Nobody becomes a witch by buying a kit. A practice is built from attention and repetition, and the best way to begin is slowly. This plan asks for about ten minutes a day over four weeks, and it uses nothing that you do not already own.
Before you begin
- Find a notebook. Any notebook will do. Write the date at the top of each entry. In a year it will be the most valuable thing you own. Later you may copy the best of it into a Book of Shadows.
- Buy nothing yet. You cannot know what you need until you have practiced for a while.
- Keep your doubts. You are not required to believe anything in advance. Try each thing honestly and see what you notice.
- Tell people, or do not. This is your own business. Many people keep a private practice for years.
Week one: notice
The whole Craft rests on paying attention to the natural world, so that is where to start.
- Spend ten minutes outside every day, or at an open window. Leave your phone behind. Notice the light, the wind, the birds, and what is growing.
- Each evening, look for the moon. Check its phase with the panel on our moon page, then find it in the sky if you can.
- Write three lines in your notebook: the date, the moon phase, and one thing you noticed.
- During the week, read What Is Paganism?, What Is Wicca?, and What Is Witchcraft?
Week two: ground yourself and make a space
This week you will learn the single most useful skill in the Craft and set up a place to practice.
- Learn the tree exercise in our guide to grounding and centering. Do it for five minutes every day.
- Clear a small surface: a shelf, a windowsill, or the corner of a desk. This is your first altar.
- Place four things on it, one for each element. A stone or a dish of salt for Earth, a feather or a stick of incense for Air, a candle for Fire, and a cup of water for Water.
- Keep it clean and visit it daily, even if all you do is stand there and breathe. Our guide to the altar and tools has more ideas.
Week three: follow the moon and the season
Now connect your practice to the two great cycles that give it shape.
- Find the next festival on the Wheel of the Year and read its guide. Add one seasonal thing to your altar: a leaf, a flower, a fruit, or an evergreen sprig.
- Read about the eight phases of the moon and work out which one you are in.
- Choose one small intention that suits the phase. Under a waxing moon, choose something to build. Under a waning moon, choose something to let go.
- Light your candle, say the intention aloud in one sentence, and sit with it for a few minutes. Put the candle out safely. Write down what you did.
Week four: your first simple ritual
A ritual is a set of actions with a beginning, a middle, and an end. This one takes fifteen minutes.
A simple ritual
A dedication to learning
You will need
- Your altar with its four elements
- A candle and something safe to light it with
- Your notebook and a pen
What to do
- Tidy the space, and wash your hands and face.
- Ground and center, as you have practiced.
- Light the candle. Touch each of the four elements in turn and say a word of thanks to each.
- Say aloud, in your own words, that you are setting out to learn. You might say: "I come here to learn the old ways with an open mind and a careful heart. For the next year and a day, I will study, practice, and pay attention."
- Sit quietly for a few minutes. Notice how you feel.
- Give thanks, put out the candle, and ground again. Eat something.
- Write the date and your words in your notebook.
You have not promised yourself to any religion or tradition. You have promised to learn, and that is the right promise for a beginning.
After the first month
Keep the daily habits. They matter more than any ritual. Then follow your curiosity. If plants call to you, read about herbal magick. If you are drawn to cards, begin with tarot. If you long for ceremony, learn about casting a circle and keep the next sabbat.
Wicca has an old custom of studying for a year and a day before any formal commitment. It is a wise custom for everyone. In a year you will have seen every season and twelve or thirteen full moons, and you will know a great deal more about what you want.
Common beginner mistakes
- Buying before practicing. Tools do not make a witch. Attention does.
- Reading without doing. Ten minutes of practice teaches more than ten hours of reading.
- Comparing yourself to others. A beautiful photograph of an altar says nothing about the practice behind it.
- Rushing. Complex spells and work with deities can wait until the basics are steady.
- Ignoring safety. Never leave a flame unattended, and never eat a plant that you cannot identify with certainty.