How to Be a Witch

The term "witch" is tossed around a lot these days. There are plenty of books and websites on witchcraft available. Unfortunately an idea that a lot of these resources ignore is that "witch" was originally a title of respect meaning "wise one". While it is wonderful that so many people now aspire to this role, the path is longer and harder than some might like to think. Still, although the process of becoming a witch is challenging, it's fairly simple to understand.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Be morally upstanding. Witchcraft has no dogma, but many witches believe in concepts similar to karma which indicate that the results of our actions come back to us in the future. Several major ethical principles followed by most witches include not doing harm, not lying and not compelling others to do things they would not want to do. Actually living by these principles at all times can be surprisingly challenging, but it will certainly help in the development of wisdom.

2. Be a pagan. While not all pagans are witches, it's hard to be a witch without first being a pagan. Most witches interact with various gods and spirits and have a deep reverence for nature.

3. Be as healthy as possible. While good health is not a requirement for being a witch, witches were traditionally health care providers in their communities. In order to learn to function in this role, an aspiring witch should at least be aware of good health practices and should probably study more deeply topics such as modern health care, energy work, herbalism and alternative medicine.

4. Practice divination. Most witches have some familiarity with systems like tarot or runes that are used to read the future and get intuitive advice. You can eventually learn to use these systems to do readings for other people, but in the meantime practicing on yourself can be very beneficial. Besides getting divination experience, you will probably get some useful guidance on how to proceed with your practice.

5. Learn to cast spells. This is the part that drives a lot of people to want to be a witch, but it's obviously not the only aspect. Spell casting can be fun and useful, but remember the ethical principles--yes, this means love spells and hexes are out, at least in most cases.

6. Keep studying. The process of becoming a witch is never really done. Learn more about history, comparative religion, different cultures, nature, health, magic, and anything that interests you. Work hard at what you choose to do, and increasing wisdom is sure to follow.

Tips & Warnings

• There are many, many books available on the specific topics mentioned above. If you're serious about becoming a witch, read some of them.
• Don't think that being a witch is something that can be accomplished overnight.
• Don't think that being a witch is an excuse to act unethically--in fact, the more power you have, the more you are obligated to use it wisely.

[Blackinkheart]

on 11/26/2008 Great article :)!