Carpe Noctem

@NyxShadowhawk That sounds interesting, glad to know your not abandoning TWF and looking forward to the rewritten Shadowbook, going to enjoy reading it again.

@lilithstar26 No, it's not likely. Shadowbook is my priority project right now. I'm taking a gap year, so I'm hoping to bang out most of it in that time. As for TWF, it's still simmering on the back burner. I haven't given up on it. But I'm definitely going to have to rewrite the entire thing from scratch, and it's an intimidating enough project as it is! I still don't know how to begin it. Once I figure that out, I'll probably start rewrites. But until then, I've made significant strides in its worldbuilding, and I've been posting some of that separately.

@NyxShadowhawk  That is so awesome! 

@SHSLDorito 
            5. Try a few rituals. Once you find a ritual structure that you like, you can try out a few simple rituals on days of significance just to see what it’s going to be like. What the ritual does is put you in a sacred space and mindset for connecting with the Divine, or the earth, or the Universe at large, or just with your higher self. You can do a Wiccan-style Drawing Down the Moon, you could sit with a pen and paper or scrying mirror and see what you get, you could just meditate for a while, you could dance, you could do whatever makes sense to you. It can be subtle, you just need to be alone in your room for an hour or so. Get some spiritual experience and see if it’s something you want to commit to.
            
            6. Pay attention. A lot of witches are deeply in-tune with the natural world, so start to notice the moon and the stars and the way your natural environment changes throughout the year. Time your spells and rituals accordingly. Many of the best lessons in magic come from being attentive to nature and its processes — just ask Eda the Owl Lady. Divinity and magic are everywhere. You just have to learn to see it, and when you do see it, don’t automatically dismiss your perceptions.
            
            7. There is more out there than just Wicca. It doesn’t really feel that way when you’re first starting out, because all of the most available information about witchcraft concerns Wicca or something near enough to/inspired by Wicca. But Wicca is not the only occult practice that there is, and it’s not the only form of witchcraft that there is. You don’t have to be religious to be a witch, either. If you find that there’s something about Wicca you don’t like or find that Wicca just doesn’t work for you, you can study something else.

@SHSLDorito 3. Magical power comes from you, not your tools, and you shouldn’t be treating spells like following a recipe anyway. Old-school cunning folk just used whatever they had, and you can turn almost anything into a magical tool if you use it as one.
            Magic requires confidence, conviction, and authority. It’s a lot easier said than done, but in order for your spells to work, you have to be completely convinced that it will work, to have confidence and faith in your own abilities, and to command the universe with enough power and authority to force your desire to manifest. Again, that is a lot easier said than done, and one of the reasons I don’t do a lot of spellwork is because I become unbearably self-conscious and lose a lot of my conviction. The use of tools and ritual acts as a psychological trick to put you in the right mindset to have that kind of power.
            
            4. Learn some basic meditation and divination. These are both basic skills in a witch’s toolbox, and pretty easy to learn on your own. Finding some method of meditation is important, since meditation is a primary means of interacting with the spiritual world. Meditation does not have to mean lying still; I meditate through pacing back and forth. So, find a method that works for you. Likewise, it’s useful to become familiar with at least one divination method. I use tarot cards and automatic writing.

@SHSLDorito 
            1. Research extensively, and be mindful of your sources. There is a ton of information out there about witchcraft, and the way to get started is always to consume as much information as possible. Research magical theory, herbalism, ceremonial magic, ritual, mythology, divination, sympathetic magic, and whatever else you can get your hands on that you’re interested in. But not all of the information about history and mythology is accurate, and not all sources are trustworthy. There are still some insidious historical myths that continue to influence modern witchcraft, so be careful.
            
            2. You don’t need any fancy tools. You can have them, if you want, but you don’t need a vast collection of crystals or fancy wands or every single altar item or anything else. A lot of ceremonial and traditional spells call for “stuff” — metals appropriate to each planet, a specific mixture of herbs, candles and robes and altar cloths that are all the right colors, etc. The truth is, none of this stuff is really necessary. Correspondences and the like are helpful and add a boost to your spells, but if you don’t have gold leaf to make planetary talismans out of or if you don’t have any rosemary, it’s not the end of the world. Therefore, if you feel like you can't have an altar or any pagan items because of your family, you can easily make do with what you have.

@jessawolfe Thanks for the compliment! I have to start TWF over from the beginning, again. Trying to find the best way to begin it.