Pagan please help?

Question

I want to become a wicca what should I do? What do I need to know.

Answer 1

Don't decide you want to become Wicca until you know something about it - that is what you need to know - Wicca is a very specific 'branch' of Paganism, it is a priesthood within it's own rights, as well as a lot of study it can be difficult to find a coven in order to become Wicca.

General tips would fall into – study study study – with a lot of misinformation about Wicca it is easy for people to fall into thinking they are Wicca when in fact they are not, I have honestly met people who have called themselves Wicca for 10 years without actually realising they are not Wicca as until that point they had been unable or unwilling to step out of their comfort zone to study further into Wicca past their bad sources they had been used to for so long. Don't fall into that trap, Wicca is a constant learning path and it is no good closing yourself off to new information that challenges your current ideas on what Wicca is – although misinformation is hardly a positive there is at least one thing to be said of misinformation about Wicca, it helps determine those serious about becoming Wicca from those unwilling.

With that said there are things to avoid – Wicca is an initiate-only oath-bound priesthood working within a pagan mystery tradition, generally if a book or web site says otherwise they are not a reliable source, there are other signs to avoid such as people who use the spelling 'magick' are often uneducated themselves, people who use mechanical magic (i.e. copying spells from books or each other) – that is not to say these sources cannot teach you something. You will find most people will pooh-pooh people such as Horne, Ravenwolf, Buckland, etc. however valid their complaints are there are often some parts of their writing that are valid, and if nothing else you can use these as a test to your own knowledge as the more you study the more you can tell the reliable information from the nonsense.

Get yourself into a good forum, you will find many forums are filled with people who look to Wicca as an escape from Christianity or as a fashionable title, however there are some groups around that do have Wicca that have a strong community that can help you study and guide you in the right direction – Amber & Jet being a prime example of this. Another idea would be to find yourself local Pagan contacts or go along to local pagan meetings to form study groups, find a coven, find a teacher, or simply have a community to support you or just chit-chat with (a note here, study should come before training, or else you won't know who is really knowledgeable on the subject and who is not when it comes to finding a teacher or coven).

With that I suppose all I can do is give you some reliable links and books to look through – with books if you cannot afford them try swapping with others online or in your area, and remember you don't have to just stick to books on Wicca but can also get books on related subjects such as paganism, herb lore, mythology, divination, etc.

If you do want to become Wcica in the end if you cannot find a coven locally you will have to find one, many Seekers will actually move locations to find a coven to join so to become Wicca, others simply convert to Neo-wicca if they cannot find a coven.

Good luck :o)


Some links to help you learn a little more about Wicca;

http://amberandjet.spiralpaths.org - Amber & Jet
http://www.cyprian.org/Articles/gardchron.htm - Gardnerian Chronology and Bibliography
http://www.wargoddess.net/index.php - Enyo`s Workshop
http://wicca.timerift.net/ - Wicca: For the Rest of Us
http://www.homecircle.info - Homecircle
http://www.starkindler.org/ - StarFire Rising
http://www.asiya.org/ - Asiya`s Shadows
http://www.whywiccanssuck.com - Why Wiccans Suck
http://www.newwiccanchurch.net - New Wiccan Church International
http://members.tripod.com/~Moonpfyr/gardnerian.html - Gardnerian Tradition
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/2416/wildrose.html - Wild Rose Outer Grove
http://members.shaw.ca/stoneandcauldron/ - Coven Of The Stone And Cauldron
http://www.oldeenchantments.com/coven/ - The Hollywood Coven
http://www.geocities.com/DesertHenge - Desert Henge
http://www.geocities.com/firestonecoven/ - Firestone Coven
http://draknet.com/proteus/proteus.html - Proteus Coven’s Webspace
http://belladonna.hypermart.net/Sage-and-Sickle/index.html - Sage & Sickle Coven
http://paganwiccan.about.com/ - PaganWiccan
http://www.cogcoa.ab.ca/ - Covenant of Gaia
http://www.chasclifton.com/ - Chas Clifton
http://www.ravenwood.com/coven.htm - Ravenwood
http://www.avalonia.co.uk – Avalonia
http://www.rosemoon.com/ - Rosemoon
http://www.geocities.com/k_garber/wicway.html - The Wiccan Way
http://www.wildideas.net/temple/ - The Temple
http://www.candledark.net/silver/ - Pour Down Like Silver
http://www.thewellhead.org.uk/ - The Wellhead
http://dasa.on.ca/qs/ - Quicksilver Site
http://www.gis.net/~nagel/grovepage/ - Page of the Mists
http://www.geocities.com/gwydionfl/ - Pagan Place
http://www.geocities.com/reikihealer2001/ - NFTD
http://www.nectw.org/ - N.E.C.T.W.
http://www.doreenvaliente.com - Doreen Valiente 1922-1999
http://www.boniface.us/CTW/index.html - Compact of Traditional Wicca
http://www.pagansunite.com/ - Witch/Pagan Resources
http://www.geocities.com/thespiraloak/ - The Spiral Oak
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4177/ - Manor-House For Wiccan Studies
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sjgavula/wiccahist.html - History of Wicca in England
http://geocities.com/sphinxmuse/wicca/index.html - Wiccan Religion
http://davensjournal.com/index.htm?Header.xhtml&0 - Daven`s Journal
http://www.pangaeasanctuary.org/darkwood/ - Darkwood of PanGaea
http://www.wicca.utvinternet.com/ - Wicca na hErin
http://www.tryskelion.com/ - Tryskelion
http://www.mothersmagic.net/ - Breathless Noon
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm - Wicca, the religion
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/religions/wicca/faq/ - Wicca FAQ
http://www.allonewicca.com/ - All one Wicca
http://www.cuew.org/cffn/index.html - Coven of the Far Flung Net
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/index.htm - Gardnerian Book of Shadows
http://www.paganspath.com/ - The Pagan`s Path
http://www.rantingwitches.com/ - The Ranting Witches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca - Wicca
http://janus.spawnfar.net/ - The Janus Gate
http://www.hiddenmuse.com/ - Hidden Muse
http://www.geraldgardner.com/ - Gerald Gardner
http://beaufort.bravepages.com/index.html - Beaufort House`s TradList
http://www.tradwicca.org/beginnings.html - A Traditional Alexandrian Coven
http://www.waningmoon.com/ethics/rede.shtml - The Wiccan Rede
http://www.glasstemple.com/home/ - Glass Temple
http://www.witchipedia.org – Witchipedia

Answer 2

I had fallen away from the Catholic Church at about 13, when I started asking skeptical questions, and got no reasonable answers. I was an agnostic for almost ten years, and then began seeking something which made more sense to me. My wife had begun reading about Pagan faiths in general, and Wicca in particular, and I was only marginally interested, but I was hiking in the high ground to the East of us a little, and I sat down under a tree and watched the meadow and stream below me, and I had a sudden, and quite deep, powerful experience. I saw how life was divided between the genders, each complimenting the other, and each needing the other, and suddenly much of what my wife had been talking about seemed to click into place for me. As I continued to sit, amazed, I had something more...personal happen to me. I can only liken it to a Christian's account of personally connecting to God. It was just like that. The Lord and Lady were there with me, somehow, and I could see that the creation reflects the creator, and that, as such, there was a God and a Goddess. After that, it just had to do with a lot of study. I was a believer, and now I wanted to know more. It's 18 years later now, and I'm still learning.

Answer 3

Do NOT start with Silver Ravenwolf. She is rather biased, and you need to know your path well before reading her books, so you can sift through her opinions with an objective eye. Cunningham or Buckland are very good starting points, as is Doreen Valiente's Way of Wicca. The Complete Idiots Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft is very good, and not as patronising as it sounds. It is written completely objectively and just has the basics. I know it can be bought online.

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Answer 4

If you live in Los Angeles, The Psychic Eye bookstore have classes about Wicca. If not, I'd start with a book. I have no idea which one since I never got that far into it.

Answer 5

Start reading books about Wicca. The Spiral dance, by Starhawk, or Solitary Witch, by Silver Ravenwolf, are both good for newcomers. Or, go to www.mysticwicks.com, this is a Pagan chat site, there are sections for new Wiccans to get started. If you need more help, you can e-mail me, or I can get you e-mails of Wiccans in your area. Or, go to www. witchvox.com. You can find local Wiccans there.Hope this helps, we were all there once, Blessed Be.

Answer 6

personally, i asked myself the same thing. i purchased WICCA: A Guide For the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham. it's a good start if you would like to check it out.

Answer 7

Check out witchvox.com or look it up on wikipedia.