I'll be starting college in about 3 months and i wanted to know if you had any tips for an incoming college witch? ☺️
Yay!! College is so exciting and fun! I’m currently a freshman now. I don’t know if you are in or out of the broom closet in your situation now, but if you are looking to come out of the broom closet once you get to college, it is very empowering!!! You will finally be able to express your witchy side in ways you might not have been able to before (ex- wear pentacles, talismans, sigils; celebrate esbats and other important dates, etc.).
The first thing I would suggest on a social level would be to practice (to yourself or to a close friend) explaining the basics of what witchcraft means to you, and that a lot of the negative stereotypes aren’t true. I know this may sound kind of silly, but it will help you to be vocal about what you believe when you may need to explain things to ‘muggles’. Although most college campuses are pretty open to different cultures/ideas, you will still run into people (be it your peers or even teachers) who will misunderstand or stereotype you, be prepared to educate them, or else have a thick skin. There will probably be other pagans on campus, maybe more than you think and more who aren’t bold about showing it, so maybe look at your college’s clubs for religious tolerance, yoga, meditation, art clubs, nature conservation or spiritual awareness groups. If your campus has a site dedicated to nature (a forest area or greenery), maybe go there and people watch for a while, a lot of witches may tend to hang out near nature-y places (although don’t do this to the point where it isolates you).
Candles are usually not permitted in the dorms, so I would suggest either getting coloured bulbs that you can put in your lamp to get a flowy light effect, or get electronic candles. I personally prefer the coloured bulbs because the light gets projected to a bigger space, but whichever is awesome. Although I have quite a large dorm compared to most other ‘traditional’ dorms (I have my own bedroom and bathroom), I still don’t have space for a proper altar, so for me just having crystals and witchy jewelry scattered about my dorm is sufficient for creating a ‘sacred space’. To keep a good energy flow in your dorm, maybe practice releasing any energy that doesn’t serve you before entering your room. If you have roommates that are not energy sensitive, maybe just mentally cleansing your bed and desk area will be enough to give your personal space a clean energy.
Try to eat as healthy as possible (yes this is witchy advice, a lot of witches are sensitive to the effect that diet has on our health in general, as well as our practice). I know the unlimited junk food will probably be tempting at first, but make sure to balance it out with healthy, whole foods, otherwise your body will fight you back (low energy, low immune system, foggy concentration, gaining weight will all be symptoms of an overload of junk food).
Keep an open mind to new events and cultures, especially if you except others to do the same for you. If you are from a small town coming into a larger city area (like I am/was), you will be introduced to new types of inequalities that you likely haven’t spent much time thinking about before. Be sensitive to others’ injustices, although I’m assuming that you already are, you are on Tumblr.
There is no perfect college, I’m sure you have expectations and most likely a good portion of those expectations will not be met in the way that you want. Some may not even be addressed at all. Deal with your disillusionment, but don’t let it stifle your enthusiasm. Personally, I was very excited about my school’s GLBTQIA resource center, but I quickly found that my school’s center is quite cliquey and I found that femme invisibility (I’m a femme bisexual female) is more of a problem than I had estimated, even within my schools LGBTQ community, long story short, I haven’t made many friends from that center, but I’ve also learned that while it’s nice to share common problems and experiences with your friends, if you bond with a group of people just because you share a common part of your identity (in this case, sexuality), you may be missing out on other great relationships and experiences.
Stay curious. You will find yourself bogged down with school work at some point, usually it all comes at once (or at least it does in my experience). You will find yourself unmotivated by at least a few professors’ lecture style, maybe the topic of the course itself bores you. If you find interests in knowledge and topics outside of academic classes, you will always be thirsty for learning. Even if the topics you are interested in won’t help you practically in your classes or your heavy workload, they will inspire you to get through the mandatory stuff so you can get back to your leisure activities.
Sometimes you may find that your living a double or even triple life. One aspect of your life may be dedicated to your witchcraft, or at least you may feel more comfortable expressing your witchy self in one area of your life, another aspect of your life may be preserved for interactions with your peers, who in majority will be less ‘witchy’ than you. Sometimes you may feel out of place with them in that sense, but remember that they are students too, like you trying to get by, you might have more in common with them than you first realize. The ‘third’ aspect of your life might be who you are with your family, especially if like me, you are the ‘black sheep’ of the family. You may have to keep some things (current happenings, somewhat controversial issues discussed in classes, etc.) out of the common knowledge of your family, and you certainly now have a right to, especially if you are living away from your family home for the first time. I’m still trying to juggle between my ‘three lives’, so I don’t have any great advice for coping with that, but just know that you are not the only one who feels like your identities are somewhat disconnected.
Good luck with school, stay curious, let go of what doesn’t serve you and stay compassionate!!!
