Twenty degrees.
A lifetime of discovery.
Sixteen degrees of learning within our Tradition, followed by four Elder degrees of guidance and leadership.
Progress at your own pace.
Our Brotherhood follows the sixteen learning degrees, with four further degrees recognising guidance and leadership within our Brotherhood. Each degree celebrates knowledge, practice and personal progression.
There is no fixed timetable. Learning is not a race: time alone does not establish mastery, and those who progress through dedicated work need not be held back.
View the shared learning journey ↗Shared sessions. Individual progression.
Sessions vary to support the subjects and degrees being explored. You may encounter a topic before reaching its degree and build on that understanding later. More advanced members can deepen their practice and help facilitate the session.
Neophyte
Your introduction to the craft begins with its core ideas, vocabulary and ways of practising. Through a group workshop or one-to-one guidance from a Coven Elder, you develop a foundation for further study and explore how a pagan path can connect with your own life. This degree also introduces the Brotherhood’s approach to learning and shared practice. On completion, you can apply to join as an Initiate Member and take part in sessions and celebrations.
Initiate
Deepen your understanding of Paganism through the Wheel of the Year, the meaning of its seasonal festivals and the relationship between ritual and the natural world. Learn to cast a circle, create sacred space, and plan and host a celebration ritual with a clear purpose and structure. This degree brings foundational knowledge into practical shared experience. On completion, you are dedicated as a full member and presented with the Coven Pentacle.
Medium
Meditation is central to this degree, developing concentration, stillness and a sharper awareness of the magical world, both physical and spiritual. Explore mediumship and the different ways practitioners understand intuitive perception: clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, clairambience, clairgustance and claircognisance. Study empathy, auras and psychometry alongside these disciplines. Through guided practice and reflection, learn to recognise and interpret your experiences thoughtfully, with discernment, clear boundaries and respect for others.
Acolyte
Develop your understanding of energy work within the craft. Explore grounding, centring and the ways practitioners describe sensing, directing and working with energy. Practise bringing intention, attention and visualisation together, both individually and within a shared space. Reflection on your experiences helps you build a more considered and consistent approach to your magical practice.
Mystic
Metaphysics is the main focus of this degree: exploring how the universe works, how you believe it is put together, and the ideas that give your magical practice meaning. Examine your understanding of reality, consciousness, spirit and the relationships between them, moving beyond familiar phrases towards a deeper grasp of your own beliefs. Symbology supports this exploration, helping you understand how symbols express complex ideas. The aim is thoughtful understanding of your worldview, with space to question, reflect and recognise different perspectives.
Seer
Explore all forms of divination and the many ways practitioners seek insight through symbols, patterns and interpretation. Develop breadth across different approaches, alongside practical skill in the methods you study. Learn to frame useful questions, interpret a reading thoughtfully and communicate it clearly, while recognising uncertainty and respecting the person receiving it. This degree develops a considered, ethical divinatory practice rather than treating a reading as a fixed or guaranteed outcome.
Hedgewitch
Develop your knowledge of herbology and the place of plants in the craft. Explore botanical identification, traditional associations and the use of herbs within ritual and magical practice. Consider seasonality, responsible gathering, preparation and storage, alongside the importance of respecting plants and their environments. Careful identification and an awareness of plant safety are essential foundations for further study.
Healer
Explore a broad range of magical healing practices, including Reiki through to master level, hands-on healing and other forms of spiritual and energetic healing. Develop your understanding of the principles, methods and traditions behind these approaches, supported by practical experience and reflection. Learn to work with care, consent and clear boundaries, recognising the responsibilities involved in supporting another person. Spiritual healing is approached as a complement to wellbeing, with a clear distinction from medical diagnosis or treatment.
Elixirist
Explore potions and prepared mixtures within magical practice, considering how ingredients, correspondences and intention contribute to their purpose. Develop a thoughtful approach to planning, preparation, labelling and storage, and learn to distinguish symbolic or ritual use from anything intended for the body. Attention to ingredient safety, suitability and clear handling is part of developing a responsible practice.
Alchemist
Explore crystals as a distinct area of study: their physical characteristics, identification and traditional associations within the craft. Consider how practitioners select and incorporate crystals into ritual, reflection and magical work, while recognising the difference between spiritual belief and established physical properties. Develop your understanding of care, sourcing and safe handling, and build a practice guided by knowledge rather than appearance alone.
Enchanter
Explore the creation and use of amulets, talismans and enchantments. Study how materials, symbols, correspondences and intention can be brought together to express a clear magical purpose. Develop a considered approach to preparing and working with an object, and reflect on the meaning and responsibilities attached to its use. This degree brings together earlier learning in symbolism and energy work through practical application.
Wild Mage
Deepen your connection with the living world through weather magic, nature magic, animal magic and healing, and elemental magic. Explore how natural cycles, the characteristics of a place, its animals and the elements inform magical practice. Develop observation, respect and a thoughtful approach to working with nature and its rhythms. Animal healing is explored within magical practice, with care for animal welfare and a clear distinction from veterinary treatment. Bring your learning together through practical work that honours the environments and living beings involved.
Battle Mage
Explore magical protection and the traditions surrounding entities, spirits and demons. Study how practitioners understand boundaries, protective workings and the responsibilities of engaging with these subjects. Bring earlier learning in awareness, energy work and symbolism into a more considered protective practice. Discernment, clear intention and personal boundaries remain central, with space to question interpretations and reflect on experiences.
Master
Move into a specialisation that resonates with you and the path you have walked, such as healing or divination. Develop a deep understanding of your chosen field through focused study, sustained practice and reflection, bringing together the knowledge and experience gained in earlier degrees. Progress towards true mastery: the ability to practise confidently, explain your approach clearly and demonstrate the depth of your understanding. This degree establishes mastery of a field; the next asks what you can create from that knowledge.
Grand Master
Take the knowledge and mastery developed in your specialisation and use it to create. Develop something new: a fresh method, a new way of approaching an existing practice, or an original magical working. Explore, refine and explain your contribution so that it expands your specialisation and advances the field. This is the distinction between Master and Grand Master: a Master deeply understands and practises a discipline; a Grand Master takes that understanding and creates something that contributes to its development.
Sage
Bring your learning into the work of spiritual guidance and coven leadership through Priest and High Priest training. Develop an understanding of the responsibilities involved in supporting members, facilitating learning and ritual, and helping sustain the Brotherhood’s ethos and culture. Reflect on communication, care, boundaries and the balance between individual freedom and shared community. This degree prepares you for the service and leadership responsibilities recognised in the degrees that follow.
Demonstrate your understanding.
Every Degree requires both an oral assessment and a practical assessment to pass. The oral assessment gives you the opportunity to explain your knowledge and understanding; the practical assessment demonstrates how you apply it. Progression recognises what you have learned and can put into practice, rather than time served alone.
The leadership degrees
Beyond the sixteen learning degrees, our Brotherhood recognises four further degrees of service, guidance and leadership.
Priest
Develop spiritual guidance and take an active role in supporting the coven. Help facilitate learning sessions, uphold the Brotherhood’s ethos and culture, and assist with handfastings, planning and the life of the community.
High Priest
Guide the coven in its learning and spiritual journey, with responsibility for the care and leadership of the community. A High Priest may be respectfully addressed as Lord or by the title High Priest.
Grand High Priest
A degree recognising an experienced High Priest who has established further covens, runs more than one coven, or has taught members who have themselves become High Priests.
Magus
A degree recognising an experienced Grand High Priest who guides three or more High Priests, each leading an active, established coven. The title is Magus; the wider Tradition also uses Maga.
Part of the Sacred Spirit.
Distinctly the Brotherhood.
The Brotherhood of Cernunnos is part of The Covens of the Sacred Spirit — a family of covens across Manchester and Chester, united by a shared Tradition, Accord and commitment to learning and growth.
Within that family, the Brotherhood retains its sovereignty and freedom: our own identity, leadership and distinctive path for gay men. Our Elders guide our community locally, while our members have the freedom to explore their personal spirituality within the shared Tradition.
Discover our wider coven family ↗Your path. Our Brotherhood.
Get in touch to learn more about joining our Manchester-based Brotherhood.
Begin a conversation ↗