A Beginners Witch Guide

Introduction

What will you get from this book?

OPTIONS! When starting off in witchcraft it can be daunting with all the choices and paths. So I've collected my favourites which can help you craft your own craft.

These will follow core concepts or items you commonly hear about. I'll try to explain their history and my own thoughts of how or why they work. I'll include spells and rituals you can try to help the early stages of your path where it's recommended to know how to ground, protect, and cleanse. However, once you know how these work and with practise gain a sense for it, you can apply other aims into it. Stay safe x.

But what if I cannot afford to be a witch?

One of the problems today is witchcraft has become witch-consumerism. It can be easy to fall for peer pressure when you need to buy expensive candles, crystals, altars, clothes, goblets and swords, golden wands, expensive pets for 'familiars' etc. When someone says 'oh you need to use it once and then use a new one....buy it all from my store only.' or 'keep buying my books if you want to know the truth. Subscribe and consume and the magick will trickle down.'

Look. You don't need to spend any money to be a witch. Witches in centuries past didn't have shops they could go out and buy magick items from. Crystals were rare and not industrially mined. Tarot cards were not printed enmasse. Grimoires were hidden away and rare and most people were not literate enough to read. People used what knowledge they had and experienced around them, they collected herbs for their gardens, they crafted objects using what was around the home or outside their front door. Everything has spirit and you can use anything to communicate or tap into it. In some cases a bit of trance (meditation) and chanting is enough. Or a couple of common objects with symbolic significance popped into a jar.

What is magick and what magical system is the 'right one'

All magick or system can be summed up by the image of a wheel. This shape is always moving and is stationary. It is and isn't. It is the beginning and it is the end and the inbetween. It is all the pathways at a crossroads. It is singular literal and a complex layered metaphor.

First step is to acknowledge the existence and nature of the wheel. Magick is one way to interact with the wheel. Either for things like 'I would like some good luck in finding a new job' to 'peeping beyond the veil to understand existence'. Both can be equally useful and useless at the same time.

Some systems aim to change the direction of the wheel.
Some want to work in harmony with it.
Some want to change and transform it or parts of it.
Some want to break away and go beyond the wheel itself. Etc.
Yet they all use magick or magical thinking for this purpose.

You'll see a lot of codewords out there and terminology too. The art of magick can be to recognise the language between the systems are different but also talking about the same thing. Since they are all true and false and the truth can be found in an illusion. The art of finding a path is finding the language you'll understand and that speaks to you the most. One where you can grasp the basics or its foundations and transform it. To help build your own temple. This practice will help you out with what you want out of the wheel and the direction it is taking you.

Don't forget, occult means 'secret knowledge' but what is the knowledge, the truth, or the all? It's for me not a 'one god' or a way to say 'This is right and all else is wrong'. If there is a singular truth or knowledge it is an echo that exists in all. If you know the truth you will see it appear in every system, you will see it in yourself and with everything else outside of you. In a macrocosm and microcosm. You could open your phone and the first advertisement you see will contain it. You can also see where systems have gone on a mad tangent too. This knowledge is just a key however. It won't do much for you but it might open up some doors or windows where things make more sense. It is and isn't the rebis. It is what it is and what you see is only what you will see. Everyone is looking at the same thing and saying something that sounds different.

Should I go solo or join a coven?

You can do this alone with solo research and practise. Or you can join a coven or an order who usually have steps from beginner to master.

Going alone means you can keep things in your own language and understanding. It will become unique to you and your wheel. However, mistakes are easily made. Pathways are foggy and if you go alone it can be easy to get lost. It is one to tread carefully with.

Joining a coven or an order can be good because they have clear steps to attain. You can talk to those ahead of you in the path to avoid the basic mistakes or gain clarity. They can aid you if you end up in a dangerous situation and are under threat. However, you might end up following a path that's right for someone else. Or worse someone looking to rip you off or hold a cult like control over your life to feed themselves and their own wheel. It's good to remember some people have taken these concepts and warped them to murder, racism, oppressive cults, which we can all agree is a dick move.

You can of course try both or a middle path. You can join workshops or attend a group, but also do your own thing. You can think critically and don't have to believe 'x is true' until you try it yourself.

When looking at your options try the easy and safest stuff first. See how it feels. Dip a toe but remember there is always a wheel and a crossroads in the path to change. Just because it isn't true to you, doesn't mean it's not speaking deeply to someone else.

In magick circles a lot of time is wasted trying to prove who is 'right'. People claim superiority because they claim their stuff is 'older' or 'newer'. Some people even get fake or shoddy degrees to act as a false academic or expert. Some may use fancy words or use mysterious names to try and appear the most 'authentic'. Try not to fall under peer pressure. Focus on your wheel and the shape and language that speaks to you about magick and life in general. Since magick isn't just a craft it can be a philosophy too.

Remember the wheel is a part of you, it is you and everything else in the universe and beyond. Take good care of it and its processes. Some rules are meant to be followed and some are meant to be broken. You have to learn to think critically to discover how you can better see the differences on your own.

Don't think that magick is about being 'superior' or becoming that. How you end is how you started. A forest is born with one tree, but a forest dies with one tree too. It takes many trees to make a forest and a diverse forest makes for a stronger ecosystem. Don't be a bigot or a fascist. It is a merging and a place of exchange to reconcile. There are polarities but they have an inbetween and can be merged. Try not to think it will give you simple rules or clarity, as life is complex and the wheel and it's crossroads are more complicated than you think. You have to learn to think critically on your own. It can help to be respectful and to just listen. It's a cycle that doesn't have an end and this is what's beautiful about it.