It's late at night, and I'm doing a lot of browsing.
I do realize this topic is hella old, but I feel I need to explain myself. The 'New age' sections in bookstores that house the literature about wicca and witchcraft are daunting. There a multitudes of books, and contridicting volumes. It startles me because I do not want to something that is 'wrong'. How am I to know if this book wasn't written and published by some quack, rather than a true, caring practicioner of witchcraft. How am I know if it is not some cleverly disguised volume of a 'dark' pagan religion. I asked JB to teach me because I trust and love her. I wasn't mad, I was hurt. There is a difference. No offense , but I would never ask you to teach me over the internet (no you or anyone else online). I do not know you in a tangible sense, and therefore, cannot call upon you to be something as intimate as a teacher. I'm sorry if that comes off as hurtful, I promise you I do not mean it to be.
I just don't know. With so many books and websites out there, it's nice to have a friend or (in the case of how I consider JB) a sister to look up to. Since it was JB that introduced me to magic, it was very depressing when she seemed not to care that I had no idea what I was doing.
"Here is this beautiful, powerful, safe, scary, dangerous world... I cast you into it, and leave you to your own devices."
Teaching witchcraft to others...
-
Starwitch
- Owner
- Posts: 4864
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2004 11:42 pm
- Gender: Female
- Location: Chattanooga, TN
- Contact:
JBRaven, I believe that web site said that those rules came from the original Gerald Gardner book, the guy who invented Wicca in the 1950's. You may want to check the site I mentioned to be sure.
Demi, no I wouldn't be offended that someone wouldn't want me as a teacher. More likely, I would be irritated if they DID want me as a teacher. I don't have the patience or desire to be a teacher, and I guess I already said that in my previous post. I have this board here so people can ask questions if they need to (and not email me so much with questions) because I used to be bombarded with questions like, "Can you teach me witchcraft?", which of course, I didn't want to do.
I agree about the contradicting books on witchcraft/Wicca. Many of them, even some of my favorite authors mix the two and don't tell you that there is any difference. That's how people get the idea that they are Wiccan, when in fact, they are a regular witch, and not Wiccan at all. It's good that you pointed that out, since I don't think many people realize it. Web sites are the same way. My site is not Wiccan, but I've had Wiccans write to me, assuming that I'm Wiccan, to tell me that certain things on my site don't follow Wiccan rules. A lot of times, once I explain the difference in Wiccan and witchcraft, they suddenly realize that they aren't Wiccan after all, lol. As far as fakes, I wouldn't be too concerned about that. There are web sites that give you "Harry Potter Spells" and people that are obsessed with "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and that is the whole premise of them being a "witch", but those are pretty easy to pick out. They are usually about 13 years old anyway. Some folks even sign up on the message board with the fake name "Buffy" and tell us that her mom legally CHANGED HER NAME to Buffy because of the show (not the Mom's name, Buffy's name). Yes, she's a liar and a fake. Way too many people are getting witchcraft ideas from TV and movies and it's sad.
It sounds like you are still upset with JB (maybe? I'm not sure). I hope you work it out if you haven't already. I don't think she minds helping you out here and there, like she mentioned, but being a full-out teacher doesn't seem to be something she is prepared for. If she isn't comfortable with teaching it, then well... she just isn't comfortable with it. Most people wouldn't want to teach it, I don't think. I had that ad on my site for about 2 or 3 months that said "Want to be a witchcraft teacher?" and only 2 people actually did it, and they were the 18 year olds that I mentioned Who wants to learn Wicca from someone so young? They said they had been doing it for many years, but how do we know that's even true? Well, that's why I took it down eventually. I had been referring people to them just to get them to stop emailing me, but I realized that wasn't really a good thing to do so I stopped.
I guess the topic of "witchcraft teachers" is something I just don't get into enough to be able to discuss it without hurting someone's feelings by saying something like, "Why does anyone need a teacher when you can learn it on your own?"
If you are worried about books telling you the wrong thing, just stick with the popular books (Ravenwolf, Cunningham) and you'll have the same basic information that most other witches have. Unless you're Wiccan, being a witch is not such a serious matter that if you read a book written by a fake that you'll be lead down the wrong path somehow. Just read a lot of different books and then put that informaton together and make your own path with what you've learned. That's a lot of reading, right?
I just re-read one of my previous posts in this thread, saying that I had "witchcraft teachers". I just want to make clear that they were not teaching me. I put their information on my web site so that all the people asking me for a witchcraft teacher could then ask them instead. It sounded wrong the way I phrased it before. I learned witchcraft from books, like most of the rest of you.
Silverfox said she has a teacher if you're interested in talking to her. She might be able to talk to you more about the details.
Demi, no I wouldn't be offended that someone wouldn't want me as a teacher. More likely, I would be irritated if they DID want me as a teacher. I don't have the patience or desire to be a teacher, and I guess I already said that in my previous post. I have this board here so people can ask questions if they need to (and not email me so much with questions) because I used to be bombarded with questions like, "Can you teach me witchcraft?", which of course, I didn't want to do.
I agree about the contradicting books on witchcraft/Wicca. Many of them, even some of my favorite authors mix the two and don't tell you that there is any difference. That's how people get the idea that they are Wiccan, when in fact, they are a regular witch, and not Wiccan at all. It's good that you pointed that out, since I don't think many people realize it. Web sites are the same way. My site is not Wiccan, but I've had Wiccans write to me, assuming that I'm Wiccan, to tell me that certain things on my site don't follow Wiccan rules. A lot of times, once I explain the difference in Wiccan and witchcraft, they suddenly realize that they aren't Wiccan after all, lol. As far as fakes, I wouldn't be too concerned about that. There are web sites that give you "Harry Potter Spells" and people that are obsessed with "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" and that is the whole premise of them being a "witch", but those are pretty easy to pick out. They are usually about 13 years old anyway. Some folks even sign up on the message board with the fake name "Buffy" and tell us that her mom legally CHANGED HER NAME to Buffy because of the show (not the Mom's name, Buffy's name). Yes, she's a liar and a fake. Way too many people are getting witchcraft ideas from TV and movies and it's sad.
It sounds like you are still upset with JB (maybe? I'm not sure). I hope you work it out if you haven't already. I don't think she minds helping you out here and there, like she mentioned, but being a full-out teacher doesn't seem to be something she is prepared for. If she isn't comfortable with teaching it, then well... she just isn't comfortable with it. Most people wouldn't want to teach it, I don't think. I had that ad on my site for about 2 or 3 months that said "Want to be a witchcraft teacher?" and only 2 people actually did it, and they were the 18 year olds that I mentioned Who wants to learn Wicca from someone so young? They said they had been doing it for many years, but how do we know that's even true? Well, that's why I took it down eventually. I had been referring people to them just to get them to stop emailing me, but I realized that wasn't really a good thing to do so I stopped.
I guess the topic of "witchcraft teachers" is something I just don't get into enough to be able to discuss it without hurting someone's feelings by saying something like, "Why does anyone need a teacher when you can learn it on your own?"
If you are worried about books telling you the wrong thing, just stick with the popular books (Ravenwolf, Cunningham) and you'll have the same basic information that most other witches have. Unless you're Wiccan, being a witch is not such a serious matter that if you read a book written by a fake that you'll be lead down the wrong path somehow. Just read a lot of different books and then put that informaton together and make your own path with what you've learned. That's a lot of reading, right?
I just re-read one of my previous posts in this thread, saying that I had "witchcraft teachers". I just want to make clear that they were not teaching me. I put their information on my web site so that all the people asking me for a witchcraft teacher could then ask them instead. It sounded wrong the way I phrased it before. I learned witchcraft from books, like most of the rest of you.
Silverfox said she has a teacher if you're interested in talking to her. She might be able to talk to you more about the details.