Thats probably something people ask all the time, but how necessary would you say it is to actually start a legit note taking grimoire before you start getting into witchcraft? I have been on and off on witchcraft since my teens basically and honestly it doesn't really ever feel like I am actually... Practicing....anything whenever I do it and I actually thought that "Hey maybe writing would help" , but at the same time imagining myself sitting down and writing it down like a schoolbook also already feels....not quite right for reasons I can't explain (I guess it's partly because my thoughts are always very disjointed and note taking basically devolved into writing things over and over again until I didn't need the notes anymore in school so....yeah)
Also if you have any advice on how to approach all of this withouth already feeling like you are not gonna accomplish anything.....would be great, yeah. I am sorry this got so negative at the end but I genuinly feel like I myself am just fooling myself with all of this, not because it's not real but because the problem is me and.... Yeah not a great vibe.
Hello sweets! First, thank you for feeling comfortable enough to ask me of all people about this!!!
This is question I really have to take the time to answer because different things work for different people.
Some people will say you need to accomplish years of studying like school before you cast your first spell. I'm not in that party but I do see merit in that belief. Witchcraft can be VERY dangerous, so it's important to get all of the basics down and mastered before you really delve into it.
Personally I believe you can only master your craft by actually practicing it. It may seem boring, but early on in your craft you should be repeating the same basic skills until you have them near perfect. But I don't think you should ONLY be practicing basics. Sometimes there isn't a need for the basics to be practiced constantly. But they're the basics for a reason. You should be able to slowly branch out from the basics as you get more comfortable in your craft and your abilities.
I do think it is important to RECORD your practice in any way you are comfortable with. If it's writing, more power to you. But you can also video record, audio record, and even collage (with appropriate notations). But I believe witchcraft is closer to science than people assume, so I find it important to be able to repeat your spells/rituals/etc. with necessary modifications to achieve your desired results. You cannot grow in your craft without changing what doesn't work, and even what works but is too costly (be it time, materials, or even energy).
Now onto the topic of study itself. It takes a lot of time and trials to find out what study method truly works for you. It sucks but think back to your schooling days, and ponder what kind of learning method best suits you. Are you better at learning by sitting and reading through sources, and writing information down? Then do exactly that. Are you better at learning through visual shows and being orally walked through the steps? Head on down to YouTube and find some witchy YouTubers to learn from.
Once you've got that down, consider how you best retain that information. Is it better for you to sit down and copy lines? Is it better to actively practice what you learn? Is it better to "teach" others? You can record yourself "teaching others" to help you better retain and recall the information you've learned.
If you really feel you must write down the information you've learned, then I don't really recommend just writing down pages and pages of lines of notes. There's a variety of methods that could make the information more digestible and even fun to interact with and refresh if necessary.
One of the reasons you see so many grimoires filled with pictures and diagrams and interactive parts is that it makes relearning and refreshing that information more fun, do you're more likely to do just that. Use diagrams and pictures to help fill your pages and make the information stick a little better. You could even reduce your words even more by creating a picture heavy grimoire with just necessary words to help understand a little easier. Think of this. You have a Potion you want to make. Draw or print out pictures of the ingredients and insert them in your grimoire, with labels to identify what is harder to identify. If there's a specific order in which these items must be added, or a set of steps for a ritual that must be followed while making the Potion, draw or print out pictures of these steps and insert them in the correct order and perhaps draw arrows indicating order, or even write down the numbered order of steps.
If that's not really your style, then consider mind mapping. There's a variety of mind mapping methods you can use, but for me I typically write a word or phrase indicating the main topic of something I'm studying and put that in the middle of my page and circle it. From that circle, branch out into smaller circles with topics directly related to the initial phrase. And from those smaller circles, branch out even smaller to flesh out the idea of the initial phrase further. Here's a cute visual to explain a little better:
Witchcraft is a lot of trial and error. Try and try again to find out what method works best for you. It may seem like you are accomplishing nothing in this time where you are trying to find your suited method, but keep in mind each failure is a step closer to finding what works best for you.
I really hope this helped!!! If anybody has some further input, please share 💖
