Wicca

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     I have finally decided to learn about Wicca.  I have always been interested in it but never quite willing to take those steps to learn more for fear of being cast out and ridiculed.  But I had always been talked to about Wicca by my mom, and she said we had a lot of witches in the family. 

     I am doing what is called Christopaganism, I am taking my Lutheran learnings and belief in God and Christ and adding my Wicca beliefs of earth magick, God and Goddess and Nature.  It's been quite a journey so far.  Balancing them both but I picked up a wonderful book on ChristoPaganism by Botham to read about other's journeys to see if I can glean some ideas.

     I have been more comfortable in my skin and feel more at peace now that I have been practicing Wicca.  I feel a lot closer to Nature and my God/God and Godess.  I figure before there was Christianity it was what is now referred to as Paganism.  But who is to say which is right?  You can argue both paths.  On one hand "violence" rise there aren't wars about the ancient beliefs but there has been massive wars for Christianity and I just don't think  God is after death.

    So I'm changing my whole out look on life and religion as well as changing myself too. And I'm happier than I've ever been.  I also managed to find a great group that teaches Wicca in my area.  A good resource to use for your area to locate groups is www.MeetUp.com .  You can find any kind of groups in your area, in fact I even joined two books clubs there. I also found a great group online to join up that they give out lots of great information to learn.

         There are lots of things to learn about Wicca including the Calendar:
                                                            



  I study and practice Celtic Wicca in honour of my heritage: Scott/Irish/German/Norse and Cherokee Indian.  So I have a really great book to use in this instance.  I have weeded out what I do and don't like in Wicca.  But the most important thing you need to remember is " Do what ye will as long as ye harm none", you can transfer this over to the 10 Commandments also. So there are lots of similarities, and in fact the original "sign" for Christianity wasn't the cross, it was a pentagram.  I have one that I wear, it is a pentagram on top of the Tree of Life, so it's very personal for me.

I will be including some great books and resources here and I welcome any questions, if I don't know the answer I do know someone who does.

Here are some great books that I have found to be helpful and links to Amazon.com:
 Solitary Witch            Celtic Myth & Magick         ChristoPaganism         Wicca and Witchcraft        Wiccan Mysteries
 Earth, Air, Fire and Water       Wicca a Guide      Your Alter this is the best book I have found for altars

For my altar I used a plain 2 foot by 4 foot one inch thick piece of pine I got at Home Depot, unstained.  I haven't stained it yet, but it is working well just left unfinished.  I also have a lot of plants around my altar and use them in spells and enhancements, since they are now "powered".  And they tend to grow a lot better with all the rites going on there with them.

Spells you say?  Well, you can get spells all over the place, I rarely do them. Unless it's important.  Be very careful when doing a spell, you must have a magick circle to work in, this is to protect the magick you have coming and yourself to keep "unwanted" visitors from interrupting you.  You must also know what you are doing with your spell.  Remember, even though there are songs about it there is no such thing as a Love Spell, and you don't want to force someone into loving you.  There are however, plenty of "Bring Love to me" spells.  I have used one and found myself, so I took this as God/Godess wanted me to work on myself, so this is my new path for now.  Once I have gotten myself to where I want to be and love myself, then I will do one to attract true love. 


Always remember that "What ever you put out there or do will come back to you 3 fold".  This is very powerful, so I never do a spell without concentrating on what I want to accomplish and always inside a magickal circle.

For Spell books I just picked up: The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 spells.  There are many books you can use, and any book by Silver Raven Wolf is definately worth a look.  You can also make up your own spells, I found it easier to read about Wicca and spells before I started making up my own, I'm working on them now.  But it has given me a base to start with to read about others first.

Also I have found it very helpful to invest in an incense holder, I mostly do cone insense, and have a great one for purification that I burn before and during a rite.  There are many incense out there and you can pick and choose what works best for you.  You may also want to read a book on essential oils and learn what has what properties, a good book to start with is The Complete book of Essential oils and Aromatherapy. 

There are many places to buy aromatherapy scents and essential oils, even on-line. A few places I like to order are:
 Mountain Rose Herbs                 Pure Essential Oils               Ananda Apothecary

A great place to get information about Aromatherapy and Essential Oils is Aromaweb.com 

One thing to remember about Essential oils is that they may appear expensive but in reality you only use a few drops of them so that the price may only be a one time purchase and last you a year.   I have found I only buy the ones that I will use on repeated use, wether for spells or cleansing baths.

Also I like to use music to help during a ritual.  I use a lot of meditation music and celtic music. I find it helps to focus on what I'm doing and the music in the background helps.  I buy my cd's from Amazon.com or the store depending on what and where I find them.

One thing that I use a lot to help with rituals, make sure I'm on the right path are tarot cards.  There are very many of them to choose from.  From traditional to dragons to fairies.  I happen to us the Mystic Dreamers Tarot.  For a list of them from Amazon.com see Tarot Cards.




Art by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and entitled Midnight Iris