For Baby/Beginner/New Witches đ¶đ»đ
As flattered as I am to receive tons of messages from newer witches asking me so many questions and being so enthusiastic about starting this journey into their Craft, I'm feeling a slight degree of panic because I am not a teacher.
I am barely out of the margin of baby witch myself and I am still learning.
However I do feel like I should at least give pointers on where to start and how to go about this crazy thing we all practice so here we go.
You're excited to get going but you've got no idea where to start, understandable, witchcraft is one of these info heavy subjects. However, if you start at researching these two things I promise it'll become easier.
The History of Witchcraft: Probably one of the most vital aspects of witchcraft you need to learn about is the history. From how long it's been going, some of the old practices, the persecution of witches and the more recent history, legalisation involving witchcraft, etc. Everything you learn after this, divination, herbal magick, whatever, you should always try to have a quick look at where it originated and it's history. It's always good to know, after all, how can you expect to learn and practice something when you don't know why it was created and used for in the first place?
The Different Paths/Types: Right, this is the easiest way to narrow down the research after this to specifics. What you believe in (e.g, are you Atheist? Agnostic?), why you wish to take this up, what types of magick do you actually want to use? These questions, when answered will point to different paths, religions or types of practice and therefore, different types of magick, rituals, different research. For example, if you are drawn to Wicca, you probably won't need to research hexes or curses as most Wiccans tend to follow the rule of 3 (If you do something negative to others it'll come back on you 3 fold). Give every type a fair trial research wise in case something catches your intuition but remember, some paths are closed religions/practices, and so are off limits unless you're born or initiated by someone who is part of that practice into them (Mayan, Aztec, Native American, Shamanism, Voudon *or the more western word: Voodoo, to name a few). Going into these types of religions or practices without being let in, not taking it seriously or fucking around is HIGHLY OFFENSIVE and modern mainstream/trendy witchcraft tends to be guilty of a lot cultural appropriation so be careful and don't be a dick.
Right after those two important things, this is what you can look at afterwards. As you research you should be jotting what catches your eye or basic information you need down in a notebook that either is your actual or is your temporary Book of Shadows. (* beside the ones you absolutely need/highly reccomend you look at, everything else is research inspiration for you)
*Protection: Casting Circles, Banishing, Cleansing, Wards, Protective Herbs/Crystals/etc, Protection Spells.
*Different Types of Magick: Herbs, Kitchen, Tea, Candle/Flame, Colour are good places to start looking at.
*Book of Shadows/Grimoire: What they are, what the difference is and inspiration for how you want yours to look.
*The Rules: The Rule of Three, When you can Substitute Ingredients/Steps in a Spell/Ritual, Magick that is Frowned Upon (*cough* Creepy Fucking Love Spells), etc.
*Why Spells may not work/How they can go wrong/How you can fix this when it happens (Which it will, we all fuck up at some stage).
*Your country/local area's history and if witchcraft is included in it: Fun fact, the county in Ireland I'm from is where the only Christian accused of heresy and magick was "trailed" (she got away and disappeared off the face of the earth), you'd be surprised about what you may discover about where you are.
Altars: What you need for it, what you need it for, how to maintain it.
Altar Tools: Athames, Wands, Cauldrons, etc. What they're for and how to maintain them.
Divination: Tarot, Pendulum, Scrying, etc.
Herb/Crystal Properties: What they're associated with, what they encourage, what they discourage, etc.
Moon Phases: What each phase means, how it is incorporated into spells.
Astrology: Your star sign(??), etc (I know piss all about astrology, it's something I never use, I just know when Mercury is in Retreograde it's bad but a lot of witches do use it, I'm sorry that's all I know).
Sabbaths: The history, the dates they're on, what each one is celebrating, rituals and spells to perform on each one, traditions associated with each one.
Those are just the ones off the top of my head, there's hundreds of topics you could look at. As you research more and more you'll get the hang of it. If you have a question in your head, research until you get the answer. Now this may seem extreme but you should be in this phase of JUST research for a minimum of 6 months to a year MINIMUM before you would be ready to actually practice. You never stop researching either, if you keep this on 20 years down the road you will still be researching then. Do not rush this phase, it'll come back around and bite you if you go into this without knowing what you're at.
Again, not all of these are necessary or easy for people to get. This is simply what I started off with.
A Place to Practice- Now you won't be practising anything as a baby witch for a good few months but the place where you will eventually use to cast spells and such is a good place to go to do research and to meditate. This can be any space you choose, your room, a place in your garden, under a tree somewhere, just somewhere you can find peace of mind and truly immerse yourself in learning your practice (Please use common sense, don't pick a graveyard or somewhere where horrible things have happened, be respectful or you'll get your ass kicked by entities otherwise).
An Altar- Now this is optional but most witches tend to have an altar, totally up to you though.
Incense or Sage/Your Other Cleansing Method- You will need some way to clean your space after spells and to keep safe. Use what works for you.
White Candles- You are going to be using candles and there's usually no way around that. White can substitute any colour in most rituals or spells and you find them easy enough. Tea light candles you can bulk buy can work for nearly all spells unless they state otherwise.
A Notebook- This will act as your trial Book of Shadows, when I started out I bought a âŹ1 Notebook to act as my Book of Shadows/roughwork book for when I wrote my first few spells and the information I researched/needed. I revisit this notebook when I am coming up with a new spell, despite having an actual Book of Shadows now and honestly it's the handiest thing that I still use as a practicing witch.
BOOKS- I cannot stress this enough, using just one form or research (the internet, for example) is generally a bad idea as you could be missing out on key information that is published in Witchcraft books. Plus a lot of researching is simply cross referencing information from various different sources. I can make a list of books and websites I used to research as a beginner (and still use now of course) in a seperate post (I'll link it here if I ever get round to it). Of course, if your family would not like to have a witch in it then by all means keep safe and use the internet until you're out of that situation.
A Pendulum- If you are looking to go into divination then a pendulum is the easiest place to start. You can get a specfic crystal or make your own using string and a weight (a paperclip will do) or even use a necklace you own.
A few Crystals- Now don't go crazy, especially if you don't plan on using crystals in your practice, just try get your hands on a few standard, common crystals like clear quartz, rose quartz, amethyst, etc. See what they bring into your life and your Craft, don't knock it until you try it.
You do not need to spend loads of money to get started in Witchcraft, hell you could probably start practicing with like three things from that supply list if you tried hard enough. As you go along, you'll figure out what you need to buy.
Right, I've done my year or two of Research, I'm ready for my first spell!
Great! Here are some appropriate places to start:
A spell jar (for protection, self love, encouragement of creativity, whatever)
A bath spell (again, for something simple)
Literally anything that comes up when you search "Beginner Witch/Baby Witch Spells" on Google.
Here are some places you should stay the fuck away from when you are beginning to practice:
Deity work (Just read my post if you need convincing)
Spirit Work (Self Explanatory)
Love Spells (Just don't do them at all like, they're gross unless you've gotten consent from the other person)
Blood/Any Bodily Fluid Magick
Anything you see in movie witchcraft, just don't, it looks cool but it's not real.
If it involves you being put in a dangerous situation you may not know how to get out of if things go wrong, then don't do it. You need to have done a good number of spells under your belt and to be sure in your protection magick abilities to move on to any of that shit and that doesn't happen on day one. Before my first SĂ©ance I spent about three months researching in preparation just for a ten minute session, as well as making like two protection jars and like fifty sigils for a ward, you need to do extensive and intense research before committing to anything that is not putting herbs in a bottle because of all the shit that could go wrong and the consequences of that.
Just use common sense, as you learn more about what you're doing you'll figure out what you need and what you are capable of in your practice.
Transition: This is YOUR Practice.
I can give you all these places to start but at the end of the day, Witchcraft is an entirely individual experience for each and everyone who ventured into it. You may have to change common things that don't work for you (E.g, I'm asthmatic so I'm not able to use sage or incense all the time but I own and can use a cleansing bell when I need to) and that's 100% grand like, when it comes to the intimate details of your Craft no one can control that. So take some inspiration from this (and hopefully the advice too), open up a book or website, start reading and enjoy your journey.
