Roles Within and Without Ritual

Roles in Wiccan Teaching and Ritual

Role of Clergy
There is a difference between being a Priest/ess and a High Priest/ess. Every Wiccan is a Priest (P) or Priestess (PS) to the Gods, but in Traditionalist settings only those who have taken on the role, honor, and responsibility as Coven leader and teacher may be called High Priest/ess.

And what are those responsibilities? Well, what is the role of a parent? To see that their child grows to happy healthy adulthood, with a strong sense of self but also of familial identity. So, the High Priest (HP) and High Priestess (HPS) hope to see to the continuation of the Tradition by passing it down to their initiates, to teach the Tradition’s ways of ritual and practice, to facilitate the spiritual growth and advancement of their students so that they too may one day take on the mantle of HP/S. In this way (among others) do the HP and HPS serve the Gods that the Tradition reveres.

Any male who leads ritual at any time is the P for that rite (and the same goes for females taking the role of PS), but until and unless they also lead a Coven, they are not a HP/S. The P and PS of any ritual, Traditional oathbound or otherwise, are also the representations of the God and Goddess on this plane of existence.

In ritual, the (H)PS is often the leader; no one should sit or stand before she does or gives indication that they may. It is polite as well to ask permission of the (H)PS before doing anything unusual (such as leaving the ritual, moving widdershins, etc.). One of the (H)P’s main responsibilities is to “collect” the energy of the other participants and ritual in general, and direct it to the (H)PS.

The (H)PS is generally the one with the most "power" within a Coven. That is not to say that she is the "ultimate ruler," but she does have final the final say. However, the general consensus is that ideally, the (H)P and (H)PS should work in a partnership, not with the (H)PS running the show, even though she may the one to whom all final decision defer.

Some (H)P/Ss choose to become legally ordained, but this is rarely, if ever, a Coven requirement. However, legal ordination then empowers the (H)P/S to perform weddings, funerals, and other rites of passage that require such an officer.


Role of Initiates and Other Participants
In the most general terms, participants in any rite are there to lend their presence and energy to the work at hand, whether that is welcoming a season or sending healing thoughts to someone who is ill. Initiates of a Coven are also there to learn the Tradition’s specific ways of ritual, etc.. It is important to further note that even though these other participants may not beacting as the (H)P/S in a particular rite, that does not mean they are laity; there is no laity in Wicca.