Does anyone know of some great online resources for beginner Wicca?

I have been studying the arcane arts for 35 years. My advice is to read as much online as you possibly can, and discover for yourself what works for you and what doesn’t.

Many people believe that it is best to be mentored by a real person, but I don’t subscribe to that belief, unless you wish to be part of a recognized group. I prefer to be an at large practitioner, in other words, unaffiliated.

@YARNLADY : I’m always so excited when I see you have responded to one of my questions :) I think my biggest issue right now is that I’m becoming overwhelmed with the abundance of information that is out there. I am a solitary practitioner and eclectic wiccan so I can relate to your “at large” statement, hehe which I quite enjoy! I really appreciate your advice, as always, and agree that I need to discover what works and doesn’t work for me :)

It’s one of the many things that I have come to love about Wicca, it’s so easily tailored to the individual <3

Honestly, I found most online resorces to be severely lacking. They often were incomplete and contradictory. My best initial resource was Complete Idiot’s Guide To Wicca And Witchcraft and a couple others that I’m having trouble finding – they may be out of print or on a new edition and that’s why I don’t recognize the covers on Amazon.

Congrats on being a solitary practitioner.

I’ve often read about Wicca and I have always been fascinated by it. I just find it hard to think of really doing anything with it, since I was brought up in a baptist church. I can’t stand organized religion/the church, but I do still believe in God. It’s difficult for me to put God and Wicca together.

Witchvox

Circle Sanctuary

And, @WillWorkForChocolate, most Wiccans believe in a God, too, just like a Goddess. ;) And that all paths lead to the same center. You may wish to read about the connection between Jesus and the Green Man, for instance, and the Pagan origins of the Christ myth. It’s all about PR!

@HeatherGrace My advice is only for the initial learning period. You can quickly rule out the nonsense, and after some study (probably about six months) find the ones that are the most useful.

I don’t know of any online resources myself, but I find that books by Scott Cunningham are extremely helpful for a beginner Wiccan. One thing you have to watch out for is the nuts. Unfortunately, there are a lot out there who like to write books about Paganism and Wicca. Scott Cunningham was not one of those unfortunately, he is now deceased. He is practical and places a lot of emphasis on how your personal spirituality is only as good as what you put it into it.

Perhaps the best thing that I can say about Scott Cunningham is that at least he’s a little better than $ilver Ravenwolf.

@laureth: I don’t read anything of Silver Ravenwolf’s. I’m sorry that you and I disagree about Scott Cunningham.

@KatawaGrey, I used to agree with you about Scott Cunningham. He’s not the worst place for a beginner to start. I started with him, Buckland, and Starhawk myself. Where I take issue with his work is that he’s like a thieving magpie, pecking out the shiny bits from any cultural source that didn’t run away fast enough, and leaving behind any context and all that which gave meaning to the shiny bit. It would be sort of like saying that since parsley dipped in salt water means “tears” to the Jews celebrating Passover, you can use that as a symbol of sadness when remembering the Trail of Tears walked by the Cherokees. Well, you could, I guess, but it does a disservice to both the Jewish and Cherokee cultures.

Cunningham has become something like a “brand” of Llewellyn’s. A lot of “his” work has been put out since his death, and I have to wonder if he really wrote all of it. Cunningham’s eclectic works seem to be a phase that all new Wiccans must go through, when they first get into the belief that Nature is pink in gum and paw.

I believe in free thought and the freedom of religion as long as no one gets hurt. I hope you don’t mind my saying, but I think “modern” witchcraft won’t solve the problems of the 21st century.

@mattbrowne : I don’t mind your comment; but I’m not here to “solve the problems of the 21st century”; I’m here to enjoy my life.

@HeatherGrace – No, I don’t mind. I respect your choice trying to enjoy your life. But this will also depend on how we all as a society handle the problems we are facing. We need science to accommodate for a growing population. I probably don’t know enough about the Wicca religion. It’s just that the idea of modern witchcraft sends a chill down my spine.

@mattbrowne : I agree 100%, we as humans need to pull our heads out of.. well, you know. Science will solve many things, as it’s researched and discovered. However, this is not where I’m strong. I basically say to “leave it to the experts”. I’m hoping to contribute by being a good person, recycling, consuming less and wasting less. Then eventually becoming a good mother and teaching my children those values. I believe in the power of positive energy and positive thinking and Wicca has given me a way to amplify that for me. What works for one not necessarily works for another. I just hope to change my little slice of life :)

@HeatherGrace :-)

@mattbrowne – many people equate witchcraft (modern or otherwise) with superstition, eyeless newts, and the like. However, while there is an element of magickal thought in Wicca, I’ve found that it’s equivalent to the amount of magickal thought in, say, Christianity. (Spells and prayers, once you understand the workings, are very much alike, excepting that a prayer is like asking a favor in a passive way and a spell is asking a favor in an active way.)

After you get past that, I’ve also found that Wiccan belief has a lot to offer the 21st century, in many of the ways that @HeatherGrace wants to contribute. When you see the Sacred as being right here-and-now, as Wiccans tend to do (personifying the Earth and life as something sacred, to be protected), it incentivizes things like ecological awareness and conscious consumption, both of which are what the world needs to think about more than ever. On the other hand, when one views the Sacred as apart and away from the here-and-now (as some do, who concentrate on a distant Deity and afterlife as opposed to present life), one may tend to view this world as something to be used up and thrown away on the path to something “better.”

And then, what’s left? A kind of spiritual practice which provides guidance and comfort. Can’t fault that, if it’s what a person needs to get through the long dark night.

@mattbrowne: Why should we eschew a religious/spiritual belief simply because it’s not scientific? What do you think of the atheists who don’t do anything scientific?

As I said, I probably don’t know enough about the Wicca movement and it might be quite different from openly anti-science forms of religions or psychics who claim they really see the future inside a crystal ball. I checked the web and read a bit about Wiccan beliefs and there seem to be a lot of pantheistic elements in it. The problem with the term ‘witch’ might be that a lot of people associate this with burning women at the stake during the dark ages. But I realize that Wiccans understand it differently.

One important reason for having religions is that they deal with deep questions that cannot be answered by science. I fully embrace this approach. The issue isn’t about not being scientific, it is about being openly anti science or not, like young-earth creationism for example who even attempts to change the curriculum of public schools.

From what I read on the web I think Wiccan beliefs can help people live a spiritual life. And this is a good thing.