The Manwitch

This is basically a cut and paste from part of my last post, but I decided it needed its own dedicated post.

First and foremost, you're going to have to put in the work. Do some research on your own, rather than peppering people on social media with questions right off the bat. It's perfectly fine to ask questions, but when you've clearly done little or zero research beforehand, it's just annoying. Also, most of the people jumping up to answer questions on places like Reddit and Twitter are fairly new themselves, and are less than reliable sources and likely to steer you in some pretty bad directions.

Secondly, you don't have to be Wiccan. In fact, I recommend not starting there. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with it, but because I vehemently distrust organized religion or anything else where there is a hierarchy, people deciding who's worthy, etc.

Along this same vein, I would avoid covens with any sort of hierarchy in place. Something as simple as senior and junior members, sure, but tiers of authority with one person ultimately calling the shots are problematic in my opinion. If you decide later on down the road that something like this appeals to you, go for it, but give yourself the chance to decide on your own what you want your path to be.

Recommendations for anyone getting started

• Start off by getting a good understanding of the history of witchcraft.
  • This video is a good place to start. It's a long watch, so get a snack and a drink and settle in. I've also got another good resource in my book recommendations below.
• Learn about your lineage. A DNA test such as 23andMe or Ancestry.com is a great way to find out where your ancestors lived, and that can help you determine what beliefs they may have held, and what paths you may already have a familial connection to. Then you'll have a better idea of what path you might want to investigate first, and where to begin with that. One thing I learned by getting mine done, was that what my parents and grandparents had been telling me about my family's history was somewhere between slightly inaccurate and completely false.
• Learn basic meditation, nothing fancy. No thirty minute, lotus position, humming mantra stuff. Just learn to sit quietly for five minutes, and observe thoughts as they pass, choosing which ones to grab onto, and which to let go by. Most people, especially anyone born with a cell phone in their hand, have the attention span of a goldfish. Your attempts to put energy and intention into anything you do will fail miserably if you cannot focus your thoughts.
• Don't get hung up on labels. Everyone seems to be picking what “type” of witch they want to be, and then trying really hard to pigeonhole themselves into that box. Latch on to what speaks to you, and work it into your practice. You don't have to be a kitchen witch, or a chaos witch, or a hedge witch, or any of those other labels. Just be a witch. This is a deeply personal belief system, and trying to fit into a predetermined style or niche is a major disservice to yourself.

Youtubers I highly recommend

• The Witches' Cookery – My favorite
• The Norse Witch
• Chaotic Witch Aunt
• Embracing Magick
• Buddhism Insight – Great for learning basic meditation skills, focus, and generally learning to be nice to yourself, which is something I struggle with.
• The Wild and Untamed Way
• HearthWitch

Podcasts

• New World Witchery – My favorite
• The White Witch Podcast

Books I recommend

The Inner Temple Of Witchcraft, and The Outer Temple Of Witchcraft, by Christopher Penczak.

The Witches' Alamanac – any and all of them, by Theitic.

A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics & Pagans, by Jeffrey B Russell and Brooks Alexander. This isn't a book for learning witchcraft. Rather, it's an excellent lesson on the origins of witchcraft, the witch crazes of Europe and the US, and the many ways in which the christian church usurped and appropriated pagan holidays, practices and traditions, and how it weaponized itself to oppress women.