What Faery Stands For

In the hard work of division, it sometimes take a while to say what you are for, rather than what you are specifically against. It is easy for anyone to say what they are not, much harder to define what one is.

Now that the split has been finalized and Faery initiates have had a chance to communicate and work together in earnest, there is a Statement of Principles posted. Blessed Be.

"Big Deal, This Has Happened Before"

There have been sentiments expressed recently (particularly by students, who we must assume have been told this by their (public) teachers) that this split is no big deal, because "this has happened before".

WRONG. In the past, Feri has had offshoots, yes. Those are quite different from a split. Reclaiming, Third Road, and more recently, Morningstar, are all examples of this trend. But there is a huge difference between an initiate deciding to create a new Path (with different initiations and lore) and what has happened with the Feri/Faery split. In the first two cases, Victor urged the initiates in question to forge a new Path for themselves and others. In the latter case, there was also a specific decision on the part of that initiate to stop teaching Feri and focus on a new tradition.

We have also heard that because there was an particular initiate "exiled" for a period of time, left without community and tribe, and that this was also defined by public Feri as a "split". That initiate was left on his own, without others. This is not the same thing- to equate the two is historical revisionism.

In this case, the tradition has literally split- there is a faction of initiates (not a single person) from five separate lines of Faery/Feri, who have decided that the handful of folks who created Feri as a public religion for the masses had split off from the rest of the Mystery Tradition almost a decade ago (without the vast majority of the tradition's consent), and the fork in the road has been diverging further and further afield ever since.

Are you understanding the difference? An individual forging a new path is not a "split". This is. The tradition has been twained-it was an act of Will and an act of Love. A "split" like this in actuality, has NEVER happened before (since Victor made Feri/Faery known and started initiating people into it). These actions have a profound impact and effects on the tradition(s) as a whole.

To deny the importance of this action that is most likely for PR or political expedience. I would question anyone's motives who tell you otherwise.

Why "Free Feri"?

The Empress, by Rangel

We wish to liberate Feri from the bondage of singular definitions, marketing strategies, and monolithic voices. We are a diverse group who feel obligated to point out that Faery (Witchcraft) was never meant to be sold, and that according to ancestral wisdom attempts to dig greedily into the Faery mound typically do not go well.

Our tradition has been known by many names over the years, including Vicia, Fairy, Faery, Kruithin, and Feri. Some are references to our status as "Old Religion;" others refer to the Otherworld and its denizens. "Feri" connotes "feral" (as in wild), "ferrous" (as in Iron), and "-fer" (as in bearer). Unfortunately the latter spelling has become associated with a mass-produced version of our teachings...complete with t-shirts, coffee mugs, "blue fire" thongs, and seminars. We prefer that the high tide of faddish interest in Feri as the "trad du jour" pass us by, and we wait patiently for it to recede. Meanwhile we wish to re-emphasize our associations with the Stillevolk, the Silent People. But we remember all our names.

Our kin and kith are those initiates who adhere to the Old Ways and their students. They believe that oaths are not for breaking. That secrets should be kept that way. That the names of other initiates should never be outed. They are the ones that respect the opinions and writings of their Craft brothers and sisters. They believe that you should thoroughly vet and know your students- for years- in real world situations before teaching, Empowering, or Initiating them.

The Faery tradition as we were taught it and still practice derives much of its power through the ligature of Keeping Silent, that is, in secrecy. It is a vessel with strong walls, a fortress of iron to hold safe to the Mysteries in mortal realm; the utterance of these Mysteries outside of the properly prepared Circle not only dilutes their meaning and power, but attracts the attention of hungry ghosts.

We do not recognize any living Grandmaster, nor any titles used as advertising copy.