The binding and scourging of candidates for initiation are longstanding traditions within the Traditional Craft community, and yet they are also some of the least understood. To truly understand just why they're still a part of so many Wiccan Traditions, we have to start with some historical background.

Binding

The binding method used in Gardnerian Wicca and it's Traditional offshoots is very easy to trace...it's virtually the same method used in Masonic initiations (and Gardner was an advanced Co-Mason). Compare the digram found in Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft to the one in any book about Freemasonry, and you'll find little divergeance. This has led some to conclude that the binding of a postulant for initiation is simply a Masonic borrowing of Gardner's with little other meaning.

This attitude overlooks both the historic and spiritual signifigance of binding, as well as the challenge before entering the circle. The restrictive binding of one about to be initiated, and thus transformed, has been with us throughout history. Countless cultures and societies used this as a symbolic re-entering of the restriction of the woumb before birth. The initiatory experience has almost always been a re-birth, into a new position in the community or into a new phase of spiritual growth. To leave the candidate in a bound position, usually in a dark place, while the circle was being prepared has been Traditional Wicca's way of symbolising gestating in the Mother's woumb. The ceremony, then, is the birthing process, and the end marks the initiate's entry into a new life...that as a Priest or Priestess of the Old Gods.

Likewise, the challenge...where one is stopped at blade's point and asked if they dare continue...is the symbolic last chance for a candidate to not go through the re-birthing process, and it's a symbolic way of confirming that the one about to go through the rite is truly doing so of their own free will. No-one can ever say that they were rail-roaded into Wiccan initiation, or initiated without a chance to say "no". The bond of initiation is a strong one, and one not to be undertaken lightly. Neither the life of the initiator nor the initiated will ever be quite the same, and it's best to do something like this with no doubts.

Scourging

This is perhaps the most misunderstood piece of Wiccan ritual regalia. The Traditional ones are quite often wicked-looking affairs, with long knotted leather strips. Even the modern Gardnerian version of an embroidery silk scourge (or a "Gardnerian Party Favour", as some call it) can leave an improper impression on the skittish.

And yet, the use of the scourge as a sacred, mystical tool also has it's roots in antiquity. A favourite illustration in older Witchcraft books was of a fresco uncovered at Pompeii that showed an initiate being scourged near the end of the experience. Of course, Christian monks have used a scourge as a method of purification for centuries, but they in fact picked up the practice from other, older sources.

In Wiccan ritual the scourge is often used as an agent of purification. One old adage is that "salt purifies the body, but the scourge purifies the soul". When it was considered that the three-fold law applied only to Witches (as opposed to a general natural law, as many regard it today), the scourge was used to shed the karma of the previous life in preparation of one's new life as a Witch.

Today, the scourge is primarily used as a symbol of the willingness to suffer to learn. This is vital, and something that is criminally absent in much of today's mall-bought, "feel good" Wicca. The fact of the matter is, the path of the initiate is not one for everybody. To undergo the experience of initiation (whether at the hands of another or at the hands of the Gods) is to put oneself "out there", in an astral sense, as one seeking greater spiritual illumination and growth. The spirits that guide us (Gods and Goddesses, Lords of Karma, etc) see this as a kind of neon sign amongst the din of humanity, and give us special atention. This can be a blessing that *feels* like a curse sometimes. This is because we grow through both positive and negative events in our lives, and will get both in our quest to grow spiritually. To walk the path of an initiate is to speed up one's karma, to grow faster and recieve illumination...and this isn't always pleasent. One must be willing to suffer to learn. It won't be all unpleasentness, but unplesent experiences *will* be a part of the path, and we can't delude ourselves into thinking that it's all going to be rainbows and Beltane shagging.

Some covens still scourge to test this willingness, and others find more creative ways of bringing the point across.

Thus, though they are (outwardly, at least) lurid in appearance, binding and scourging have both tradition and purpose behind them, and are not something to be discarded lightly.  Though part of group experience more than solitary work, meditating upon their importance is recommended for all who walk the path.

Blessed Be,
Taliesin