"Where are the books for advanced study?!" So goes the cry of Pagans in discussion groups, online chats, and conversations around the country (and perhaps around the world). I understand their frustration. When I visit the bookstore, I'm excited to see so many books for the beginning Pagan. Most weren't available when I was starting out and it made my path much more difficult when I was a beginner. Now I see many books that I wish I'd had when I was a teenager, taking my first tentative steps on the path. Today's new Pagans are spoiled for choice! They can take their pick of any number of books that will gently walk them through their initial training.
But for years I was frustrated at the lack of information for those who had already gotten beyond the beginner stage. I would buy books and be disappointed because they provided no new insights. I felt trapped, as if I'd reached a wall that I couldn't get beyond. "Is this all?" I asked myself. Intuitively, I sensed that the path couldn't really end... after all, no matter where we are, we're all still growing and learning. But I couldn't seem to push past the barrier. I was a Cusp Witch (a term I have taken the liberty of inventing). I was standing with my beginning behind me, but without having started my intermediate journey.
For a long time, I complained and struggled and worked at the problem. I slowly learned to expand my horizons and cast a wider net. Through trial and error, I discovered the mental skills necessary for the type of learning that goes hand in hand with advanced study. I practiced ritual to improve my relationship with the Divine and was rewarded with insights that helped me move forward. I worked at it and worried at it, all the while whining about the lack of guidance, both in writing and in person.
While the influx of new people into what's becoming the most rapidly growing group of religions in the United States was heartening, the "newbie" majority in the Craft didn't help. I was pleased that so many people were discovering the peace and power (as well as self-determinism and responsibility) that had originally attracted me to Witchcraft. But I was disappointed when, again and again, I searched for the elders and experts and found few or none. I found myself becoming bitter and cynical.
Then one day I looked back over the road I walked and realized an amazing thing. I was no longer a frustrated beginner struggling to climb over an insurmountable wall. Instead I had somehow become the person I had been searching for. With 20/20 hindsight I saw that I had found the teachers that I thought I'd been missing, many of whom are now my closest friends. I had discovered the knowledge that I thought was unavailable. Much of it was already within me and more was unfolding. Suddenly, my life was filled with books and teachers and inspiration.
I know now that I haven't reached the end of my journey -- far from it. The road ahead is still unclear, for we cannot know our lessons before we've learned them. However, I am confident that lessons and insight still lay ahead. I see the walls that appear before me as challenges -- cliffs to be scaled on my trek up the mountain. All of us, people of every faith and creed, are climbing the same peak. We simply walk on different paths.
This knowledge has helped me accept people and their myriad perspectives. I'm no longer frustrated by beginners... because I see that I am yet a beginner myself. The road is infinite. The journey is the important part. And if the road goes on forever then, by definition, all of us are already halfway there (and by the same token, only halfway there).
This book is a primer for Cusp Witches and Pagans: people who have passed the beginner stage and need a boost with their intermediate study. If you are standing at the place I was -- if the wall looms ahead and you don't know how to begin climbing -- this book is for you. No book or teacher can save you the work ahead. My goal is to save you the frustration, cynicism, and anger that I succumbed to.
I don't have all the answers. No one does. That's because in spiritual matters, "all the answers" as a concept simply doesn't exist. But just as the plethora of "Wicca 101" books for beginners help those taking their first steps, I hope to help those who are ready for the next step.
This book is not complete. It will not spoon-feed you the information you need for intermediate study in a step-by-step fashion. You will not be able to read this book and claim that you are ready for adepthood. You will not find all the information you need in this book alone. Why these limitations? Because the road of the intermediate Pagan is much more solitary and internally focused than the road of the beginner. You will need to be your own guide down that road.
How do you know when you're ready to take the next step and begin intermediate training? There's no specific timeline for this type of study. Some people will stay beginners, adjusting to new concepts and modes of thought, for years. Others will move more quickly, having an instinctive grasp of the basics. Finally, some will complete their study as beginners and have no urge to move forward for a time. All of these ways are valid and individual. Your path is different from anyone else's and based solely on your own knowledge, drive, past life experiences, priorities, and needs. There's no right way or right time... only your way and your time.
However, some hints that you're ready may include: