Becoming a Wiccan

As you might assume, I get a great deal of email. Of this, quite a bit is from those asking for guidance on how to start being Wiccan or a Witch. First off, as a beginner, forget about casting spells. Spellwork is not the main focus of this path and there is much to learn and understand before you delve into advanced practices. If that's what you want, you've missed the point and are seeking the old way's for all the wrong reasons...

Simply put, it doesn't make sense for the novice to want to command the forces of nature and the universe when you don't fully comprehend or understand them. To do so, only invites total failure or worse if you are successful in casting a spell or opening a portal and letting some nasty out to follow you around.

For most long term experienced Wiccan's and Witches, spellwork probably consists of less than 25% of what walking this path is about. Yes, we occasionally use spells, but that isn't the most important part of being magickal.

In all honesty, this is a question that I cannot completely answer for you other than making a few suggestions and telling you to read everything you can get your hands on. I list some books on my website, please see "book list" to your left..

Since the Lord and Lady speak to each of us differently, the answers to how a magickal life applies to you are questions only you and the Goddess or God can find and define together. While I suspect that many of you already have a beginning awareness of the answers, they are most likely only faint glimmerings.

Understand that the seeds of awareness are already within each of us through the divine energy of our spirits. We need only listen to the subtle whispers and nudges as the Goddess speaks to us. They are like the caress of a gentle breeze. Subtle and faint, yet still a tangible awareness in our subconscious and soul. It is when we learn to recognize the subtle nuances of her voice, then meditate and focus upon how they apply to us individually that we can truly being living a magickal life.

Walking this path consists of achieving an understanding and awareness of how all things are infused with divine energy and are connected. Once you truly gain this awareness, you then tap into divine energy and everything begins to fall in place like the pieces of a puzzle. It is at this point when you can begin to "work magick" because now you understand how "magick works." It is within you and always has been. You just need to realize it.

This concept is aptly stated in Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess.

In closing, suppose the best guidance I can offer would be to begin living life differently. Make a conscious effort to slow down and become aware of everything around you. Signs of the Goddesses presence are everywhere. As we grew up however, we were trained by the influence of a technological society to stop recognizing and acknowledging them and we lost our awareness and connection.

When we were young, all of life and nature around us was truly magickal. Colors were brighter, the tastes and textures of food were more vivid as they gave us their energy, we felt the caress of a warm summer breeze differently. The examples could go on and on, but in short, we saw, felt and understood the magick. We had an unspoken awareness from all of our senses of the magick around us.

Go to a park and watch the children, hear the pureness of their laughter for they see and feel the magick. Walk through the grass with your shoes off and remember... Lay back and watch the clouds, marvel at the blueness of the sky, see and feel the Goddess in the gentle breeze. Pay attention and slowly you will "remember" how to hear that unspoken voice and see the magick again...

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