Hawkfire is nearing its third birthday as both an idea and an experiment. It is a primarily online Gardnerian Outer Court (OC) and Inner Court (IC) created to facilitate access and training for those who could not acquire it in other ways. 

But Hawkfire only became a coven proper three weeks ago when we welcomed our first initiate into the Craft. The initiation happened in meatspace at the covenstead in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was followed by a week of nightly ritual, cramming in as much in-person training as possible. (Y’all, I’m tired. But it was also great.) If there’s a way to do effective Inner Court ritual online, Hawkfire’s first initiate is the perfect collaborator on this project. As we get things going over the next year, I’ll share with interested Initiates what we’re discovering and how we’re problem-solving different elements of the IC ritual. But I’d love to hear from others working on these same problems. (I’m 100% sure we’re not the only ones trying to make online IC work!)

This post is the first of a series on practical methods for online ritual. Much of what makes online OC ritual effective will translate to IC ritual, not to mention eclectic and non-Wiccan ritual practices. I hope these tried-and-tested insights are helpful. And, again, for those working through these same challenges, please do share your discoveries, either privately or in the comments!

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Wicca is experiential. It is also sensual, in that it is of the senses. 

We’ve discovered that improving the ritual practice online is anchored around a shared sensory experience of this Craft. Being visual animals, this first blog post is dedicated to the sense of sight.

However, there are many considerations when on-boarding new participants to on-line ritual. The final post in this series will focus on those considerations, which are especially important for both coven leaders and Seekers considering on-line group practice.  

But first, let’s dig into the practicalities of the visual experience within an on-line magical practice.

1. Video Conference Software

We currently conduct our online rituals via Zoom, although I’m frequently evaluating other software. We’ve used WebEx and Google Meets in the past with good results, and I will be testing both Telegram and Signal in the near future. There are a lot of options right now (thanks, global pandemic!) but the primary points of consideration are sound quality; security; image quality, consistency, and layout; and cross-platform compatibility.  (I’ll revisit sound in a separate blog post because that’s been an Entire Thing.)

2. Phone/Laptop Placement

Since Cakes and Wine is the heart of the OC ritual and where the real ‘work’ happens, being able to see each other as if we were physically sitting around an altar and sharing space is essential.  As mentioned, the grid layout is important, but there’s meatspace work to be done as well.  

Everyone sets up their camera (i.e. their phone, computer, or webcam) on the North side of the altar facing the South, with the participant sitting on the South side of the altar. This facilitates the Brady Bunch grid layout available on the video conferencing software. The downside is that when participants stand up (to salute the quarters, for example) it’s a lot of mid-section shots. Re-positioning the camera to a higher angle may or may not be trivial.  

Additionally, camera placement is heavily affected by individual space limitations. I have one Seeker who lives in a dense urban center where physical space is at a premium. Another has an entire room to themselves. But getting the camera placement uniform is worth the process of revision and experimentation. It also necessarily rests on the shoulders of the Seekers. Even having the camera set off at an angle can be disconcerting, but sometimes it’s the best a Seeker can do. 

Finally, if Coven leaders have the resources, I recommend setting up two devices when introducing new Seekers to the ritual: one at the North side of the altar (again, with the HPS and HP in the South), and one high in a corner of the room to offer a view the entire ritual space. I’ll revisit onboarding new Seekers in another post, but being able to see what the HPS is doing in the space (where and when she’s walking, what pentagrams she’s drawing, etc.) is especially helpful for new members. Once everyone ‘gets’ the ritual (more or less, anyway) I ditch the corner camera.

3. Altar Set-Up

For Hawkfire’s OC, I ask all Seekers to have something they can use for each of the following: 

• an altar (which can be a table, an egg crate, a cardboard box – physical space and income dictate this object).
• an athame (again, this is flexible to income restrictions)
• a pentacle (a piece of paper works)
• a cup of salt
• a cup of water
• loose incense (I’ll revisit in another post)
• a censor or fire-safe dish with charcoal (ditto to above)
• flowers
• a ‘goddess’ candle (preferably a white taper or a candle that can last three hours)
• a ‘goddess’ candle (ditto to above)
• cakes and ale (I’ll revisit in another post)
• cup and dish (for the cakes and ale)
• libation bowl
• quarter candles (these should ideally last at least three hours) 

I’ll come back to the online ritual use of each of these objects in a future post, but general uniformity between the altars goes a long way in providing a communal experience. 

Having truly identical altars is neither possible nor, I’ve decided, desirable.  One person’s pentacle may be laser-engraved wood and another’s may be a marker drawing on paper. But both work effective magic in group-based ritual. Repeatedly working with these objects in the online group ritual magically charges them in much the same way as re-using an athame solidifies its magical patterning. The magic of group practice is unique, and this has been an unexpected benefit with online practice. Seekers are (hopefully) engaging with the OC ritual material in their solitary practices as well, and so the entire physical altar set-up becomes a lovely bridge between the group-based practice and its solitary counterpart.

4. Light and Time Zones

Hawkfire currently has four people spread out across nine time zones, and this has turned out to be one of the biggest challenges to effective online ritual practice. 

In meatspace, sunset dictates the ritual time. Typically folks arrive at the High Priestess’ house in the afternoon with the ritual beginning anytime after sunset. In the first OC, I decided that ritual needed to start as close to sunset as possible for me. 

This was a mistake and cost me a wonderful Seeker who was forced to stay up until the wee hours of the morning (on work nights, no less). In hindsight, I wasn’t confident I had the magical oomph to make online ritual work. I leaned heavily on my magical triggers, such as performing ritual after sunset. 

It was a hard lesson learned, but I’m also a more confident witch and priestess today. I learned the importance of magical performance with or without triggers. If you need to perform emergency magic, for example, but you’re stuck in traffic an hour from home, that doesn’t stop the need for the emergency magic. The digital context doesn’t make the need for effective magic any less, but also doesn’t throw up any real barriers either.

Since Charlotte is in the middle-time zone, we circle at 3 pm. It’s 9pm for the member furthest east and noon for the one furthest west. Not great, but not terrible and we’ve been able to circle every other week this way.  

Additionally, since it’s daylight in Charlotte at 3 pm, blackout curtains are the magical win. When my ritual space is just as dark and candlelit as my initiate’s in Europe, it helps us feel closer to the same magical time and space.

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In the next post, I’ll continue working through the senses: Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch. I’ll then wrap up with a post about the practical use of tools magically and offer suggestions for onboarding new Seekers.