Day Four
Prompt: What do you wish you had known as a beginner?
That you don't have to be Wiccan. When I was just getting started (around middle school so, 2009?), Wicca was conflated with witchcraft and was also the only pagan religion anybody ever wrote about. I didn't even know you could be a witch without being Wiccan or that other types of paganism existed. I was drawn to a lot of deities and thought I could only pick one god and one goddess. I thought that the Wiccan framework was the only framework, basically up until I graduated high school. I wasn't really a Wiccan anymore by that point, I was just vaguely a witch, but I didn't know of any other options until I discovered Hellenic polytheists on Tumblr (I think the first person who made me aware, ironically, was a Wiccan I followed with the username death-witch-envy). Then I was introduced to Kemetic pagans, Heathens, and the concept of reconstructionist paganism.
To get back to the actual question, there's plenty I wish I wouldn've known as a beginner besides the Wicca thing. A lot of it does tie back to Wicca because there's a lot of stuff that is Wiccan, but presented as just standard witchcraft/paganism (ie threefold law, blessed be, matron/patron deities, et cetera).
My next big thing, though, is that you should be making your own correspondence charts. Of course, that's definitely a bit difficult as a fresh beginner, but I'll explain. I think it's fine to use those lists and charts as a starting point, but you should also be wondering Why things are included. Is it folklore? Is it cultural? Is it just because the author feels that way? You should consider all perspectives and see which things come up often (particularly in varied sources) and figure out which correspondences make sense to you personally.
Another thing is that you don't have to learn about things just because they're related to witchcraft somehow. I always used to see posts that were like "here's a list of topics for you to explore in your grimoire, this is where you should start if you're a newbie!" and...actually, you should just read whatever you can get your hands on and, as you learn about what's out there, you should focus on the things that interest you. I spend a lot of time learning about astral projection even though I lowkey thought it was bullshit just because it was mentioned so often in witchcraft spaces and included in beginner topic lists. If you don't find it interesting, then skip it.
This used to be a bigger deal in the past than now, but you don't need to be part of a coven nor do you need to share anything about your practice publicly. I think solitary practice has been way more normalized over the past decade, but some people still feel pressured to find other witches and pagans to form a coven with. You don't have to do that. Covens can honestly be pretty messy from what I've heard, particularly since witchcraft and paganism is so individualized. It definitely works for some people, but it shouldn't be something you feel obligated to do.
...on the other hand, you definitely should be talking to other witches and pagans. You should start talking to them as quickly as possible. You can learn a lot and bounce ideas off of each other. They will also be people who understand some of the difficulties of being a witch/pagan.