Hey,
As a good agnostic I’m taking my high school years to do a tour of religions, listening to the followers and waiting for one that seems to have the answers. Tried Christianity. Nope. Tried Satanism. Nope. Tried New Age. Best one yet…
Anyways, today I purchased a Young Wiccan Starter Kit or something along those lines. It came with the basics; a pentacle, a crystal, sea salt, a silver bell, some divining tools, an altar, and a big book full of Wiccan beliefs and ideas.
I give all these religions an honest try, I’m gonna read the book and then get in touch with a local Wiccan group.
Any advice for starting down the path? How did you start out? What made you sure that this was the right belief system for you?
Any other comments that you think would be helpful are nice too.
Lucky Charms
IANAW, but I have pagan tendencies. In case you didn’t know, Wicca is a subset of paganism - kind of how Catholicism is to christianity. There are numerous ways to worship/practice/observe and some groups are more dogmatic than others. Personally, I found Wicca to be too detail oriented for me and prefer a looser style of spirituality. I basically do my own thing, but enjoy attending larger open gatherings from time to time.
I suggest you read The Spiral Dance by Starhawk. It and my sister’s influence got me started, plus finding other people who were into it that I respected. If you enjoyed the ritual aspects of the other religions you tried, then I think you will find many parts of Wicca to your liking. Not all groups are open to newcomers, but they should at least be able to point you in the right direction.
Overall, I hope you take what works for you and discard the rest, no matter how many religions you explore.
Bright blessings on your journey,
sWitchazel
A good resource is www.witchvox.net. They have a geographical listing of covens, groups, and solitaries who are interested in meeting others. The lists are pretty comprehensive, and cover a wide range of Neopagan groups, not just Wiccans. Most of the well-established groups will have a short description of the type of path they follow; you can often show up for a meeting of some sort before you join anything, so you know whether you like these folks.
There are a lot of different groups out there - and like people anywhere, some are great and some are not-so-great. Feel free to check out several before you commit.
Good luck!
Just so you know you really do have a choice, there are currently 2,167 groups listed for California alone, and I know of several groups that aren’t on the list yet. Apparently, we’re everywhere.
Obviously the OP is a joke but I really like the following link so I’ll post it anyway. Try The Religion Selector.
NP: Six Feet under - True Carnage