Merry meet to all;

Ok, here's a question for everyone. I have set goals for this year to dedicate myself to learning witchcraft and wicca as much as possible. I've been studying and reading for about a year now, but I feel so overwhelmed by all the info at times, I just don't know what to concentrate on first. I'm currently enrolled in three of the courses: Wicca Revealed, Herbal Complete, and Spellcrafting. I print out the lessons so that way I have something to go back to. I've also been purchasing books as I can afford it. The problem is, all of this contains so much info I don't know where to start.

Should I concentrate on color correspondences first? or days of the week correspondences? or herbal correspondences? or candle correspondences? Get my drift, just so much to learn and study!

Thanks for any help or advice you can give. It will be much appreciated!!!

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Diana Lynn "Wiccan and Witch in training"

lol! That is overwhelming. I could only do two classes at once as life kept creeping in. I felt very overwhelmed and went down to one course only. I'm not a firm believer in multitasking so I say one thing at a time and start with what is easiest for you and work into the more complicated, that way you are not discouraged from the get go. Good luck!!! I hope you have a mentor!!!

Hi! Seems like the fun yet frustrating part of Wicca and Neopaganism is that it is so open-ended that it can be easy get lost in all you can learn here if you don't have a focus. I would get familiar with things like correspondences but I wouldn't get too stressed out over them or slave over them for too long. You can always refer back to things like tables in your trusted books, grimoires and/or book of shadows (or even sites like these) when you need to compile a spell. I've seen you around here and you've been at this for a year+ so I think you're pretty familiar with the Wiccan basics as it is. If not, you're well into a few classes here so you will be.

Have you thought about focusing in a specific area of study? The WR and Spellcrafting gives you a good foundation and it sounds like you're interested in Herbal Magick, hence the class (actually, it sounds like you're interested in everything ). You can also do focused studies on things like Kitchen/Food Magick, Divination, systems like the Chakra system etc. There's a ton more specialist topics out there but my brain is running solely on caffeine right now so I can't think of them.

Anyway, I'm all about finding a focus, though I suppose your question is 'what should I focus on'. If you still feel you need to build a foundation in spellcrafting and Wicca, stick with that until you feel comfortable and try not to overwhelm yourself. Take it good and slow, it's all good here.

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"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist." - Dom Helder Camara

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I wish I knew! I am interested in so many things I tend to go back and forth. I think I'm going to have to dedicate at least a month to some of the things I want to learn to prevent me from flitting all over the place.

Merry Meet,

I'm also struggling to focus on one thing - there are SO many things that draw my attention. I'm thinking that perhaps putting a bit of focus on meditation may help with that. Calm and steady my mind somewhat.

Blessings, Rose

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Blessings

Merry Meet!

when I got started, I didn't know I would be committing my life to studying Witchcraft, so I just picked up Scott Cunningham's herbalism book. It seemed interesting and kind of called to me. After that, I just bought books at random, books that covered everything so I didn't have to pick and choose. If I were to go back and start over, I would have no idea what to do. My advice is, go to a book store that has an occult section and browse through the books until one catches and holds your attention. Start there.

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I must say I'm so glad I didn't have to go through what you're all going through. When I learned the Craft there weren't any books to speak of. What I was given by the H. Priestess who was teaching me was what I learned. In the first year I learned how to cast the circle, learned about the elements and the elementals, the Watchtowers, what the tools were and what they symbolized and what each was used for then came recognizing, feeling and working with energy. As each Sabbat came around I learned what the Sabbat was about and the meanings of it and the myths and folklore connected with it. The fun part was working a few spells which of course involved correspondences which, really, you can pick up as you go along. Since then books by the hundreds have become available and I haven't stopped reading and learning more.

When I teach someone I basically teach them as I was taught because if you don't know your way around a circle and how to work with energy I feel you're going to come up against blocks.

There's a thread (it might be in basics, I'm not sure, sorry) on suggestions on what books to read - that might help you, because there are a lot of books now that really are not worth reading.

Then when you get further into things you can start to look for the path/tradition that you want to follow or that is beckoning to you.

Briganta

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~ Book of Shadows~
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If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

the easiest way is to begin with yourself, to get to know yourself because if you don't know yourself how can you know what you like. but a good starting point is maybe decide if you are looking to learn witchcraft or wicca or which direction calls to you.

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timendi causa est nescire

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~ PM ME ANYTIME ALWAYS GLAD TO HELP ~



~ It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live ~

Thanks for all the replies everyone. I believe I'll take the advice and start over at the very beginning. I started out with Scott Cunningham's book about Solitary Wicca and I think I'll go back to it and study the basics a little more in depth. This time I'm gonna start putting notes in my electronic version BOS. Once I start getting items compiled I would like to start a written version of my BOS. Maybe doing it this way I will be a little more comfortable with everything. I wish at times I had someone to study with. I went through Witchvox and found someone nearby, emailed her, she answered and sounded excited about it, but I have yet to hear back from her after several attempts. Oh well, not gonna give up. It just seems a little easier for me if I have a hands on in the learning. Would like to be able to do it with a mentor that way I feel I'm learning all aspects of it.

Thanks again everyone.

Blessed Be!

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Diana Lynn "Wiccan and Witch in training"