How to Become a Witch by Amber K. (large ebook reader txt) 📗

accepted; sexual harassment is not.

Normally, you may bring alcoholic beverages, although drunkenness and especially obnoxious drunken behavior may get you escorted off-site.

Most festivals are very child- and family-friendly, and some provide children’s activities onsite. Be aware that your child may see casual nudity.

You will be welcomed if you follow the rules, which are a million times less restrictive than out in the muggle world; you will be expelled from the event if you do not.

This may seem more restrictive than you would imagine for a Pagan gathering. But we do give up a few possibilities (like illegal drugs) in order to gain the greater freedoms that come with this magickal village environment. Festivals must operate so that the authorities have no reason to step in and shut them down. Just as important, they must be friendly and safe for families with children and for people who cannot enjoy themselves in an atmosphere of drunkenness and total chaos. Being a Witch is often about sensuality and pleasure in the physical world, but it is also about self-discipline and respect for others, so we seek the balance.

Where to find information about festivals in your area? Head for your nearest metaphysical shop and check out the bulletin board or ask the staff about gatherings. There may be posters for local festivals or a newsletter with announcements of forthcoming events.

You can also gather information online. If you know the name of a particular festival, see if they have a website; otherwise see what is listed on Witchvox.com.

A Pagan festival is an instant village or community where it is safe to be yourself. Many Witches don’t realize how stressful it is to live in a muggle world, where everyone around you is on a different spiritual wavelength (or no spiritual wavelength at all), until they escape into the woods for a festival. Then it sinks in: you’re free here. You can be yourself. If you walk skyclad down the middle of the road, no one will make rude remarks, much less molest you. You can talk about spells and faery folk, and everyone will listen with respect. You can dance a wild and sensual dance around a blazing fire, and laugh your head off, and paint ancient designs all over your body with mud, and it’s okay.

Small wonder that most people don’t want to leave when the festival winds down. Something inside you opens up, and the wild-child, tree-sprite, primal woman or man has tasted freedom. It’s hard to shut that down and return to the outside world.

From Large Group to Small

You don’t have to go to festivals or join anything to be a Witch, and many Witches are by nature independent beings who chafe at the thought of rules and membership fees. But people are social animals, and it is difficult to thrive for long without some kind of human contact. Another way to not be alone is to form a study group.

Putting together a study group is easier than creating a coven and can eventually evolve into one. Find a public meeting place, like a library or community center (many people will be more comfortable there than in a private home). Decide whether you want to make the program broadly focused (“The Nature Religions of Old Europe”) or more specific (“Wicca: A New Religious Movement with Ancient Roots”).

Limit the initial lifespan of the group, in case it doesn’t go well and you want to let go of it. Eight weeks is a good length, with one meeting per week. You can always decide mutually that you want to continue for another eight weeks, or indefinitely.

Put together a program of readings, movies, and discussion. For the videos, you can show a mix of Discovery Channel–type documentaries and fictional movies with Pagan or witchy themes. You do not have to know everything about Wicca or Paganism; you only have to come up with some resources and then lead discussions. If you wish, you can lead a field trip to an open sabbat celebration or the nearest metaphysical bookstore. You might lead a few exercises, like designing and doing a simple ritual together.

For a Craft-oriented program, your eight topics could be:

What Is a Witch? Terms and Definitions from Many Sources

Witchcraft in the Middle Ages: The Burning Times

Wise Women and Cunning Men: Witches as Healers and Midwives

The Wheel of the Year and the Lunar Cycle

Witchcraft and Magick, Spells, and Rituals

Gerald Gardner and the Birth of Modern Wicca

Mapping the Universe: The Worldview of Wicca

Wicca in the Twenty-First Century: Feminism, the Environment,

and Quantum Mechanics

For a more general Pagan-oriented program, your eight topics might be:

Religion in the Paleolithic: An Overview

Shamanism Around the World

The Great Religions of the Pre-Christian World

Gods and Goddesses in the Ancient World

Nature as Sacred

Living Indigenous Religions and Revivals of Classic Religions

Neopaganism: The Rise of Wicca, Druidry, Asatru, and Goddess Spirituality

Compare and Contrast: Neopaganism and the Mainstream Faiths

Keep each program manageable (two hours maximum), offer yummy refreshments, and charge little or nothing to participate; however, a cauldron for donations toward expenses is acceptable. If it’s fun and you’re learning a lot, keep it going and see where it leads.

Now let’s talk about two other options: you can practice solitary or you can join or form a coven with other like-minded people.

What “coven” really means

Coven is based on the Latin root word convenire, meaning “to come together” or “to gather”; it’s the root of the English word convene. The first recorded use of coven applied to Witches was in the 1662 Witch trial of Isobel Gowdie, which describes a coven of thirteen members. So it may not have been used by Witches at all before we had to form small underground groups for survival. But today almost every group of Witches uses “coven” or “circle” in its name: Coven of the Mystic Flame, Circle of the Moonlit Path, etc.

Coven Vs. Solitary

Wolves hunt in packs, mustangs run in herds, Witches make magick in covens…or not. Will you practice as a Solitary Witch, or