How to Do Witchcraft Research for Newbies
Basic search:
- Get off Tumblr. (I know, it’s hard.)
- Direct your browser to Google.com.
- Choose
the main keywords of your question. For example, “what is calendula
good for in witchcraft?” might be parsed as “calendula witchcraft
magickal correspondences”.
- Hit enter.
For more in depth research, try these sites:
- JSTOR.org, if you have access to it.
- Online public library catalogs to find books. (Search your county and “public library.”)
- Amazon
Kindle. It can be put on your computer for free, there is a Cloud
Reader online and a free smartphone app. Filter by price and you can
find witchcraft and occult ebooks for free through a few simple
searches.
- Google Books for the same purpose. (There is a shit ton here, btw, I use it all the time.)
- Scribd.com for the same purpose.
- Cornell University online witchcraft collection.
- Hermetic.com for public domain magick texts.
- Sacred-texts.com for all sorts of neat shit.
- Alchemy-works.com for magickal lore on plants.
- Search your county’s website for weed/plant information to get a list of things growing in your area.
Some tips to aid in research:
- Use your browser’s bookmarks.
- Use the Amazon wishlist to keep track of titles, or to keep an eye on titles that are occasionally offered for free on Kindle.
- Look around on publishers, like LuLu, Immanion Press, etc, for self-published material.
- Cross reference with lots of sources to keep on top of the BS.
- Take good notes.
- Dirty experience/field work is better than reading/book work.
Mkay?
After you’ve done all that, come back and ask about what you still
can’t find. (Trust me, you’ll find most of it, if not all and more.) You
have no fucking excuse to be on Tumblr asking about the basics of
paganism or what such and such plant does for witchcraft, or how to
summon demons. Harassing people for basic knowledge gets you nowhere.
There is so much out there even just online. You do not need the newest,
shiniest books by the most popular authors. You do not need to attack
people when they tell you to go research on your own. The information is
right fucking there. Now go get it.
I
don’t mind answering your questions, but why should I go to the effort
of explaining the basics when you haven’t gone to the effort of
researching it yourself?
Instead of asking “how do I be a witch”,
do some of your own research, and come back and ask me “I’ve found some
conflicting information on X, and this is what I think. What is your
opinion?”
Anything less than that is just laziness.
