A Grove of Ashes and Aspens

Now Playing: Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns) – Remastered 2007 by Blind Guardian

Oaths are a concept that are at least loosely known to the general population, especially if they’re in any way familiar with the concept of paladins in TTRPGs and various other fantasy media. (You know, those youth camp counselor types who swear an oath to a specific deity to gain extra abilities and all that.) Oaths in the realm of paganism are taken with the same sort of gravity as a paladin’s oath in D&D. (We’ll ignore oathbreaker paladins for right now, as that’s a whole other realm of subclass chaos. Maybe I’ll discuss that another time, if it comes up.)

But what is an oath specifically? That’s a good question. I find a lot of this depends on the person. Oaths, at their core, are a very serious promise, to the point of being a core pillar of how someone lives their life. As such, there is a lot of gravity and care that needs to be put into how one approaches swearing an oath. I’ll come back to this idea in a second.

As serious as oaths are, there are several reasons someone could make the decision to swear an oath. As an example, Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy when entering into priesthood. (As a note, the East Catholic church does allow married men to become priests with certain conditions, but they still have the requirement of celibacy should someone enter into priesthood unmarried.) Within paganism, some will make oaths to serve specific deities as part of their practice. Some people will make oaths to uphold certain specific morals or faith practices. There are also plenty of other reasons that are specific to the individual. I have an oath that I hold myself to, in doing what I can to ensure the safety of those I care for. (This is something I’ve held for a few years now, expanded from a promise I made to a friend of a friend. It is also important to note that the circumstances under which an oath is made will be different per person, though within paganism, it is not uncommon to see it as part of a larger ritual, either at their own altar, or as part of a larger pagan group.)

Now, back to that point on the gravity of an oath. When approaching an oath, it should be considered as a serious thing. This is something people swear as a core part of their life. As such, it should be approached with the appropriate amount of respect and care as you would any other life changing decision. A good piece of advice I was given on this front is to, when building your oath, build in some grace for yourself. You’re going to change over time, and so is your practice. This means, for example, that if you swear a very specific kind of oath at 20, you may regret that in another 10 years when you come across a situation you weren’t considering when you made that initial oath. (This is also why I think it shouldn’t be allowed to baptize children, since they don’t really have the capacity to understand what they’re signing up for, and they may want to leave when they grow up but can’t because there’s no way to undo a baptism. But that’s another matter.) When creating an oath, it’s important to consider how a person may change over time, since oaths are intended to last for life. This is also why I tend to be of the opinion that it’s generally not good to swear a lifelong oath to a particular deity, since I’ve known people who have worked with specific deities in the past and then stopped working with them for one reason or another, and you don’t want to be tied by oath to a deity you no longer want to work with.

But why do I bring this up now? I’ve been discussing pagan things on here for a while now; how did it not come up sooner? Because I’ve been in a conversation concerning oaths with a small group behind the scenes. Writing my own oath is complicated, since I’m having to consider my own practice and how it relates to the group I’m working with for this. I don’t have answers that can apply to everyone (other than consider your own practice and how you’re going to change and grow with it), but my own oath and approach is deeply personal. The specific wording is as yet undecided, but it will be on the plane of holding myself to my personal convictions of practice and doing what I can to practice in a way that feels true to my own life.