chaoskyan:

I keep getting this question in my inbox so I figured I’d post the answer publicly so I can refer to it instead. First of all though, there are tons of posts about this already and if you do a quick search through the “witchcraft community” tag or “witchcraft 101″ you’ll find a lot of great advice already circulating. What I’m going to outline here is my personal recommendation, and as for all my posts this is the “YMMV” disclaimer (your mileage may vary, i.e. do what works for you and don’t take this as absolute in any way). 

Step 1: Pick a spell. Any spell.
Seriously, it doesn’t matter. Well… okay, maybe don’t like… try to conjure Baphomet into your living room or something, but pick any rando spell that you feel like doing. Don’t worry about what it is, or who wrote it, or how “authentic” it is. Do these things matter? Sure, maybe, depends on who you ask, but you can figure this stuff out later. For now, just pick a spell. The only real guideline I’ll give here is that it should ideally be something with a measurable result within a reasonable timeframe. I’ll get to why later.

Step 2: Bake a cake.
Don’t actually bake a cake (unless you want a cake, in which case by all means please bake a cake), but this is the part where you gather whatever it is you need for the spell and perform it as it’s written. Spells can in some ways be considered recipes in that you want to try following the directions first, and make your changes afterwards. This is especially true for a beginner or someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing yet. 

Step 3: Mouth feel.
The spell is done, congrats. You probably feel… nothing, tbh, maybe even vague disappointment. Why? Because this wasn’t really your magic yet, and there’s very likely something (maybe even a lot) missing. This is the most crucial part of your process. What were you expecting? What did you like, not like? It’s time to write this down, and if you’re the type of person who wants to keep a grimoire this is a great first entry. Were you hoping for more ritual? Maybe ceremonial magic is what you should look into. Did you want there to be more bubbling cauldrons? Try looking into hearth magic or herbal magic. Were you missing a chant, a poem? Look more into spellcraft and the power of words. Some key subjects you can look up: crystal magic, herbal magic, hearth magic, cosmic magic, spirit work, death magic, healing magic, bane magic, divination, folk magic, chaos magic, technomancy, sigilwork, spellcraft, hedge walking, deity worship, sex magic, blood magic, etc. If any of these sound appealing to you, do a google search and read about them a little more so you can decide whether or not you want to delve in a little further.

Step 4: The cake is a lie.
This is where we drop the food metaphors, and get back to that thing I brought up in step one: measurable results within a reasonable timeframe. This is the part that seems to get lost the most in all the advice going around, and in my opinion it’s the second most important (the first one being that practicing magic feels good/right to you). Grimoires aren’t just supposed to be pretty lists of spells and correspondences, they’re supposed to contain spells that actually work. The key here is to figure out what feels right to you as far as method, and then to refine that method to achieve tangible results. If you already feel great doing magic, let me tell you… you’ll feel pretty fucking amazing when your magic starts having an actual effect on the world around you, and it shouldn’t take years of mastery for that to happen. Small magics and simple spells can be done effectively by beginner witches, and these are the things you build upon to form your craft. If your magic isn’t getting results, it’s not magic: it’s ceremony.

Step 5: Rinse and repeat.
For most people there is a specific facet of magic that attracted them to it before they ever cast a spell, and while some people might know what it is straight off the bat most people don’t, and that’s fine. You don’t need to know what you’re doing right at the start, and making mistakes isn’t going to curse your house or open up a portal into the dark realms by accident (still assuming you’re doing beginner stuff and not trying to invoke dark spirits to do your bidding or something). The witchcraft side of tumblr can often look really serious and like everyone knows exactly what they’re doing all the time, but the truth of the matter is there’s a lot of trial and error and that’s exactly what magic is supposed to be. If you’re looking towards magic as something to provide all the answers for you, you’re gonna have a real bad time. It’s about looking at how other people have gotten to where you want to go, and forging your own route from there.

On a final note, I’d just like to add that if anyone claims to be an absolute authority on any given topic of witchcraft or occultism, be extremely fucking wary. If anyone is saying you need to pay x amount of money or buy x number of things to be a “real witch”, be extremely fucking wary. Witchcraft existed before money, before capitalism, before industrialization and consumerism. 

As always, my inbox is open if you have any questions about this (or anything else). If I don’t know the answer, I can usually point you towards someone who does or at least give you a direction to search in. Happy witching!