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Frequently Asked Questions

1. What happened to all the information that used to be on this site?
2. What does FWTI™ stand for?
3. What is FWTI™'s Statement of Belief?
4. Is FWTI a 501c?
5. What makes FWTI™ different from other traditions?
6. Does FWTI™ have High Priests and High Priestesses?
7. What is Family Coven™?
8. Who is a Mother Priestess™ or Father Priest™?
9. Why call call them Mother Priestesses™ or Father Priests™?
10. Why form a tradition if High Priestess and High Priests aren't needed?
11. Why should I bother joining FWTI™?
12. Who are the founders?
13. What is a brief history of this tradition?
14. Isn't it wrong to teach Wicca, Witchcraft or Neo-Paganism to my children?

What does FWTI™ stand for?

Family Wiccan Traditions International™.

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What is FWTI™'s Statement of Belief?

Family Wiccan Traditions International™ believes in the power of legacy through family ties. We celebrate the varied ways that families can be made and honor all the paths to family from the single person holding themselves as sacred to the partnered persons of all genders.

These bonds create Family Covens™.

Family Wiccan Traditions International™ believes that care givers of families constitute the spiritual leadership of that family and/or for themselves. These leaders are the Priests or Priestesses of Family Covens™ that the bonds of marriage, handfasting, self exploration and deep abiding love create.

We believe no permission from any coven, grove, circle, High Priest or High Priestess is needed for anyone to establish, create and develop a family OR a Family Coven™. We do not believe in intercession in any form.

We believe that a Family Legacy is the most important magic witches can weave. We look forward to a time when pagan children refer solely to their own 'Family Tradition and Training' when talking about their experiences and training in Wicca and Paganism.

We believe that the bond of family is the most important connection you will make. Raising your family is the most important and sacred charge given to Mother Priestesses™ and Father Priests™.

We believe that degrees and rites of passages are gifts we can give to our children to help them own their changing body, mind and emotions. These gifts will empower children to live their own convictions and beliefs without being constantly torn by the opinions of others.

When families are bound by a common spiritual journey, each member is allowed to grow and develop into their highest potential. This creates a bond that cannot be broken. FWTI™ exists to assist families create that type of a bond.

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Is FWTI™ 501c?

Yes

FWTI™ approved its Articles of Incorporation and By Laws in 2008. We are considered a religious organization.

What makes FWTI™ different from other traditions?

No Dogma

FWTI™ does not tell people how to caste, call or what Deities they should be worshipping.  All of our teaching is carefully crafted to encourage people to study the things they are interested in while gaining a well rounded understanding of what Modern Witchcraft is and where Modern Witchcraft comes from.

Communal Structure

Although our tradition does have founders, our tradition is not run in totality by them.  Instead our structure is set up to reflect the Five Pointed star.  Each Point reflects a Service the Tradition has decided to focus upon.  That Point of Service (PoS) is coordinated (not RUN) by a Weaver who helps direct that Point of Service's efforts. All the Weavers and some other Directors of minor services, make up the Board of Directors.  The Tradition is maintained and moved forward by the dedication and hard work of all the Weavers and Board of Directors.

Family Coven™ NOT Coven

FWTI™ believes that families are the first and most important coven anyone can be a part of.  In a Family Coven™, mom or dad is the Mother Priestesses™ or Father Priest™ and charged with the spiritual development of their personal Family Coven™.  FWTI™ honors the creation of communities; however, these communities are NOT covens.  They are not run by High Priests or High Priestesses, rather structured for communal governing and service.

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Does FWTI™ have High Priests and High Priestesses?

Yes, however, the focus of our tradition isn't upon our High Priest or High Priestesses as having some lofty position above everyone else in the tradition.  The focus of our clergy is to help Family Covens™ further their own Hereditary Tradition.  Our clergy will marry couples and oversee major Rites of Passages; however, when they take their Third Degree oaths, it is an oath of service to others not an oath of power over others.  If you believe a High Priest or High Priestess is not fulfilling that oath, please contact Lord Stone Dragonstone.

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What is a Family Coven™?

Family Covens™ are family groups that have decided to dedicate themselves to worship in a deliberate way that incorporates spirituality into their daily living with tolerance to any spiritual path and special consideration given to Wiccan, Witchcraft and Pagan Spirituality. Family Covens™ are not primarily concerned with the teaching of persons outside their family unit regarding spirituality focusing on the spiritual needs of their members first and foremost.

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Who is a Mother Priestess™ or Father Priest™?

If you take personal responsibility for the spiritual development of yourself and your family, then you are a Mother Priestess™ or Father Priest™.  The term is meant to emphasis that there is not, necessarily, a need for a High Priestess or High Priest. Further, FWTI™ is trying to emphasis that a family unit can seek together spiritual fulfillment without intersession.

The idea of Mother Priestesses™ and Father Priests™ was born out of a reaction to a common practice within traditional witchcraft. When Seekers join some covens, they are considered spiritual infants.  These normal adults who clean their houses, cook, pay bills on time and in general run their own lives, step into the inner temple of some traditional covens and are stripped of all ability, common sense and become child-like incompetents.

Lady Dia often would ask High Priestesses, "How can you undo learning that has already been done and how could anyone expect a human to put back on diapers when they have been using a toilet for so long?" Lady Dia and Lord Stone came to believe that with or without approval or being overseen, as a couple they were being a Priest and Priestess, to each other and Tree Bear, their son.  Lord Stone was Lady Dia's teacher and she was his.  There is something innately correct about that type of power play.

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Why call them Mother Priestesses™ and Father Priests™?

Our founders wanted to emphasis that nothing should come between committed partners.  Lydia M. Crabtree has written in her forth coming book, Family Coven™: Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft.

I was Stone's Goddess and he was my God and covens just seemed to get in the way of that. It is hard to hear each other when someone else is trying to be in a position that usurps the importance of your partner. In a way, as long as we clung to a belief that we NEEDED to have someone tell us what to do, how to worship and what was right, then that someone would be an interference and hindrance to the relationships that really mattered: the one we had with each other, the Devine and Tree Bear.

As I talked with other Seekers, it became clear that sometimes group interference also made it hard for individuals to hear themselves. Which was a very disturbing revelation to me.

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Why have a tradition if High Priests or High Priestesses aren't needed?

When the FWTI™ website was first published, it was not designed or meant to become a formal tradition or ever have ordain clergy.  However, as time passed, people wanted to have some structured help in directing their personal studies and the focused studies of their children. Lady Dia and Lord Stone did not have the time to do this work alone.  That is when the Board of Directors was formed. FWTI™ strives to meet the needs of Family Covens™ by suggesting ways that families can create their own legacy of magic, that is as unique as their family is.

Our founders wondered how many other couples were out there being made to feel like the Pagan Community wasn't for them if they brought their children.

How many capable mothers were having the power of their Motherhood stolen because they had a sincere desire to be 'made a witch?' Who else didn't know that Wicca was an organic religion, didn't require intercession, were sleeping with a God/dess already (especially if they slept alone), had the ability to Priest or Priestess their children and those children really wanted them to do that?

How many families needed to be asked: What do you believe? If Wicca was exactly what you thought it should be, what would that be for you and your family?

FWTI™ is the network and support that allows these and many more questions to be answered.

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Why should I bother joining FWTI™?

On our dynamic website, Family Wiccan Community™, Family Covens™ from around the world meet and share their experiences, triumphs and challenges.  On the Family Wiccan Community™ site, there is a free 1st Degree course that is available to all members.  This course is crafted for individual study and designed so that one family member can study the course and then relay that information to their rest of their Family Coven™.  Additionally, the course walks families through some of the steps to establishing their Family Coven's™ practice.

Families who join FWTI™ are able to utilize FWTI™ as a resource if legal issues arise surrounding their religion. There is power and support in numbers.

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What happened to all the information that used to be on this site?

Currently, one of our founders, Lydia M. Crabtree, is working on her first book, Family Coven™: Birthing Hereditary Witchcraft. This book will expand on the information that used to be on this site and make it available for Family Covens™ everywhere.  To that end, we restructured this site to present a general view of FWTI™ and Family Covens™.

Additionally, some of the old information is still available on the new site, Family Wiccan Community™. 

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Who are the founders of FWTI™?

Lydia M. Crabtree and Anthony 'Tony' Crabtree established the first Family Coven™ in 2001 and FWTI™ in 2003. Lydia's magical name is Lady Adialawyddan Dragonstone and Tony's magical name is Lord Stone Dragonstone.

They were handfasted in 2001 and share responsibility for Dia's son, Tree Bear.  Both of our founders prefer to be addressed by the titles Lord and Lady ONLY in circle and in formal situations, as is the custom of FWTI™.

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What is a brief history of this tradition?

Family Wiccan Traditions International™ (FWTI™) was established in 2003 when Lady Adialawyddan Dragonstone and Lord Stone Dragonstone were asked a simple question: What do you believe?

They had tried Christianity (Southern Baptist, Presbyterian, Catholic; and Methodist respectively), traditional Wicca, eclectic Wicca, Paganism, Neo-Paganism, Witchcraft and New Ageism and still the things that demanded the majority of their time seemed missing from their spiritual journey - the family they created when they handfasted in October 2001.

The Crabtree-Lees are a blended family that joined Stone aka Tony Crabtree to Tree Bear (Lee; Dia's Son by previous union) and Dia in formal ceremony. Tree Bear also has the benefit of visiting his father and step mother who run a Streggan inspired group. 

For Dia and Stone, they often found themselves at home alone after covens they had attempted to participate with had fallen by the wayside. Left to themselves, they found comfort and encouragement for continued spirituality within each other. They longed for community again and sought other teachers, theories and ways to practice the Goddess religion. Those would also fail, abandon them, not be a good fit, not share their values and convictions or fall into pagan drama. They would go home, close the door and commence quiet full moons together with only their own drama to contend with.

After yet another relationship with an outside group ended traumatically, Dia was troubled. What was wrong with her, with Stone, with her family that they couldn't hack coven work? Having a Bachelor's of Science in Psychology, Dia pursued the answer through cognitive therapy. After four sessions of 'Wicca is,' the therapist turned to her and said, "If you didn't have someone telling you what Wicca was and you could choose what Wicca was to you without biases, what would it look like? What do you believe?" Dia had had years of training, personal study and a college education, and still, she sat speechless.

The therapist told her to go home and not return until she could thoroughly answer that question. She did what anyone would do; she went home to her best friend and asked him what he thought. Together they found an answer that culminated in the establishment of this website and the movement that has become Family Wiccan Traditions International™.

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Isn't it wrong to teach my children about Wicca, Witchcraft or Neo-Paganism?

FWTI™ believes that the primary responsibility of Mother Priestesses™ and Father Priests™ is the education of their children.  This means that FWTI™ promotes the idea that Mother Priestesses™ and Father Priests™ will teach their children about as many different religions and spiritual paths as they can, including Wicca, Witchcraft and Earth Based Spirituality.

Further FWTI™ believes that children of Neo-Pagan and Earth Based Practitioners may actually be over looked by parents so enthralled in their own path. Lydia M. Crabtree has written:

I looked around the coven I was currently celebrating with and wondered if anyone was missing or missing out. That night after I had picked Tree Bear up from the sitter and was tucking him into bed, the answer struck me, everyone's children were missing.

 

Pagan children were getting lost while adults played coven and locked them out. It was the moms and dads these pagan children were really missing. As High Priestesses and High Priests ran around giving wisdom to the world, I wondered how much time was being taken away from the students they have influence over the longest - their children?  Further, what chance did Wicca have of being mainstream, accepted and protected, if covens continued to grow and children continued to be an after thought?

For an in depth discussion about this issue, please follow this link.

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Copyright © 2007  Family Wiccan Traditions International™. All rights reserved.
Revised: 03/12/08.

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© 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Family Wiccan Tradition International. All rights reserved. Family Coven™, Mother Priestess™, Father Priest™, Family Wiccan Community™ and Family Wiccan Communities™ are trademarks of author Lydia m. Crabtree which are licensed to Family Wiccan Tradition International™ (FWTI™)