How to Become a Witch, Amber K. [new books to read .txt] 📗

that you cannot practice as a solitary, but almost everyone sooner or later hungers for like-minded friends and teachers—community. But if everyone around you follows a mainstream faith or none at all, how do you connect?

Making Connections Online

A relatively safe way to begin is with the Internet. This is not to say that everyone you meet online is sincere and trustworthy; there are scammers and predators who pretend to be High Priest Muckety-Muck of the Temple of Eternal Whatever, looking for careless young women or anyone with a credit card.

But fortunately these are fairly rare. It’s not an easy scam to run; it does require some knowledge to look convincing, and there are risks involved for the scammer when real Witches discover him or her.

The great majority of those online are probably honest about who they are and what they can offer, whether it’s an introduction to a local coven or information about community events. Observe normal precautions (don’t give out your credit card number or detailed personal information, meet only in a public place at first), and you should avoid problems.

Far and away the best resource for contacting Witches in the United States (and Canada, Australia, and many locations around the world—including Antarctica!) is Witchvox.com, which has from a few to hundreds of listings for each area. An excellent resource for European Witches and Pagans is the Pagan Federation’s website: paganfed.org. If you don’t find what you need on these websites, do a search for “Wicca” and the name of your country, region, or state.

You can find classes online as well; a few are free, and others charge moderate fees but allow you to converse with real people instead of simply downloading assignments and reading lists. As with brick-and-mortar schools in the real world, the quality varies. Anyone with computer skills can set up a class online and present themselves as an expert in the Craft. Before you pay for an online class, check the teacher’s experience and qualifications.

Where to Meet Witches Locally

Go to your nearest metaphysical or New Age shop—once called “occult bookstores”—and look at the bulletin board or chat with the staff. Besides selling books on everything spiritual or magickal, they are important information centers for the Pagan community. Besides, you’ll have fun browsing among the crystals and incense and colorful tarot decks.

While in the shop, look for copies of a local newsletter that you can subscribe to. Some national Pagan magazines have classified ads to connect you with others in your area; contact information for Witches & Pagans, Circle Magazine, and other important periodicals is listed in appendix C.

If you live in or near a big city, there will be open events you can attend: public sabbat celebrations up to eight times a year, workshops (often held right in the bookshops), drumming circles, and concerts with Pagan musicians. Such events will be posted at the bookstores and listed in local newsletters or possibly online at Witchvox.

A few Wiccan/Pagan schools and retreat centers exist on the physical planes besides the ones that exist only in cyberspace, and the number is growing. You may be fortunate enough to live in New Mexico, near Ardantane Pagan Learning Center; or in Wisconsin, not far from Circle Sanctuary; or in Missouri, a short drive from Diana’s Grove. There are others as well, listed in appendix C. Good advice: make an appointment before visiting, or better yet, register for a scheduled event. This will ensure that you don’t appear at an inopportune time.

Pagan Pride Day events are popping up around the country like mushrooms, and these are a great place to meet people and learn about local groups. Typically they are held in August or September, in local parks of medium to large cities. They are very public events, so you can hear about them through radio and newspapers, or you can try an Internet search for “Pagan Pride Day” and your nearest city.

A well-organized PPD will have information tables for local groups, people selling ritual costumes or artwork or crafts, a food booth, mini workshops, games, and live music and dancing. Not so long ago, something this public would have been unthinkable, especially for Witches. It is still not possible everywhere.

At the bookstores, online, or at events like Pagan Pride Day, you can get information on meetings of Pagan organizations: in the United States, local councils of the Covenant of the Goddess, and in Europe, groups affiliated with the Pagan Federation, and many local networking groups. Advertised meetings are usually open to visitors. You can observe the meeting, then talk to people during the social period afterwards. Most Witches and other Pagans will be very friendly if you show a sincere interest.

Festivals

Imagine that you are in a wooded campground; the red bark of ponderosa pines glows in afternoon sunlight, and you glimpse a blue lake through the trees. Canvas pavilions form rows along the dirt road; one merchant sells drums in many sizes, and a small child in blue coveralls bangs enthusiastically on a djembe drum as large as he is. A slender young woman in a beaded vest and a bearded Druid in white robes walk past you, talking together. She is wearing a tail, perhaps coyote or wolf.

At a jewelry booth glittering with silver and colored gemstones, a motherly looking woman in a tie-dyed caftan peers at an amulet; she has a handmade broom over her shoulder and wears a pointed hat edged with feathers. At the booth next door, a muscular young man, kilted, goat-horned, and bare-chested, swings a two-handed broadsword, getting a feel for the balance. Across the road, a black woman with beaded cornrow hair and a stack of books tries to explain a magickal operation to a wiry, lean man who looks like Wyatt Earp but is wearing a T-shirt proclaiming “Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.” At another booth, no one is present, but a sign says, “Take what you want,