How to Choose a Witchcraft Teacher
Choosing a witchcraft teacher should be a very careful process. This person should eventually be teaching you how to affect change in your life and your environment – magick. your teacher and the things you learn will have a long lasting, far reaching impact on you and your life.
Unfortunately, the world of witchcraft is filled with unscrupulous or simply misguided individuals. Weeding out the bad ones to find the good ones can be difficult business. Many people are attracted to witchcraft because of the fact that in witchcraft ‘everyone is a priest in their own right’. That perception of inherent power can give some a penchant for taking advantage of others.
In order for them to be a reliable, effective teacher, there are some constants that need to be present in them. These steps will help you pick those things out.
- Look at their life – Is their life a mess? A witchcraft teacher should be adept at manifesting positive things in their life. Although difficult situations happen to everyone, it’s how a person deals with that situation that counts. Does their life defeat them – or are they at the whim of their life… or are they able to get back on top?
- Look at their personality – Are they intelligent, kind and honest? Are they constantly troubled or pretty much on an even keel? Someone who teaches witchcraft should have mastered themselves. They should be able to address problems or concerns head on and fix them instead of getting swallowed by them. They should have a fairly balanced personality.
- Talk to them about witchcraft – are they able to tell you things you didn’t know? Do they tell you those things in a helpful way or a condescending way? How long have they been practicing and what is their background? A witchcraft teacher should be knowledgeable about a wide variety of occult topics. They should be able to relay this information in a way that is helpful and encourages learning and growth – not a way that lords this information over the student. They should have been practicing long enough to live a lifestyle of witchcraft – not just practice a few rituals a month and call it done.
- Look at their students – Are their students knowledgeable and in control of their lives? They are students, granted. But what kind of outlook do they have on how much control they have over their lives? What are they creating in their lives?
- Talk to the community – What do others have to say about them? Granted, people can be cruel and nasty and might have ulterior motives… but all in all, are their any horror stories about this person? What is the community’s view on how they teach or what kind of students they turn out?
You should expect a prospective teacher to talk to you openly about what they teach and about themselves. If your questions are met with vague, fuzzy answers that do not leave you with a complete picture, beware!
You should be able to expect a safe learning environment. Never accept training from someone who has a history of sexually abusing or assaulting anyone. Never accept an offer for training in return for sex. Although this seems common sense, it’s easy to fall into this trap with someone who is adept at setting it and unfortunately, it’s a common enough occurrence. Witchcraft and the power of witchcraft has nothing to do with submitting yourself to another in any way – sexually or otherwise.
You should expect to get what you pay for. Some teachers do teach for free, out of principal. This teacher is usually teaching toward initiation and toward having a long lasting working relationship with their students. Some teachers charge a fee. If a teacher charges a fee, do a common sense assessment. Keeping in mind that they charge some of their fee for their expertise, they should be charging a reasonable rate for their time and materials.
Remember, entrusting your spiritual well being to someone is just as dangerous as entrusting your physical well being to someone, if not more so. Be careful and cautious and use your common sense.
You might be interested in my witchcraft classes… if I pass muster. 
