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A while back, I wrote a blog post about how there isn't really a rule book in Modern Minoan Paganism in terms of how people have to practice their spirituality. Unlike some named traditions, Modern Minoan Paganism is more a wide pathway than a strict method.

Yes, we have our pantheon full of all kinds of deities, and we do interpret them in specific ways. And we have our preferred activities and focal points: altars, labyrinth walking, offerings and libations, even ecstatic body postures. These are things we all share, though not everyone gets into everything equally.

 “She hath a grip of all the Craft.”

(Andrew Mann, of the Queen of Elfhame [1591])

“Tradition” is Witch for “denomination.”

For its own good reasons, the collective intuition of the modern Craft has seen fit—you'll pardon the expression—to organize itself into various Traditions.

Some among us strongly identify with a particular Tradition; some of us define ourselves by our Tradition.

There's nothing wrong with that. In some ways, this constitutes a strength.

But there's a difference between letting ourselves be defined by a given Tradition, and letting ourselves be limited by that Tradition.

The Craft is, always has been, and always will be, bigger than any given Tradition.

Were there no witches before Tradition X? Nonsense. There have always been witches. There were witches before there were Traditions. Traditions are made for witches, not witches for Traditions.

The Craft is more than the sum of its Traditions.

No Tradition embodies the fullness of the Craft.

We can build a cherished tradition in the simplest of ways.

One of my absolute favorite childhood memories from the holiday season was my Christmas stockings. I felt more strongly about them than I did about the gifts under the tree, though please don’t think my parents skimped there. 

There were little toys in the stockings, but I don’t recall a single one of those toys. What I remember, with sweetness, is that every year my stocking held a couple of tangerines, a handful of unshelled nuts, and a few, exquisite, small, Italian nougat candies, each candy in a tiny box that seemed oh-so-fancy to me.