What Are Some Resources I Can Use For Beginning In Witch Craft? Many Books Have Controversy On What Is

what are some resources i can use for beginning in witch craft? many books have controversy on what is correct (i know witchcraft can be anything you make of it) but i mean correct in the sense of real traditions not fictional. i hope this makes sense!!! thank you

The fact of the matter is, there isn’t any real “traditional” form of witchcraft. The term as we use it is still fairly new, a conglomeration of folklore and modern practices. In fact for the most part it seems that “traditional witchcraft” is a term used to describe witchcraft that isn’t Wiccan in nature, at least from what I’ve seen! I could be mistaken though. For example, I consider what I practice to be a form of “Traditional” witchcraft. With that being said, some non-Wiccan and secular witchcraft resources would be in order for you. 

Here is my masterpost

Here’s some advice from me

Some More Advice from moi

Here is Magic-for-the-masses masterpost

@scrying-with-skeletons​ masterpost

Khal-winchesters Welcome to Witchcraft post

Brees Advice to New Witchlings

Outside of these links, my best advice to you is this, 

1.Don’t over-complicate things. Sometimes, a rock is a rock and that can be super powerful too! Yes it’s nice to have fancy tools and intense rituals and chants but some times just throwing salt and screaming works even better.

2. Read everything you can, even the stuff people say is bad and you should avoid. One of my favorite pass times is to read Silver Ravenwolf and count all the awful things she says. You can also draw inspiration from sources like this for your own original work. Remember to take it all with a grain of salt, and don’t take anyone’s word for face value. Do your own research.

3. Don’t appropriate other cultures PLEASE.

4.Remember witchcraft is not a cure-all and it won’t work right or at all if you don’t back it up with some mundane effort. 

5. Magick can be super simple or super complicated. It’s up to you

6. Write down EVERYTHING YOU LIKE. If it makes you wonder, write it down. If you don’t agree with it, write it down. If you get a random idea you wanna roll with, write it down. Write everything down and date it so you can see your own progress. You will not regret it.

7. Don’t be afraid to throw yourself out there! Get to know other witches, ask for advice, give them advice, be friendly and courteous and eager to learn and the universe will reward you richly my friend.  

Hi, I'm new to this + overwhelmed as where to start Do you have advice regarding the basics? How does one know which herbs are associated with what? Is it a personal thing/are there strict rules? I'm struggling bc I can't buy gems/stones/etc.

Hello there my dear sweet little witchling!! I’m so ecstatic that you came to me for help! Thank you, and I hope I do you some justice! 

First and foremost, I want to dispel the myth that there is one right way to practice witchcraft. This is absolutely not true in the slightest! There are as many different practices as there are practitioners! Every single person is going to do things differently, and that’s a thousand percent okay! This same idea can be applied to you :)

It is definitely overwhelming, especially if you aren’t quite sure where to start first! The best way to figure that out, is first to figure out what drew you to the practice in the first place! Did you like all the herbs and “green” aspects? Try green witchcraft, or herbalism as a branch off. Do you really enjoy candles and scents etc? Try focusing on candle magick! This list goes on and on. For example, I’ve always loved herbal medicine, and think crystals are just beautiful. So, when I first started out, I spent a lot of time studying herbs and different crystals, collecting them over a long span of time. Tomorrow I’m going to post a picture of all of my crystals actually! 

Regarding the “basics” of witchcraft. This is going to change depending on who you talk to. So, like everything else in this post and on my blog here, this will be my specific opinions about these topics. There’s gonna be people who think these aren’t important things, or people who think there are other things that are more important etc, but this is what I use in my own practice that I couldn’t necessarily go without :)

Cleansing

I use cleansing almost daily in my witchcraft. I find it extremely important, because it helps me to keep myself in order. By cleansing myself and my surroundings regularly, I am able to remove any negative buildup that could affect me or others around me. I try to be a positive person, and I’ve actually noticed that the longer I go without cleansing, the more grumpy and irritable I become! Therefore, cleansing is a must in my practice. You can do it in tons of different ways including actually showering, making magickal washes, visualization, energy work, and actual charms or spells!

Protection

I think it’s safe to say that there isn’t a witch out there who doesn’t think protection is important. This is your line of defense against anything that might be out there, including spirits, negative energy, icky people, and even things like bad luck! Protection is important because one, it makes you safe, and two, because nothing else would stand between you and anything targeted at you. This is also one of the easiest (and sometimes most difficult) things to do, and there are literally thousands of different ways to protect oneself. You can make wards, sigils, spells, charm bags, energy fields, scapegoats, the list goes on and on. Having a good protection method or three laying around will never ever turn out to be a bad thing!

Personal Associations

You asked about correspondences for things like herbs and stones and colours etc. This is where it can get confusing. So, everyone has intuition. Some people may be better at using it than others, but everyone has it and can learn to listen. As a person with feelings you react to different stimuli in specific ways. Here’s an example; Red is a colour. It is scientifically proven that just seeing the colour can raise your heart rate and blood pressure. Bob might see red and instantly start getting really angry! It might remind him of a bar fight he got into last weekend. Joe, however, sees red and gets excited because he remembers tonight is the night he is asking his girlfriend to marry him. He has a romantic dinner planned and thinks about where the night might lead. Do you see what I’m saying? Another example would be like lavender! I am absolutely obsessed with lavender! I love the smell, I love the colour, I love using it in all my magick! I use it for protection, for banishing, sometimes even for curses! But you might think lavender stinks! It may make you feel sick, so you decide not to use it at all, or only for negative spells like cursing or jinxes etc. There are tons of lists online and in books that tell you correspondences for different things, and those are well and good, especially if you’re new, because you may not have any actual experience with these items yet to decide what you might associate with them yourself! But you’ll realize one day that using Basil in money spells doesn’t really feel right to you, it’s more of a protection herb, or purple doesn’t really represent psychic skills to you, but sleeping peacefully. Heck, maybe it’s both! 

Grounding and Centering

So, this is something that lots of other witches probably use and think is an absolute necessity. IT also probably means something a little differently to them than it does to me. For me, grounding and centering isn’t as much about the actual act, but the idea of focusing yourself and preparing yourself for the work you’re going to do. Right before I start casting, I sit, close my eyes, focus my breathing, and try to gather myself up. I prepare myself mentally and spiritually, and when I feel ready and at full strength, I plow ahead! For others, grounding and centering is the idea that you should “ground” yourself to the earth to release excess energy, and “center” yourself to basically focus on meditate on what it is you’re doing. There’s nothing wrong with using this, I just feel it’s repetitive and out of place in most of my practice

Casting Circles

Very, very very rarely do I cast a circle. Usually, it’s only if I have a big working planned. But many others actually use this for everything they do! Circle casting is where you (physically, mentally, or even both) draw a line to contain you and your energy, and separate the “magick” from the “mundane.” The circle contains all the energy you raise, while simultaneously keeping you safe! One way I do utilize circles is when I’m charging objects, which you can see here. While I may not cast circles often, I do find them to be extremely fun and sometimes even peaceful/beautiful to do! If I ever get to have my dream of owning a little forest cottage with woods around, I plan to create a permanent circle in the forest for me to work in!

Belief

I think this is absolutely the most important thing to get down. Witchcraft works because you believe it does. All of your confidence and faith in yourself and your magick is part of what fuels your ability! You have to trust in your own ability, and the more confident you are, the better your spellwork becomes! 

You don’t need a bunch of supplies! 

Here is a post I made regarding advice for beginner witches, and it was that you don’t need all the fancy ingredients and the cool looking tools and the billions of herbs and books! Most of these things took us years to gather together. We didn’t go out and buy everything you see all at once. I have an extensive collection of herbs that I’ve been gathering myself and buying from reputable stores for years! Looking around, a lot of the stuff I have is from the dollar store, or I found it at goodwill and repurposed it. Other things, yeah, maybe I splurged on! One of the most common tools in my craft are rocks. Not fancy pretty stones, but just rocks I found on the road. I have a whole jar of them and I can use them for literally anything at all. I can use one rock for protection and one for happiness and one for healing and one for communication etc. You don’t need a single herb or crystal to practice witchcraft!

Alright so this was really longer than I expected and I’m sorry but I hope it was enlightening at least a little bit! The long story short is everything in witchcraft, from the colour associations to the crystal and herb correspondences to the way you hold a wand (if you even decide to use one!) is customizable, Witchcraft is incredibly versatile and incredibly personal! It can be whatever you want it to be, and don’t let a single other person tell you otherwise!!

Ways to Bond With Your Tarot Deck!

I recently did a BUNCH of tarot readings with a deck I hadn’t used in a while, and by the time I was finished, I could literally just feel my cards getting irritated and worn out. It was quite a strange sensation, but I finally felt like I could relate to the “big shot” diviners I look up to on Tumblr!

I’m going to say that if your cards decide they’re getting too tired after a certain number of readings, just say thank you, and put them away. I usually wrap mine up in a black shawl I have, and set a quartz crystal(for cleansing) and an amethyst(for psychic gifts and mental acuity) on top of them for a few hours.

Some ways you can bond with a tired deck(or if you just don’t want to do readings atm):

Shuffling absentmindedly

Sleeping with the deck under your pillow

Studying the cards themselves, I.e. the photos on each one

Practice shuffling and drawing cards

Coming up with your own meaning or even stories for each card based on your gut or the pictures

There’s lots of things you can do that don’t necessarily require actual readings that might wear out both you and your cards. But the more time you spend with them, the more in-tune you become with each other, and the more reliable and clear your readings can become! I would also suggest doing things not related to the deck itself, like studying tarot card meanings online, learning how to make your own spreads and finding spreads online. Learning how to handle your deck can make for a much more enjoyable experience with it!

hercules cluster jar spell

a spell jar for strength and achievement

The Hercules Cluster is a cluster of about 200 galaxies about 500 million lightyears away. It’s a part of the larger Hercules Supercluster, which is one of many superclusters lining the CfA2 Great Wall, an immense galaxy filament. Based on standard models of the universe’s evolution, such galaxy filaments form along web-like strings of dark matter.

The galaxies in the Hercules Cluster are drawn together by gravity, producing an incredibly strong gravitational pull. By uniting different energies within ourselves, we can acquire the strength needed to carry out our goals. We can draw success closer to us by ocking discipline, patience, and positivity into place and uniting them like galaxies in a cluster. This spell jar uses the Sun’s gravitational energy, Mercury’s ability to bring things together, and Saturn’s protective strength to replicate the immense strength in unity arising from the Hercules Cluster.

What You’ll Need:

Rosemary for gravity and the Sun

Cinnamon for strength and the Sun

Parsley for protection and Mercury

Almond for unity and Mercury

Thyme for courage and Saturn

Ribbon/string for protection and Saturn’s rings

A small jar

3 tokens to represent discipline, patience, and positivity (These can be pieces of paper with sigils, crystals, or anything else you’d like to use to represent these qualities)

Instructions:

Start by lighting a candle, burning some incense, or doing anything you need to do to make some magick happen. Then get your ingredients ready.

Recite the following incantation, pausing to add each ingredient as you proclaim its intent. Achievement requires positivity, Discipline, patience, all in harmony. I call on the Sun and swift Mercury To lend me their favorsome properties. For the Sun, cinnamon and rosemary For its strength and all powerful gravity. For Mercury, uniter of duality Some roughly chopped almonds and sweet parsley. Finally, for Saturnian energy Thyme for extra strength and mental clarity. The wisdom in clusters of galaxies Tells us great strength arises from unity So I call on the power of gravity To unite these pieces inside of me. I seal this jar with my intent and one more thing A ribbon wrapped around like one of Saturn’s rings. Let my spell’s celestial gravity Shatter any sign of negativity Bringing more strength to that trio in me So that someday soon my achievement will come to be.

After you’ve finished the incantation and tied the ribbon/string around your jar, leave it to charge in the starlight. The next morning, leave it somewhere it can be seen whenever you’re working towards your goal. When you look at it, feel the immense gravitational strength of your united discipline, patience, and positivity pulling your goal closer to you.

Oh god I'm so new I don't even know where to begin. I guess, how do you cleanse and charge things? How do you focus you intent and when do you know if something is fully charged/cleansed?

Well Hello there! First off I wanna say that we were all new at one point and let me tell you that we have all been there, literally every single one of us. There are still loads of times when I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but I just wing it anyways! A lot of witchcraft is about winging it, at least It is in my practice! 

With that being said, lets cover some bases. First off, cleansing and charging. 

Cleansing  is the process of spiritually, physically, and/or energetically purifying/cleaning an object, area, or person. This cleans out both positive and negative energy, emotional ties, even spirits and other entities strings that might be attached.  Once you remove these things, the object, person, or area is free for you to fill with whatever kinds of energies or spirits you wish to fill it with- that is called charging. 

There’s a billion different ways to cleanse something! Including but not limited to;

Sunlight

Some crystals should not be exposed for extended amounts of time to sunlight as it can cause fading and discolouration. 

Moonlight

Some People prefer moonlight to sunlight, and as a plus most if not all crystals can be cleansed in moonlight

Energy Work

Which is a very common method. For me, I push out the old energy with my own. 

Elemental Energy Work

Using things like fire, water, earth and air visualizations to cleanse

Water

Some crystals should not be submerged in water, as it can cause chemical reactions or the stone to dissolve. 

Smoke Cleansing

Burning herbs or incense and passing objects, areas, or people through the smoke

Extra Outside Links

My Cleansing Method

Other Cleansing Methods

Crystals and Cleansing Method Warnings

Charging; Charging is filling an object, area, or person with a specific intent or energy. You charge after you cleanse, so that you have a fresh slate. You can charge items with protection or love or happiness, you can attach active spells or wards to charged items. The sky is really the limit!

Methods of charging

Energy Work

This is when you use your own energy, focus, and visualization to fill something with an intent of your choosing. I usually do this by holding the item in my hand, or exploring the area, and seeing the energy pouring out of me and into the destination. 

Herbs

Utilizing herbs that correlate with your chosen intent can be useful, for instance, letting a ring you want to charge with happiness and relaxation sit in lavender. 

Sigils

Designing a sigil with the specific intent of charging a specific object can be utilized successfully

Hand Motions

I incorporate hand motions and chanting in one of my charging methods which you can see here

This Cool Witch Tip Using The Moon Tarot Card and Moonlight

Plain Ole Visualization!

Your next questions, How do you focus your intent and when do you know if something is fully charged/cleansed?

For me, I focus my intent by either chanting (usually the goal or intent), or just visualizing my goal! I know I’m done when I just…feel it. It’s like a slow crescendo and then BAM! I just know I’m done! You can imagine it like a meter filling up, and once it hits the top you can assume it’s finished! 

Afterwards, if you get weird vibes or worry that your item etc isn’t charged enough, you can always just go back and do it over!

I hope this helped explain things for ya! If not I’d be delighted to elaborate on anything you need!

Ask The Witch

What's your personal method of charging, if you don't mind sharing? I love your blog! :) have a great night

I’M SO GLAD YOU ASKED!!!!! I think it’s pretty nifty and helpful if I do say so myself!

OKAY SO FIRST OFF LET ME EXPLAIN

I am not a beginner by any means. I’ve been practiing witchcraft in many forms for more than a decade now, and it’s nly lately that I’ve been having issues with visualization. It’s been getting better, but it’s still a little difficult more often than I like. SO! To combat that, I came up with this idea for charging things like candles, herbs, charms, and other objects! 

Here’s how you do it :)

You need a circle that your object fits in with lots of space around it(depending on the object/usage) 

Then, you’re gonna make a sigil for your purpose. For instance, if you were charging a candle for banishment, make a sigil that says, “banishment” or “These things will be banished from me etc.”

Now, around the outside of the circle, write words representing the things you want the object to be charged with more specifically. Like, you might be charging your candle with love and happiness. On the outside of the circle, you’ll write words relating to that, like “comfort,” “warmth,” “family,” “intimacy,” etc. 

When you’re done, connect all of them with a line between each word, like hyphens connecting them. Now you have your circle, directing and containing the energy of your sigil, and you have a second outer circle helping direct the energy and intent into EXACTLY what you want.

For added measure, you can colour the circle a shade relating to whatever you’re charging for. I.e. red for love, or black for banishing etc.

I do specific repetitive hand motions and chanting to activate and charge the sigil and object, so you do whatever you need to! 

When you finally feel done, BOOM! You now have a very specifically charged object to use as you see fit! 

I’ve used this for different candles for later use, as well as mini ones for small candles that I burn all the way down right on top of the whole circle. Here is what my study one in my grimoire looks like!

And here’s a before and after of a small one for a candle I worked for banishment. 

I hope this was clear and easy to understand!! Thank you for asking :)

Ask me anything on Anon!