Shya:

I'm sending this to the list, only because my last was as well. Future discussion is probably off-topic, so might best be reserved for off-list correspondence.

I think I misspoke, or at lest it felt that way.

You write:
>> I am curious to know whether Feri is breaking into different branches.

Feri, as a tradition, has always been individualistic. That was part of the genius and the chaote in Victor, teaching to the individual rather than holding classes where whole groups would receive the exact same teachings at the same time. So, Starhawk, who worked with Victor in 1975, received what she did, and then, within the community she worked in, modified it to become Reclaiming. Hence, Reclaiming is actually an offshoot of sorts, but is not the thing itself. This situation repeated itself which most of Victor's students, so that Gwydion Pendderwen's Faery looked very based in Celtic folklore, Gabriel Carrillo's Faery looked like it did, and why Night Hares looks like it does. So, it isn't fracturing as much as it is a tolerance of variety in the way the basic teachings manifest in individuals' practices.

You write:
While 
>> Reclaiming has always had a strong Anderson influence, there now appears to 
>> be a Reclaiming Feri offshoot.

Actually, Reclaiming used some of the same tools and imagery, to greater or lesser extents, but was also quite inclusive of non-Anderson elements. For example, "calling the elements" is a Reclaimingism, while Feri proper calls Guardians *of* those elements (which, it could be argued are the same thing, but I won't). There are other not-so-subtle differences between Feri and Reclaiming. To say that Reclaiming always had a "strong" Anderson influence is, I think, too vehement to be accurate.

But when you write of a Reclaiming Feri offshoot, I think what you might be trying to describe is a newer trend in Reclaiming to seek out Feri training and initiation, based on a previous familiarity with those Feri elements that Reclaiming uses. YOu see, initially, Reclaiming claimed, quite vociferously, that initiation was not necessary to be a "Witch." The bottom line in Feri is that initiation is necessary to become one. So, some Reclaiming Witches are gradually changing their minds, deciding that they in fact do want initiation. Some decide to work with a Feri teacher at that point.

Those are the Reclaiming Feri.

And please don't read any judgement into any of these comments. Feri is Feri, and an initiate is an initiate. I don't wish to cast aspersions on any of my Feri kin, no matter their lineage.

Tom


On Mon, 12 Nov 2007, Thomas K. Johnson wrote:

> This is an interesting, and for me, irresolveable issue.
>
> I do not consider myself "reclaiming feri" - while I did take their skeletal 
> curriculum back twenty years ago, that was the last I ever had to do with that 
> community. I came to Feri through folks who were *not* also reclaiming 
> identified.
>
> Once I *was* initiated, and began to meet folks who had started out as 
> reclaiming and ended up as feri, I found the similarity to what it was I did 
> was quite uneven. Thorn is a good friend, but it is also very clear to me that 
> her roots were in reclaiming. Some things we do are the same, some things are 
> sort of different, or perhaps more correctly, the same basic premise informs 
> two different manifestations. I've had the benefit of circling with some folks 
> who started out reclaiming, ended up Feri, and after we worked together, we had 
> both cross-fertilized enough to feel our common ground.
>
> So, I guess there *are* lines, and I've seen some folks delineate lines based 
> on the coven in which one was a member. I'm a founding member of Night Hares 
> Coven, and some have called us the "Night Hares Line" because we work a 
> particular way, heavily flavored by Victor's last decade and a half, and by 
> Gwydion's poetry. But it seems to me that this gives our coven too much 
> prestige in a consideration of the larger Feri community.
>
> So, I think you have to ask each person whether they see themselves as a member 
> of a particular line. Usually, reclaiming feri will self-identify as 
> "reclaiming feri," rather than simply Feri. Night Hares, on the other hand, 
> will almost always state (if not strongly) that we are simply Feri (of the 
> Victor Anderson variety).
>
> Tom
> Seattle
>
>
> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007, mapremshya wrote:
>
>> Hi Tom and all;
>> I am curious to know whether Feri is breaking into different branches. (or 
>> perhaps it is Reclaiming breaking into different branches!). While 
>> Reclaiming has always had a strong Anderson influence, there now appears to 
>> be a Reclaiming Feri offshoot. Do you see yourself, Tom, as part of this 
>> line (Thorn, Oak, Dawn et al) or a different line, and if so what would that 
>> lineage be?
>> Thanks
>> Shya Young