I had an email from a client recently who wanted to investigate witchcraft further. He asked some excellent questions and for some recommendations from me on books that would give him solid information. Here are the questions I answered plus my short reading list (for beginners).

How did you know you were a witch?

I was born a witch. I have witchcraft from both sides of my family and my mother has always been a quiet daughter of Isis (Egyptian witchcraft). I was raised without any religious affiliation and told from a very early age (four, I think) that I was welcome to make my own decision regarding religion but that my parents were not especially enamored with Christianity, specifically Catholicism, which had excommunicated my father for marrying my mother (yes they used to do that in the early sixties!). I was offered information on just about everything (my mother kept the paganism light but she always stressed a connection with nature and animals) and when I was a teenager I decided I wanted to practice an earth-based religion so I joined a coven of witches in the Gardnerian tradition (through a family friend) and I became an initiate.

It took three years (not in a row) to become a High Priestess but I no longer practice Wicca in the religious aspect because I became Buddhist. This actually had an even more positive reflection upon my witchcraft since becoming an eclectic allowed me to practice all the mysteries I had always been attracted to like Faerie, Hoodoo, Voudon, Romany and Sino-Nipponese.

It took me years to accept that I was a witch. It isn’t instant. It takes years of study and discovery. I really never felt my power until I was in my late twenties. Being a witch follows very closely the Triple Aspect of the Goddess - Maiden, Mother and Crone. At least it has for me!

How did you learn to cast spells?

I learnt from the coven’s Book of Shadows and then the family notes my mother kept as well. For over 20 years I have kept my own books too. Study, trial and error, friends and mysteries that are handed down in the oral tradition all become part of my Book of Shadows.

Casting spells takes nothing but practice and you definitely need a predilection for it. You must have a natural ability (like with any craft - some people just have a knack for certain things) for spells to work.

You can’t learn spells from books, don’t make that mistake. They can teach you how to craft spells but spells need to come from you and need to be honed and developed over time. Most books on witchcraft have tons of spells in them but until you are crafting your own spells, using your own knowledge and words, they will lack power, imagination, focused will and intention.

What books do you recommend for a beginner?

1.  To Ride A Silver Broomstick: New Generation Witchcraft  by Silver RavenWolf

2.  To Stir a Magick Cauldron: A Witch’s Guide to Casting and Conjuring  by Silver RavenWolf

3.  To Light A Sacred Flame: Practical Witchcraft for the Millennium  by Silver RavenWolf

Many witches would disagree with me regarding Silver’s books, they’d say she practices “fluffy bunny witchcraft”. I disagree. These books are a full-course in Witchcraft 101 that are light on the dogma and give a terrific overview of the craft. Don’t take everything Silver says as gospel but she gives a great foundation.

4.  Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation  by Silver RavenWolf

This book is a compendium of further study into witchcraft and is practical for novices and even advanced students. It’s a huge heavy tome but has everything you need to go through the first degree of witchcraft (avoid books that go through the “year and a day” approach - it is better to get your information culled from other sources unless you have joined a coven).

I don’t recommend a coven however until you’ve done some study first. For instance I never would have put three years into the Gardnerian tradition if I had studied first to find where I really felt comfortable.

I hope these answers give some guidance. Feel free to comment below or visit me at mysticspells.com and try my Ask Amita feature!

Many people who meet me in person are shocked to find out what I do for a living. What I get mostly is - uh, wow, you don’t look like a witch! I often wonder if people think I should look like the Wicked Witch of the West. Since the Goth look is very popular among pagans perhaps that is how they envision a witch- black nail-polish, lots of pentacle jewelry, dyed red hair and eccentric outfits. In that case I look nothing like a witch, I look like your average Suburban Housewitch.

It is not that I don’t like the goth look. Well not to wear certainly in my daily life. At 40 I am little past the age for costume dressing. However I do like many goth things: books, dolls, jewelry, films etc. It is a wonderful expression of the darker side of life but in a fantastical way and I appreciate that.

For me personally though witchcraft is not a look but a life. Not lifestyle because there is really no style that accompanies how witchcraft fits into my life. It is similar to how Buddhism is part of my life - it just is. It guides everything I do, think, feel. I am aware of it always. Yet to the outside eye no one would take a look at me and think, oh, she’s a Buddhist nor would they think, oh, she’s a witch. I prefer that, especially in a town where most people are practicing Christians who might not have the level of tolerance needed to welcome a pagan believer.

At Samhain however, I do go all out with dressing Goth; we all do in my family!  It’s fun to celebrate the dark side of witchcraft on All Hallows Eve. One year my sister-in-law had deep purple hair! This year I am eager to see what my niece comes up with. I think I might use a really red hair dye myself just to shake things up. I do have beautiful pagan jewelry that I love to wear and very witchy outfits reserved just for the sabbat.

Many of my sister and brother witches across the world are low-key like me. You’d never know to look at them that they go home from their corporate and professional jobs to light candles on an altar and practice witchcraft.  We are kind of sneaky witches. But we are out here, oh yes. And we are making magick. We just don’t look like it.