Day Thirty
Prompt: What advice do you have for beginner witches?
I feel like I touched on some of this on day 4, with things I wish I had known as a beginner, but I guess I could expand on this. This might end up being pretty ramble-y, I'm sorry lol.
My first piece of advice is to learn about as many different topics as you can when you first get started. You don't have to (and really shouldn't) get too in depth, it just helps to be aware of what's out there so you can figure out what you're interested in. I mentioned that a lot of witchcraft stuff online kind of goes "here are topics that are essential to know! Put all of this in your grimoire or book of shadows NOW!" and that I don't find that particularly helpful because, in my case and others I've talked to, it kind of lead to spending a lot of time reading and taking notes on stuff we had absolutely no interest in...but doing a little bit of research into what the topics actually are is a step I agree with. I feel like a lot of people get into witchcraft with a very specific idea of what they want to do and I think that's great, but there's so much out there, you might find out you're interested in something else as well.
I mention that you don't have to be a Wiccan in my day 4 prompt response as well, but you also don't have to be any sort of religion. You can just be a witch. I reject the concept of "secular" witchcraft because witchcraft, by definition, is a spiritual practice and cannot be secular. The definition of secular is "attitudes (etc) with no religious or spiritual basis". You can be a non-religious witch (and many are), but not a secular one. Back to my point...you don't have to be Wiccan, but you don't even need to be a pagan or believe in any deities or spirits. That's fine.
You don't have to be part of a coven, but if you want to be, I suggest not joining one right away. The beginning of your witchcraft journey is the time when your interests and ideas are the least stable and it's a good idea to figure out what you actually want before jumping into something as committed as a coven. I've never been part of a coven, so I can't really speak on the topic in any depth...but my advice is to wait and learn. It isn't a race, you can take your time.
You need to take most things you see with a grain of salt. Compare sources to each other, figure out where information came from (since a lot of really popular assertions are misinformation that has persisted for generations...mostly because of Magaret Murray, but this isn't the time for all of that), sort out what is and is not useful to you. You should look at a variety of sources and get a diversity of perspectives...which can be hard, considering witchcraft is dominated by middle class cis white women (and most of the older books are written by cishet white men). They're not bad sources, obviously a person's demographics aren't what make them a bad source, it's just hard to get a diversity of perspectives...but you should give it the ole college try or whatever. A lot of witchcraft practices that are taken for granted are appropriated (ie smudging...not all smoke cleansing is smudging, however) and a lot of authors don't care about that, unfortunately.
Correspondence lists are helpful, but you should make your own associations over time through reading and personal experience. I talk about this a little bit in my day 4 post, so I won't really talk about this point too much. Also deities should not be on those lists. They're powerful beings worthy of reverence and admiration, not ingredients.
You shouldn't buy stuff just because a lot of other witches recommend it/also buy those things. If you know what spells you will likely cast in the future, having those materials on hand is useful and encouraged (you can just get herbs at the grocery store, by the way. don't fall into the consumerist trap). If you know you'll need specific tools and know how to use them, then that's fine. I do encourage people to use what they already have when possible.
I do think having an altar is essential, but it doesn't need to be permanent. It just needs to be a spot you have dedicated (at least at the moment) to doing your spellwork/divination/et cetera. I talk about this in my page on altars. The entire page is written from a specifically pagan perspective (ie the altar is for connecting with deities), but I think a lot of it can apply here as well. I might add a section about witchcraft altars on there as well, actually. Maybe it'll already be there if you're reading this page sometime in the future (ie after July 14th, 2025).
Regarding deities, they should not be considered "advanced" and it irks me that people consider "deity work" (just say you're worshiping them...) to be this super risky, advanced type of "work" like toddlers weren't worshiping Athena in ancient Greece. You don't hear Christians, Jews or Muslims saying "you cannot pray to God until you are sufficiently knowledgeable...who knows what could happen to you otherwise..." so, I don't know why pagan witches act like our gods will smite us to death immediately if we aren't perfect and have PhD levels of witchcraft knowledge. You're fine. If you feel drawn to any gods, read about them and approach them with sincerity and respect (what is considered respectful can vary). You also don't have to wait around for a deity to "reach out", that is not actually a very common experience. You can worship or "work with" (if you insist on that terminology) whomever you want (as long as you aren't participating in cultural appropriation or being disrespectful). Sincerity matters more than anything when it comes to connecting with deities.
I'm sure there's other stuff, but this is what comes to mind right now.
Aaaand that's day 30! If you took the time to read any of these prompts, I really appreciate it!