I received a really good question from a Daily Magick member today that I thought I would address here as well. Where did I take all my classes and study?
The first place I went to learn about the craft was through books. Today they are still my primary source of information and honestly I’m not sure that would ever change. You can gather so much information from books! There are so many books available in a collection that just covers years and years of amazing people in the craft. They are always an amazing place to start.
I also have been very blessed to learn with some of the best. I have been lucky enough to work with both Raven Grimassi and Christopher Penczak in person. I will forever cherish those classes that I was able to attend with them. I found them through Christopher Penczak. I was reading a lot of his work and he routinely publishes where he’s visiting. One of his appearances was near me and it was to teach a class! That showed me where he was going and I started watching the schedule at that shop after that first class. The shop was a beautiful small new age shop in a town next to mine. Each class had about ten to fifteen people so it was an amazing way to learn. This was the same shop that I was able to see Raven Grimassi. His classes are among some of the memories that I cherish the most from my path. When you are reading books go to the websites of the authors that you enjoy. Join their mailing lists, look for their scheduled appearances. This will help you to find places in your area that support their work. It also helps them to pass along the amazing knowledge that they have to all of us.
Another one of the other classes that I took that was huge for me was Tarot. I worked with a wonderful psychic named Sheilaa Hite. It was a small setting at this super small shop tucked away in the Berkshires. If I remember correctly I stumbled upon that shop by accident! I was out for a drive exploring one day and I smelt that familiar smell of incense and I followed it. Where there is incense, you will often find crystals, and often that leads to a new age shop that may have the classes you are looking for. She wound up being an amazing teacher for me and while I traveled a bit over an hour each way for those classes I happily drove it knowing I had access to an amazing teacher.
A lot depends on the area that you live in. You may find that you need to commute a bit to get the classes that you want. If you live in New England as I do, you are lucky as we have a lot of shops and amazing authors up here. I would recommend starting with the authors and seeing where they are going as that will help you to find places. Unfortunately with the Pandemic this year I know we lost some of those treasured shops. One positive thing though is that we have gained a lot of access to online classes that I love. I had the opportunity to work with Laurie Cabot this summer an opportunity that would normally be incredibly difficult for me as I would need to be in Salem for a week. Again if you check the websites of authors that you are interested in you will find many of them are doing classes online and some are even doing virtual tours being hosted by some of the New Age shops. I strongly encourage you to support them when you can and to take advantage of these amazing opportunities. I do hope that it’s something that will continue in the future.
Watch local newspapers, classified ads, Facebook events for events going on in your area. Facebook events have turned into a great resource for finding classes. I’ve found a lot of places and gatherings there that I didn’t know were happening.
I hope this helps!
Have a magickal day!
Much Love and Many Blessings,
Jasmeine Moonsong
Jasmeine Moonsong