I just learned about Year and a Day Study. What are your thoughts on this? I'm very interested in this way of learning, I tend to learn best with assignments and guidance than searching randomly on my own. The gentle encouragement from others in a classroom-eqsue setting seems to get me motivated.
I am very new to learning about Wicca and Paganism, though I am stumbling and discovering my spiritual path more and more each day. Would this be something I should embark on? Or should this study only be for people who know for certain they are on the Wicca or Pagan path? Look forward to your replies.
The year and a day study period is usually a part of Wicca, particularly in group settings, but some solitaries take it on as well. (Some other witches and pagans might use the year and a day format, but it's not universal to all witches and pagans.) You don't have to be certain that whatever path you're looking at is the one you want to stick with, it's really more like a study and trial period, and a formal dedication or initiation into a coven generally comes after that period, if the person wishes to continue. The year and a day gives you time to study, practice, and experience the path, and from there you can judge whether or not it's right for you.
Are you looking at a specific year and a day course somewhere?
Right now I'm open to just about anything. I'm trying to figure out who I am spiritually and I feel I'm in this metamorphic time in my life. I don't really have a mentor, just friends that listen to me and give me advice and pointers from their spiritual experiences. I am opened up to a whole new world of spirituality and I'm not sure where to start!
I personally never did the year and a day study, but granted I'm not technically 'Wiccan' I suppose.
If you would like to get some insight into what path you might choose, I can help with that at least! (:
If you start keeping a journal of things that you see, experience, dream etc. in daily life, you might very well encounter something that has been there for you all along (be it a Deity or something else) that might give you signs to help you find what you wish to include with your practice. (: For me, I kept seeing the number 13 everywhere and I knew it was significant then other things I started writing down began to fill in the blanks. You can also sit down and think for awhile, of things that really interest you and make you happy, there may very well be a correlation with those things as well.
If you're going to be on a path to work with deities, you could research into different Pantheons you're interested in. (: I know a lot of people do this, I personally never did, but I'm just trying to think of all the suggestions I know I've seen people do and have done myself. Haha!
You could also look into beliefs surrounding non-deity focused practices, such as those that strictly work with nature and the energies within it, or there's also paths that work with the Fey.
In all honesty, you could really do anything you wanted as it's personalized to you and your beliefs which you'll discover the more you go on. And I'd like to give you some advice that someone else gave me once, when reading into things like this:
"If you don't agree with it, then you don't have to. Just because it's in a book, doesn't mean that it's 100% fact and real."
This is all based on FAITH which is a matter of personal belief, so don't get discouraged if you don't see something that speaks to you. I never did for a long time, and ended up just going with my own thing. Hehehe. Which is totally fine!
I hope I wasn't talking in circles, but anyways.
I wish you the best of luck with what you choose to do, and hopefully some of this was helpful! (: I was rambling a bit there.
"We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams." - Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy
❀If you need any help with anything, don't hesitate to ask!❀
Would this be something I should embark on? Or should this study only be for people who know for certain they are on the Wicca or Pagan path? Look forward to your replies.
