Beginner Witchcraft: Where Do I Start?

Whether you're just starting your journey, or are investigating this whole thing; many blessings and welcome!

I've been seeing a lot of "X Signs You're a Witch" articles that have me feeling a certain way. Sure, there are certain things a lot of people have done that count as different forms of magick, but there's a certain feeling I had when I first started investigating witchcraft that put me off a bit. How will I ever fit in? Will other witches look down on me because I wasn't born into this? or because I don't have years of experience with this? or because I don't know how everything works by the book? or because I don't know certain deities or don't know if I want to work with them? I felt so overwhelmed by the amount of information there is out there and like I could never catch up or earn anyone's respect. These articles made me feel like "real" witches could sniff you out and sweep you out the door before you could even touch a tarot deck.

But the truth is that the witchcraft community is the most welcoming, supportive, and open-minded community I have ever been a part of. A disclaimer: there will always be narrow-minded, high and mighty people in every community. But overall, I've never felt more encouraged and accepted by a group of strangers.

So I'm going to start my Beginner Witchcraft blog series with six basic things to keep in mind when starting out. Typically I'm that snooty bitch that doesn't like the whole "X Simple Steps" types of articles, but they're admittedly helpful.

1. You don't need all the tools you see on Instagram.

So this feels a bit like I'm the pot calling the kettle black. I love the witchy aesthetic. I'm an a b s o l u t e sucker for it. I've had my moments of spending too much on too many palmistry kits and crystals and candles and I'm still constantly looking for an athame (ceremonial knife- I'll get into this in a later post). At it's core, in my opinion, witchcraft is about setting an intention and not only putting that energy into the universe, but doing the footwork to help it along. Chances are, you have plenty of tools at your fingertips that you probably don't realize! There are plenty of spices in your cabinet you can use (there'll be a post on this), jars and cups and bowls, little trinkets that are of sentimental value, plants and sticks and rocks and little treasures to be found on a neighborhood walk. But my favorite tools are good ol' pen and paper. There are SO many ways you can do spells with just these two things. Feel like you're drawn to fire magick? Write an intention and light it with a match (over a fire safe bowl of course, or who am I kidding, I used to do it over my toilet). Air magick? Write your intention, rip it into tiny pieces and toss it into the wind. Earth magick? Write the intention, and bury it outside. Water magick? Here we go with the toilet again. Or! Just place it in a cup of water to charge. There are so many options! But again, intention, intention, intention.

2. Give yourself a break.

Spells take energy. Divination takes energy. Research takes energy. It's okay to be tired and take a day off, or miss that full moon everyone is posting about on Instagram. Let yourself rest and breathe. Eat and drink something. Indulge yourself a little bit, take care of yourself. Do something you love. Especially when you're starting out, these "witchy" things will take more energy out of you than what you may expect. Eventually you'll be able to gauge your energy more easily, and gauge what types of spells or activities will take more energy.

3. It's okay to be hush hush about it, and it's okay to be proud of it!

Everyone has a different journey with this. While I personally still haven't told my very Christian family, all of my friends are very aware and interested in my practice! You don't have to share this part of your life with everyone if you don't want to. Some people prefer to keep this aspect of their life private, while others wear the witch title as a badge of honor. There's no right or wrong here.

4. Avoid researching and executing hexes (even if you really, really hate Cody).

This is something I personally haven't even really touched on too much. My first spell ever was actually a reflection hex on my roommate. Needless to say, I was tired of the shit. Initially, I did it as a "haha, what if this works" sort of thing. And needless to say, that shit worked. There's a saying with witchcraft that whatever you put out returns threefold; and this is something you have to be prepared for. Yes, there are ways to perform protection spells and break hexes and x,y, and z, but why start there? Why put yourself in a position where you may back yourself into a corner that may be rather involved to get yourself out? If or when you do decide to hex someone in the future, it should be when you understand the responsibility you may have to take for it.

5. You don't have to do everything by the book.

This was something that was really hard for me. I researched and researched and researched and learned a lot from all of it. But this stunted my growth as a witch. A witch's intuition is one of, if not, her best tool. Learn to listen to the way the universe speaks to you, the way your inner voice speaks to you. They won't lead you astray.

For instance; some interpretations of the five of cups is that this card upright represents loss, disappointment, moving on, grief, et cetera. But personally, when I received the tarot deck that I really clicked with, I realized this card meant something different to me. For me, it's a symbol of sharing or oversharing with a group of close people, or family. At first, I kept trying to drill the "real" definition into my head. But the more I trusted my intuition, whether or not I knew the actual definition of certain cards in my readings, I learned a lot more from what they were trying to tell me.

6. Witchcraft is a practice, not a religion necessarily.

There are different religions that witchcraft is rather integral, like Wicca, or Paganism (I myself don't know too too much about these religions). But witchcraft itself is a practice, or craft. I myself most closely identify as a Christian witch, but am still a bit more liberal with my religious views. When you begin practicing, you don't have to completely abandon whatever religion you may have.

So that's it! For this post at least. So just relax, be easy on yourself, and trust yourself. You're going to do great. Have any questions about anything or have a request for a blog post or DIY? Let me know in the comments, email me, or message me on Instagram! Though I may have werewolf teeth, I don't bite :) Many blessings and happy witching!