History
Feri is a tradition of Neo-Pagan Witchcraft, emerging from the work and teaching of the late Victor Anderson and his wife Cora. Originally found only on the West Coast of the United States, in recent years it has spread into several parts of North America, and even overseas.
Victor was born in 1917 in New Mexico. When he was four years old, a fever left him legally blind from inoperable cataracts. After his family moved to Ashland, Oregon, he underwent a powerful experience in which he had intense visions of the Gods, that he felt was his initiation into the magical world.
Soon after, at the age of 12, he met a group of economic refugees from Southern Appalachia who had relocated in the nearby town of Bend. Seeing in him a kindred soul, they shared with him their body of magical practice which was rooted in American folk magic, and had elements of European, African-American and Native American traditions. The core of the Feri Tradition is descended from the practices of this group.
In 1944, Victor met and married Cora, who came from a family in Alabama that practiced a type of Christian folk magic, using the phases of the Moon and involving a form of faith-healing.
In 1959, Victor and Cora broke up a fist-fight between their son and a neighbor boy; thus began the long association of the Andersons with Tom DeLong, better known in the Pagan community as Gwydion Pendderwen. Through membership in the Society for Creative Anachronism, Gwydion met Alison Harlow, Pat Crossman, Caradoc Ap Cador/Gabriel Carrillo, and Eldri Littlewolf/Esther Zopfi, in the early 1970's. Together with Victor, Cora, Dennis Strand and Gwydion's then-wife Cynthia, this group became the Mahealani Coven. It was during this time that Victor's complex body of lore and magic became the Feri Tradition as we now have it.
Core Beliefs The Feri Tradition is adamantly polytheistic, recognizing many manifestations of the Divine from many different places and times. Central to our reverence is the Goddess; She is the Soul of the World, the Holy Womb of Darkness who divided Herself and brought forth the Light, Her son, lover, and other half.While Feri is certainly a Goddess-centered tradition, it is gender-equal and open to those of any sexual orientation. Our training and magical practices place a strong emphasis on the importance of fully realizing the male and female principles within oneself. The Primal Goddess in our tradition is the entirety of all that is, was, and ever shall be. She contains within Herself all powers, potentialities, and polarities. In the mythos of generation/creation that is part of the Feri oral teaching, this primal unity splits into two, and this is imagined as the springing into existence of a male God in relation to the female Goddess. But this divine pair is not a simple personification of duality. Every time you divide one thing into two, you don't get two 'pure' opposites; you get two new wholes. So every Feri Goddess has aspects of masculine, and every Feri God has aspects of the feminine; the Creatrix is repeated anew within the creations.
The Gods are seen as monads, having dark and light, male and female within themselves.Some of the concepts and teaching tools unique to the Feri Tradition have become widely known, primarily through the writings of Starhawk, and the Reclaiming Tradition. In particular, the Feri concepts of the tripartite nature of the human psyche (which resembles similar ideas in the Hebrew Kabalah, as well as Hawaiian Huna of which Victor was particularly fond) and the Iron and Pearl Pentagrams have become familiar to many outside of our tradition. The Pentagrams embody the fundamental values of Feri, and represent our basic approach to magic and the nature of being human.
Group Structure and Role of Clergy
Although several Feri covens exist, the basic 'unit' of the tradition is the individual Witch, and solitary practice is common. We have no degree system such as is common in other Craft traditions; there is one and only one initiation. Consequently, we place a great deal of stress on the training leading up to it. It can be quite long, as there is a great wealth of technique and lore to be mastered relating to the elements of nature, animals, birds, herbs and plants, trees, the movements of the Sun, the phases of the Moon, the weather, the movements of the stars, as well as an intensive program of spiritual and psychic development.
Coven structure is most often very informal, usually with no official High Priestess or High Priest. Many Feri covens like to rotate their leadership and ritual roles among the members.
Candidates seeking initiation into a Feri coven must have the unanimous approval of all members of that coven. If someone receives initiation as a solitaire, the initiator is held responsible for the future conduct of that person as it relates to the tradition.
We have something we refer to as the "Wand system"; this isn't intended to be a formal hierarchy, but rather a way of recognizing an individual's ongoing contributions and accomplishments. The White wand is held by all initiates of Feri, each of whom is fully empowered to function in any ritual role and to initiate others into the tradition. The Green Wand signifies our Elders, particularly those who have given much of their time and energy to teaching. The holders of the Black Wand are the Grandmasters of the Feri Tradition (the term is used for either gender); this is a sort of "lifetime achievement award."
The path of Feri is not always easy or safe; it's not for everyone. It requires a rigorous self-honesty and a willingness to delve into our own darkness as a source of power and self-healing. It teaches us to go into all the hidden places where we have buried the parts of ourselves we fear and hate, and find there the source of beauty, love, creativity, and authenticity. It brings us face to face with our own divinity, so that the raw power of the living universe flows through every part of our being. It is an awesome and frequently challenging experience --the way to wholeness is rarely a comfortable one! This ideal condition is symbolized by the 'Black Heart of Innocence' a state of being that is cleansed of guilt, shame, and the sex-negative attitudes inculcated by modern Western society. Feri Witches strive to live according to what we refer to as the 'Warrior Ethic', which involves balancing personal freedom and love for ourselves as manifestations of the Divine, with the need for discipline, responsibility, and respect for others.
Holidays
Most members of the tradition celebrate the eight Sabbats common to the rest of the Craft, with Beltaine and especially Samhain deemed to be the most important. The particular interpretation of the Wheel of the Year mythos used is left up to individual or group preference. Regular meetings are also held on the Full Moons; other lunar phases are observed according to specific needs or interests.
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