You might have a whole collection of reasons for wanting to study witchcraft, but on this page we are going to consider just one, the idea that it might be your own search for a path that suits you.

So we assume you are searching, to many it will be a little like visiting a spooky cave with a small torch that may go out at any time, but perhaps this adds excitement.

Please read this page even if this does not apply to you as it contains ideas we will not be repeating elsewhere.

Lets first look at how your ideas and beliefs have been formed to date.

Ignoring for the moment your first year after birth, inherited instincts and previous life effects, let us consider how a child learns.

They compare what they are being shown or told with the reality as they are experiencing it. They decide who they can trust, usually initially their mother, and then others close to them. 

From here on every new piece of knowledge is tested against what they already know, and considerable influence is given to who is telling it to them. However a young child has a far more open mind, and will accept a wider range of ideas than an older person. As they start to get older they start to  test information more and a wider range of people have influence, teachers, TV, magazines, friends, and they tend to conform to a herd, or group.

From here we move onto a more complex structure initially as teenagers, where roll sets kicks in, by this be mean that a person acts and behaves differently in different groups they are in, and this effect will continue throughout life. So a perfectly normal person can turn into a football yob when those around him do, or may join the police to serve the community but end up as a member of a tribe that is very much them against the rest of the world, and all ethics and original ideas can become quickly clouded and any action justified. Of course these individuals can still think for themselves and isolated will in discussions still give their own views, but will act as part of a group on other occasions.

We refer to it as roll sets as one individual may play many rolls, as lover, father, teacher, coach, and a member of the gang that will do anything for a laugh or dare. We can see therefore that an individual can be led into one action or an alternate one. 

If we put any random group of people into two groups, and give the two teams the same story except for one fact, we will get two distinctly different communities. The story is that they have been stranded as a group, and have to survive without outside help. One group will become capitalists, valuing the freedom of the individual and the other socialists putting the group before the individual. neither group would be able to understand the others view and would not get on. So what is the different piece of information? To one we say the environment is friendly and food is plentiful to the other the environment is tough and food in short supply.

If we look at people within the UK at extreme ends of the social spectrum we have some who live in large houses surrounded by high walls, who fear being robbed, and believe that anyone that breaks any law should be locked away for life to protect them. At the other end we have people with poor housing, on sink estates, where in many cases the only way they can see a lifestyle at all is to be at the wrong on of a legal system set up and run by the other group, and which they have no trust or respect. Many will have lost confidence in the system and may feel that when it comes their turn, they will be fitted up for some crime or other, and that if you are going to do the time anyway, then perhaps you may as well do the crime.

Added to this you, and I, have been greatly influenced or indoctrinated, some would say by religion pushed at you by schools, and other groups that you have belonged to, by events that have effected your family directly, by older friends, teachers who you respect, and the media.

We all seek to be special and individual and at the same time to be wanted, and part of a group. We are split between conforming and being a rebel.

You are unique, molded by a vast array of experience and pressures, searching out and solving problems. One noticeable feature of the human animal is that it seeks challenges and problems to solve, if it has a happy life, it nearly always does something to create itself more challenges and in many cases problems to overcome. The only way to stop it doing this is to give it a higher purpose, a specific challenge or to keep it so busy that it has no time to consider other options.

So you are seeking, looking for something, perhaps the meaning of life, perhaps a way to help you improve the quality of your life, or perhaps a way to understand and deal with a problem. So what can witchcraft do for you and which of the many traditions, or paths will be best suited for you?

An initial problem many have is accepting the free will aspect, the fact that you can choose which parts to believe and which not to, which ritual to participate in and which are not for you. The fact that you are your own priest and no one has the right to speak to god for you or to try to interpret her or his message for you. In many ways that the secrets are so simple and easy to learn and understand. 

Many are attracted to ritual, join the masons, go to church, or take up witchcraft looking for a set piece they can learn and perform. For many it is the magic of the ritual, most of which they do not understand that added a mystery or magic, add some singing and you have both a group or tribal activity, and the effect of extra oxygen on the brain which gives them all a buzz, the feel good factor, especially if they are then told that they are the chosen ones, the saved or have a special place at some time in the future.

So what about you.

What is your background, who has influenced you, have you so far had a good, bad or indifferent life. Where do you see your future, do you see it being exciting, enjoyable, challenging, or are you having to live a way to keep others happy that perhaps does not make you happy.

Do you see life as something that is enjoyed every day, as something to be endured so that you can get to weekends or holidays, as a trap, as something you live for others, as enjoyable, as painful, ......

Is life for you about survival, getting to the next fix, be it booze, drugs, group activity, TV soap episode, religion, music, or some other. 

What biases do you have, you may say you view everyone as equal, irrelative of race, color, religion etc, but is that deep down what you believe. 

What hang-ups do you have,  to TV, language, sex and nudity, how tolerant of others views are you 

Who do you really respect, does this line up logically with your other views. For example perhaps you believe in democracy, one person one vote, but fail to see any political leaders you respect, yet find some non elected people have honor and commitment to public good. How do you feel about people personally benefiting from office, elected, within a coven, or by appointments in some form. Would your view be the same if you were one of those with the position and ability to personally benefit. 

What is your attitude to sex, do you see it as something  that everyone knows most people do, but you never talk about, or snigger about. Do you see it as a mechanical form of reproduction, as a means of producing enjoyment, as a medical risk, as a need balanced people have, as a form of loving expression and what about it in rituals as a source for magic. What about nudity, are the two connected in your mind or are you a natural naturist and see little connection.

How do you deal with stress, and how in the future are you going to handle stress. Do you appreciate the difference between stress created by situations outside your control and adrenaline generation that you create, control and enjoy.

What roles are you playing, which do you enjoy, which do you see a need for, which are you just doing to keep others from having a go at you, which are a lie you are fooling yourself with. What new role or roles would you most like to have.

Are you confident, an extravert, nervous, an introvert or like most of all of these in deferent situations.

What do you want out of life, if I gave you three wishes or seven or ten, and could grant every one what would they be? would that make your life better for you, give you a feeling of achievement, a meaning of life, or just make your survival possible, more comfortable and add a range of new entertainments.

Consider love, do you love life, yourself, everyone, some groups, one or several individuals, and how does this love differ between each of these. 

What makes you special, what are your great grand children going to say was your life's achievements, would any one notice if you no longer existed. Is the world going to be a better place because you spent some years here?

You may not feel this has much to do with witchcraft as you understood it, but it does, we are starting the search from within you, understanding you, what makes you what you are today, and what you are both expecting and what you would like to see for the future.

Practical task

Please take some time to really consider seriously all the questions we have raised above, we want to introduce you to the opportunities to select paths, decide on skills that will be right for you, and so much more. You may want to extract the questions and note down answers.

Now try to come up with other questions and points that you feel helps to define who you are, what has made you what you are and what or where you would like your future to be. Try to avoid the how do I become a millionaire sort of question, or how do I marry a millionaire and concentrate more on the emotional front, about feelings, desires, enjoyments, fears.....

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