Where did you start?

[rose1590]

So I’m pretty new to the forum and discovering myself, I was wondering where everybody decided to start their journey. Did you dive right in and begin casting without knowing much? Or did you try a ritual that didn’t seem to go as planned? Anything you can think of, throw it out there. And also I would appreciate if any of you more experienced practitioners could offer up ideas on how to start on my path and actively practice.

[SpiritTalker]

I was already regularly meditating & had some mediumship experiences before finding Wicca, which was the furthest thing from my mind at the time.

I began by reading Wiccan books by Cunningham, Buckland, Farrar in my early days, but didnt try anything. I did a self dedication & after that I was more fascinated with the energy of a circle than spells. I spent hours making circles in my backyard in good weather & up in the attic after snowfall. I was trying out every modification I could imagine to see what effect it would have with the energy... difference between indoors & out, spirals, dragging my feet, widdershins vs deosil, laying the outdoor circle with a garden hose to surround it with water, sunlight vs moonlight, moon phases, laying crystal borders, mime & total silence vs chanting & clapping, pointing my fingers vs using various tools, etc. Im a Virgo & made notes. When I started with herbs, I picked 4 multi purpose one's i liked the smell of plus what grew wild nearby & learned how they work with me.

[rose1590]

I was already regularly meditating & had some mediumship experiences before finding Wicca, which was the furthest thing from my mind at the time.

I began by reading Wiccan books by Cunningham, Buckland, Farrar in my early days, but didnt try anything. I did a self dedication as my 1st "anything" ever. And after that I was more fascinated with the energy of a circle than spells. I spent hours making circles while in touch with the ground in my backyard in good weather, & up in the attic away from earth contact the rest of the time, trying out every modification I could imagine to see what effect it would have with the energy... spirals, dragging my feet, widdershins vs deosil, laying the circle with a garden hose, sunlight vs moonlight, moon phases, laying crystal borders, total silence vs chanting & clapping, pointing my fingers vs using various tools, etc. Im a Virgo & I made notes. When I tried herbs, I picked 4 multi purpose one's i liked the smell of plus what grew wild nearby & learned how they work with me.

I wrote a topic in the Witchcraft & Wicca 101 section called "Getting Started" which might interest you.

This sounds great! I appreciate your response Sprit Talker. And that’s kind of where I’m at right now. I’m reading a lot. The primary book being Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft. I really like that particular book because it speaks on a really broad spectrum but still very informative. I’d like to look into Cunningham and several other artists soon after I finish that book. And I think I’m in the same boat as you were when you started. I don’t really plan on trying anything this early on. Just a lot of writing, reflecting, and getting in touch with myself as well as studying. I will check out that page thank you again!

[T'a Nuk]

I found a used copy of Buckland's 'Practical Candleburning Magick' in a used bookstore in 1980. That's when I began exploring.

[rose1590]

I found a used copy of Buckland's 'Practical Candleburning Magick' in a used bookstore in 1980. That's when I began exploring.

I love books. I think they’re so helpful and more of a personal tool to study with vs, other method. I can relate to this as well because my first book that I’m reading right now is Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft (technically not my first book but my first that I’m actually studying with). Did you ever look into any more of his books after that initial one that you bought at the book store?

[planewalker]

I was lucky. I've been around the Craft and Indian Medicine since I was an embryo. I had two Greatgrams. This was late 50's and the 60's and into the early 70's. I was at that point I could profit greatly from the fact that the usual early marriage {specially for women} coincided with advances in Health Care that prolonged life to a greater degree then any time in the past.
One of my Grams was a full bl00d Onondaga Indian. The other was "a Carpathian - D@MN IT !!! I'm not a Gypsy! I do NOT put my home on the road.". Indian Spiritual practices I learned the way it's been taught for as long as anyone knows. I watched, assisted and finally practiced myself. My other Gram taught from books that have come down through the family. No names anyone not from my family or a small order of practitioners would recognize. It was a different time. Indian Medicine was looked at as silly "native" traditions and the Craft simply was not openly discussed.
I was told about the "Order" that I could try to learn enough to join if I wished. I could learn the Craft regardless of whether I learned enough to join the "Order". I learned the ways of the wild places by camping and living for different periods of time in the wild. I was told I could try my vision quest and "ordeal" to become a full member of the tribe, a bl00d brother. I had goals when I was comparatively young. It suited me well, none-the-less.
This work had a happy ending. I spent a summer on the St. Regis Reservation. I passed through my Vision Quest and Ordeal and came out the other end with my spirit guide - the Hawk - confirmed and a full member of the tribe. My Gram initiated me into the Order as a Brother of the Light. I kept at it too. I was later ordained an Adept of the Light.
That's how I got my start. 50 plus years later and I'm still learning.

[rose1590]

I was lucky. I've been around the Craft and Indian Medicine since I was an embryo. I had two Greatgrams. This was late 50's and the 60's and into the early 70's. I was at that point I could profit greatly from the fact that the usual early marriage {specially for women} coincided with advances in Health Care that prolonged life to a greater degree then any time in the past.
One of my Grams was a full bl00d Onondaga Indian. The other was "a Carpathian - D@MN IT !!! I'm not a Gypsy! I do NOT put my home on the road.". Indian Spiritual practices I learned the way it's been taught for as long as anyone knows. I watched, assisted and finally practiced myself. My other Gram taught from books that have come down through the family. No names anyone not from my family or a small order of practitioners would recognize. It was a different time. Indian Medicine was looked at as silly "native" traditions and the Craft simply was not openly discussed.
I was told about the "Order" that I could try to learn enough to join if I wished. I could learn the Craft regardless of whether I learned enough to join the "Order". I learned the ways of the wild places by camping and living for different periods of time in the wild. I was told I could try my vision quest and "ordeal" to become a full member of the tribe, a bl00d brother. I had goals when I was comparatively young. It suited me well, none-the-less.
This work had a happy ending. I spent a summer on the St. Regis Reservation. I passed through my Vision Quest and Ordeal and came out the other end with my spirit guide - the Hawk - confirmed and a full member of the tribe. My Gram initiated me into the Order as a Brother of the Light. I kept at it too. I was later ordained an Adept of the Light.
That's how I got my start. 50 plus years later and I'm still learning.

This is a beautiful story and I’d love to hear more about it. Especially living in the wilderness. I plan to travel and live outside for periods of time a few years from now. I love learning more about it from others experiences with it.

[planewalker]

You could put any questions in "Hello Palefaces" under Shamanism. A good part of my story is in there. Anybody interested drop by and drop some questions on me. I'll try to keep it from being boring.

[rose1590]

You could put any questions in "Hello Palefaces" under Shamanism. A good part of my story is in there. Anybody interested drop by and drop some questions on me. I'll try to keep it from being boring.

I will go look now

[MsMollimizz]

I've always felt different, kept to myself and the like.
Step-father brought home a dresser that stayed at the end of the hallway.
I got nosey and looked inside, there was a book on witchcraft('72-'73) don't
know who wrote it...dang it !
I was 10-11yrs old at the time, I'd read some of the book, then sneak it in.
I needed out of the situation I was enduring at home and "God" didn't assist
me; when I starting praying to Diana the Moon Goddess(info from old movies!).
Lady Diana guided me to a youth councilor who I called...with all that was
going on step-father decided to send me to a catholic school at San Luis Rey
Mission-I think not ! How dare he with what he was doing to me...
Spells in that book were so easy to remember and try...
like getting the light to turn green, get people to look at you(not waitresses!)
little money spells.
One in the book I was fascinated with was a witch would trade bodies with
her cat on occasion, until the cat's body got run over; the woman's body was
committed-all it ever said was meow.
Lady Diana led me out of the situation so I stayed praying to her, She was the
only one I knew of at the time.
I spent 8mo in a "receiving home", then 1 1/2yrs in a girls school since the courts
didn't know where else to put me. Long story short(er), I was emancipated at
age 16; I traveled all over the US continent. A group of carnival workers picked
me up hitch-hiking in the nick of time ! That's where I got my first deck of Tarot
cards, before I even had Pagan books !
I say in the nick of time because I was picked up by a guy, I shut the car door
looked at him and immediately told him to let me out now or I will jump-I had
hand on handle ready. His eyes were like knives in my chest, I had to get out of
that car ! Finally he did, whew ! Two cars later the carnival workers picked me up.
Many years and three hubby's later I had the shock of a lifetime...a picture of a
guy was on the tv; I'll never forget those eyes...the eyes of the "night stalker"(calif.)
and I escaped his grasp ! Thank you Goddess !
Wow, I must have felt like talking ???
Gentle Light
MsMollimizz

[T'a Nuk]

I found a used copy of Buckland's 'Practical Candleburning Magick' in a used bookstore in 1980. That's when I began exploring.

I love books. I think they’re so helpful and more of a personal tool to study with vs, other method. I can relate to this as well because my first book that I’m reading right now is Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft (technically not my first book but my first that I’m actually studying with). Did you ever look into any more of his books after that initial one that you bought at the book store?

I have been building my library ever since. I have many books on Wicca, Celtic Tradition, Druidism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Chakra work, Kundalini Yoga, shamanism from all over the world including Siberian, Norse, Hawaiian, African, Voodoo, South American and Aboriginal, Native American spiritual practices, Crystal healing, herbology, Kabalism, Magical history including Alchemy and High Magic ritual, Parapsychology, Human and Veterinary medicine, divination methods including Runes, Tarot, Palmistry, art and history books on Norse, Greek, and Roman pantheons, art and history books about nearly every mythical creature imagined, Gypsy history and practice, and an H.R. Geiger's Necronomicon for fun. My bride is a healer so those combined with her energy and subtle body, reflexology, gardening and cook books, we are well set up. Of course I am always looking for new additions...

[Coloratura]

Oh, I would love to build an actual library, but since I live with family, and they're devout fundamentalist Christians, I could only see that going terribly poorly, so I have to visit websites, instead. Fortunately, there is a lot of information out there that is freely given, which I appreciate. Still, one day, my own library would be nice, if even just to have the books. I love the scent, the feel of books, especially old books.

As for myself (regarding where I started), I was born into a fundamentalist Christian family. As an adult, I became an ordained Christian minister. Not too long into my 20s, I lost my faith by death of a thousand cuts, and was an atheist. That remained for well over a decade until less than a year ago.

There had always been an undercurrent of mysticism in everything I believed (or didn't believe). When I was a devout Christian, I didn't like the homogenization that had happened to what must have originally started out as quite a mystical faith (please keep in mind these are my own opinions, and would not presume to speak for everyone). I would try meditation, but because of the rigidity of my faith, it brought me nowhere.

When I became an atheist, I thought that was the end of it. I figured "I'll never fall for any kind of woo again," and proceeded to disregard everything spiritual that I had once believed, or at least I had thought I had managed the feat. Of course, as many know I'm sure, the word "never" is far too certain a term to use in life, because life tends to prove it wrong time and time again. In a sense, while the fire was out, the pilot light was still primed and ready.

Sure enough, a few years after my step into atheism, I began to remember how much I had loved the Moon as a child. I remember being small, looking up at the Moon and telling her goodnight (I distinctly remember knowing the Moon was 'she'). Through my years as a Christian, and then as an atheist, I still would gaze upon the Moon and think to myself, "is there more to the Moon than what I see? Is there someone or something there besides a lifeless rock?"

In the back of my mind, I believed it to be so, but I kept it buried deep down. There were times I'd look up at the Moon, during these moments of self-assured denial, and I just had this feeling someone was trying to talk to me, trying to communicate on some level I either couldn't quite perceive, or didn't want to perceive. Always there, always watching, never with malice, just with interest, as if amused.

Finally, there came a point less than a year ago, where after years and years of high stress, major health problems, and being pushed to the point of breaking, I remember being in my car driving to the grocery store, and I was crying, because I was at my wits end. Time and time and time again I felt like I was being slammed up against a wall, with the feeling that everything would be better if I would just end my life. I began to give it serious weight. There had been many times where I had considered suicide, and got very close to doing it, but each time I'd manage to pull back. It was getting much closer each time, though, and I knew there would come a time when I would engage in the act.

So I did something I hadn’t done in so long, I think I had to dust the cobwebs off to get to the center of it: I prayed. I prayed to the Goddess Selene. Why Selene? I can't honestly say with 100% certainty, but at that point I was letting my heart speak, and our hearts will tell us truths we've hidden even from ourselves, so that even when we don't know, our hearts do. So I reached out to Her, in the hopes of some kind of solace from the pain.

I prayed. In my heart I requested Her guidance. I always request, I don’t demand. Some folks demand, but I can’t really bring myself to demand something from others, even if they are a Celestial Goddess. Probably moreso, in fact. I asked Her to guide my steps, because my thoughts were betraying me, and it was tearing me apart.

I felt this strong urge to speak, and so I began to tell Her everything, from my deepest fears and flaws, to my greatest hopes and dreams. When I was finished, I had begun crying. Now, I know everyone is going to have a different take on this, but I swear to you, I heard a voice. Now, I was in my car when I said these things, and there was no one else around. The voice said, “I love you.”

I started crying again, and I managed to reply, “I love you, too,” and I felt this warmth that said “that you should love someone you do not yet know speaks well of your heart.” Of course, by this point I was a blubbering mess. If someone had come along right then, they’d have thought my dog had died, and that the Pope had said nasty things about me to my face.

So I continued between the tears. “What do I do about all of the horrible things I’ve seen? Events that have fostered these awful thoughts in my head that won’t go away? What do I do about the evil in the world? How do I deal with all of this?!”

There was a two word reply, and it shot me right in the heart: “Love them.”

At that moment, my heart started burning, I mean it felt like a physical fire had erupted in my chest, and then it was ice, pure ice, and the ice spread through my whole body, into my brain, and my brain started feeling like someone had wrapped it in a cloud, and when it was all done, when the feeling had passed, the pain was gone! It was gone! All I could feel was pure joy from every part of me.

I looked around, and every person I saw, I could see inside them! I don’t mean their physical selves, but their spiritual selves! I could see their pain, and their fears. I was witness to their doubts. The command came forward again, strong this time, and it said “LOVE THEM.”

And I knew right then that the deepest darkest seed inside of me was the kernel of doubt that said I could no longer keep up with the world. That the world was outpacing me in anger, in hatred, in cynicism. That it was growing more insular, and vicious every day, and that I had been competing with every other human on this earth that had embraced such things, that even though all I wanted to do was love, I was replacing that love with judgment, and I was wrong to do so, because in my judging them, I was denying them the love they needed to change.

I have long felt that every person is redeemable, that every person should be given the chance to change. For a time, I had put that aside to condemn those I felt only brought harm, and while I realize that my intentions were good, they were ill-fitted for someone like me. There is a person to every emotion, and every walk of life has a different step. Mine was not what I had adopted. It was not my own. My own steps were elsewhere, and I realized right then, just as I’m realizing now, that I needed to follow MY steps, to do MY will, to embrace MY power, to own it, to use it, to wield it MY way. I discovered that abdicating the seat of my power, of my will, to others was killing me.

I had given away the command of my soul to others who had no intention of seeing to my needs. Now, the power is mine again. I have wrested control back, and I have put in place the right compass to guide me.

That is where it all started. That is where I started.

Oh, and on a side note, from the time the Goddess touched my heart, until I awoke out of it, I have no memory of the drive to the grocery store, but when I did awake from it, I found myself sitting in the parking lot, perfectly parked in a spot away from every other car. So, you know, just to add a fine point to the story.

[Doktor Avalanche]

I was born into a Pentecostal family, however I was also born with one parent being Jewish and the other- Native American. I was able to learn much from the local Mide' and Waabanowin and was able to join up with the Waabano Society on the reservation. It is because of this I grew towards a love for ritual, which much of the Waabanowin practice is fire ritual, the Dawn Ceremony being the big one each year.

Outside of family practice, I secretly met with a local coven for years where I practiced an eclectic Celtic Wicca use, adopting(to my chagrin) Douglas Monroe's The 21 Lessons of Merlyn. Surprisingly, I learned quite a bit from that book as far as ritual and practice goes, but the other lesson was to always check your sources for credibility.

After experiencing Wicca for a few years I ran into a group of Thelemites who enjoyed my Sephardic Hebrew pronunciations of god-forms and welcomed me into their OTO club. Apparently they only studied with Orthodox Ashkenazi from New York City. I stayed there in the OTO for a short time as I am not fond of Thelema in general, nor do I find Sex magic of great importance to my studies.

I was blessed to find a Cabal of Eclectic Chaotes & Magicians. I am still in association with this grouping but due to financial hardships I had to move. Since that time, I have been solitary, still eclectic, Medicine-working(I will not use the word Shaman or Shamanistic to describe Native American/First Nation-based/rooted practice), Celtic-leaning Druidry-dabbling Ceremonial Chaote.