Forums

My best advice for a beginner is to start small and build a regular schedule from there. It's super easy to get washed away in the bulk of books and resources and paths available. It's also super easy to jump in head first using 500 bajillion reagents, calling everyone and their uncle to your circle, and trying a big coven-scale ritual every week that you get totally burnt out and fed up and confused when none of it works the way you'd hoped. Take a weekly walk. Even if you live in a city or suburb, find the way the energy flows in your locale. Spend time identifying interesting plants. Bring snacks for crows and birds so they will come to know you. Try to walk at the same time every week, and break your locale up into sections to do one at a time until you've been everywhere. You might want to teach yourself to walk further and longer every time, until you can cover your whole locale in each walk. Adapt that to the size of your locale and energy levels. Once you know your locale, plants, and wildlife in the daylight, go sit under the moon and sun. Spend time quietly receiving the energy of both celestial bodies. Dedicate a separate visit, regardless of day or night time, to sit with the Earth. This is best done after researching your locale--follow the flow of energy to a spot that feels good and also won't get you in trouble for trespassing. Spend a week or so just visiting the same spot when the moon is up, the same spot with Earth, and the same spot when the sun is up. Again, make a routine of this. They will appreciate you for personally coming to visit them without any preconceived expectations or notions. This is where things get wishy washy, because this is all internal and measured with personal experiences. I can't tell you when you are done doing these visits. Only you can. If you get bored and jump the gun early, you'll likely feel restless and upset if the plants, wildlife, moon, earth, and sun don't answer you when you call. Why would they, if you are a stranger? Regardless, spending MORE time on this part helps you get comfortable relaxing, being outside in whatever weather, and introspecting. You might find yourself meditating, or otherwise in a meditative state of mind, without even meaning to. Following this establishment of relationship with material, concrete representations of power, you will have built the skills and patience for finding powers that aren't literally hanging in the sky. It can sometimes be hard to concentrate on intangible goddesses and gods without building up focus and patience through practice. Your connection to them might seem capricious, working sometimes and not others. It's easy to blame circumstances, or just assume the Power/goddess/god/whatever doesn't want to talk with you right now; but a little practice and dedication never hurts. In fact, it makes you stronger. The best way to start is with a gentle quieting meditation practice. Quiet the running commentary of your mind, and allow feeling and thought to come and go as it will. The point isn't to have a totally empty head, but to relax and stop controlling the flow of being. Relax your attachment to being in control and 'doing something.' You'll be doing a lot of not being in control as a wiccan/witch, and a lot of asking for help, highest guidance, and power. Be emotionally ready for things not to go as expected before the fact, and you'll be better off later. Over time, you may notice a decrease in the hubbub of your mind. You may also 'hear' 'see' 'feel' or 'know' the presence or messages of some entity other than yourself. Remember, all of this is about building routine until it becomes habit. You might choose to meditate every day for five minutes, or for fifteen during your at-least-weekly walk. In the above, I use locale to mean the general area, perhaps up to a mile radius or as small as your yard, around where you will usually practice religious or magical routines. For most people, the locale is centered around where they live and keep their altar. Mine is the whole forest. Adapt this to your own personal situation. I also give the above advice expecting the beginner doesn't come into this already knowing or practicing anything. You might already be doing something similar. Adapt as fits you. (This also is inspiring a blog series... hm. I might @Silger as I write it.)

Banned for looking like a notoriously criminal grandma

Latest update from Kerguelen Land. (Not really Kerguelen Island, I wish it was) Still no internet at home, DVD drive not working, playing endless Skyrim to make up for it. People here seem to think I need to know what's on their mind every second.

I just had salmon cakes. Oh dear god. I had wanted fish for so long. Now I've got an ice cream cone.🍦