I get this question a lot. In busy times for tarot readings, like summer or the start of a new year, almost every day. Maybe I should take it as a compliment people in my life see me as a spiritual authority but I don’t view myself this way at all. I am on my own path just like you. I didn’t begin in a typical way (raised by covert mystics) and I am not sure that there is one typical starting point.
This may be a hot take but I don’t think astrology and tarot are inherently spiritual. Other practitioners will disagree and that is fine. Divination is an access point for many people to begin considering the deeper mysteries of reality but most people who come to me for readings are asking about their careers, love life, etc…the mundane things that we make magical by engaging with them magically.
Every being has a spirit, so one could argue there is no hard line separating the spiritual and the ordinary. I tend to lean this way myself the deeper I have gone with my own practice. But when people ask me where to start on their own path, I don’t think this is the answer they’re looking for. It is a nebulous question. To answer it appropriately and effectively for an individual, I recommend getting a private consultation from a practitioner you trust.
Here are some general tips for you if you’re someone with the where do I start question fresh on your mind. If you want more personalized advice, consider joining my Patreon or booking something one-on-one with me if my words resonate. You can always seek out other practitioners who work within the paradigms you’re interested in. For example, if you’re interested in African diasporic religions, you’re going to ask someone initiated into one of the many traditions where to start.
Not all paths require initiation but closed practices like Haitian Vodou do. This advice below is not exhaustive or a guide for folks who are already interested in being initiated into a closed practice. Your research will take you on another journey and I wish you the best.
Get to know your own roots
This is where I recommend starting because you can learn a lot about your current spiritual condition before you do anything else just by learning about the practices of your ancestors. What were your people doing 200 years ago? What were they doing 1000 years ago? You may or may not have access to names and specific information. This is a relationship you’ll cultivate until you become an ancestor.
Some people say white people shouldn’t do this. This is precisely where whiteness comes from. It is the erasure of culture, who we actually are, and the turning away from the discomfort of what atrocities some of our ancestors did. So I don’t agree white people need to ignore this step. If anything, we need to spend more time on this aspect of developing (really, observing an already established) a relationship with all beings.
After all, what is the point of pursuing spirituality if we’re not going to acknowledge where we come from and who made the way for us to be here? This also requires us to step outside of the black-and-white, good-and-bad binary our society loves to hold up as truth. Don’t chuck your ancestors into a good/bad bucket. You may be surprised at what you learn about yourself, reality, and the reality of your people by turning toward the pain your ancestors felt (and dealt) in their lives.
Remember you are not meant to break cycles in one lifetime. This is what can feel exhausting and can have us over-compensating in the beginning when we first start communing with them. We are meant to, in my perspective, bear witness before trying to “fix”. This extends beyond ancestral healing.
Get to know the plants around you
So much of the work is noticing what is already available to you at all times. Your ancestors are your ancestors regardless of if you acknowledge the relationship or not. Plant kin are not yelling out for our attention (usually). Their calls are more subtle. We have to slow down long enough to listen and observe our relationship.
Deepening your awareness of the plants, animals, and minerals around you is both simple and challenging for many people because most of us haven’t been encouraged to do so. Some of us are lucky enough to have been raised by plant people or in homes with a menagerie of pets. Maybe on some level, you are already used to talking to non-human beings. Great! That is going to be helpful for you to find your footing on a specific spiritual path.
There are some practitioners who don’t bother with nature. I have a teacher who feels more connected in old libraries or within ancient cities with stunning architecture. That is okay if you don’t feel enchanted by nature. I can’t relate to you on that because for me, this is my cathedral and it was for my ancestors as well. And I do think it is important to recognize the spirits of all beings which typically happens outside. Technically we are nature. Again. The deeper you go with your own work and discovery, the more you’ll see how flimsy the things that separate us are, in my experience anyway.
Study what interests you
You don’t have to be a magician. You don’t have to join a coven. You don’t have to do rituals at all. You don’t have to read cards. You don’t have to learn a divinatory system of any kind as we have established. You don’t have to become an herbalist who talks to plants. You don’t have to do spells. Some practitioners specifically warn against spellwork! There are so many schools of thought that could be classified under the vague umbrella of “spirituality”.
Study what interests you and don’t worry too much about the “rules” you may think you have to follow. Everyone makes mistakes. Magically and in life. Magic isn’t safe. Period. You may not want to practice it. You may learn you’re more comfortable being religious. That is also not a problem. Religious doesn’t mean Christian Evangelist. Using the terms synonymously is one of my pet peeves. Right along with labeling anything you’re unfamiliar with “new age”. The meanings of words do change but they also refer to something specific. Not everything that isn't based on scientific evidence is pseudoscience. Pseudoscience means fake science. I don’t know anyone who claims divination is science. So, this word doesn't apply even if you don’t put stock into divination as a way of knowing.
If you realize some aspect of your spiritual practice isn’t working or you change your mind about what you’re doing, change it. You (usually) aren’t stuck. Now, this may be totally different in some traditions that require initiation. This is why initiation into one is a huge commitment, typically life-long or beyond. You will want to be certain before inquiring about initiation and again, I am not an expert or an authority on traditions that require it, and remember they’re not all the same.
There are so many teachings — centuries of sacred texts available and easily accessible online now. It is easy to get overwhelmed with what you can learn for free or affordably this way. Don’t overload yourself trying to listen to every podcast and read every grimoire. In this age of constant stimulation, make sure to leave space for contemplation and meditation as they’re important for integrating anything you learn and getting space within yourself to sense the subtle. So, stick to what resonates, especially as you begin your exploration. Some things you must learn experientially.
Engage in contemplation
I think this is pretty self-explanatory but as you learn or consider new (to you) ideas about the nature of reality, give yourself space to contemplate them. Note the questions that come up for you. If you feel resistance to a concept you’ve found in your research, get curious about where that is coming from. Space to think, process, integrate information, and deeply listen to the self is an art I think we have collectively neglected as a culture.
As soon as we walk out of a movie, we can get on social media and declare our opinion about it before we let it actually marinate. Everything online being so instant isn’t great for us on our spiritual paths, in my opinion. We can easily consume and discard things that many of us don’t let ourselves be changed by anything we read, watch, or directly experience. Sit with the symbols of your dreams, sacred texts, and intuitive messages before engaging with them in a group or trying to figure out “what they mean”.
Give yourself space to evolve between taking in something and deciding what it is or dumping it into a yes or no bucket.
Keep a record
People hate this one. Keep a damn journal. Keep it for the sake of having a physical home for your contemplation. Writing also can show you things you hadn’t fully realized through just thinking. Writing with a pen and paper also forces you to slow down.
If you drop it, you can pick it back up. You need a place where you record your observations, questions, any workings, and their results (if you choose to do them). Even a weekly brain dump that feels mundane may have nuggets of wisdom for your path upon reflection. Not everyone agrees that writing is a magical practice but I definitely see more results when I record the details. It is easy to write things off as coincidence when you don’t have a method for tracking. Track intuitive hits and dreams. There is so much I have my own personal evidence for that I wouldn’t remember otherwise. With 1000s of daily messages about why the material is all there is (bleak) you need some semblance of “proof” for yourself to return to in times of doubt or difficult periods.
Many people drop their belief systems in times of grief or desperation because they have no connection to their own spiritual roots. Another reason is that in survival mode, we need reminders of who the fuck we are and what is possible. Reading and re-reading your records is the gift that you can give yourself. You can write for the public (clearly I do that here and on other platforms) but this isn’t enough. You need a private place for records too in order to process and unpack things you come upon on your journey.
Pay attention to your dreams
You may be someone who thinks dreams are all just regurgitations of the events of our waking lives. The more I have worked with my dreams, the more I find the opposite is true. Things I have seen in dreams that seemed inconsequential later become daytime themes in my reality.
Dreams, if you believe they do nothing else, are messages from our subconscious minds. The mind is the portal through which everything else is filtered including sensations in other parts of the body and our intuition. I believe our dreams are much more and our culture (at least here in the West) is one of the few that doesn’t put stock in dreams and this wasn’t the case for many of our ancestors.
We have multiple dreams every night that many of us don’t remember or pay attention to but they offer us an opportunity to face our own internal truths and greater mysteries of reality. Without the filter of our egos, we can receive so much relevant information, and this tap of imagery and poetry is always running whether we acknowledge it or not.
You may not choose to become a dream freak on the level that I have because I am particularly interested in them. I still recommend writing them down as you recall them and sitting with the images and details as a bare minimum practice. This can be considered part of contemplation.
Build community (with discernment)
You can be a solitary practitioner. For much of my life, that has been the case for me. I remember being 12 and trying so hard to form a coven with my friends. This went over about as well as you can expect it would in the 90s in the deep South. Things have changed here but not that much in this regard. Finding a good fit in a spiritual community will elevate your consciousness but this can be tricky because abusive cults are real and people are flawed. I have had horrible experiences in a Presbyterian church where people covered up a pastor’s abuse and I have found grace and loving kindness in a different church of the same denomination. This is just an example. Bad experiences in spiritual communities can turn people off to the intimacy and joy available in healthy spaces.
Maybe your spiritual community is you and two other practitioners who are great friends. Maybe you find an already-established group to engage in discussion and ritual with. Maybe you only have a handful of online contacts who practice similarly to you. In this age of the internet and late-stage capitalism, finding a spiritual community can be an arduous task. Don’t settle, listen to your own intuition, and be aware there are people who simply want to take your money and prey on vulnerable seekers. Remember you are your own authority and practice discernment when considering joining an order or group.
If someone is in a rush to put you into a leadership role, this is a red flag. I don’t recommend rushing to find or create a group in the beginning. This will occur naturally as you follow your own path. Remain sovereign even in group dynamics. Again, if you’re getting initiated into a closed tradition — there is typically a spiritual family built in (at least, this is my understanding) and this is part of what makes them appealing. Talking about them in general terms here but close traditions aren’t a monolith, what they have in common is that they’re protected and kept secret from non-initiates.
With all that said, joining and building a spiritual community can be one of the most rewarding things you can do on your path. We are limited in what we can perceive of ourselves and reality. Being in a community with others on the same (or similar) path can teach us what nothing else can about being in right relationship. A community can expand our vision and enrich our lives in deep, meaningful ways.
Conclusion
I hope this begins to answer the question of where you can start to engage with the spirituality already inherent to your existence. I have tried to explain things in a way most can understand. Personally, I am a practical witch who loves the material world. This is not at odds with being a spiritual person who communes with the more-than-human world. There are many misconceptions and places where spiritual people disagree so if something on this list doesn’t resonate, that is also fine. Part of what engaging with my own spiritual path has taught me is that agreement isn’t always good or helpful. Wisdom is not found through nodding your head at the person you may have put on a pedestal as knowing more than you.
Think critically for yourself. What makes spiritual folks dangerous to the status quo is our sovereignty and ability to see the nuance in this world full of forced binaries.
Remember you are already spiritual in that you have a spirit. It is, in my opinion, the acknowledgment of one’s own spirit and the spirits of all beings (those we can see and those we can’t) that shows us our path.
