The ancient Mystery religions were not only Initiatory, they also had levels of Initiation. Sometimes these were distinguished as the Lesser Mysteries and the Greater Mysteries, as with the Eleusinian Mysteries. Sometimes these levels of Initiation were designated as different Degrees as in the Mysteries of Isis, which had Three Degrees or Grades, and the Mithraic Mysteries, which had seven (some scholars claim six, others claim eight) Grades or Degrees.
In 1931, in her book The God Of The Witches, archeologist Dr. Margaret Murray wrote about three different admission ceremonies in organized Witchcraft: the first publicly before the assembly as a member; the second privately as a Priest or Priestess; and the third, also privately, as an officer of a Coven. In 1731, in an old French book about Witchcraft, its author Boissier wrote that there were three "marks" bestowed on witches at three different times.
In 1584, in his book The Discoverie Of Witchcraft, Reginald Scott also described three levels of admission, saying like Murray that the first was "public" before the assembly of witches, while the second and third were in private with the leader, whether called the "Devil" or the "Magister" - in other words, the High Priest. And in the records of the Sentences of the Inquisition there is a Confession of certain Witches who were burnt in the city of Lisbon, A.D. 1559, which states that "no one can be a bruja [a Spanish and Portuguese word usually translated as "witch"] without going through the degrees of feiticeyra and alcoviteyra."
All of this evidence indicates that, like the ancient Mysteries, the medieval Witch cult also had a concept of levels or Degrees of Initiation; and that like the Mysteries of Isis there were three such Degrees or Grades of Initiation, although the specific conceptions and details may have varied from region to region. And in traditional Wicca today there are also Three Degrees or Grades of Initiation.
Now, Wicca is often described as a non-hierarchical religion. In fact, many claim this to be one of its great strengths as a spiritual system, because it calls for individual participation in the ritual observances of the group rather than passive observation, and because it recognizes the individual's ability and responsibility for her/his own spiritual progress. And yet traditional Wicca has Three Degrees of Initiation, and a system of Coven leadership that seems to bear many of the hallmarks of a hierarchical organization.
In order to resolve this apparent contradiction, we must first mention another ancestor of traditional Wicca, as we have it today, besides the original "Witch cult," and that ancestor is Masonry; for Gerald Gardner, and other members of the Coven into which he claimed to have been Initiated, were Co-Masons (a branch of Masonry which admits women as well as men). Masons, who like Wiccans also refer to themselves as members of a "Craft," claim descent from the ancient Mysteries through various persons and organizations. Whether this is a physical fact (and there is some supporting evidence) or not, the claim to spiritual inheritance and descent is unarguable; and it is also true that the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and various "Rosicrucian" occult orders were founded by people that were Freemasons, whatever other claims of "authority" and "lineage" they may have made. Whatever and however many additional degrees any of the various Masonic "Rites" or branches may have, the initial Three Degrees - called the Craft Degrees - are those of "Entered Apprentice," "Fellow Craftsman," and "Master Mason," and those titles reflect the origins of Masonic structure in the guild system of the Middle Ages.
The guild systems were established by workers in particular crafts or trades in order to uphold standards and protect the members. After a period of trial apprenticeship in which the candidate demonstrated sufficient ability to be accepted for training, that candidate would be accepted into the guild as an Entered Apprentice, and would work under the direction of a Master Craftsman in exchange for further instruction in their craft. When apprentices had acquired a good working knowledge of the craft, they would be advanced to the rank of Journeyman, meaning someone qualified to do a "journey" or "day's work" without the need of direct immediate supervision by a Master; such a person was a recognized "Fellow Craftsman," which explains the Masonic title.
Margaret Murray distinguished between "ritual witchcraft," the religious aspect, and "operative witchcraft," the practical techniques of the witches' craft; in other words, between the Witch's religion and the Witch's craft. Hence the distinction between the (lower case) witch, who practices witchcraft, and the (upper case) Witch, who practices witchcraft as an integral part of their religious and spiritual path, and for whom the Witch's Craft includes performance of religious rites and functions, or "priestcraft", as well. But in any case, the point is that Wicca is both a religious, as well as a magickal Craft, and that the Three Degrees of traditional Wicca reflect that fact.
So in the First Degree Initiation into Wicca the postulant is consecrated as a Priest(ess) and Witch, who is trained in the techniques of the Witches' magickal Art, and is responsible for her/his own spiritual life, and who participates in the religious rites and spiritual life of the Coven as a group or family. That training in the techniques of the Witches' magickal Art may be by means of formal classes or informal tutoring, or even in some Covens by a kind of intuitive osmosis in which the new Witch picks up knowledge and methods by observation of the others. However, whichever method of training is used, the fact remains that the First Degree Initiate is the equivalent of the Entered Apprentice of Masonry or of the medieval guilds.
In the elevation to Second Degree, the Witch is consecrated as a "High Priest and Magus" or "High Priestess and Witch Queen"; or in the StarKindler Line as a "High Priest(ess) and Magician" since, as in other Wiccan lineages, the formal title of "Magus" or "Witch Queen" is one that cannot be used until one has hived off an autonomous daughter-Coven from one's own. Second Degree Initiates have attained sufficient proficiency in the Craft that they can share in the responsibility for the religious and spiritual life of the Coven, and are thus recognized as Elders who assist the actual High Priestess and High Priest of the Coven in their duties and responsibilities. Second Degree Initiates must therefore be capable of leading religious rituals when called on to do so; and although they need not have a specific call to teach, or lead a Coven, they must at least be capable of sharing what they themselves have learned should the need arise.
In the Elevation to Second Degree, the Initiation ritual calls for the Initiator to "will all [her/his] Power unto" the new Second Degree High Priest(ess). There are three important aspects to that act, the first of which is that it connects to the folklore belief that Witches cannot die until they pass on their Power; this should not be understood as meaning they won't die if they do not pass it on, but that they should not: that is, that they have a duty to preserve the life of the Craft by making sure the knowledge and Power is not lost. The second aspect is that the Initiator does not lose the Power he/she passes on, but shares it; just as a candle loses nothing by lighting another candle, it only passes on the flame, which both hold equally. As such, the Second Degree is obviously the equivalent of the Journeyman of the medieval guilds or the Fellow Craftsman of Masonry.
And the third aspect is that the Second Degree High Priest(ess) is given the Power to Initiate to the First, or Elevate to the Second Degree, or to lead a Coven, but not the Authority to do so in their own right. Only the Third Degree has the Authority to Initiate or to found a Coven, although if there is sufficient reason that Authority may be exercised by permitting a Second Degree to found a daughter-Coven, and then to Initiate others into it. There are two reasons for this: the first is that it is the Third Degree which corresponds to the Master Craftsman of a craft guild. The second reason, which does much to explain the necessary level of mastery required, is that while Wicca's aims, as an Initiatory Path, of personal spiritual growth and self-transformation apply to all three Degrees, at Second Degree the process all-too-frequently involves the manifestation of many negative aspects of one's character, as these rise to the surface to be confronted and transformed. This means that very often Initiates of the Second Degree seem to be regressing, rather than progressing, as that process goes on.
The elevation to Third Degree involves the Great Rite, the Sacred Marriage of the Goddess and the God on all the levels of manifestation; it is on all levels, including the physical, even if the Great Rite is done "in Token" or symbolically, rather than "in Truth" by actual sexual intercourse. The significance of using the Great Rite to elevate to the Third Degree is that in successfully performing that multi-level union with another, the Initiate demonstrates sufficient knowledge, skill, and experience to undertake the work of performing that union within her/himself. Third Degree is not the completion of the "Great Work" of Initiation beyond which no more work is required, but the embarking on a new, deeply personal level of that Great Work. The Third Degree Initiate is not a "Perfected Individual," but a person in the process of achieving Spiritual Individuality for which the work of the preceding Degrees has been the necessary preparation and laid the necessary foundations. It does not mean the completion of the work of self-transformation that is so much the focus of Second Degree, but mastery of the methods involved in that work; and as such, elevation to Third Degree recognizes one as having sufficiently mastered the Craft that one is able to undertake the responsibility of guiding others on the Path that one is walking independently, and with full Authority as a High Priest(ess) of the Wicca.
Some of the older lines of traditional Wicca hold to a tradition, which they date to the times of Persecution, that the first exposure to Wiccan ritual should be the ritual of Initiation itself; but in some lines of traditional Wicca, a modification has been added to the basic system of Three Degrees in the form of a preliminary "Outer Grade" during which the postulant receives instruction in preparation for actual Initiation, much like the Novitiate period in Christianity and some other religions where a postulant takes First Vows as a Novice and then, having proved their vocation and aptitude during their time in the Novitiate, they at last take Final Vows and become a full member of the Order. In the StarKindler Line, a candidate for Initiation makes those First Vows in the Rite of Dedication, after which the new Dedicant undertakes a period of preliminary study and practice as a postulant, a period that corresponds with the "trial apprenticeship" of the medieval guilds and the Novitiate of a Catholic religious Order.
