Balefire was founded by my husband, George, and me in 1994 to fill what we felt was a void in our area of Groves teaching the particular flavor of Blue Star we were taught (and we prefer). We are a teaching Grove, with a heavy emphasis on teaching beginners, however, we are not an initiate factory. We don't believe all people should be initiates, and we don't particularly want to populate the countryside with new Blue Star covens without regard to the skill and abilities of the priests and priestesses we produce.

The process of being considered for membership in Balefire is as follows:

1. You meet/contact a member of Balefire and are invited to an open sabbat. We have open sabbats regularly, at least 4-6 times per year.

2. If you like us, and we like you, you get invited to a new moon circle or two. These circles are only open to members of the grove and their invited guests. We keep a regular schedule of new and full moons, celebrating them (obviously) twice a month. At our new and full moons, we hold classes and then ritual, typically.

Structure and History

3. If you fit in well with us, and you are interested in pursuing dedication, you tell us so, and we invite you to a full moon circle. At this point, if all goes well, you would formally ask for dedication. Dedication is simply saying to the gods that you believe you are Pagan and will be for the rest of this life, and saying to Balefire, "Hey, you guys are pretty cool. And I think my beliefs might mesh well with yours. I'd like to learn more."

4. You could, at this point, stay a dedicant (or lay person) the rest of your life if you wanted. However, if you felt a calling (or some similar impetus arose), you might ask for initiation. After at least 6 months as a dedicant (though we prefer a year and a day), you could be given neophyte. Neophyte is a transitive stage in which you would prepare yourself for being a member of the clergy. This stage can last anywhere from six months to several years, depending, but typically lasts about a year or so, after which you could be granted initiation. Initiation is not a given. There is precedent for stepping back into dedication from neophyte, if the path seems wrong to you.

5. As a first degree initiate, you could decide to stay put for the rest of your life. You could be voted into Balefire Coven (a smaller, tight-knit group which facilitates the running of all of our events and helps to determine the path of the Grove) and continue to serve the community in this way. However, you might well feel a calling to become more deeply involved and give more of your life to serving the Gods and the community. If so, you might ask for second degree.

6. Second degree is yet another transitory state. It is a preparation for third degree initiation, though it is often of longer duration than neophyte was. It deals heavily with learning to teach the tradition to others, at all stages, and with redefining your own belief systems. You might remain a second for between a year and a day and 5-10 years, but it would be unusual for you to remain a second indefinitely.

7. At some point, you would likely take third degree. At this point, if you wanted to , you could hive off of Balefire and found your own coven and grove. This is not really our goal, however, it often seems inevitable that a third would wish to start doing things "her own way" and would therefore feel a calling to form a new coven, training her own students in her own way.

As you can see, the whole process can take from 3 1/2 to 8 or even 10 years and requires a lot of dedication and focus.It is not for the idle dabbler.

If you are interested in attending an open sabbat, please drop me an e-mail so we can discuss it.