We need an understanding of levels

spiritscraft:

Folks out there act like there isn’t any intermediate and advanced witchcraft content available to them. Even 20 years ago most of what is easily available now was not at your finger tips. Because of all this availability it seems like people don’t realize what is basic, intermediate or advanced. Spoilt with everything available, they wonder what advanced even is. Everything listed down here can be found online, in distance classes, and in books that are for sale at modest cost:

The basics are knowing the major neopagan holidays, how to cast a circle, cleanse, ground, shield and follow spell and ritual instructions for simple goals like attracting prosperity, inspiration and a little luck. Easy to follow and clear cut ethics. The instructions for learning visualization. You can start elsewhere than neopagan but there will be similar basic practices, and there are hundreds of books of the same basic content and lots of sites and blogs too.

Intermediate material is setting up a daily practice, getting good with a divination method, getting very familiar with herbal, tree, stone or animal lore, writing your own spells and rituals using correspondences and standard patterns, some study of myth and folklore. Thoughtful understanding of gray area ethics and honor. A lot of self exploration and strengthening. Instructions for out of body experience.

Advance material will be communicating with various spirits and/or deities. The specialization in the arts of a particular path or role like priesthood, tool making, bardic storytelling, writing your own grimoire or copying your tradition’s book of shadows. Initiation into that path and optionally coven practice. Confidence in astral travel. More specific and targeted spell craft and ritual based upon your compiled experiences and those shared with you by teachers and peers. Ecstatic practices during ritual and spell work. Deep self knowledge, facing difficult demons and shadows and acting in full accordance with your own ethical compass.

Post advanced: learning the specialities of more paths perhaps becoming a leader, teacher, warrior, writer, or mystic in your tradition. Learning more depth and self knowledge through teaching or leading or even through deeper life dedication. It is not every person who has gone through the levels duty to teach, it takes extra talents outside of the craft like writing ability, pedagogy, and even the luxury of time and space to provide for others.

It all comes down to your own personal level of dedication and amount effort you can or will put in how far you can go. And one can have a very meaningful and impactful practice at any level dependent only upon satisfying their own drive for self knowledge and wisdom and truth of the spirit world, deities and/or nature. Everyone’s advanced path will look different though intro paths can be fairly similar, they all are unique too.