How To Become A Witch

How to Become a Witch

Witches could already be practicing for decades, and still, every day, they keep learning new things. That is how wide-ranging and wonderful this path is. But when taking your first step, there is no need to be overwhelmed. For now, start with these and forget everything else.

STEP 1: Look within.

Just because Aphrodite is trending on Twitter does not mean you should worship her. And just because crystals look good on Instagram does not mean you should start your own collection. Your practice should be tailored to your soul, not to the posts on your dashboard.

So go to Café Astrology and enter your birthdate. It will calculate your natal chart, which is basically the manual to your life. It lets you know your strengths and weaknesses so you can let the former make up for the latter. This website not only shows you the details, it also explains what they mean.

STEP 2: Look up.

Now that you have a better knowing of yourself, look beyond your existence. Who do you think made you?

Investigate your lineage as much as you can. Was your family always Christian? Jewish? Atheist? Or did your ancestors have a more traditional belief? Having an inherent connection to the old gods means inviting them into your life will be much easier. If you feel a strong affinity with the Greco-Roman gods particularly, use your natal chart to confirm your theory.

But if after much meditation, you find yourself believing that the source is not a divinity, but the cosmos as a whole, then feel free to embrace that energy.

STEP 3: Look closely.

Our eyes can only see what is right in front of us. Divination allows us to see beyond that, and look into the forgotten past… the hidden present… and the future in all its glory.

Tarot is one of the richest divination systems in existence. Here is how you can learn it in one day. But if you feel that it is not for you, there are many alternatives too. Do you enjoy meditating? You might fall in love with scrying.

STEP 4: Look out.

One of the best things about witchcraft and paganism is that they empower you to improve your life with magic.

Is there a danger you need to protect yourself from? A wound that you need to close? A wrong that you need to right? Whatever it is, there is a spell for it.

Start with the simplest ones. All you need are a few ingredients and ton of faith to make them work.

STEP 5: Look around.

Now that you know who you really are… where your faith truly lies… how to see beyond the obvious… and how to tweak reality to make life easier… you are officially a practitioner.

It is time to expand your knowledge even further. Read as many books as you like. Try as many methods of divination as possible. Perform as many spells as you can.

You can start with these lists:

All About Divination

All About Astrology

All About Spells

Take as long as you need with each step. No need to hurry. Good luck in your journey.

Things to put in your book of shadows

Of course, only put in your book of shadows/grimoire what you want. If you don't want to put certain subjects in your book then that's fine. It's your book, utilize it how you want. This is just a masterlist of ideas that I've put together. Feel free to add anything else to the list that I may have missed, because there's absolutely no way I included everything.

And for the love of all the gods, if you come across a closed entity or practice, don't try to work with the entity or practice if you're not already part of that group or tradition. You can research it but don't practice it.

+ A blessing and/or protection

+ A table of contents

+ About you:

Your current path

Your personal beliefs

Your spiritual journey

Favorite crystals/herbs/animals

Natal chart

Craft name

How you got into the craft

Astrology signs

Birthday correspondences (birth tarot card, birth stone, etc)

Goals (if you have any)

Anything other relating to your personal practice

+ Safety

Fire safety

What NOT to burn

Plants and oils that can be toxic to your pets

What crystals shouldn't be in water, sunlight, etc

Things that shouldn't be put out in nature (salt, glass, etc)

Potion safety

How to incorporate blood safely

+ Core concepts:

Intention and how it works

Directing energy

Protection

Banishing

Cleansing

Charging

Shielding

Grounding and centering

Visualization

Consencration/Blessing

Warding

Enchanting

Manifestation

+ Correspondence

Personal correspondence

Crystals and rocks

Herbs and spices

Food and drink

Colors

Metals

Number

Tarot card

Elemental (fire, water, air, earth)

Trees and woods

Flowers

Days

Months

Moon phases

Zodiac

Planets

Incense

Teas

Essential oils

Directions (north, south, east, west)

Animals

Local plants, animals, etc

Dream symbology

+ Different practices

Practices that are closed to you (some examples below)

Voodoo and Hoodoo **Closed**

Santeria and Brujeria **Closed**

Shamanism and native american practices **Closed**

Wicca and wiccan paths

Satanism, both theistic and non-theistic paths

+ Different types/practices of magick

Pop culture magick

Technology magick

Chaos magick

Green witchcraft

Lunar magick

Sea witchcraft

Kitchen magick

Ceremonial magick

Hedge witchcraft

Death witchcraft

Grey witchcraft

Eclectic witchcraft

Norse witchcraft

Hellenic witchcraft

Animism

+ Deities

The deity/deities you worship

Different pantheons (the main five are Celtic, Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Norse, all open)

Deities and pantheons that are closed to you

Common offerings

Their epithets

Their mythology

Their family

Deity worship vs deity work

Prayers and how to make your own

Deity communication guide

Devotional acts

Ways to get closer to them

+ Other spiritual entities

Angels

Ancestor work

Spirit guides

The fae

Demons

Familiars

House spirits, animal spirits and plant spirits

Other various folklore entities

Spirit etiquette

Cemetery etiquette

Setting boundaries with the spirits

Communication guide and etiquette

Grounding, banishing, protection and cleansing, aka: "Spirit work safety guide"

How they appear to you

Common offerings

Circle casting

+ Divination

Tarot cards

Oracle cards

Tarot and oracle spreads

Pendulum

Numerology

Scrying

Palmistry/palm reading

Tasseography (Tea leaf reading)

Rune stones

Shufflemancy (Shuffling of a playlist)

Dice divination

Bibliomancy (Randomly picking a phrase from a book)

Carromancy (Melted wax)

Pyromancy (Reading flames)

Psychic abilities

Astrology

Aura reading

Divination via playing cards

Lenormand 

Sacred geometry

Angel numbers

+ Other types of magick

Candle magick

Crystal magick

Herbalism/herbal magick

Glamour magick

Hexing

Jinxing

Cursing

Weather magick

Astral work

Shadow work

Energy work

Sigils

Art magick

Knot magick

Crystal grids

Color grids

Music magick

Charms, talismans and amulets

+ Spellwork

What makes a spell work

Basic spell structure

What NOT to do

Disposing of spell ingredients

Revitalizing long term spells

How to cast spells

What to put in spells (See correspondence)

Spell mediums- Jar spells, spoken spells, candle spells, sigils, etc

Spell timing

Setting up a ritual

Taglocks: What they are and how to use them

+ Holidays and Esbats

Yule

Imbolc

Ostara

Beltane

Litha

Lughnasadh/Lammas

Mabon

Samhain

The 12 full moons (Esbats)

How to celebrate

Deity specific holidays

+ Altars and tools

What they are

The different types and their uses (travel altar, working altar, deity altar, ancestor altar, etc)

What you can put on your altar

What you use your altars for

Common tools in witchcraft

How to use the tools

Food and drink

Common herbs in recipes

Sabbat recipes

Moon water: What it is and how to use it

Potion bases

Tea magick

How to get your herbs

Foraging

+ Mental health and self care

Bath magick

Affirmations

Burnout prevention

Aromatherapy

Stress management

Mental health coping mechanisms

+ History of witchcraft

+ Dream records

+ How to differentiate between the magickal and the mundane

+ Calendar of celestial events (Esbats, retrogrades, etc)

+ How to dry herbs and flowers

+ What chakras actually are and how they work within Hinduism

+ History and traditional uses of reiki

+ The witches' alphabet

+ The runic alphabet

+ Common witchcraft terms

+ Common symbols in witchcraft

+ Your own witch tips

+ Good witchcraft books and authors to avoid

+ Any online resources you utilize often

HOW TO SPOT TRAUMAS AND FEARS IN A BIRTH CHART pt.1 🦇☕️

Pay attention  to the 8th HOUSE:

The 8th house is all about fears, taboo, the dark side of the human mind and what’s hidden. It’s connected with Scorpio and associated with Pluto, the planet of regeneration and rebirth, it suggests that we’re all able to find the key for heal our traumas and win over our fears.

First, look at the sign on the cousp on the 8th house, here some examples (maybe I’ll explain in another post and in a more detailed way what does the sign on the 8th house cousp mean):

Aries 8th house: fears related to taking action, defining your individuality, competition, doing something exclusively for yourself, expressing your anger, impulsive behaviors.

Taurus 8th house: fears related to your own stability, expressing yourself in a creative way, expressing the sensual side of your personality.

Gemini 8th house: fears related to communication, expressing your opinion, being chatty, being superficial, not feeling smart enough.

Cancer 8th house: fears related to your roots, your family, expressing your emotions, being vulnerable.

Leo 8th house: fears related to self-expression in general, standing up for yourself, being extra, taking leadership, vanity, feeling confident, expressing yourself through art.

Virgo 8th house: fears related to rejection, being criticized, responsibility, respecting high standards, not feeling smart enough, being imperfect.

Libra 8th house: fears related to cooperation, relationships, connecting with other people, love, loosing your balance.

Scorpio 8th house: fears related to secrets, not being able to know what’s happening around and inside of yourself, jealousy, expressing your sexuality, open up, intimacy.

Sagittarius 8th house: fear of missing something, not living your life at the fullest, being trapped, not being able to experiment and have the opportunity to learn.

Capricorn in 8th house: fears related to taking responsibility, not working/trying hard enough, showing your emotions, open up.

Aquarius in 8th house: fears related to showing your authentic side to the world, feeling weird, not being able to “fit in”, being different, loneliness.

Pisces in 8th house: fears related to chaotic situations, deep emotions, love, explore your dreams, explore your spiritual side, losing yourself.

Look at the position of Pluto in the birth chart:

The position of Pluto in a specific house of your birth chart suggests how you can heal your traumas. Pluto can be a tricky planet, it’s connected to karmic lessons and can be challenging keeping on repeat the same lessons again and again until you change the game in a definitive way.

Pluto in 1th house: define your identity, find your authentic self and don’t be afraid to express who you truly are, open up with others, accept unconditionally your unique way to independence is the key.

Pluto in 2th house: find your comfort zone, guarantee yourself a stable lifestyle, develop resilience and try to set reachable goals for yourself, try to express yourself through art.

Pluto in 3th house: speak your mind, connect with people around you, share your ideas, relationships are important for your healing journey, write down your emotions, heal the relationships with your siblings.

Pluto in 4th house: understand and nurture your emotions, heal the relationship with your family, understand your roots and practice unconditional love, heal your inner child, feel a sense of belonging with your community.

Pluto in 5th house: heal your relationship with your inner child or surround yourself with children, give yourself the opportunity to “act like a kid” again, work on being spontaneous and less shy, express yourself through art and theater.

Pluto in 6th house: follow a healthy lifestyle, eat well and drink more water, do gym, work on your goals and dedicate your energy to a project or volunteering, connect with animals.

Pluto in 7th house: establish healthy relationships with others, define healthy boundaries with others, open up, establish 50-50 relationships based on mutual respect and cooperation.

Pluto in the 8th house: establish a healthy approach towards sexuality, explore your spiritual side and activate yourself in a direct way towards your fears, be honest and don’t fear your deepest thoughts.

Pluto in the 9 th house: expand your horizons through  travel and education, learn is the key for healing your trauma, connect with new realities, explore your spiritual and philosophical side.

Pluto in the 10th house: find your goals and work hard to achieve them, you can heal your wounds through a carrier that makes you feel happy and aligned with your highest goals, you need a lot of structure and to work on your approach to responsibility.

Pluto in the 11th house: you need to find a community and work with people that shares your same view of life, find a place where you can feel a sense of belonging and community, don’t isolate yourself and open up with others, you can heal your wounds through friendships.

Pluto in the 12th house: you need to explore with your spiritual side, work on your internal dialog, try to sleep well, analyze your dreams and trust your intuition, your spiritual gift will guide you through the healing process.

Be careful of Asexuals y'all, I heard they aren't fucking around

Astrology and Elemental Imbalance

Elemental imbalances occur when an individual has a limited element present in their birth chart and most often an excess of another. An unattended imbalance can cause stress of extremes of an element being projected by ones personality (Think of the knights in the Tarot).

Having 10 planets in the natal chart, including the rising sign, we naturally have a high chance of having an elemental imbalance in our birth chart and personality.

An imbalance of elements often looks like a minimum of 2 planets in an element, often seen as only having 2-0 planets missing from being familiar with that elements associations.

Having aspects from planets  that naturally contain the missing elemental energies prominent in the natal chart (example, if you lack air but have many mercury aspects), this can aid the elemental lack, though it will not necessarily bring the elements in ones personality into balance for the planet will still be in an excess sign (example mercury in pisces), and it will still act accordingly to the element it’s placed in.

Fire Signs: Aries/Leo/Sagittarius 

Air Signs: Gemini/Libra/Aquarius 

Earth Signs: Taurus/Virgo/Capricorn 

Water Signs: Cancer/Scorpio/Pisces

…

Signs, symptoms and manifestations of having a limited element in the chart

Limited Fire:

Lacking passion and enthusiasm to do things

Having difficulty standing up for yourself

Tending to drift along with the flow of things which ends up being time consuming and making things progress slower than others

Feeling easily offended by harsh words or criticisms

Feeling uncomfortable around those who are quite flamboyant and expressive

Can’t stand noise of fast movement of things and people

Being highly introverted

Often feeling a lack of creativity

Lethargy and low energy often

Inertia and lack of motivation to take action

Feeling cold often

Often being too passive

Hypersensitivity to everything/everyone

Limited Air:

Leaping before thinking which ends up resulting in problems later on

Cognitive issues

Disconnected from others (either from self isolation of difficulty relating to people)

Limited socialising

Difficulty understanding other perspectives and ideas

Prefer expressing the self through non-verbal ways of communicating

Not a fan of social media and/or technology

Quiet (or very loud) speaking voice

Difficultly conveying thoughts and ideas cohesively

Tending to care more about ones own endeavours or how one self feels over another

Putting oneself down in analytical and ‘logical/rationalising’ areas of life (aka “Im dumb because i don’t know or understand this”)

Getting too emotionally involved with people, places and situations

Having a difficult time when it comes to standing back and rationally observe whats going on.

Limited Earth:

Having difficulty creating a practical plan and routine

Not caring too much about the material world and possessions

Having a difficult relationship with ones own body (can develop eating problems, wanting body modifications, excess dieting and bodybuilding)

A difficulty getting in touch with the body and its functions (can’t tell if hungry or full, if its hot or cold ect)

Having a difficulty staying grounded and often day dreaming

Giving things away to freely

Having a poor sense of taste, touch, sight, smell and hearing in one form or another

Difficulty creating the reality one wants

Not feeling connected to nature or animals

Getting too lost in thoughts, ideas and feelings and forgetting the reality of whats going on around you

Not caring about money or material possessions making the day-to-day life difficult

Not bothering keeping track of money and bills

Avoidance of hard work if possible

Easily physically fatigued

Limited Water:

Difficulty bearing with ones own emotional nature and that of others

Repressing emotions then realising them in private when they overflow

Becoming angry/agitated

Difficultly empathising with others

Not truly understanding what one is feeling

Expressing feelings inappropriately (getting angry over the little things/being calm when a tragedy occurs ect)

Rejecting ones own pain/refusing to feel it

Getting frustrated with those who are in an overly emotional state

Trying to rationalise and make feelings a practical and manageable thing

Thinking oneself out of feeling (excess air)

Expressing rage then calming down immediately after (excess fire)

Over spending (excess earth)

Difficultly in discriminating or recognising inutile hints and psychic messages

Avoiding closeness and touch of others

…

Signs, symptoms and manifestations of having an excess element in the chart (3+ planets in element)

Excess Fire:

Feeling restless and having trouble sitting still/relaxing

Constantly thirsty/Drinking very little water

Feeling restless

Fluctuating Temper/Easily provoked

Loud and bold (at inappropriate times)

Over enthusiastic about ones own passion

Expression can overbear others at times

Can be desensitised to the feelings of others

Frustration when things are going ‘slow’

Leaping before looking

Excess air:

Talking too fast/Too loud/Too much

Not listening to others

Excess thinking to the point of blurring out reality

Dominant and sometimes intrusive thoughts

Fluctuating emotional stability

Difficulty relating to others on an emotional level

Detachment to people, places and things

Over intellectualising and over processing things

Consistent/loud mind chatter

Inability/Difficulty relaxing due to a need to move or fidget

Short attention span

Excess Earth:

Stubbornness

Low energy/Vitality

Slow process on tasks

Can lack drive and enthusiasm

Set in ones own ways

Emotionally distant by focusing only on what the 5 senses can provide

Focus on material gain and maintenance

Excluding family and relationships for work

Over/Under eating

Obsession with body (for good or bad)

Overworking ones self

Slacking and lazing around excessively

Excess Water:

Fearful and oversensitivity

Focusing too much on feeling to the point of creating a foggy reality

Not seeing reality for what it is

Living in a world of daydream

Feelings hurt easily

Fluctuating emotional state that can be difficult to control

Lacking drive to take action

Avoidance of everyday tasks if possible (chores/jobs/managing money)

Excess desire to connect with the higher realms and detach from the body

Physical weakness/lethargy  

…

How to balance your elements

When we are unbalanced, we either draw others to use (or us to them) to act as an external reflection of the things we lack within ourselves, however, its possible to engage in other activities that can help bring our elemental lack into appropriate balance that can allow for self-healing and improved wellness.

At times due to elemental imbalances in out chart, we may be drawn to another who has excess of the element we lack (even signs) as to experiences a sense of ‘ying and yang’ by interacting with another. You may find you personally may greatly clash with another, yet you are reluctant to part because they seem to ‘fulfil’ you in a way you can’t explain.

For the element you lack the most in your chart, see the table below to find out ways you can help bring the lacking element in your personality.

Which Witch? - Let's Talk Labels!

Are you a green witch? Perhaps you’re a crystal witch or a sea witch? Maybe you're a kitchen witch? Let’s talk about these labels, what they are, and if you need them!

First and foremost let's discuss:

Do I need a label?

Nope! While you’re more than welcome to use one--many even--they aren’t required!

I won’t give you an exhaustive list of witch types, as you’ll learn there are as many labels as there are witches. Instead, I want to give you an idea about how these labels come to be and how you can decide on them if you’d like.

Labels for witches come from a variety of paces but a label almost always denotes a certain specification of their craft.

The tools they prefer (crystals, tarot, herbs, runes etc)

The biome or domestic area they thrive most in (sea, forest, swamp, mountains, urban, suburban, garden, kitchen etc)

The path they choose to follow (traditional, pop-culture, hedge, folk, poison, ceremonial, etc)

Their involvement with other witches (solitary, coven, hereditary, etc)

The type of magic they prefer (glamour, curse, healing, etc)

An over-arching concept or theme (death witch, love witch, divination witch, cosmic witch, etc)

Some labels are more specific than others and some can even encompass other labels!

For example: a green witch could be a witch who deals with all of nature whereas a plant witch would focus on just plants and a garden witch would focus on garden-specific plants.

You’ll also hear the term eclectic witch. What this label means is someone who uses a little bit of everything, or doesn't follow one specific path.

Unfortunately, there are those who use this label as a shield to hide their appropriation, assuming they can take what they want from any culture, closed or open, without doing proper research or initiation.

That said, many of those who use this term are not like that! They are simply witches who are just as likely to do magic in the forest as they are in the city, or to use tarot as much as they use pendulums, or perhaps they use herbs as much as they do crystals!

Not every witch needs a label, some don't ever use them, or they may use them only when chatting with others about their preferences in magic. Labels may even come and go as you move forward on your path. Choose whichever labels work for you, even if that means no labels!