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Moving Beyond Wicca 101

© Karen Mitchell

There are tons of resources available these days for beginner Wiccans, Witches, and Pagans; some good and some that should be avoided at all costs. While this is great news for beginners, more experienced Pagans often have difficulty wading through all the "101" books on the shelves. Where do you turn when you're ready to move beyond the introductory material? Where are all the "Wicca 202" books? The problem is in Wicca's structure, or lack of structure, depending on how you want to look at it. Once you get past the basic information there's so many topics you could study that it would be difficult to get them packed into one book.

Of course, having that many options can be a little intimidating, and most beginner books don't give you any sort of clue where to go once you've finished reading. It's up to you to map out your next steps into your chosen Pagan path. I've been there, and I know how difficult it can be.

First, you need to determine what your main interests are. Do you enjoy divination? Would you like to learn healing techniques? Is there a method of energy work or spell casting that you prefer? When you envision yourself as a Witch (or Wiccan, or Pagan), what do you see yourself doing?

These questions will help you develop a list of areas you'd like to focus on. List as many as you want, but I recommend focusing on no more than one or two at a time. When you try to learn everything at once, you'll only end up with a basic understanding of several different topics. Trust me on this. (I'm an Aquarius. I always want to learn and understand everything, and I want it done yesterday.)

Once you have a list, and you've picked a topic or two to focus on, divide that topic up into smaller subjects. If you want to learn how to work with herbs, for example, you could break that large topic up into learning the scientific and botanical properties of the herbs, their magical uses, and their uses in healing and medicine. Depending on what you pick, you may even be able to break the subtopics up further. The magical uses of herbs can easily be broken down into smaller topics, such as the various forms of herbs (whole herbs, tinctures, teas, etc), or the types of spells using herbs (protective, love, banishing, etc.)

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