First off, I'm a man. I've never participated in the Women's Mysteries; by definition, I cannot, and never will.
Nor, being a man of honor, have I ever asked my women friends to reveal to me the secrets of the Women's Mysteries. (Being women of honor, of course, they wouldn't have told me, even if I had asked.)
Nor, frankly—although I am not sworn to guard them—would I reveal to you the secrets of the Women's Mysteries, even if I knew them. Call it a professional courtesy.
This much I can tell you, though: behind those Mysteries, Men's and Women's both, stands yet another Mystery.
That's what I'm about to reveal here.
Kind of.
This coming Summer, the men of the Driftless Tribe of Witches will be celebrating the Men's Mysteries, in conjunction with the Rites of Man-Making.
As Mysteries do, they will end with the oath of the Great Silence, in which we swear to keep secret that which we have seen, heard, and experienced.
(At the heart of life with honor lies the ability to keep a secret; but that's a mystery in and of itself.)
Liturgically speaking, the Men's Mysteries are a self-authenticating masterpiece. The central metaphors are so deep, so articulate, so true that I'm staggered each time I re-encounter them: so true, so articulate, so deep that they have the power to create transformation in those who experience them for the very first time.
They encode in themselves a deep meaning which lies at the very heart of our tribe, and define us as a people.
As guardian of these Mysteries, there is much that I am pledged not to reveal, nor will I reveal them here.
But let me tell you my suspicion about the deep Mystery underlying them all.
Call it an educated guess.
As I say, I'm not privy to the secret of the Women's Mysteries, and that of the Men's I will not reveal. But let me tell you, nonetheless, the deeper Mystery, that which underlies both Women's Mysteries, and Men's, the one that—although I will never actually know—I will be so bold as here to posit.
Let me phrase it as a question:
What if the Men's and Women's Mysteries turned out to be, at heart, the same Mystery?
For GH