#risting

So, Ting-Ting had expressed wanting to get to know Arista more because they were playing Donna and Sophie and Arista couldn’t have been happier about it! Yay new friends from activities. 

Anyways, Arista invited her to a little date at Hatter’s so they could discuss what they thought about the set up so far and just find ways to play off one another and find some chemistry. Honestly, it was a little strange calling Ting-Ting her mom but Ting kind of reminded her a bit like Attina, kind of motherly, she guessed it was the whole younger sisters thing. So maybe all of this wasn’t totally out there, you know?

She ordered her drink from Mocha with her usual sunny smile and engaged in some small talk before sitting herself down at a table near a window and settling herself into people watching as she waited for Ting-Ting to show up.

@princess-ting-ting​

This is the Risting sigil.  Pretty, if a bit stylized and "drawn using the Paint program."  Obviously we don't use it for EVERYTHING, and we have several more simple versions.

Now, what it represents- that's much different.

The Risting Tradition of American Witchcraft was formed in 2004, as a name for a group of people taking classes with me.  "Risting" is old Germanic for "etching or drawing."  The tradition draws its roots from Germanic and Anglo-Saxon witchcraft, along with English Trad-Craft, Roman and Greek folk magic, Sumerian sorcery, and several other places.  Not too terribly different from most witch traditions, in our origin at least.

What makes us different is the marked focus on three principles:

1. Witchcraft is not a religion.  Instruction and initiatory practices within the Risting are non-religious in nature, and we focus on religious and faith-based practices purely from the perspective of philosophy and paradigm, rather than through the concepts of 'worship.'  What people choose to do religiously is their business within the trad- we have Christians, pagans, Buddhists, Baha'i, and several who have no specific faith, or those who practice a compilation of faiths.

2. Witchcraft is a profession.  All of our practices are geared towards the use of magic for professional and practical purposes.  Witches of the Risting are instructed in techniques used to streamline and focus their natural abilities, so they may use them for practical concerns in life, for themselves and others.  While covens are encouraged within the practice, they are non-mandatory, and the large bulk of initiates and students are solitary practitioners- for these folk, we provide various community gatherings as support and further education for those who have graduated and are alumni.

Likewise, as a profession, the eventual hope is that an initiate of the Risting will put their magic to work financially.  While most of us don't cast spells for cash, we are supportive of those who instruct, divine, craft, and host ceremonies for donation purposes as well as personal gain.

3. Witchcraft is practical and non hierarchical.  We focus our interest on teaching practical magic and helping people get in touch with the world.  We don't teach "ethics," because we choose to instead enforce the idea of personal responsibility.  We don't have degrees, because we aren't in the business of trying to assume authority over another witch's life.  We do have bonds and oaths to protect other members of the tradition, but we are relatively relaxed in our expectations.  Witchery has always been practiced as power within the hands of the people themselves.  We hold our own sovereignty, and mind our boundaries responsibly all on our own.

So.  That's our mission statement, as it were.  Mostly, we teach out of the Reno area, although there are some few initiates who have moved to other regions.  While initiation is non-mandatory, teaching of the Risting Tradition is reserved for those who have the training for it, and initiation is only for those seeking to become members of the trad itself.