Underage Witches?

Question:

My friend's daughter is 11 years old and in to wicca. But she is christian. She also has all the tools for ritual and stuff. Do you think she is to young to start being a witch. She has also studied for 1 year. Please E-mail me back at [e-mail address removed for user's protection] Thank you!!!!

Answer:

There are a couple of things to consider in my answer to this question. The easy answer is… is an 11 year old child too young to be a Christian? The Craft is a religion, as is Christianity. And while 11 might be too young for a child to be Initiated, or even apprenticed, she is not too young to be taught the basics of the beliefs and practices

But most important consideration here, however, is whether or not you mean is 11 too young for someone else to teach… someone other than the mother. Here I would have to say, yes.

I take the religious education of my children very seriously. Just because I have exposed them to a variety of spiritual paths does NOT mean I have any intention of failing them by not sharing what I believe. Children need some form of foundation, but until they reach a much more mature age, it is the place of the parents to choose just what it is that the child should be exposed to. It is highly unlikely that a Christian mother is going to want her 11 year old daughter to even be exposed to the Craft, Wicca, or any other Pagan path, much less be taught to practice it. I suppose there have to be exceptions (as there are to everything), but basically, Christianity is a religion of exclusivity, and does not encourage diversity of faith. I would never teach a minor child who did not belong to me, and I think anyone who does is really asking for trouble.

There is also a rather limited amount an 11 year old can be ‘taught’ over the space of a year. Having ‘all the tools and stuff’ is also relatively pointless, if you’re speaking of the practice of the Craft as opposed to the spirituality of it. Unless she has been taught the significance of these tools, they are nothing more than a random collection of objects. The power of a wand has nothing to do with the Harry Potter movies, and an athame is probably going to be nothing more than a sharp object that is best kept someplace other than the child’s room. They are tools used in ritual and, yes, in the working of magic, but merely having them does not make one a witch.

Which brings me to one more point. It sounds as if you might be asking if this child is old enough to work magic. Well, children don’t need witchcraft to work magic. It’s instinctive, in them, unless it gets drilled out. Making a wish and blowing the seeds from a dandelion into the wind is a spell. It’s not something exotic, supernatural, or in the exclusive purview of pagans, by any stretch of the imagination. But working magic, ritually, is not the most important, or even a necessary part, of being a Witch. I know many, many witches who do not incorporate spellwork into their practice, and even a good number who don’t even hold formal rituals of any sort. In the end, again, the Craft is about a connection to the earth, attunement with nature, acknowledgement of the Divine in every thing around us, and communion with the Goddess and God. None of these requires special ‘tools,’ or even rituals; the Goddess just don’t need ‘em, ya know?

Let my worship be in the heart that rejoices, for behold: all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals.

Now, since this appears to be the daughter of a Christian friend of yours (if I’m reading this correctly), my advice to you would be this. Model the kind of life that will show the Goddess in you. Give her a good example of how a magical life is lived, day to day. If you want to know the best lesson you can give her, far beyond anything she could read in a book or get from any adult (other than her parents) unethical enough to actually take another’s child as a student at that age, teach her by striving everyday to know yourself, know your Craft, learn, apply knowledge with wisdom, work to achieve balance in life, keep your words in good order, keep your thoughts in good order, celebrate life, attune yourself with the cycles of the earth, breathe correctly, eat correctly, take care of your body, meditate, and honor the Goddess and the God. Having these goals and working towards them are what makes one a Witch, in the truest sense of the word.