What Concerns Did You Have About Learning Witchcraft or Wicca?

[Adrianus]

Whether you are new to witchcraft or Wicca, or a fully trained witch or Wiccan, I would be very interested in having your response to two questions. These questions are in reference to when you began learning witchcraft or Wicca.

You may answer one or both questions, whatever you may wish to respond to. Note - There are no right or wrong answers.

1) What are/were your concerns about learning witchcraft or Wicca?

2) What is/was your main obstacle when practicing witchcraft or Wicca?

[Snapdragon]

1. I was concerned that I would encounter and have to deal with some people who were dangerous or at least unpleasant. This ranged from the anticipated occasional psychotic person, to the more common "magickal blowhard" and general pain in the patootie.

These days, my main concern is to encounter people who are on the level about Wicca, and not just "pop Wiccans."

2. There were no obstacles to speak of, and there still aren't; perhaps I don't understand this question well enough.

Hope that helps.

[aluokaloo]

1. I was concerned that I didn't have the patience to be a practicing witch, at one point I was afraid I couldn'tdo magick at all. I was also afraid of unleashing or meeting some uber powerful demon.

2. My greatest obstacles in witchcraft...I'm a procrastinator, so self-discipline is a big thing for me, in all arenas of life and to a lesser degree I'm a timid witch, I refuse to go or step anywhere until I am good and ready. I'm not like a lot of my bolder witch friends ready to take on anything that comes there way.

[Lolair]

1) What are/were your concerns about learning witchcraft or Wicca?

2) What is/was your main obstacle when practicing witchcraft or Wicca?

1. I was worried about taking misinformation as truth - which ended up being a legitimate worry as there is so much fakelore out there in many pagan books on on more than half of the websites out there. How did I get around it? I read as much as possible, every different opinion I could find - and if possible I went straight to the source (Gardner, Valiente, Crowley...) and to historical rather than occult books.

2. I have never had any obstacles in personal practice - there's no excuse not to, and I've heard every excuse: "I don't have the right tools", "I don't know any spells", "I've never read a book"... The tools you need for magic are all around you in nature, spells and workings you should able to create yourself, and you don't need a book to DO witchcraft. I think my only obstacle has been my habit of getting jaded on occassion with the witchcraft community and wanting nothing to do with any of it for periods of time. Someone usually brings me out of it though ;).

[Tigerlily]

1) What are/were your concerns about learning witchcraft or Wicca?
I was afraid of doing something wrong during ritual and causing something negative to happen.

2) What is/was your main obstacle when practicing witchcraft or Wicca?
Keeping it hidden from my parents.

[RainInanna]

1) What are/were your concerns about learning witchcraft or Wicca?

I didn't have concerns about it. I was looking around the Yahoo! directory about a decade ago, happened upon Wicca & Witchcraft from the Paranormal sections, and found it interesting.


2) What is/was your main obstacle when practicing witchcraft or Wicca?

There have been a few - practicing alone, not having a coven nearby, not being able to work with fertility imagery due to personal infertility, fear of attracting nasty spirits due to stories I'd been told.

[Jackabo]

1) What are/were your concerns about learning witchcraft or Wicca?
I was mostly concerned over whether or not the information I was getting was what it said it was and was accurate.



2) What is/was your main obstacle when practicing witchcraft or Wicca?
Mixed messages brought on by obviously bad sources of learning. Not in the are of practice, I've never really had any huge obstacles when it comes to actual practice, but I like knowing where what I'm doing came from, how, and why.

[Nocturna]

The answer to both questions for me would concern a weird battle between my attraction to magic and spirituality and my skepticism and cynicism that it might be just bunk. I tried to cultivate a pretty hard-core rationalist world-view for a time, but I kept feeling that there was a lot in the world that still can’t be measured in a lab. It was difficult for me to convince myself to make the leap from an intellectual interest in Wicca to actual practice, and the doubts still interfere at times.

[Adrianus]

Thanks all for your responses. In case you're wondering, perhaps I should answer these questions as well.

1. I think that perhaps my experience was unusual. I came into Traditional Witchcraft slowly while a student in London. I have never had concerns at all. I first found it all rather strange but it was always enjoyable and exciting. In fact, perhaps because I did like those in the group (or coven) very much, I trusted them implicitly and never really questioned their motives or integrity. Except for a friend, they were also very much older than me.

2. I can't really say that I have any notable obstacles. For me, it's all very straight forward.


I find this topic of concerns and obstacles very interesting. I hope you do as well. Please do continue to post your thoughts.

[Tanya]

i had none... xcept that its hard t find someplace to be skyclad in a city.....

i dated aa when i was first learning who was catholic, and he was a bit freaked... thought i was a satanist.....
went to church with him.. i loved his faith in his religion, th best aspects of it were in his heart and soul.. and i suppose that i crossed the threshold, prayed with him and valued his beliefs allayed his fears of devil worship.


of course.. along with the fact that i loved and respeced him as a human...i'm sure counted toward me... despite being a witch......

the older i get the less i even care.....

[Voyager]

1) My concern was not doing rituals correctly, or honoring the Goddess properly or doing spellwork in the manner it should be done. I practice solitary and was reading many books to learn. Since I didn't belong to a coven, I was concerned that my efforts were going no where. Through books, I discovered websites with people that guided me and made me more confident that all was ok.

2) The obstacle in the beginning was trying to keep it a secret. This proved impossible. When I found how accepted I was by family and friends, the obstacle was no more.

[angle kitsune]

1) not doing things right.
2)That would be getting crossed info from people believing their form and idea if what wicca was is the only one. For that reason I simply call myself Pagan not wiccan, I do not wish to be fighting over what 'wicca' is.