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Joining the Hearth

There is nothing to join to attend our gatherings; the door is simply open. But some people, having stood by the fire for a while, want to help keep it. This page is about that.

Three ways to stand by the fire

Visitor

Anyone who comes to a gathering, reads the site, writes to us, or keeps a flame. No commitment, no record, no expectations. Most of the people we love are visitors and always will be.

Friend of the Hearth

Someone who has asked to be on the gathering list, comes when they can, and perhaps helps carry chairs. Friends receive the Sabbat details, the Kitchen Table readings, and the flamekeeping calendar when a shift opens. To become a friend, come to three gatherings of any kind and then ask.

Hearthkeeper

One of the small core who carry the work: who lead rituals, hold flamekeeping shifts, answer the mail, run the study circle, and make the decisions, by consensus, about what the Hearth does. Hearthkeepers have made a dedication at Imbolc after a year and a day of participation. They are not clergy, not initiates of a degree, and not better witches than anyone else. They are the ones who said yes to the washing up.

Becoming a Hearthkeeper

1. Keep a year and a day. Attend at least six Sabbat circles and six Esbats across a full turning of the wheel, and come to Kitchen Table often enough that we know your face and your arguments. This is not a test; it is how you find out whether we are your people and we find out whether we can work with you.
2. Read the covenant and be sure you can live by it. Argue with us about it at Kitchen Table if you like. Then decide.
3. Write a letter of introduction. Not an application; a letter, to the Hearthkeepers, saying who you are, how you came to the Craft, what your practice looks like, what you would bring to the Hearth and what you hope to find. Craft names are fine. Length is up to you. One of ours was two pages; one was a poem.
4. Talk with two Hearthkeepers, separately, over tea. They will ask you about your letter and tell you honestly what the work involves and what it costs.
5. The Hearthkeepers decide by consensus. If anyone has a serious reservation, we will tell you what it is, kindly, and what would change it. Almost always the answer is yes, because by this point we know you.
6. Dedicate at Imbolc. In circle, on Brighid's night, you make your promise to the Hearth and the Hearth makes its promise to you. You receive a Brighid's cross woven by the keepers and a shift in the flame when one opens. Then you help with the washing up.

What is asked

• That you keep the covenant.
• That you show up: for your flame, for the rituals you have said you will help with, for each other.
• That you share in the ordinary costs of the Hearth, the hall hire, the candles, the website, according to your means, and that you tell us if your means change so that nobody is ever kept out by money.
• That you keep the confidences of the circle.
• That you keep learning, and keep practising, and tell us when we are wrong.

What is not asked

• Fees for dedication, for teaching, or for any degree. There are no degrees.
• Belief in any particular god, cosmology, or theory of how magic works.
• Your legal name, address or employer beyond what safety requires.
• Exclusivity. Hearthkeepers belong to other covens, groves, churches and traditions, and we are glad of it.
• Forever. A Hearthkeeper may step back at any time, with thanks and without shame. Most come back.

Leaving

People move, change, burn out, fall in love with another tradition. When a Hearthkeeper leaves, we hold a small rite of thanks, return their letter of introduction, and keep their name on the roll of those who have tended the fire. The door stays open. It always does.