Everything Under the Moon

Well....I seem to be the crone (almost 49) of the group so I'm going to apportion some of my wisdom here. This weekend I attended a very nice and very well attended festival. While there I was asked my path (as usually happens at these gatherings). I told people that I was studying Native American Shamanism. Immediately I was surrounded by people who asked who was my teacher. I said I had none and that I was walking my path alone, at my own pace. Well, that was like saying I was going to attempt surgery without a medical degree. Everyone had a "Shaman" that they could recommend. LOL. A nice man stepped forward and looked me in the eye and said "beware of false prophets and Shaman".

A lot of you are curious about this path you've started to walk, and you feel isolated and alone because it's not a very popular path (or so it seems, there are millions of us). People will try and impress you with their "wisdom" and "knowledge". USE YOUR OWN MINDS...the fact that you're on this path shows you have above normal intelligence and creativity.

If you have a question, by all means ask, and when someone you don't know has an answer, QUESTION where they get their answers from. I had heard of so many versions of "Shamanism" that I was confused from the get go. I decided to explore on my own, to create my own rituals and prayers. I decided to march to the drummer I heard in MY head.....not someone else's drummer.

When you ask for help or someone asks you for help in their quest, by all means, help them. But don't pretend to be what you're not, and don't take advantage of young ones seeking the truth.

This is a community, and as such, there are elders in this community, and our JOBS are to protect......If it harm none, do what you will. Even tho I am not a moderator, you would do well to not risk OUR (the elders) wrath. Anyone that asks for personal information from you without you knowing them is usually up to no good. Any of the "elders" here would be more than happy to recommend a website, book, video tape or CD for you to learn from. Allowing someone to be a "false shaman" only hurts you.

Walk your path and stand in your own integrity and power, knowing that you understood what the drummer in your head was saying.

You have elders to question here that are very knowledgable. You can learn about herbalism, casting spells, casting circles and rituals, animism, astrology, meditation and so much more. You have a lifetime, no-one learns this in a few short years, it takes a lifetime (or two or three).

You are all beautiful spirits and I am happy to be here.

Peace and love,
Dancing Moon Child

Dear Dancing Moon Child,

I really appreciate the advice you've given here. It could be very easy for a new witch to run into someone who claims to be able to teach them what they need to know, and though it seems flattering to have that kind of attention from an "experienced witch" (if they are, in fact, experienced), they may not always have your best interests at heart, and could very well lead you down a path of destruction or evil. Not all witches are "good witches" and there are some who just love having followers - people who do what they say, believe what they are told, and basically hang on their every word. Many times it's more of an ego trip for the so-called "teacher" instead of genuinely wanting to help you grow in your path. This goes for people who claim to be psychic too. See if they can tell you something very personal about yourself that you know for certain is not posted anywhere on the net before you just take their word for it that they are psychic. Most psychics are taking what you've already told them, and then repeating it back to you later in a different form and throwing in some guesses along with it. I think a few people here have experience with that.

There are great people on this board to answer questions for us and help us understand things we don't know, but every now and then we may get a person with ulterior motives that comes through, and may post and run or post and stay and try to get followers to believe what they say. I agree completely that the majority of us do not need a teacher at all, we can be our own teacher, learning through books, web sites, and people like our moderators here, who will answer questions and help out as much as they can. And I'll just say again, for the 100th time, that I really appreciate all the people who help me with this board. It would be nothing without you, so it's a great blessing to me to have all of you here.

If you do have a teacher, just be sure it's someone that you know personally or you have known for a long time. Don't just let anyone approach you and offer to be your teacher. The reason I added this message board to my site was so that you'd have a place to ask questions and find answers without having to put yourself at risk by allowing someone to teach you one-on-one. This is a place where people can get all different kinds of opinions, and anytime someone asks me for a teacher now, I direct them to come here and learn from all of you.

And no matter if you are a teen or adult, don't give your personal info out over the Internet. And if you are an adult on this board, do NOT ask the other members for their personal information, like their home address. Many of our members are teenagers, and you will be kicked off the board if I get complaints about harrassing or personal PMs or emails being sent to people, especially teens.

Starwitch

this is helpful advice also and will definitely keep that in mind in the future.

I like the fact that in this post you can feel the genuine protectivness that Dancing Moon Child and Starwitch have for this community. I enjoyed this post.

Thanks. This is one of the most helpful things I've ever read. You're right...I've got to find and follow my own path at my own pace so I'll keep an eye on this site and I'll refer people here if they ask me on the streets about a wiccan teacher. Thank you Dancing Moon Child and StarWitch.

I think what's been said here has been very helpful for people at the beginning of their path, and I agree with a lot of it.

However, when teaching oneself you may quite accidentally get into some kind of trouble by attracting certain spirits, entities or having a working/spell backfire and cause you some harm either, physically, mentally, spiritually, psychically or emotionally.

People say things such as "Oh but I don't do anything to attract those kinds of things, or I don't work negative spells or invite negative entities/spirits". But the thing is you don't have to, you can still bet into trouble.

As well, many of the books today, especially the ones put out by Llewellyn, only cover the surface of things. You often don't get the whole package - something is held back and unless you find a teacher of whatever path you have decided to follow - you never will. For example, Rae Beth wrote a book or two about Hedgewitchery which is much maligned by real Hedgewitches because of the inaccuracies. And of those paths that are initiatory you're never going to get everything out of a book or off the internet. And many Traditional and/or Hereditary witches are notorious for not sharing their knowledge on a public forum or Facebook group.

There are some great people on this board as has been said, as well as other sites but on any (or should I say every) board and Facebook groups there are people who don't know (and it's appalling what some people actually believe and post) what they are talking about; and for someone just starting out it can be very frustrating trying to sort out the genuine, experienced and knowledgeable people from the people who THINK they know a lot.

So.....hope I haven't cast too much of a damper on things but I just thought you should all know.........