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An Introduction To Paganism - Research And Wicca.
Research And Wicca.
The hardest part of learning something new is that you to be both teacher and pupil. In that you have to research your subject,
plan what you want to achieve, set your study plan and finally impart and learn the knowledge.
Using the internet.
This is your biggest tool, learn how to use it. Here there are literally billions of pages of information available to you. So
somewhere out there is the information you need. All you need to do is find it. Luckily this is where search engines are useful.
There are thousands of engines and directories and each search engine such as Excite, Yahoo, and Altavista as its own way of searching
for information, take time to learn how to use these powerful tools.
Searches
Most search engines will have the facility for boolean searches. An example of a boolean (mean AND OR search) is
Moon AND Phases
Place "quotes around your search" treats it as a phrase, so
"Moon Phases" AND 2001
will search for pages containing the phrase "moon phases" and 2001
You can also use operators (+ and - signs)
moon phases + waxing
will return pages with moon phases plus waxing,
or moon phases - waxing
will return pages with moon phases but not containing waxing.
Other Ways Of Searching
Another way of searching is to use Meta Search Engine Software, such as Web Ferret (www.ferretsoft.com its FREE, Nothing Gratis).
These are particularly useful, as you are not limited to searching just one engine. It is also software based, so you can save the
search you have done. (As comma separated files, or web ferrets own format. The comma separated is useful if you want to import the
search into a database or spreadsheet. Instant search engine.)
Use the search facility on this site and other sites, at the bottom of every forum page is a search box, which will search the sites
posts. Also there are many articles and info on the site itself, also searchable. You will find that many who post here have their own
websites, often Pagan or Wiccan based that may have the info you require or a link to a site that does.
Saving pages.
Make a folder on your desktop and save pages into it, that way you can read them offline. (If you use IE 5 or above, it will save all
the graphics as well.) You might want to add sub folders on different subjects such as tarot, elements Goddesses etc and save specific
subject pages in their own sub folders. (Yes I know it sounds logical and boring, but trust me it helps.)
If you've got a spreadsheet program use it. I use one for storing tables of correspondences.
For example God and Goddess Symbology. In one Column I have the Header Goddess, the cells under it each have a related item, in the
other column I have God and related correspondences.
Goddess and God Symbology
Goddess God
Moon Sun
Earth Corn King
Water Fire
Spring Summer
Winter Autumn
Obviously you could do this sort of thing for many different tables of correspondence, The Elements (Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Akasha),
Metals (Tin, Iron, Gold, Silver, Lead, Copper), Directions (North, East, South, West), the Planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus,
Mercury, Moon), Herbs, Colours, Days of the Week, tarot cards, runes etc
Make lists of the things you want to know about, or things that you have read about and sound interesting. Example you want to know
about divination.
1. Find out what methods there are, Runes, Tarot, Astrology.
2. Pick one or two that interest you, and find out the origins/history, (tarot has lots of different decks)
3. Find out all you can about its meaning, interpretations and uses.
4. Write it down. (I know it sounds like school, which it is, only this time it is you that is dictating the curriculum.)
5. Follow up. More often than not, each subject has it own sub topics, if you looked for Runes, you might come across the words,
futhark or futhorc, or Ogham. Write them down and research them individually, the amount of depth you go into, is entirely up to
you and what you find interesting.
This doesn't mean that you be spending hours online, there are other resources, dictionaries (also Brewers Dictionary of Fable And
Verse - great resource), thesaurus, encyclopaedias etc. If you don't have these books, then buy them or use a library. For example
you looked up the word Rune, in your dictionary, you might find something like this:-
rune. noun
1. Any of the letters of the earliest Germanic alphabet used by Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons from about the 3rd century BC and
formed by modifying Roman or Greek characters to suit carving. 2. A mark of mysterious or magic significance. 3. A Finnish poem or a
division of it. Runes were used for secrecy, charms and divination, in mythology the Runes were made by Odin.
[See also Futhorc, Ogham.] [Old Norse rún, 'magic sign']
You might also have found out that Futhark is:-
The letters of the earliest Germanic alphabet used by Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons from about the 3rd century BC. The alphabet
became known as the Futhark or Futhork, after the names of the first 6 Runes (Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raido, Kauno).
Further research, may yield that Fehu is:-
The Runes are divided up into three Aetts.
The First Aett is Freyr's Aettir consisting of Fehu, Uruz, Thurisaz, Ansuz, Raidho, Kenaz, Gebo, and Wunjo.
Fehu: An 'F' with the horizontal lines pointing upward.
Normal: Clearly define what it is that you desire. Is it wealth and possessions, or self-rule and growth of will? Enjoy the good
fortune of now but remember to share it, for the mark of a well-nourished self is the ability to nourish others.
Inverted: Your arrows repeatedly miss the target either by an inch or a mile. Your ship has come in, but you are at the stable awaiting
a good horse. Observe the situation, and ask, "What do I need to learn to further my progress?" You now have the opportunity to see
where your true nourishment lies.
So you see from knowing little or nothing, how much you can learn or find out about if you split your subjects and work logically.
I'm not saying that this method is perfect, or that it will suit everyone, it works for me, and it may help you.
Other Sources of Info.
Amazon.co.uk and amazon.com, both these book sites, have wish lists, and reviews on many books, amazon.com has more reviews and wish
lists. Wish lists, these are people lists of wanted books, great for finding out what other books there are and what they are about.
If you log in and register you can get recommendations both onsite and by email. Llewelyn, I think also has a mailing list, and are
probably one of the biggest publishers of esoteric books.
Magazines and Ezines
Pagan Dawn is a magazine which has lots of info and resource material, just in the adverts alone. They also have a large yellow pages
section.
The Little Red Book.
Published 4 times a year, you can probably find the postal address of The Pagan Federation Site. Or I'll dig it out. Anyway, its
another yellow pages of Paganism, a very good one (my opinion), lots of organisations, craftspeople and info. I don't know of any
Wiccan ezines off hand, but there probably some out there, use the search engines.
I hope this hasn't been too simplistic in its approach, but on occasions like this, it is better to assume the reader knows nothing
about the subject.
Links
Auction Witch - A sorta witchy EBay
Children Of Artemis - Magazine website of Children Of Artemis
Gerald Gardner - History of one of the founders of modern witchcraft
Luminarium - Irish Literature and Mythology
New Moon - Occult Shop
Rune Maker - Website of Oswald the Runemaker
Pagan Federation - Pagan Federation Website
Brawens Cauldron - Wicca and Witchcraft
Wicce - Tarot and Oracles reviews
NASA
- Nasa phases of the moon
UKPagan - UK based Pagan chat forum
WiccaUK - UK based Pagan chat forum
Stone Pages - Stone circles, dolmens, standing stones, cairns, barrows and hillforts
Doreen Valiente - Website of Pagan/Wiccan author Doreen Valiente
Wicca na hErin - The Janet and Stewart Farrar, and Gavin Bone Web Pages
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