|
The Anderson Feri Tradition is an
initiatory form of Witchcraft.
This means that initiation is required for
full participation in the tradition. Furthermore, Feri initiation
and training are available only through existing Feri initiates.
The tradition is referred to as "Anderson
Feri" for two reasons:
- All Feri initiates can trace their lineage
back to Victor and Cora Anderson.
- In the 1970s the Andersons wrote of their Craft as a "Fairy"
or Pictish Tradition. At some point in the
1990s, they began using the spelling "Feri" to differentiate
their tradition from unrelated groups using similar terms
(Faery Wicca, Radical Faeries, R. J. Stewart, et cetera).
The Andersons also taught that "fe"
means "to be psychic and the science of doing magic,"
and "ri" means "a specialist." Thus, "Feri"
denotes someone who specializes in psychic skills and doing
magic.
The modern roots of the Anderson Feri Tradition stretch
back to several sources.
These include a coven of pre-Gardnerian witches active in
southern Oregon in the 1930s, a group of Haitian migrant workers
practicing Vodou in southern Oregon around the same time,
and a form of hereditary Southern folk magic dating back to
the late 1800s. Elements of Hawaiian and Native American lore
were also present at an early date. Other material has been
added to this matrix over time, but there remains a core unique
to Feri.
Although Victor and Cora Anderson are acknowledged as the
modern founders of the Feri Tradition, they considered it a
survival of Stone Age religion.
Victor drew no distinction between Feri and the earliest
forms of human magic. According to him, Witchcraft was born
when humans stepped past the neigborhood of the known into
the world of the unknown. This ability to step into the unknown
is a birthright all humans possess but few attempt to use.
The Anderson Feri Tradition is universalist in nature.
Victor Anderson considered Feri a universal religion arising
out of the very nature of humanity and the cosmos. He also
had a very clear idea of the underlying structure that Feri
speaks to. This was sometimes confusing to people, as when
Victor pointed out the book Kali: the Feminine Force as
being about Feri. But because Victor saw Feri as universal,
he saw it popping up everywhere—from other religions
to quantum physics. Ultimately, Anderson Feri is both
very simple and utterly vast in scope.
More information on the Anderson Feri Tradition is available
in Cora Anderson's book, Fifty
Years in the Feri Tradition.
|
