�There is more than one way up the great Mountain of Life�

So you want to become a Wiccan now, but you aren�t sure where you should start? Well, the best place to start is at the beginning. Learn all you can about Wicca, but don�t ignore other religious possibilities either. Feel drawn to oak groves, and the word England excites you? Try looking up things on Druidism. Feel more like a warrior than a healer? Look for Norse/Germanic based information, such as Asatru. Wicca has its own warriors, but it is hard to find information of these things. Now, as more men are learning about the religion, more books and websites are being written that embrace this aspect of humanity. There is a book called Wiccan Warrior, by who, I do not know. I don�t know if it is a good source for those looking to become a protector, but it is worth a look. But I digress.

Here is a list of well-written books that I have read and learned from about the Wiccan Path. Not all of the information found in them will help you, and some of it will be conflicting. Wiccans do not adhere to a specific dogma, someone who lives out in the country, raises their own food, plants trees daily, and dances underneath the moon nightly is no more a Wiccan than my dog, if they do not understand why they do these things. But someone who lives in an apartment in a huge city, has never seen a cow, and cannot dance under the moon because they have a 9-5 job and must sleep at night is a Wiccan if they understand they are an integral part of Nature, and try their best to live in harmony with the things around them.

All right. So you�ve read The Spiral Dance, memorized To Ride A Silver Broomstick, and are saving avidly for your own copy of Drawing Down the Moon. You are probably asking. �Ok, I have thought this over, I have asked whatever sorts of Other Forces I believe in if this is the correct Path for me, I�ve said a prayer to the Goddess, and feel like She has given me the �go ahead� signal. What do I do now?�

Well, you do what you have been doing all along. Learn. Read more. Try out a ritual. And if you wish, write a personal dedication to the Goddess & God. If you have found a particular deity that calls to you, Isis, Diana, Cerunnos, Apollo, whoever, dedicate yourself to Their service. We do not �worship� our deities, in the sense that we kneel before them and mumble prayers to the effect of �Oh, you are so great and I am but a worm.� We don�t believe that sort of self-defeatism gets us anywhere. A more correct word would be that we CELEBRATE our deities. We thank them for their blessing in our lives, and we strive to live our lives as a celebration of their influence upon us. If we choose Athena, Greek Goddess of Wisdom as our patron deity, we do not hide in the darkness, refusing to see, perceive, or learn anything. We look around us, we seek to understand ourselves, and our surroundings. If we choose Ra, Lord of the Sun, to celebrate, we incorporate sun-based symbols and works into our daily lives.

Wicca is not about separating the magickal from the mundane, but integrating them together to become one smooth running machine. People always ask me "What kind of spells do you cast." and it always makes me kind of blink and go, "Oh yeah, the things I do are called "spells." Magick is so much a part of my life, a part of ME, that I sometimes forget the rest of the world doesn't do the same things I do. When I use chakra healings, and draw healing energy up from the earth to make my husbands headache go away, or to help someone relax, I don't think of it casting a "spell" Even when I go before my altar, and light my candles, and say my poems and concentrate on good fortune and happiness for my family, I don't think of it as a spell. Its just something I can do. When someone wants to get a job, they submit resumes, they search the paper, they go out and talk to people. When a Wiccan wants to get a job, they submit resumes, they search the paper, they go out and talk to people, and they cast a job finding spell as well. Its just one more avenue to exert your energy in. This, however, can sometimes lead to doubt. "Did doing that spell help me get the job, or was it my friend bringing over that paper with the great job in it?" Spells are never supposed to be instant fixes. We would LIKE to be able to cast fireballs, and teleport ourselves to Auntie Agnes's house, but due to the innate unmagickalness of this world, we cannot. What we can do is gently bend the energy around us, to make us more magnetic to getting a job, or more repellent to pain and suffering. If we cast our spell, and then sit on the couch and never submit a resume, we aren't going to get that job. Doubt is one of the most prevalent things you will face. Everywhere you turn, people will tell you that magick isn't real, that it is a sin, and you will go to hell for "pretending" to cast spells. These people will never sit within a protective circle, will never say a small, heartfelt prayer to the Goddess, and then suddenly be overcome with peace and happiness, from where, we cannot see, but we just Know that there is something there, giving us this gift of love and harmony. These are the moments when we know we have made the right choice in our Path, and that we are blessed.

Wiccans, and most Pagans are intensely individualist people. We do not blindly follow anyone, or anything. We are always seeking to know, to understand. If there is one "sin" in Wicca, it is ignorance. We are victims of ignorance and prejudice, (Remember the Burning Times?) and it should be something we keep far from our own homes. Before we judge anyone, Wiccan, Christian, Satanist, Atheist, Black, White, Green, or Purple, we should strive to learn as much as we can about them as a person, about their beliefs, and about the things they know. Having a finger pointed at you, and saying "No! Not me!" and pointing to the nearest random person is childish, ignorant, and something this world has much trouble with.

One more note. Wicca is a religion. It is not a fad. It is not something to do to be "cool" We are not fluffy happy perky people. We have our own problems, we have our own faults, we have our own imperfections. We are grey witches, not white, or black. Our magick is used to heal others, and to protect ourselves against harm. I also believe that using our magick to reflect negativity back upon those who mean us harm is perfectly ethical. You are perfectly able to use magick to hurt someone, but remember the threefold law "Whatever you do comes back three times to you." If you are willing to accept this upon yourself, so be it.

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