Witchvox Article

Author: Lacran
Posted: April 1st. 2012
Times Viewed: 1,834

Like many people, I found paganism a little later in life. A friend who wanted to show me it wasn�t all about cursing people and creating fear introduced me to it. Like many of the young, I�m very good with computers and turned to the Internet as my first resource to learn about the religion and get my own Book of Shadows started. The Internet was, of course, always a good start. Websites with the basics are easy to find and websites like this one are always helpful. It�s on this website where I learned that many people who come to paganism as I did will often stay for long periods of time and are willing to let their beliefs change as they change themselves. It�s also a resource that helped me look into some of the different pagan and Wiccan paths that I may have not thought of (or occasionally, even heard of) before.

Through my first two years of practice it was the internet that allowed me to find much of my information and it was websites that allowed me to go into forums to discuss some of the things I was learning with other people who were like me. I spent my first few years in the broom closet and didn�t know anyone in the same city who was interested in any of the pagan paths. Now I have a close friend who is interested in practicing. We�ve learned from each other and are continuing to learn as we find more and more information online and through books.

Once I got through the information that I was able to find online, the local library became another huge resource for me. They had plenty of books covering the same generic basics that I had been looking into online and I was able to read all of them and get an idea of what spell and ritual structure should like that. I�ve checked out most of the ones that the Denver Public Library has to offer and even found some of the newer ones as others began to fade out of the library system so they could add new ones that people might be interested. All of them were used as a temporary resource since all library books have to be returned after a certain amount of renewals. I was in college to become a veterinary technician at that point I�m sure I was considered the weird girl who was only there to learn to sacrifice animals (I even had a few friends ask if that�s why I was there. Of course, I explained that my religious beliefs didn�t include animal sacrifices at all) .

I learned a lot from all of these generic resources. I learned that all of the movies that claim to be �accurate� concerning the beliefs of what I was beginning to follow weren�t anywhere near as accurate as they claimed to be. Even some of the movies I was watching that were supposed to be great occult movies were more falsified than I had ever realized up to that point. With all of this pulled together, I could say I had a solid practice and could hold a solid conversation with other pagans about our belief systems and what I believed on my own.

Within the last year, I started visiting large chain bookstores looking for books on it that I could purchase instead of sticking to the very limited supply that the library had to offer me� only to find the same books I had found at the local library in the first place! At first, I felt like there was nothing else those bookstores could offer me and that I would have to be stuck with the same basic ones. With my favorite online shopping site, I often found ones that were well out of my price range, even for my cherished ereader that goes with me a lot of places as a good source of entertainment and learning.

It wasn�t until recently that I actually started visiting local stores for pagans and Wiccans and that I started finding books that I hadn�t had the chance to read yet. I found books helpful to my friend and me as we went deeper into our journey into paganism. I spent some time with this site, GPS, and made the occasional phone call (mostly because the same shop address was listed in two different zip codes and I wanted to make sure I picked the right one) but I found them to be a helpful resource.

Though I�m still in the broom closet with my family (they are very strict Christians who don�t believe in the �hoo-hah� I do and probably would find more ways than one to try to convert me back) I�ve been able to find a lot of resources and many of them for a lot cheaper than where I�ve been able to find them elsewhere. Instead of having to buy the $9 bundle of sage from a store in the mall or a grocery store, I could buy a smaller bundle for $4 that was much more appropriate to my needs. If I need a specific kind of candle in a specific color, I can often find it for a lot cheaper in one of the stores meant for pagans than in the local arts and crafts store where they triple the price if they don�t tend to sell well in a specific color.

I can also find pretty much every ingredient I could ever need to do anything I wanted in my spell work without worrying that I won�t be able to find it. In one of my favorite stores I can buy everything by the ounce so I can buy only what I need at the time instead of buying it in large amounts of bulk that I would have to hide from family members at home. It also means that if it�s an ingredient that I won�t use that often I don�t have to worry about it going bad in a container because I simply haven�t gotten around to using it again. With stores like this existing all over the place, my ability to practice has become easier and in some extents cheaper than it would be if I didn�t have access to the internet and sites like these that allow me to get everything I need for a long term practice without me having to make all of it. Without places like these, I know I may never have found a religion that fits me and so many others like me.

ABOUT...

Lacran

Location: Denver, Colorado

Website: http://www.gothiclg.blogspot.com

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