The Question

I get this question at least once a month so I'll try to remember to answer it here from time to time. If you want to find out about Wicca, witchcraft, witches, there are several ways to go about it.

One way is to start from the vision and work towards the practical. Read The Mists of Avalon and The Fifth Sacred Thing first and then, move towards the history, reading The Chalice and the Blade and Drawing Down the Moon. Finally, go for the practical, reading The Spiral Dance, Twelve Wild Swans, and The Circle Within.

Or, you can start with Spiral Dance, Twelve Wild Swans, and The Circle Within and then, grounded in reality and theory, you can go towards history, reading The Chalice and the Blade and Drawing Down the Moon. After that, if you're still interested, you can check out how it's supposed to feel by reading The Mists of Avalon and The Fifth Sacred Thing.

Others may want to experience "it" for themselves. Witchvox has public rituals in your area, as do most Radical Fairy sites and, if you're ready for a week-long experience, you can try one of the Reclaiming witcamps in your area. Jump in. Experience. If you like what you feel, you can read later to fill in the gaps.

Personally, I 'd wait on The White Goddess, The Golden Bough, Aradia, and Uncles Gerald's and Crowley's various tomes, although, Goddess knows, many and many a better witch than I started there.

I also read quite a bit of Bachofen and Carol Christ in my early days, but those early days predated the web and the wide-availability of materials on witchcraft. There's a lot of crap out there and you can find it on the shelves of any Borders' Books or B. Dalton's. Actually, once you know something about witchcraft, The Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells can be a great book, but it's sure not where I'd start.

Mostly, though, you need to dive in.

Stand still. Take a deep breath. Feel your feet sending deep roots into the ground and pull energy up from the ground. Pull that energy up into your body, feeling it warm and bless every cell in your body. Call on fire, water, earth, and air to guard you well and keep you fair. Look to the center of the circle that surrounds you and ask Mother Earth to guide you. There. Now, you're a witch. What would you like to read?