How did you start practicing?

I started out by just going to the library and seeing some books on the subject and it was something I was considering. So I checked out a few books and just started reading. I read about spells, herbs, potions, the Salem Whitch Trials and many others. I found it to be interesting so I kept studying. Now i am 5 years into it and couldn't be happier with my choice of religion. I mainly do just some simple rituals alone. I like the fact of being a solitary witch so I haven't gone to look for a covent because I dont feel I need to. Most of my time today is spent reading and practicing alone where I feel relaxed.

I didn't start officially til about two years ago. Though there's always been things that have happened..or I've done without being aware that what I was doing was considered 'occult'..I suppose it started one christmas, when I got a deck of tarot cards as a present from my Mother. At first I was kinda skittish about it..but slowly I began to study as my interest grew. Though only more recently did I start really practicing practicing. Before that I was mostly study and doing a spell here and there on a rare occasion (again, some things were habit and not on purpose lol). Mostly things to find lost objects..occasionally to talk to a fairy or to help me make the right choices. I think it's kinda sad Wicca's shunning spells and focusing mostly on rituals..alot of it seems to be going against accepting the darkness as well as light as well. Which..I find iffy, because most other religions have done the same thing..and I thought the key was always balance *shrugs* I've always practiced solitary..and I don't know if I'll ever practice with someone else. But it doesn't bother me, as with alot of things in my life I work best alone. ^_^

If you can see things that others can not, and know things through dream and visions, have strong feeling telling you what to do or be able to read peoples mind make you a witch or just gifted? I have a lot of the above happen to me and it seems to come and go depending on how well I feel. While on Lexapro almost nothing happend and I wonder if it had to do with the messing with my brain. I don't consider my self a witch at all, but I know that I have theses things happen to me all of the time.

I didn't official begin practising rituals and stuff until the past couple years but I've always had my own thing about the moon and being near water.. i just never knew what it was until i picked up a book on wicca at a friends place. I started with tarot cards and candles and moved real quick into herbs because I love to grow them and cook with them. As I read up more and learned more I became more ritualistic about it... although on nights like tonight when the sky is clear and the moon is so big and bright and beautiful.. still makes me have to go outside and center myself w/o all the fancy stuff...

I was first shown and told things by my Grandmother(even though I am male) as there is something that runs in our family every 2nd generation(my mam was a total disbeliever and quite religous). I suppose the closest I ever cam to finding something that was closes to what I belief in and practice(on the odd occasion) is Druidery, even though an awful lot of the rituals and beliefs do run parallel with Witchcraft and Wicca. Very interesting topic though SageMother... Brightest Blessings

My girlfriend was into magic(k) and she got me started. It embodied many of my beliefs and found it quie interesting. Unfortunately, she was in a coven led by a very controling man. I got her out of there and we learned to practice as a couple. We also got together with other pagans at feasts and festivals.She and I have parted but I sill practice as a solo.

I had always been interested in it but have never really tooken the steps to do anything I have read a few books and such and found it all very fasinating. My cousin I found joined a wicca group and became one she says it not what everyone thinks it is. But there are so many people out there that judge before they know what anything and what it is about just because they don't understand it or is frightened of it. I had someone tell me that we had to deny God and stuff so I never could actually do that so I gave up, but that doesn't mean I haven't forgotten about it it stays in the back of my mind and ocassionally pops into my thoughts. My niece just the other day informed me she was getting into it and wanted to know if I still had my books but I got rid of them she is 16 and her mom is having a cow about it,my mom said when I was little I used to go around saying things that nobody else could understand but me and when people tried to make me stop my great grandmother made them leave me alone she was a great healer we called her because she could do alot of things that would make you think she was nuts but she wasn't, my mom has told us many times that with a few words and something she could make stuff quit bleeding. So maybe she was a praticing wicca but just never really stated it out loud. My mom once found a binding spell and said it for her and my step father and she has tried to leave him several times and everytime something ruins it,everytime. I told her maybe the binding spell wasn't a hoax and she wishes now she could take it back. I myself have never really cast anything was really to scared since it says it can come back on to you atleast that is what I have heard and read in one of the books I had. well I must go.. happy posting..

My best friend is Wiccan and I'm really interesting in it. I read up on it and I know a lot about it, but I don't practice it.

Oddly enough I actually started playing around/meddling/chanting etc etc when I was probably around 8 or so (with absolutely NO clue Witchcraft even existed)...the animal/plant/tree connection and dream work came into play as a teen (still with no clue of the reality of it all..I just knew it helped me)..but it wasnt until I was 26 when i met my now best friend that I learned about actual Wicca and Paganism..we got to talking one day (she was my neighbour at the time, thats how we met) about it all and she let me borrow some of her books and it all started to fall into place (LOL was I ever happy to find otu that I'm not a raging lunatic like mummy dearest had convinced me of all those yrs!)....by the time i was 28 or so though i realized that Wicca was too one sided for me and thats when I left that path and began my walk with Old School Witchcraft and learnign about Native American spirituality and by 30 y/o i began adding Buddhism to the mix then Vodou and Hoodoo and so on..... I'm not so much into rituals...I personally see no need for them and actually find them more of a hassle than a help..I dont have time to wait for certain moon phases/days of the week, I have no desire to have an altar always up in my home any more (besides with 2 dogs and 4 cats that just isnt wise LOL) and I certainly feel there is no need for the bells and whistles (tools)....I do on occasion do spell work but I use whats at hand and the main key which IMO is me...as for being part of a coven..I could never see myself doign that...I'm very set in my ways and I have my own personal beliefs and rules etc and I find that when you get a group together to practice on specific thing, feathers get ruffled eventually becuase ppl just cant fully agree with each other if that makes sense....

I started with a group of friends who were all interested, and we started doing rituals and magic. Eventually through some of the public groups we ran into some practicing Wiccans, and I was eventually initiated into a coven. I haven't noticed what you mention about Wiccans shunning spell casting. Maybe that's just the circles I travel in. (No pun intended.)

My great-grandmother started me on the path. She followed a Celtic path. My first real memory of it was when I was four years old. She would teach me about her religion in easy ways: talking about the seasons, herbs, etc. She didn't really introduce me to deities until I had my first experience with one on my own. After I had a dream involving a Goddess, she kind of started getting more into that side of things with me. We lived in Kentucky then, and she wasn't really open with the religious part of her life because it wasn't really safe to be. Everyone knew she worked with herbs, and many of her neighbors came to her for herbal remedies and such, but she didn't talk to them about religion. She went to a Christian church sometimes with neigbors to keep people from wondering about her beliefs. Later on, after she passed on, I expanded my knowledge through books, the internet, personal experience, other pagans. I learned some about my other heritage (Native American) from other family members as well. I tend to be solo. I practiced with others some as a teenager, but most of them were more into spells and such than religion. That's okay, I'm not saying it's bad, but I personally feel the need to have both. As an adult, I have been part of a coven twice, with the same people, and each time I've eventually just not felt like doing it. Right now I'm hoping to get involved again soon, but I'm not sure how it will work out. On a personal level, I'm looking forward to teaching my son about my beliefs. His father is Christian, and we sometimes attend a Unitarian Universalist fellowship, so he'll get to learn about everything.

Wow so you do practice witchcraft? I have a cousin who sort of does that but she told me something that discouraged me to be like her. She said you have to have a strong control of yourself or you might lose it.

I started practicing when I was 11 years old. I picked it up from one of my friends, who was a very devoted Wiccan. I found wicca to be so freeing! The ideology is so positive and I felt myself truly being happy while practicing. Sadly, I fell out of it when I got to college. I didn't want my roomate to think that I was "strange" or "freaky." I know it is a silly reason to stop, but I wasn't thinking clearly at the time. I want to get back into it, and I want to teach my son a little bit about it once he is old enough to understand.

Hi SageMother, I have always had a fascination with witchcraft, the occult, spiritualism and such like, even when I was 8 or 9 years old I was obsessed with the childrens book Meg and Mog! I've read many books throughout the years but it was only around 6 years ago that I felt it was the right path to start exploring more. I prefer to be solitary as I feel that I don't fit into or agree with some ways of practicing. Our mutual friend imsilver had a good idea about online coverns and have thought of maybe setting up something similar to talk about our experiences and our knowledge and perhaps to help a few more down the path!!

blessed be friend, My mother and elder sisters taught me all i know. I have been practicing now these last 30 years and have never worked in a covern. I have cast spells and worked in ritual, either way, I learn new things each day and long may this remain so

I had a great aunt who was considered a white witch. She lived on a tiny island of the coast of Scotland called Luing. She used to gather herbs early in the morning and make her potions. The villagers all used them for their various ills instead of going to the mainland. When she used to make her very infrequent visits I also wanted to talk with her about being a "good" witch but as she only spoke Gaelic that wasn't possible. My brother visited her on the island and seemingly she was loved and trusted by all. I was a little scared of her as she looked like an evil witch as she was very ugly but also very kind.

I mostly read and talk with others. I don't think of myself as a wiccan or witch, just someone that believes that nature should come first. I do celebrate Samhain and All Hallows Eve but that's something that I've done since I was a teen. As far as spells, I have tried a few and was pleased with the results but I am careful to never delve into areas that cross the lines of nature (meaning getting greedy or trying to get ahead without trying).

I started to experiment with the practices around the time I was about twelve. Mostly it was curiosity and rebellion against my Christian upbringing, but as I grew up, I fell in lover with nature and that was the thing that held me on my spiritual path. I really got into it more deeply after I'd gone on and started my own family. I became very tied to my ancestral roots, and the practices of my foremothers.

i was brought up in it. it was a very eye opening experience for me. when i first started out i was safer practicing on my own. when i first joined a coven it was really difficult for me, i wasnt used to the atmosphere. i perfer to go at it alone and work things out on my own. everyone does it all differently.

I just grew up with it being normal. when we lost things we were taught little charms to find them again. my cousins and I would play at potion making, and spent a lot of time outside. we grew up spending a lot of time on farms, playing in the woods a lot, and got used to seeing the seasons turn first hand. little spells and charms we just sort of picked up as we went along. when we learnt to cook things we learnt charms to make the food turn out right. frm my nan we learned about hexcraft, and how not to use it, but precautions to take when it was all you had left to turn to. my uncle followed a heathen tradition, so from him we were taught about the Nine Virtues. a fine moral code to live by. we learnt about gardening, about herbs, there's be a tea for this, or for that. so basically we just picked it up growing up from the people around us. in my teens I got involved with a developmental mediumship circle where I trained as a medium. these skills proved very useful in Witchcraft too. to this day I follow a very Traditional Witchcraft path, inspired by old english folk magic.