Term often used in Neopaganism and Wicca to describe the anti-hierarchical belief that one can initiate oneself (or be initiated by the Gods Themselves), rather than having to seek initiation from an already-initiated human. Also describes the practice of actually doing so.
This is the polar opposite of the idea (common in more conservative traditions of Wicca, such as Gardnerian and Alexandrian) that “only a Witch can make another Witch”, and is often phrased as the rhetorical reductio ad absurdum: “So who initiated the first Witch?” Accordingly, Eclectic Witches are more likely to credit and practice self-initiation. Even Alexandrians and Gardnerians generally acknowledge other people’s self-initiations these days, though they will not acknowledge it as an Alexandrian or Garnderian initiation.
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