To Bless/Dedicate a New Coven or Hollow

While the Hagstone Tradition honors the witch as a self-sovereign practitioner, many find deep meaning in gathering with others who share the path. Group work is never required, but for those drawn to collective practice, the creation of a trusted magical group can be helpful to enhance study and craft. In the Hagstone Tradition, such a working group is known as a Hollow. 

This rite may be used to formally bind a new Hollow, establishing bonds of kinship and mutual commitment among witches walking the crooked path together.

Note: If you are interested in forming a study group or Hollow of Hagstone Witches in your area or online, we would love to keep in touch. Please reach out to us here; we’d be delighted to hear from you and invite you to contribute to the Hagstone Witchery blog or help shape future materials and courses. 

Preparation

Come together at a place of power appropriate to your group (such as a crossroads, forest clearing, or a liminal space like a threshold or the edge of a graveyard). If indoors, use any cleared space.

Bring to your ritual space:

• A shared vessel (bowl, cauldron, cup, or drinking horn) filled drink to share, such as wine, mead, or a symbolic juice

• Optional: a small cup or drinking vessel for each participant

• A natural cord long enough for each participant to hold

• A candle for each member, plus one to place at the center of the circle (to represent the communal hearth)

• An offering for the spirits (bread, honey, milk, etc.)

Ideally, each member should contribute at least one item to this ritual, even if this is only by bringing their own candle.

Opening the Circle

Light the candle at the center of the ritual space. All group members stand in a circle, one hand upon the black cord linking them together, while holding their unlit candle in the other. The leader or appointed speaker says[1]:

By hedge and hollow, by scale and wing,
We gather here to bless our Ring.
Not by church, nor book, nor priest,
But by the spirits, stars, and beasts.

Each member lights their individual candle from the central flame and holds it before them.

Each person, in turn, speaks their name (given, magical, or chosen) and states their reason for joining the circle[2]. The leader then fills the shared vessel with the chosen drink, saying:

Bound are we—not by blood, nor law,
But by our will, by craft, by claw.
A Hollow formed, a path now laid,
A Witch’s work shall never fade.

Each member takes a sip and passes the vessel, sealing their place in the circle[3].

Binding the Hollow

Together, raise the cord and hold it aloft, taking care to keep it clear of the candle flames. The leader says:

Thread upon thread, yet woven as one,
Our voices rise, our work begun.
No king nor clergy calls us here,
We speak with spirits, without fear.
Shall we be bound in craft and kin?

All members reply:
“We shall.”

The cord is then knotted or braided, symbolizing the binding of the group. It may be:

• Kept on the altar

• Buried at a sacred site

• Burned at a future rite to release the bond

Place the cord to the side.

Offering and Close

A chosen member places the offering at the edge of the ritual space and calls:

For those who walked this path before,
For those who guard the hidden door,
For those who whisper, watch, and guide,
We honour you, side-by-side.

The candles are raised in silence to acknowledge unseen presences.

The leader says:

By night and flame, by word and deed,
This circle stands, this kin is freed.
So long as we will it, it will be—
Bound by craft, by fate, by three.

This can be followed by a feast or communal activity if desires. When all is done, the candles are extinguished. Members depart without looking back.

[1] If you would prefer to make this a more communal experience without an elected leader or speaker, you can assign speaking parts to different participants throughout the ritual instead.

[2] If, for whatever reason, the group feels that this part of the rite would be better scripted than improvised, you can replace the element of personal sharing with a brief scripted statement such as: “I am (name) and I come to the Hollow of my own will, to walk to Crooked Path with my fellow witches.”

[3] For those who do not want to share the drink directly (as a caution or for other reasons), the drink can be poured from the communal vessel into individual drinking implements. This will still have the same effect.