So you are new to witchcraft! Great! Now what? Lots of baby witches have come to me wondering where they should go now that they have decided to practice. I always tell them research, research, research. Just because I am a sea witch, doesn’t mean I won’t read up on candle magic or essential oils. Eventually, I was able to combine them, using shell meanings and scents when anointing my candles.
When you are new to the craft, I always just say pick up a book, any book, on a witchy subject you are interested in and go from there. You may find things that really strike your interest in topics you would never have thought. I am a very high maintenance go-go-go type of person. My anxiety levels are high. I have always hated mindfulness and sitting quietly. Now, after years of trial and error, I have found certain white noise sounds that relax me and ground me. I have also found that I sincerely enjoyed meditations. If you had asked me if I would enjoy meditations years ago, I would have laughed at you. Now, I have an entire computer folder and multiple books on them!
Besides acquiring knowledge for the sake of you craft, I find that it is important to acquire knowledge so that you are able to converse intelligently with other witches and pagans. It opens doors too all kinds of experiences.
When I lived in Tucson there was a Full Moon Labyrinth ritual that would happen at a shop downtown. They converted the back yard parking area of their shop into a huge 20ft by 20ft labyrinth and encouraged all practitioners to walk the labyrinth in meditation. At the center were beautiful totem oracle cards where you could leave an offering. I never would have done this on my own as I am usually a solitary practitioner, but after getting into meditation a little more, I found that I really enjoyed this.
If you are new to witchcraft, have you decided what kind of witch you wanted to be? Do you want to be a kitchen witch, whipping up all kinds of magical goodies? Or do you want to be a sea witch, with a deep connection to the ocean and its denizens? Do you want to fly high and make magic margaritas? Maybe you are interested in dancing naked in the forest? You could even be interested in fairies and the glamour of the fae. Or perhaps your entire life, you have always wanted to create potions and cackle and live in a swamp? You do you. I don’t judge. But if you are new to the craft, it will take some time for you to figure out what you are comfortable with and what your main pursuant will be.
This list is by no means fully comprehensive. These are only suggestions for new witches and even not so new witches to find topics to research. You will never know everything, but you sure can try to learn it all! Try researching a new topic each week. Personally, I have many of these topics as their own section in my personal Book of Shadows and I will try to slowly but surely give more detail on each of these topics as time goes on here on this blog.
Topics to research:
Altars and Altar Tools
Alchemy
Angels and Archangels
Amulets
Anointing
Aromatherapy
Astral Projection
Astrology
Astronomy
Auras
Banishing/ Binding/ Wards
Bath Rituals
Besoms
Blessings
Birth Charts
Brews, potions, powders, and Solutions
Candle Magic
Casting a Circle
Chakras
Charms
Charm Bags/ Mojo Bags/ Gris Gris Bags/ Sachets
Color magic and Correspondences
Crystals and Minerals
Crystal Grids
Crystal Skulls
Deities
Demonology
Divination
Dragons
Dreamwork/ Magic
Elements
Essential Oils
Faeries and Fae
Familiars
Garden Magic
Grounding
Healing Magic
Herbs, Flowers, and Plants
History of Witchcraft
Holidays/ Festivals/ Wheel of the Year
Incense
Ingredients and other items
Knot magic
Magical Creatures
Meditation
Moon Phases and Cycles
Mythology
Numerology
Pagan Religions
Palmistry
Past Lives
Pendulums
Pentagrams
Protection Magic
Reiki
Runes and ancient alphabets
Sabbats and Esbats
Scrying
Shammanism
Sigils and Symbols
Smudging
Spellcraft, curses, and hexes
Spirit Boards/ Ouija Boards
Spirit work and Spirit Work Safety
Superstitions
Talismans
Tarot
Tea Leaf Reading
Totem Animals
Types of Witches
Voodoo and Hoodoo
Wand Making
Wicca vs. Witchcraft
Witch Bottles
Witch’s Alphabet
Zen
Zodiac Signs
From our altar to yours, with love from the sea,
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