Spirituality and religion are extremely personal matters that one has to explore over time and, eventually, decide what beliefs and practices resonate the most in their life. Not only that, but it isn’t something set in stone: it can and will change over time as you grow and learn. Shamanism is a practice based on the role of the shaman. Shamans serve as conduits between the spirit worlds and their communities, and function variously as physical, mental, and spiritual healers, advisors, dream interpreters, and maintainers of the balance between humanity and the environment. A key thing to remember is that simpler is almost always better. Making things by hand is almost always better than buying them. And intention rules over everything else. If you are looking for a step by step tutorial on how to become a Norse Pagan, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there isn’t one! It can be as simple or complicated as you want it. You decide when you become Wiccan. You can commit to the craft itself, a deity, a new name and identity, a coven, all of those plus other things, or none of them.

Believe it or not, Pagans don't restrict their belief to just celebrating the Sabbats and Esbats, or to just the occasional weekend wand-waving. Most people find that they are able to incorporate their beliefs into practices into all kinds of celebrations. Like any other spiritual path, the beliefs and principles of Paganism can be celebrated at any time during one's life. You might be tired of being told this, and I know it’s beaten into people’s heads when they first start out, but there’s a reason. Wicca, witchcraft, and paganism are separate (but sometimes combined) spiritual paths, and therefore you need to read to determine what’s what as far as the basics go. If you come to a FaceBook group or live coven and ask what’s the difference between Wicca, Witchcraft, and Paganism, they’ll almost always tell you that you haven’t done enough preliminary research. The information is out there. I promise. Use Google. It is your friend. The resources available to you for free are ENDLESS. When I first started, I didn’t have the internet. I had books from thrift stores. And I had my own drive and will to practice and forge my own path. The internet makes it SO easy for the beginner pagan! Beginner Wicca Books Ancestral reverence does not have to be complicated. Here are a few Norse pagan practices to help beginners connect with their ancestry: It is important for pagans to practice the faith and carry our lives with love, light and truth at the heart of everything we do. To this end within our core beliefs is a strict moral compass. It’s a reconstructionist religious movement that is animistic in nature, worships the Norse pantheon, and honors its deities with food and libations. Forn Sed, Ásatrú, Vanatrú, and Fyrnsidu are all examples of specific Heathen traditions. Eclecticism

I’ll end this section by reminding you that experimentation and exploration are key parts of the Wiccan way. This makes Wicca for beginners a bit harder than other religions. If this is the first literature you have read on the subject, before you go and make any decisions, we advise you to read this AND other books by other authors. This is because not only do you need to look at it from more than one person’s perspective, but also, we don’t now, nor will we ever know everything about paganism, witchcraft and magic, we will never stop learning and if anyone ever claims to, they’re wrong. Pagans understand divinity to be imminent, it is woven through every aspect of the living earth. Pagan worship is mainly concerned with the connection to, and the honouring of immanent divinity. We believe that the gods not only live above us but, more importantly, they live all around us and inside us. The divine is in all things, from the smallest pebble to the tallest tree. We recognise multiple varieties of Goddesses and Gods whose combined divine force represents a whole unity. The divine, in line with nature, is viewed as a balance of male and female and the combined divine unity is also viewed as androgynous. Many pagans worship and connect to one specific god or goddess aspect of the divine, but still recognise that god or goddess to be part of a greater unity, while other pagans do not relate to the divine in anthropomorphic forms at all, but just see the divine as an interconnecting driving force interwoven throughout the whole of the cosmos.

Herbs: grow your own easily in a sunny windowsill or in your own garden (all you need is a bag of soil and some seeds…truly) or buy from the grocery store (your kitchen spice cabinet is FULL of magical ingredients!) Everyone dreams of having a pagan altar table that looks like it was carved from the nearest magical oak tree, carried into our homes by a log-wielding giant, and then enchanted by the nearest sorceress, but we don’t all live in Fairyland now do we? So for your beginner pagan altar, choose the top of a small table, windowsill, corner of a dresser, buffet or credenza, hutch or bookshelf as your altar surface. If you spend a lot of time in your kitchen, consider a corner of the countertop, a shelf in the cabinet, or a shelf on the wall as your altar space. One definition of paganism is a religion native to a place. Under this definition, Buddhists, Hindus, and practitioners of indigenous American religions would be pagan — as much as they might disagree with the appellation!

Samhain is known as the Witches' New Year, and falls on October 31 in the Northern Hemisphere (if you're below the equator, all of your Sabbat dates will be different by six months). Although this is celebrated as Halloween, it's also a time of sacred reflection and for honoring the dead.

Come May 1, the earth and everyone on it is fertile and ready to bloom! The old custom of May Day lives on in our modern Beltane festivals, which celebrate the greening of the earth, and the fertile land which is ready to be plowed. Want to have a great time at a festival? Follow some basic guidelines!. Image by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images News The Book of Shadows (BOS) is used to store information on your magical tradition. Many Pagans have one, and consider it a sacred tool. Copy spells and rituals into your BOS, along with information on herbalism, deities, gemstones, rituals, and more. You can make your BOS as elaborate or as simple as you like.

Rights of students in private schools are different than in public education. Echo/Cultura/Getty Images Elemental magic is magic done through the use of one or more of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Most Wicca traditions include spirit in there as well.