How to Become a Witch by Amber K.

have a stack of books next to the bed. Of course, knowledge also comes from other people, experience, experimentation, and, perhaps most of all, from nature.
    Then there is power . Witches are neither power-mad nor allergic to it. We don’t seek power over others, but we do aim to develop our own inner strength and power, and to empower others.
    honesty is treasured by Witches. To lie is to weaken our power; our deep minds must know that every word from our mouths is always true, so that when we say “So mote it be!” (“So it must be”), there will be no doubt.
    self-responsibility is vital to Witches. You can’t be a victim and a magician, or in charge of your own life while you blame others for what you bring on yourself. You are responsible for every thought, word, and action that you send out into the world.
    Though we don’t talk about it much, we value silence . This can mean being discreet, or meditating quietly, or seeking that still place at your center.
    We open ourselves to joy , celebrate life, and share pleasure with others. The Goddess says, “Let my worship be in the heart that rejoices: sing, feast, dance, make music and love, all in my presence, for all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals and my gift of joy on earth.”
    What Witches Do Common Practices
    Witches could probably argue endlessly about theology and values, but mostly we don’t bother. In many ways, we are united by what we do—our practices—rather than by our beliefs.
    For instance, we celebrate the changing of the seasons in the holy days we call sabbats, and the cycles of the moon in celebrations called esbats. These are covered in more depth in chapter 2, so we will give just a brief overview here.
    There are eight sabbats, not counting any we might invent for fun. Collectively, they are known as the Wheel of the Year. Witches think in circles and spirals whenever possible, rather than straight lines. For instance, we see time as both circular and a spiral, rather than as linear. The Wheel of the Year is a circle because it keeps turning, coming back to the same point each year, and yet it’s also a spiral, because we are not the same people we were last year, and the world is not the same place. Autumn is always autumn, yet no two autumns are the same.
    Some Witches begin their year at Samhain (pronounced either sow’-wen or sov - veen ’), others see Yule as the beginning of the year. It’s rather like starting the day at midnight or at dawn—there are good arguments to be made for both. The eight sabbats occur approximately every six and a half weeks around the Wheel.
    Witches also celebrate the phases of the moon; almost all do ritual at the full moon, and many celebrate other lunar phases too. We will talk more about ritual in chapter 8.
    We also do divination and spellwork frequently, and keep animal friends close by, and talk to plants, and much more that will be covered in later chapters.
    Witches by the Numbers
    So, how many Witches are there? No one can do a complete census, because many Witches are deep in the broom closet and will never reveal their path to any pollster.
    Even the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), done in 2008 by Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, lumps Pagans of all stripes (Witches, Generic Pagans, Druids, whatever) with Unitarian-Universalists, New Agers, Scientologists, Santerians, and others in a category called “New Religious Movements and Other Religions.” Even with all that company, we “New Religious” types only make up about 1.2 percent of the U.S. population, or fewer than 3 million folks—if the survey is accurate.
    Granted, Witchcraft/Wicca seems to be growing rapidly. But at some fraction of 1.2 percent, we’re not exactly taking over the world—which is all right, because that’s never been our goal, anyway. We have no desire to convert the world to our path, because we believe that Witchcraft is not for everyone.
    We have mentioned the American