#beginning witches

[trials-of-a-spirit-worker]

MORE Things I Want Y’all To Know

So I try to make it very clear that I make mistakes. As far as we all know, I’m only human (people have suspected I am an alien of some sort, idk why... my squidilly splooch is just the same as everyone else's, goddamnit) and I would like people to learn from my mistakes and then not do them. You know? Do better. 

Read more- Witch History, Basic witch practices, read up about other culture and all that. It took me a hot minute on my journey to start doing it and I regret it. Its like rejecting the tutorial like oh it’s all the same and having to revisit the settings and control menu again and again. 

Just focus on a couple things at a time- This is admittedly one of my biggest issues, because I’m like Well I want to learn about this and this and this and this and this and--you see where it gets bad. Calm thy nipples, Herfeffine Heferfefer! (If you understand that names reference, I like you.) You’ll get to learn what you want eventually. Have patience and learn to be well acquainted with a couple things before moving on to the next. Don’t spread yourself too thin.

There is not one way to read tarot- This is beyond learning meanings that your neat little booklet that you get with a deck. Not only should you try and focus on neutral meanings for each card and not associate them with good or bad meanings, but also how your intuition is working with what you see. Your cards are there to help you illustrate what a possible answer or path may be. Treat it as such. I’ve heard people say go through it as if it were a story being told and I really like that method. Tarot is a tool for your intuition and a tool of divine communication. It is an extension of the mind and methods to see become as individual as you are. 

Just because you feel  like you’re ready to move on, doesn’t mean that you are- Sometimes we get a little overzealous and that's fine. We’re excited, we want to learn, get better, wiser, stronger, etc. But just....hold your damn horses. Don’t force yourself to try and catch up with other witches that you may see. You’re gonna have a bad time if you’re more focused on being on someone else's level instead of just working within and focusing on yourself. I guarantee you, the witches we look up to suffered the same slow grind as you did. Respect that power crawl boo. We all go through it.

Not everything is a lesson or a point from the universe. - Be able to see the difference between a strange occurrence and coincidences and actual lessons. If you’re like me who thought damn near everything was some karmic lesson you’re gonna end up a paranoid mess trying to decode and decipher EVERYTHING. Whooo, just thinking back to it makes me tired. Relax some weird shit happens. The world is weird. Sometimes, you can even catch someone else’s karmic lesson, doesn’t mean you need to get involved, it just means you see some shit. And that's okay. Sometimes you just see a lot of shit and as long as you’re not seeing things you’ll be okay.

Your Health Takes Priority- Self explanatory. Mental and Physical damnit. Your mentor shouldn’t be draining you every time you’re with them. You do not need to harm yourself for a spell like Hollywood loves to do sometimes. Here, lemme supernatural style gash my fucking hand open for a spell that requires six drops of blood. NO. I swear to all that is holy and not I will bap you with rolled up magazines.  Just...be reasonable. I generally trust the lot of you, but there are reasons certain warnings exist you know? Also, I cannot stress this enough. Witchcraft does not have to be 24/7 I swear. You can take breaks. You can back out of things. Relax and recoup when you can. You owe it to yourself. Just fucking take care of yourself mkay!?

NEVER EVER be afraid to ask for help- Some of us (*cough cough* Me included *COUGH*) can be super prideful and stick with our problem like its fine when we know good and well we’re ill-equiped for whatever the fuck just happened. Swallow it and ask for help. Hell, I can tell you about a time where I was dealing with some awful spirit I had no experience with and was like I handled some growly bastards like this before and then it turned out to be nothing close to what I experienced before and got my ass handed to me before I limped back to a mentor like a dipshit. Don’t be like past me. Don’t be a dipshit. Just. Get. Help. Even if it’s just advice, just fucking do it. Whatever it is, take the L and get some reinforcements. Learned this the hard way. Learn from my mistakes please.

That’s all I have for you. Please be safe out there, love yourself and others and don’t do stupid shit.

[witchofbonesandkeys]

Hi do you have any tips for beginning witches ? Blog posts with good information or links to reliable books ? It's such a big world and it's hard to know where to start . Bones and crystals both really interest me as a witch

I’ve been thinking about how to answer this. You’re right it’s such a big world of witchcraft, which makes it hard for me to know what to point you towards. I guess I’ll just tell you a few things that I wish someone had told me when I was starting out:

—Read. Lots and lots and lots of stuff. Blog posts, books, articles. Read witchy history, read about different paths and practices and types of witchcraft. But, and this is a big but: be immortally suspicious of anyone who claims to know the true history of witchcraft without any legitimate sources to back it up (a lot of what people try to claim as Ancient Tradition was made up in, like, the 1970s). And be equally suspicious of anyone claiming Their Way of Witching is the One True Way.

—This goes into the latter point I made above: above all, trust your own instincts and what you like/connect with when it comes to building your practice. What drew me to witchcraft is how DIY it can be, so anyone trying to tell me I must be Initiated in the(ir) Sacred Rites to be a witch can fuck right off.

—Now, there are certain traditions (that wouldn’t necessarily label themselves witchcraft, but that have some similar practices to a lot of witches) that are closed traditions, that you cannot practice unless you have been invited/taught/initiated, and you should learn what they are because cultural appropriation is not cool, and neither is messing with stuff you can’t possibly understand. It’s also good to know that there are similar, non-appropriative practices to a lot of those things. Like, if you are not Native American and aren’t part of a specific tribal religious tradition, you can’t smudge—but you can smoke cleanse! You can’t have a spirit animal, but you can have an animal guide, or a spirit guide that takes an animal form. If you aren’t a practitioner of voudou, you shouldn’t be drawing veves—but you can sure as heck make sigils! Etc.

—But really, other than appropriation and the like, pretty much anything can go into your craft. Think about what you are into in a non-magical capacity—your interests and aesthetics and skills—and incorporate those into your craft. And don’t be afraid to experiment! I know, a lot of witches will tell you not to experiment, because of Spooky Bad Stuff that could happen, but from personal experience, the worst that happens is usually just that something you try doesn’t work. You have to be more careful about things with practical consequences than things with mystical consequences. Like, don’t leave a candle burning when you’re not home, don’t drink some homemade herbal tea without learning all the side-effects and interactions of the various herbs, stuff like that. But you’re not going to try out a money spell and accidentally summon a demon. At least...probably not. And if you do...you have a cool new demon pal! (I’m joking. Sorta.)

Anyway. Experiment, trust your instincts, trust your interests. Not everything that works for one witch will work for another. Maybe you’ll try out working with deities and then realize it’s not for you, or vice versa. Maybe you’ll think about doing a curse but then feel uncomfortable and realize that’s not your jam, or vice versa. Maybe you’ll be doing a spell that calls for an herb that you have no connection with, so then you think of an herb that represents that thing for you. Maybe you’ll try out tarot and then realize a different form of divination works better for you, or even that you aren’t particularly into divination at all.

And don’t try to narrow yourself down too much as to what Type of witch you are. Those Witch Type lists can be fun, and even helpful, to sort of direct yourself in the beginning, but you can be more than one (or even two or three) types. And you might not necessarily know at the start what type of witch you are, and/or it might change over time as you develop new interests and skills (of both the magical and mundane varieties). I only just this past year figured out that art witchery is a huge part of my craft, and I’ve been practicing for 25 years now!

—You mentioned that you’re interested in bones and crystals. If you’re going to be purchasing either of those things, make sure you do your research on where you’re getting them from, and that they’re ethically sourced, because both those things unfortunately have some pretty sketchy situations surrounding them sometimes. By the same token, if you’re searching for your own bones and rocks, make sure where you’re getting them is an ethical choice. If you’re looking for bones, animal bones found by the roadside is probably okay, but don’t be grabbing bones from a cemetery. If you find a cool rock, don’t take it unless you know a. it’s a place where you’re allowed to remove stuff, and b. it won’t be disrupting the natural environment. (Side note, this is another area where you can sometimes trust your instincts. Not to get all woo-woo—though we are talking witchcraft here—but this past summer I was at the beach collecting rocks, and I found this really gorgeous one resting in a hollowed out tree trunk. I picked it up, and immediately got this sense of “Nope, nope, I need to put it back, the spirits of this place left it there for a reason.” And I put it back. And then found a bunch of other gorgeous rocks, all of which seemed perfectly fine with being picked up.)

—So, in summation: read, experiment, trust your instincts, research, and play! Witchcraft can be fun! It doesn’t have to be a super serious thing. Or rather, you can be serious about it and be playful at the same time.

As far as other witch/witch-adjacent blogs I’d recommend, here are some of my favorites:

@upthewitchypunx @breelandwalker @lemonbalmgirl @heatherwitch @hillbillyoracle @adapembroke @grimoirebabylon @yourwitchmama @hellboundwitch @the-illuminated-witch

Hope this helps! Happy witching!

[anna-ariety]

how do i choose my goddess? 

i have a few in mind but i just dont know...

how did you know that you made the right choice with your goddess..?

[bells-and-feathers]

Starting a witchcraft group

A friend and I are both young and beginner witches. I’m an omnist leaning towards hellenism and she’s interested in wicca, but we want to combine our learning and efforts by forming some kind of mini-coven. Anybody want to give us advice on how to start and how to make it work? 

[constantines-creator]

Okay, so I saw the post about how accidentally leaving tea out was seen as a sacrifice by spirits. But what if it’s purposely set out? Like in a window or something?