offer. You can only truly understand by doing, and that is why there is no quick express lane so to speak.
Thanks for sharing!
Rick C. Aug 14, 2007, 12:15am EDT
This is very true. I've seen many a student Witch go through the year and a day and not get it, and others that were years ahead of themselves. I once had two students one that studied and practiced and another that just showed up to class and rituals. The one that studied and practiced never complained about the time it took...the other was always complaining and saying I was giving the other more of my attention. I told her that in Truth I was spending more time on her - the other only wanted for me to watch and let her know how she was doing. The other needed showing how to do things over and over. The one ended her year and a day and went on studying, while the other had trouble getting though it. She finally did, but to this day, almost nine years latter she is still a first degree Witch and the only leaning she is doing is to go back and go over the stuff she had learned in her year and a day. The other now has her 3rd degree and has refused becoming a high Priestess to several Covens because she feel she needs to learn more before taking on that position.
So yes it is much more than a period of real time as it is a metaphysical time.
Anyone feeling those that they shouldn't have to go through the real time year and a day is cheating themselves - as each season brings both it rewards and ch alleges.
Lilith Dorsey Aug 14, 2007, 12:35am EDT
Thank you for posting this. Witchvox is indeed a great resource for the community. I encourage everyone to check it out, and not just my listings :)
Bryan F. Aug 14, 2007, 5:21pm EDT
I feel that the Lady will initiate who she wants to, regardless of formal training or lack thereof. A solitary with a sincere heart is in no way a lesser follower of the Craft than someone who did a full year and a day in a coven - but that's speaking of each of them as a brother or sister follower of the Old Ways, nothing more. What makes a witch is faith in the Lady and the Lord, not initiations nor titles nor degrees.

That said, it's just not possible to do things like join a specific tradition or learn coven leadership skills or experience a drawing-down without being part of a group and doing the work that is required. The year and a day is usually going to be part of that.

Asking a student to commit to a year and a day serves another purpose as well - it weeds out the looky-loos so attention can be focused on the sincere students.
Rick C. Aug 14, 2007, 11:49pm EDT
Oh yeah - the weeding out that the year and day gives is can be a blessing. We had a boy one time that had gotten all his information on the craft form a roll playing game and kept asking about when we would learn about this or that from the game. When we told him we wouldn't he stopped coming.

I agree with you that its the faith, not initiations and titles and degrees. They are only helpful within the coven and meaningless outside. But I feel a person Coven trained, teacher trained, or self trained should take the year and a day to learn the craft and work at it. Anyone can become a worshiper of the Goddess, but a Witch has to be just a little more.
Rebecca D. Aug 29, 2007, 7:27am EDT
Anyone who complains about the year and a day doesn't have the mindset to be trained. The year and a day is just the start...we never stop learning. The process is the important thing, not the time or even the finished "product" because we are (or should) never be finished. Rick, I like your comment about anyone being able to worship the goddess...and I think I agree. There are different levels of commitment to the rituals and formal traditions of a coven. This does not in any way denigrate the ones who choose not to join a coven. Each must do what he/she finds appropriate. It isn't that one is right and the others wrong. Each must find the path that fits, and the only "wrong" is trying to force yourself onto someone else's path. The analogy that pops into my mind is wearing the wrong sized shoes. You can do it, but it's uncomfortable and potentially harmful.
Rick C. Aug 29, 2007, 11:29am EDT
I like the shoe analogy, its so true.
Christy H. Sep 25, 2007, 1:28pm EDT
I definitely agree with this post. I myself have read and studied and celebrated holidays as much as possible since I decided to begin this path, but I'm a college student, and even though I've been an active follower of Wicca for about 7 years now, I would still say I'm a novice. I plan to really take that year and a day once I graduate in another year because without it I don't ever think I'll truly achieve the level of understanding that I want to achieve
Rick C. Sep 25, 2007, 7:39pm EDT
I think when you go the full year and a day you will see things that you missed in the past.
I tried To warn you Oct 29, 2007, 5:21am EDT
I thought a year and a day was a common term limit on handfasting before making it for life?
Rick C. Oct 29, 2007, 11:07am EDT
There are two types of handfasting, neither for life. There is the year and a day, which again relates to the old year being form Nov.1 to Oct.30 with Oct.31 between the years. The other is As long as love last. The hope with the second one is that the love will last between lives and they will find themselves again and again. But then it's figured that some will not last and the reason for the handparting.
sylverose m. Nov 8, 2007, 9:24am EST
Actually do we ever really stop learning after a year and a day? Just a thought as I read this article it really made me think over the past ...
Personally I don't think we ever stop learning, you learn the "basics" of course, but moving from one place to another as I have done you find that each person that you meet along the path teaches you things that you might have originally learned slightly different, and so I am constantly learning new things, thus I am never really done with my education, so a year and a day perhaps for basics, but I see it as you never really stop learning even after that and perhaps maybe never.
Rick C. Nov 8, 2007, 10:59pm EST
I agree. We look at it this way, a first degree Witch has learned the basics, A second degree Witch has learned how to use the basics. A Third Degree Witch has learned that the learning has just begun.
I love teaching a 101 class for all that I learn from the ones that I'm teaching.
Mistress Amethyst Jan 18, 2009, 3:15pm EST
O.K. I'M A FEW YEARS LATE ON THIS POST. BUT JUST WANT TO SAY IT'S A GOOD ONE. AND WE NEVER KNOW IT ALL.BEING A WITCH IS LIFE LONG learning.
Rick C. Jan 18, 2009, 8:37pm EST
What's a few years....
Mistress Amethyst Jan 19, 2009, 4:40pm EST
When you have a post and some one run's in to it years later, You've made a good point in it or said something profround. Glad to see some one keeps up with there old posts.

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