Have you ever read old myths about the Fae? Ones from Ireland? Or perhaps the Trolls of the Northmen's kingdoms? The dark skinned Picts and other beings inhabiting wild spaces beyond the hedge? The early tales are not very nice and people did many things to avoid, placate or defend against these spirits. However, our tradition is called "Feri" for a reason and we believe that we share a kinship with such beings. That does not mean that this kinship is safe and easy. It is sharp. It will bleed you. It is partially our balance on the edge of the double blade that makes us fearsome and powerful but it also means that we can and do slip. The danger of the Road to Faery Land has many forks, pitfalls and misleading signs. These things are there for a reason. The Fae guard their realms and their mysteries fiercely. The unwary, unwise and those filled with hubris usually do not fair well on the road to Faery.
One of the things I have written about time and again is the Fae's desire to be hidden and that the active writing and publishing of secrets IN REGARDS to the Tradition, whether you think them so or not or whether you took a particular oath or not, is not condoned by the Fae. Our Tradition is part of the greater occult umbrella, which is to say "hidden". This is part of what being involved in a mystery tradition means. We are nights side, left hand path. We work under the light of the moon as opposed to various solar cults. Secrecy is a pillar. It is a foundation to all magic. Secrecy is the 4th power of the Sphinx and I have written about it in depth here if you would like to delve deeper. While things could be told and explained to a non-initiate, this titillating and much sought after information would not have been unfolded in the right way and much would be missed or misunderstood.
In the classical times there were three roads one could take in regards to spiritual praxis, Religion, Mystery Schools/Initiatory Traditions and Magic.
The first being religion, is open to the masses. I mean of course it is. This is where you can build power and money and feed your Gods with the energy of the congregants. There is a priest class that disseminates information to the public and it serves a community function with marriage, birth and funerary rites. The more the merrier and this is of course the realm of those pesky temple priests whether they be of a monotheistic nature or polytheistic nature. Pagan Clergy bumper stickers make me roll my eyes. I have no interest in it but that does not mean it is not important. It is here that many confuse Pagan religion and pagan priesthood with witchcraft. They are not the same.
Secondly, you have the mystery schools. While common during the classical age they are few and far between now, if there are actually any in existence and not shades of what once was. These were the secret initiatory schools such as the Elysian mysteries, that were only open to initiates and their students. The public was not invited nor the target of their operations as it was of large religions and bureaucracies. Because of the adherence to secrecy there is very little that was written down or shared from the mystery schools. We only know of some things via oathbreakers. I am not sure what happened to them but suffice to say it was not pleasant. Unfortunately, Christianity did a pretty good job of crushing these schools and socially speaking there are none left the way they once were in antiquity. If you kill all the keepers of oral knowledge you can kill a system. Only the Spirits will know and re-gathering that information takes time.
Lastly you have the realm of magic itself, the arena of the magician or sorcerer. Here the "audience" is simply the magician and the Spirits. There is no congregation or group of fellow initiates that share in the ritual. It is more of a solo act. That is not to say that the magician would not take on a student or scryer but for the most part this is between them and the beings they work with. Typically if things were written down they were written down as private journals and grimoires, often in code, (grimoire means "grammar" and much is left out of these books), for the use of the magician themselves and not to be shared publicly.
I see Feri as straddling these three realms. The majority of the initiates I see are a combination of the public priesthood type that wish to minister to the masses and write books and help causes they feel passionate about, as well as oscillating to guard what secrets they have as an initiatory body. A fewer number of initiates inhabit the solo sorcerous occupation or have a family House or lineage that they work solely with. The seeker must decide which road interests them the most. It is not for me to say. But I do believe the right teacher will arrive when the time is right IF you are gifted for this work.
It is easy to pay to play but if you are truly interested in magic and the sorcerous path you will find yourself trapped in the bindings of a guru like teacher and the pressures of your fellow students. You will probably have in the back of your mind a desire to teach publicly yourself once you learn enough and to make a living from this work and so the this cycle continues. There will always be a new shiny teacher to interest the denizens of broken masses out there and so you will spend your time trying to create new content, update your Instagram page and find out what kinds of tiered classes you can offer or what new guided meditation you can create that no one else has done. I would rather be in the woods alone with the Black Man than trying to figure out how many students I need to be able to pay my rent.

One of my favorite scenes in a movie is in Jodorowski's "The Holy Mountain", where the initiates to be are following the master to the Mountain, a place of self power, magic and initiation. If you can get through the crazy low tech filming quality, melodramatic acting, 1970's ACID fashion and sequins glued onto horney toads and actually LOOK for the symbolism, you can learn a lot.
The students have to go through many different sub-initiations and challenges before they reach the Mountain AKA Faery Land. As things progress the numbers of students dwindle, especially in the city of distraction. Here each bazaar stall or house is a way off the road to The Mountain. Some students fall in into the traps of drug addiction, sex as distraction, guru hood (now they are the "master" so why do they need to go to the Mountain? Why follow their master? They procured some of his knowledge and then begin to set up pale reflections of teaching the Work as they gather their own seekers to themselves and so the mystery becomes diluted, a pale reflection. The road is lost). There is also the promise of riches, just about anything you could think of to take you off the road to the Mountain is to be found in the city. The Faery Ring. The table of the Fae with all its glitters and promises. Strayed off the path did you? It happens. Perhaps you can find your way back in your next life.
I have seen those who stray off the road. Indeed we all stray a bit from time to time. Life is hard. Being mortal can suck. We have bills to pay. We get sick. However, we must always strive to learn and push ourselves and to find our way back to the Road.
Initiates, who go off the road, often get side-tracked with the desire to be adored. It is one of the traps in Feri. Other traditions have other traps but this desire to be famous seems to follow us. Feri, nowadays is rife with this sadly and to the students who seek instruction I say be wary, especially if you have to pay to play. I find this the un-exalted side of glamour. Where the mirror you hold enchants you and not the other way around.
Then there are students who seek us because they want to be healed. The initiate does not heal you. This tradition does not heal you, not in the way you think. I often think that most students are fleeing Christian religious abuse and have an expectation the we as initiates will interact with them the same way as a minister or priest would. But it is not what we do or who we are. We are witches. I am interested in students who actually want to learn magic.
Magic. Yes magic. So what is it? Some way of causing change? Worshiping Gods? Being special? I find the definition Stephen Skinner gives to be one of the most concise and accurate:
"Magic is the art of causing change through the agency of spiritual creatures rather than via directly observable physical means: such spiritual creatures being compelled or persuaded to assist, by the use of sacred words or names, talismans, symbols, incense, sacrifices and materia magica."
The words to focus on here are "spiritual creatures", general in nature to include various types of beings such as deities, nature spirits, human dead and others. It is through their relationship to us that the witch is empowered and it is here that one can slip from the Road to the Mountain or Faery Land. Spirits lie. People lie. Some are only unlocked through an initiation. Some are downright hostile and dangerous and some are just hard to work with or merely ignore you. I would say that this last point is the most common one and one where the delusion of the mind further traps the seeker and ill-trained initiate. What is in your head "speaking" to you might just be in your head. Was that bird you saw truly a sign? I mean you were just reading about ravens. So was it? How do you know? How do you know that you are working with Hecate or Apollo or Freya? Do they really want you to buy that chalice? Really? This is the biggest trap of all. The delusion of "thinking" you are working with Spirits when in fact you are not.
So how do you know if you have spirit contact? Well, by working with a trained initiate who can guide you. Other wise you will just be dead, mad or a poet. Obviously, people have spirit contact all the time or experience phenomenon, but this is NOT THE SAME as working with them to achieve desired results. This is the "stuff" that cannot be conveyed in writing. It just can't. It has to taught. The initiate has to know what your limits are, how much you can take, where you are on the Road. This can never be known in a class setting and frankly it's too exhausting to deal with 8-15 different students' childhood damage, phobias, fears, blocks and delusions. It really is not physically possible for a teacher to deal with all of this. So, what to do? Read and read widely. Not just shiny new occult books but read pagan and magical authors from antiquity to the Renaissance. Explore. Expirament. Write in your journal. Write to magical people you admire. Ask questions. It is amazing to me how few students are actually curious. Be curious! And always check yourself because there are so many pitfalls on this road. Good hunting.
Blessing of Light & Dark
Maya Grey
House Grey
Northern California