The ADF Dedicant Path has an optional documentation component; the documentation can be turned in to certify one as having completed the requirements (as the path continues ever-onward).
The required sections are:
- The Nine Virtues
- High Day Essays
- Book Reviews
- The Home Shrine
- The Two Powers
- Mental Discipline
- Nature Awareness
- High Day Attendance
- The Three Kindreds
- Cultural Practice (Personal Religion when I started it)
- Dedicant Oath Rite
Note that is likely there have been some errors during the cut-and-paste process to set up these pages, and rather than ask permission to use names they have largely been edited out. Some footnotes did not incorporate well, either.
Dedicant Path documentation
Personal Religion
I started off my journey into ADF having come through a period of eclecticism after deciding that Western ceremonial magick was not working for me. I was rather uncertain if ADF’s practices would work for me, or if any hearth culture was for me. Culture-wise, I had three expectations. The first, was that I found find connection with a Slavic hearth culture, though that is only a component of my ancestry.
Dedicant Path documentation
The Three Kindreds
The 3 kindreds are the Ancestors, the Nature Spirits, and the Deities (I am a fan of the neologism Godden, but will avoid its use here). This division within ADF is based on lore. However, it sometimes resolvesthe kindreds further than lore necessarily supports. For instance, Freyr is a God, but is also leader of the Alfs/elves which might be nature spirits or ancestors; The borders are permeable. Not all Kindred entities fit precisely into these three categories, but what is important is that each of these categories seem possible to find no matter the culture.
Dedicant Path documentation
High Day Rites
This section is perhaps the most conversational; these accounts are adapted from Livejournal posts made at the time. I’ve tried to provide dates for each celebration, though one or two were not datestamped. While I’ve continued through the Wheel of the Year continuously since starting, I chose this initial set of accounts because I feel it depicts the growth I experienced well, due to the large refinements made during its period.
Dedicant Path documentation
Nature Awareness
This section is perhaps most and least difficult to me. I live in a modern world, yet hearken back to an ancient time spiritually; I look at the world through the eyes of an engineer, and so believe in taking care of the environment. There is a saying, “The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to keep all the parts.” When I first saw it, I applied it to the art and science of engineering; later, I would apply it to environmentalism.
Dedicant Path documentation
Mental Discipline
The story of my mental discipline is the story of my deepening practice within ADF. When I began the Dedicant’s Path, five months of mental discipline seemed like a long time to me – so it was one of the requirements I focused on first. I journaled regularly for about 10 months, and continued the devotionals afterwards. Nearly eight months of journaling, complete with typos, can be found in the Appendix (not included here).
Dedicant Path documentation
Two Powers
Grounding and centering is a ritual practice that helps the user return to a base state. Sometimes it is used as a preparation before undertaking further spiritual practices. Other times it is used to simply refresh one back to base state. The Two Powers is a particular example that performs this function, but within the ADF cosmology.
The Two Powers are an example of grounding and centering. The first step is to center, which is to set one’s awareness firmly within your body.
Dedicant Path documentation
Home Shrine
My home shrine started with the “three bowls and a stick” approach described by Dangler, using convenient unused bowls. I must say I did not understand the use of each part of the shrine initially; for one thing, I thought the Well- bowl was to be filled by offerings. Eventually, through devotional and High Day practice and learning I began to understand the idea of the three hallows and then began to find items to suit each of them.
Dedicant Path documentation
Book Reviews
Modern Paganism Title: Drawing Down the Moon, Margot Adler This text covers Paganism from a (to us) historical view. Originally published in 1979, it collects the journalistic – and participatory – efforts of Margot Adler to learn more about Pagans and Paganism. It leads off with a general introduction to the modern Pagan perspective (notably, a chapter title is based on the idea that Pagans “come home” rather than convert). It continues with a section on variousWitch revivals that occupies much of the bulk of the book (including a section on feminist spirituality).
Dedicant Path documentation
High Day Meanings
The holiday dates given below are based on the ADF constitution; astronomers and calendar reformers may differ on the exact proper dates, of course. Examining the ADF Constitution, dates for the High Days are described in Article 4 without specific titles (Likely in order to offer flexibility in local naming as well as not lock in one calendar for both Northern and Southern hemispheres.) beyond “Cross-Quarter,” “Solstice,” or “Equinox,” so I have chosen to follow approximate ADF/Neopagan naming conventions for the Northern Hemisphere, which focus on Celtic and Germanic names and aspects.
Dedicant Path documentation
The Nine Virtues
Virtue is the idea of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. Things considered to be virtues come in many forms; in some cases they are things to be pursued to the exclusion of other aspects, but within ADF there is a sense of virtues being a balance between extremes – Moderation, as I see it below, applies to them as well. Below I have attempted to elucidate on the virtues of ADF and what makes them virtuous courses of action.