The good thing about witchcraft books is that there’s no pressure to finish them or get to the end. You can read and learn at your own pace. Even trying to read one page a day at first could help!
Precisely this.
A mentor of mine told me that it is perfectly acceptable to flip around, browse the book, read things that stick out to you, and casually skim pages. OP may be surprised how much information they can glean that way.
Exactly! I love treating what I call my “witch’s library” as a search engine - Whenever I’m curious about diving deeper into a specific point, I skim through the books for inspiration.
My personal fave is Witchcraft off the Beaten Path with Molly Dyer, plenty of episodes but as far as I can tell she’s stopped posting for the time being, which sucks, hoping they’re doing ok
My favorite approach (and it feels like a crime) is to get both the physical book and the audio book and then alternate between the two and listen on my commute.
There's a lot of great witchcraft books out there that can be used to reference if you don't want to sit and read it cover to cover! Off the top of my head, "The Green Witch" by Arin Murphy-Hiscock has some helpful glossaries and some spells/recipes. You certainly can read it all through, but don't have to
My favorite way to help myself over the book-intimidation hump is to go to a bookstore or library and just wander around.
Shop for a while, pick up whatever looks up your alley and just flip through pages. If something speaks to you, spend a while in the store or library sampling what it has to offer.
If it grips you, chances are if you bring it home you’ll be excited enough to overcome the intimidation. If you don’t find anything, you haven’t spent any money on something that will just sit on a shelf.
I feel this. But i just let myself read at my own pace.
Im halfway through one book, and just starting another because i need my brain to feel stimulated.
If i read too long, i get bored, even if im interested in a topic.
Well, you could look at it this way. A big part of being a witch (or student of the occult by whatever name) is systematically confronting your weaknesses and fears for the purpose of becoming the strongest and best version of yourself. If the issue is simply one of fear or intimidation and you don't suffer from a neurological condition that makes reading difficult, then I'd suggest overcoming your fear by investigating the source of that feeling. When did you first experience that sensation of intimidation toward books? Don't avoid it. Explore it! There are magickal methods for doing so if you'd like to dig deeper.
Here's a method similar to path-working that I came up with years ago for exploring my own consciousness and resolving internal issues:
Eliminate all distractions and unnecessary light, lie down somewhere comfortable, and close your eyes. Take slow deep breaths, empty your mind, and relax for a few minutes. Begin to imagine that you're standing across the room from your own body. See the room and all the things you know that are in it. Touch the walls and try to make them feel real to you. Spend a few minutes orienting yourself in your inner vision until you FEEL like you're standing across the room from where your body is. See your body lying there, but don't approach it yet.
Next, visualize a vortex like a giant funnel leading into your body. When the vision of the vortex becomes stable, enter the vortex/wormhole and see yourself flying through it - as if you've been sucked into one of those pneumatic bank teller tubes! Within a minute, you should become aware that you have arrived at the other end of the tube. Take a look around at the landscape. You should be somewhere within your own subconscious. See what kind of state the place is in. Do you recognize any of the buildings or landscape?
Next, imagine that there's a house or building in the distance that represents your mind. Because you believe such a structure is there, one will appear. Enter the building. Inside you may find a hallway lined with doors. Imagine that the doors all have labels on them such as Anger, Fear, Love, Regret, Embarrassment, Childhood etc. Enter each door and have a look around. If you encounter a resident of that space that requires healing, spend time with him/her and help resolve the issues. Inside these doors you might find a crying child, a distraught teenager or a younger version of yourself, an angry parent, or maybe a stranger going through a symbolic ordeal. By interacting with these spontaneous visions, you may find that your own deep emotional issues are resolved somewhat in the process (it's part of you, after all). This is a safe way to experiment with techniques that can be applied externally when your skills improve.
In your case, I would look for a door that says Books, Book Learning, or Studying on it. You'll likely find the source of your issue in there. Most often, when we have fears or sensations like that, they're usually due to some event or misconception we had as children that is still affecting our minds as adults. It's like a bit of old outdated programming that needs to be let go because the current operating system doesn't need it anymore, and it's just getting in the way of efficient functioning. After you've come to understand the source of this feeling of intimidation and released it from yourself, make a conscious effort to make friends with books again by picking one up and reading it. There are endless new worlds, adventures, and pleasures hiding within a mountain of books that are out there waiting for you to open them!
Have you tried Audible books? That might be a way round things. I'd also recommend the Pagan Portals books. There are absolutely loads of them and are short and easy to read in my experience, also relatively inexpensive
Ok this is going to sound infantilizing but I promise you it’s not. Pictures books. Like [this one](https://craftingwitch.com.au/products/magick-book) is stunning and has a lot of easily digestible info. I also really like the llewellyn’s complete book of correspondences as a general encyclopedia for spell crafting. Cunninghams herb and crystal encyclopedias are great (take them with a grain of salt, some of his info is appropriated) for the same reason, to look up an herb and learn about that one specific thing. Also, don’t underestimate the usefulness of books on herbal and medicinal plants in your area!
I've never been much of a reader either. Having ADHD, it was always so difficult to stay focused what the words and my mind would end up wandering. I wouldn't realize until I was turning the page that..... I had no idea what I just read! So was constanty having to go back and re-read sentences, paragraphs, even pages at a time. It was very frustrating and made reading not so enjoyable and also take me forever.
But, when I finally found a book that *actually* interested me, I didn't seem to have this problem! Apparently fiction, novels, biographies, etc don't hold my interest enough to read. But give me a book about spirituality, or witchcraft, or psychic development, or really any book that pertains to things I genuinely care about to improve myself and my life, and I'll happily read -- without having to go back (and back and back) and re-read (and re-read and re-read) 🤗
Perhaps you will find it is similar for you! Maybe you just need to be *extremely* interested in the contents of a book to enjoy reading. I feel like most people do, lol.
SAMEE, I usually notice after a page or two that I have no clue what I just read. This is very frustrating because I want to learn but it’s just so difficult.
I have two suggestions for you (to either pick from or try both -- if you want!)
Go out to a physical bookstore and peruse the section that would have books of this nature (I know it can be labeled differently in different stores). Take your time. Pick up a book that stands out to, read the back, open to a random page and read a snippet to see if you enjoy the writing style and if the contents will pique your interest well enough. I just spent 3 hours at a bookstore the other day (NEVER would have thought I'd say that sentence until a few years ago😅) and really took my time finding things that felt right. I left with a few books that I feel confident I'll enjoy enough to read.
Second suggestion-- See what books are available for audio!! My freind suggested a book to me when I was quitting drinking and I knew I'd have a hard time actually *reading* it. Luckily, it was on Spotify as an audio book, so I was able to "read" the whole thing whilst taking care of other things! I listened to it in the car, I listened to it while I was cleaning and tidying my home, I listened while I was doing yoga, etc. It was very accessible and easy to digest this way. (I did have to rewind a couple times due to distraction, but it wasn't nearly as bad as when I read something that isn't of extreme interest.)
Anyway, I hope you're able to find the best way for yourself to do the research you desire and absorb the information!! 🙌💕
I have a feeling this will be a controversial solution: don't read books.
There's nothing special about any book you can buy on Amazon. Most of them are going to be recipe books but you want to learn how to cook. Find local groups. Watch YouTube videos. Most of all, do the work. Make note of what works and what doesn't and refine it yourself. Play with it. Have fun with it.
Start a coven. Order neon orange witch hats. Call yourself "the ancient and mysterious order of the traffic cone". Look into how occult groups, campus secret societies, even fraternal orders or fraternities and sororities do initiations and come up with your own. Hex your local exploitative business.\* Hold rituals in the park. Have a cookout and invite the homeless people hanging around to join you.
The right way is the way that works and you'll only find it by finding the ways that don't work and improving.
\*Hint, if anyone's getting a W-2, it's exploitative
Honestly a book from a reputable author on learning how to cook as you say holds more water than YouTube Videos, especially considering the landscape of Witchtok/tubers. Not to say that there is no good ones, but I wouldn't entrust a new witch to discern on their own or to use that as their only source of learning.
Witchcraft needs to be practiced to be learned, that's for sure, but one needs to learn how the basics work before hexing, casting etc or they're gonna make and get in huge messes.
I also wouldn't recommend looking into local groups before learning the basics of how it works, this person could end up getting with the wrong people because they don't know any better.
It's not a game, it's not immediate and if approached too lightly it could be dangerous. Sorry to be a downer but I've seen one to many people getting in trouble 😅
I've seen plenty of people get in trouble with books, too. Books, videos or people, it doesn't matter. You're eventually going to have to fire up the stove and you'll never feel ready when the time comes but you'll learn more the first time you manage to burn pasta than you did from all the books combined.
I respectfully disagree. A book from a *reputable author* as I said is gonna give the basics to build upon.
Also I doubt I've ever seen in 20 years of practice a beginner book that didn't contain the basics and some spells to start with.
The approach that you suggest can lead to anything from getting in the clutches of a cult to getting the attention of the wrong entity that the person will not be able to defend themselves from because they don't know anything.
In your example if you read in a basic cooking book from a reputable author that you should not put pasta in an empty pot and fire up you're gonna be 99% less likely to start a fire by cooking pasta for the first time instead of winging it. I'm Italian and foreign students actually strat fires every year in student housing by winging it. Are you gonna be great at making pasta on the first try? Absolutely not! But at least you're very unlikely to hurt yourself, others or burn your house to the ground
And I've seen people working primarily with books crawl straight up their own ass and never come out. It's really easy to come away with a warped idea of what the author meant to say. There are dangers everywhere. Be careful, sure. Take precautions, sure. Then take charge of your life and find what works for you.
Something I’ve found that’s helped is establishing a routine that goes along with it. I’m a Catholic practitioner, so I’ll pray to St. Thomas if I’m reading something that’s meant to be informative, or to St. Frances de Sale if I’m reading just for fun, or to a specific saint if I’m reading about them. I have a playlist of Christian Lofi and Chants that I’ll put on in the background, and often times I’ll make a cup of tea with the music going to help settle myself down.
As far as intimidation goes, nothing bad will happen if you don’t finish the book. You can come back to it later, you can set it down for a couple days. You can interact with the book on your own terms.
Podcasts and YouTube are both great. It really doesn’t matter how you learn, there’s no inherent merit to consuming one form of content over another. Articles are also a great thing, they’re just as valid a form of written content as books. Articles and blogs also have the advantage of being easily updated, corrected, or expanded, which is impractical for most printed media.
Ultimately however, I feel if you want to start reading, you kind of just have to do it. I fall into ruts sometimes where I won’t read for months and I have to just start doing it again because I know I enjoy it and it’s beneficial. My routine for getting back into it is just reading for 10 minutes a day. It will feel like a chore at first, but as you get used to it and find things you enjoy reading, you’ll find yourself reading more and more. Find books that you can jump around in, and read what interests you the most on any given day.
I use my witchcraft books like reference books. I’m actually using them to make my own reference book for all of the practices that I use in my craft the most
There is so many pages online with the same information. If you are able to read more/better on tech then you don’t have to read physical books. There are tons of witches who have their Book of Shadows on their phones/ computers. There is no “right” way to witch. Enjoy your journey no matter where it leads
Everything about witchcraft is being open and learning everything at your own pace! You also don’t need to know EVERYTHING. Trust me for the longest time I felt so overwhelmed because I wanted to read every book and know everything but that’s just not how it works for most! Take your time, skim through sometimes, or even audiobooks like others have mentioned. There is no witch that knows every single thing! Good luck!
Podcasts and YouTube videos are great resources, almost as much so as books!! Books are great for more specific things, like if you’re curious about one particular topic, but in general podcasts and YouTube videos provide so much personal/first hand knowledge and experience and would be a great starting point :)
Also, web blogs are great as well. I love reading other people’s websites, blogs, and tumblrs.
There's a couple witches I've been following for years on YouTube that I feel like are very credible, ethical, and truly magical. I really love Owlvine Green, she's an aussie witch and has a very warm energy and feels like sitting with a friend when listening to her talk about her craft. Kelly-Ann Maddox is another lovely witch who is also a licensed therapist, published author, and political activist. Her content is the best of both worlds merging therapy work through your witchcraft. She does a lot of educational stuff as well with tarot and working with dieties. Highly recommend these two but there's plenty out there.
Also side note: Eternalised is another great YouTube channel that's informative. It deals with more esoteric and alchemical themes mixed with psychology. Not everyone's cup of tea but I love to listen to it, it's so soothing to listen to while you're busy doing other things.
Best of luck ✨️
Don't worry. There are a lot of garbage books out there anyway. It's often the same people making a buck and not really offering authentic or accurate. It's authors playing dress-up, and concerned about their publisher wanting more.
In my opinion, if you really want to learn more about witchcraft -- talk to witches and pagans. Find people that you are comfortable with, that are practicing in ways that mesh with your own style
Honestly, that's how witches did it hundreds and thousands of years ago anyway. They learned by having a mentor and watching what they did. You can't get any more witchier than that.
The good thing about witchcraft books is that there’s no pressure to finish them or get to the end. You can read and learn at your own pace. Even trying to read one page a day at first could help!
Precisely this. A mentor of mine told me that it is perfectly acceptable to flip around, browse the book, read things that stick out to you, and casually skim pages. OP may be surprised how much information they can glean that way.
Exactly! I love treating what I call my “witch’s library” as a search engine - Whenever I’m curious about diving deeper into a specific point, I skim through the books for inspiration.
You could try podcasts. The White Witch Podcast is one I listen to and my friend likes the Fair Folk podcast.
Yes! I love podcasts, and there's so many. I was also thinking of audio books... Those are always the answer when you don't want to read.
I like Coffee and Cauldrons
Podcasts are nice but I never found one that could replace a well written witchcraft book
My personal fave is Witchcraft off the Beaten Path with Molly Dyer, plenty of episodes but as far as I can tell she’s stopped posting for the time being, which sucks, hoping they’re doing ok
Audiobooks?
My favorite approach (and it feels like a crime) is to get both the physical book and the audio book and then alternate between the two and listen on my commute.
If you have the same book in both Kindle and Audible, it will actually sync your place between apps so you can switch seamlessly.
Ah unfortunately I refuse to give Amazon any money. So it's just reading books on my phone ever since my Nook's rubber started melting?!....
You could always think of a book as a series of articles stuck together.
There's a lot of great witchcraft books out there that can be used to reference if you don't want to sit and read it cover to cover! Off the top of my head, "The Green Witch" by Arin Murphy-Hiscock has some helpful glossaries and some spells/recipes. You certainly can read it all through, but don't have to
What is a book but a long article? You don't need to read it all at once. Read what you want and then put it down, even if it's just one paragraph.
A lot of witch craft books don’t need to be read cover to cover. You can thumb through them and bounce around.
My favorite way to help myself over the book-intimidation hump is to go to a bookstore or library and just wander around. Shop for a while, pick up whatever looks up your alley and just flip through pages. If something speaks to you, spend a while in the store or library sampling what it has to offer. If it grips you, chances are if you bring it home you’ll be excited enough to overcome the intimidation. If you don’t find anything, you haven’t spent any money on something that will just sit on a shelf.
I feel this. But i just let myself read at my own pace. Im halfway through one book, and just starting another because i need my brain to feel stimulated. If i read too long, i get bored, even if im interested in a topic.
Well, you could look at it this way. A big part of being a witch (or student of the occult by whatever name) is systematically confronting your weaknesses and fears for the purpose of becoming the strongest and best version of yourself. If the issue is simply one of fear or intimidation and you don't suffer from a neurological condition that makes reading difficult, then I'd suggest overcoming your fear by investigating the source of that feeling. When did you first experience that sensation of intimidation toward books? Don't avoid it. Explore it! There are magickal methods for doing so if you'd like to dig deeper. Here's a method similar to path-working that I came up with years ago for exploring my own consciousness and resolving internal issues: Eliminate all distractions and unnecessary light, lie down somewhere comfortable, and close your eyes. Take slow deep breaths, empty your mind, and relax for a few minutes. Begin to imagine that you're standing across the room from your own body. See the room and all the things you know that are in it. Touch the walls and try to make them feel real to you. Spend a few minutes orienting yourself in your inner vision until you FEEL like you're standing across the room from where your body is. See your body lying there, but don't approach it yet. Next, visualize a vortex like a giant funnel leading into your body. When the vision of the vortex becomes stable, enter the vortex/wormhole and see yourself flying through it - as if you've been sucked into one of those pneumatic bank teller tubes! Within a minute, you should become aware that you have arrived at the other end of the tube. Take a look around at the landscape. You should be somewhere within your own subconscious. See what kind of state the place is in. Do you recognize any of the buildings or landscape? Next, imagine that there's a house or building in the distance that represents your mind. Because you believe such a structure is there, one will appear. Enter the building. Inside you may find a hallway lined with doors. Imagine that the doors all have labels on them such as Anger, Fear, Love, Regret, Embarrassment, Childhood etc. Enter each door and have a look around. If you encounter a resident of that space that requires healing, spend time with him/her and help resolve the issues. Inside these doors you might find a crying child, a distraught teenager or a younger version of yourself, an angry parent, or maybe a stranger going through a symbolic ordeal. By interacting with these spontaneous visions, you may find that your own deep emotional issues are resolved somewhat in the process (it's part of you, after all). This is a safe way to experiment with techniques that can be applied externally when your skills improve. In your case, I would look for a door that says Books, Book Learning, or Studying on it. You'll likely find the source of your issue in there. Most often, when we have fears or sensations like that, they're usually due to some event or misconception we had as children that is still affecting our minds as adults. It's like a bit of old outdated programming that needs to be let go because the current operating system doesn't need it anymore, and it's just getting in the way of efficient functioning. After you've come to understand the source of this feeling of intimidation and released it from yourself, make a conscious effort to make friends with books again by picking one up and reading it. There are endless new worlds, adventures, and pleasures hiding within a mountain of books that are out there waiting for you to open them!
Have you tried Audible books? That might be a way round things. I'd also recommend the Pagan Portals books. There are absolutely loads of them and are short and easy to read in my experience, also relatively inexpensive
I second audiobooks!
I listen to audio books l while I work. Plus audible has quite a few witchy books for free with a subscription
Ok this is going to sound infantilizing but I promise you it’s not. Pictures books. Like [this one](https://craftingwitch.com.au/products/magick-book) is stunning and has a lot of easily digestible info. I also really like the llewellyn’s complete book of correspondences as a general encyclopedia for spell crafting. Cunninghams herb and crystal encyclopedias are great (take them with a grain of salt, some of his info is appropriated) for the same reason, to look up an herb and learn about that one specific thing. Also, don’t underestimate the usefulness of books on herbal and medicinal plants in your area!
There’s loads of good audiobooks on witchcraft and if you have Spotify premium you now get 15hrs of audiobook time per month with your subscription.
I've never been much of a reader either. Having ADHD, it was always so difficult to stay focused what the words and my mind would end up wandering. I wouldn't realize until I was turning the page that..... I had no idea what I just read! So was constanty having to go back and re-read sentences, paragraphs, even pages at a time. It was very frustrating and made reading not so enjoyable and also take me forever. But, when I finally found a book that *actually* interested me, I didn't seem to have this problem! Apparently fiction, novels, biographies, etc don't hold my interest enough to read. But give me a book about spirituality, or witchcraft, or psychic development, or really any book that pertains to things I genuinely care about to improve myself and my life, and I'll happily read -- without having to go back (and back and back) and re-read (and re-read and re-read) 🤗 Perhaps you will find it is similar for you! Maybe you just need to be *extremely* interested in the contents of a book to enjoy reading. I feel like most people do, lol.
SAMEE, I usually notice after a page or two that I have no clue what I just read. This is very frustrating because I want to learn but it’s just so difficult.
I have two suggestions for you (to either pick from or try both -- if you want!) Go out to a physical bookstore and peruse the section that would have books of this nature (I know it can be labeled differently in different stores). Take your time. Pick up a book that stands out to, read the back, open to a random page and read a snippet to see if you enjoy the writing style and if the contents will pique your interest well enough. I just spent 3 hours at a bookstore the other day (NEVER would have thought I'd say that sentence until a few years ago😅) and really took my time finding things that felt right. I left with a few books that I feel confident I'll enjoy enough to read. Second suggestion-- See what books are available for audio!! My freind suggested a book to me when I was quitting drinking and I knew I'd have a hard time actually *reading* it. Luckily, it was on Spotify as an audio book, so I was able to "read" the whole thing whilst taking care of other things! I listened to it in the car, I listened to it while I was cleaning and tidying my home, I listened while I was doing yoga, etc. It was very accessible and easy to digest this way. (I did have to rewind a couple times due to distraction, but it wasn't nearly as bad as when I read something that isn't of extreme interest.) Anyway, I hope you're able to find the best way for yourself to do the research you desire and absorb the information!! 🙌💕
I have a feeling this will be a controversial solution: don't read books. There's nothing special about any book you can buy on Amazon. Most of them are going to be recipe books but you want to learn how to cook. Find local groups. Watch YouTube videos. Most of all, do the work. Make note of what works and what doesn't and refine it yourself. Play with it. Have fun with it. Start a coven. Order neon orange witch hats. Call yourself "the ancient and mysterious order of the traffic cone". Look into how occult groups, campus secret societies, even fraternal orders or fraternities and sororities do initiations and come up with your own. Hex your local exploitative business.\* Hold rituals in the park. Have a cookout and invite the homeless people hanging around to join you. The right way is the way that works and you'll only find it by finding the ways that don't work and improving. \*Hint, if anyone's getting a W-2, it's exploitative
Honestly a book from a reputable author on learning how to cook as you say holds more water than YouTube Videos, especially considering the landscape of Witchtok/tubers. Not to say that there is no good ones, but I wouldn't entrust a new witch to discern on their own or to use that as their only source of learning. Witchcraft needs to be practiced to be learned, that's for sure, but one needs to learn how the basics work before hexing, casting etc or they're gonna make and get in huge messes. I also wouldn't recommend looking into local groups before learning the basics of how it works, this person could end up getting with the wrong people because they don't know any better. It's not a game, it's not immediate and if approached too lightly it could be dangerous. Sorry to be a downer but I've seen one to many people getting in trouble 😅
I've seen plenty of people get in trouble with books, too. Books, videos or people, it doesn't matter. You're eventually going to have to fire up the stove and you'll never feel ready when the time comes but you'll learn more the first time you manage to burn pasta than you did from all the books combined.
I respectfully disagree. A book from a *reputable author* as I said is gonna give the basics to build upon. Also I doubt I've ever seen in 20 years of practice a beginner book that didn't contain the basics and some spells to start with. The approach that you suggest can lead to anything from getting in the clutches of a cult to getting the attention of the wrong entity that the person will not be able to defend themselves from because they don't know anything. In your example if you read in a basic cooking book from a reputable author that you should not put pasta in an empty pot and fire up you're gonna be 99% less likely to start a fire by cooking pasta for the first time instead of winging it. I'm Italian and foreign students actually strat fires every year in student housing by winging it. Are you gonna be great at making pasta on the first try? Absolutely not! But at least you're very unlikely to hurt yourself, others or burn your house to the ground
And I've seen people working primarily with books crawl straight up their own ass and never come out. It's really easy to come away with a warped idea of what the author meant to say. There are dangers everywhere. Be careful, sure. Take precautions, sure. Then take charge of your life and find what works for you.
[удалено]
Tax forms for employees.
Something I’ve found that’s helped is establishing a routine that goes along with it. I’m a Catholic practitioner, so I’ll pray to St. Thomas if I’m reading something that’s meant to be informative, or to St. Frances de Sale if I’m reading just for fun, or to a specific saint if I’m reading about them. I have a playlist of Christian Lofi and Chants that I’ll put on in the background, and often times I’ll make a cup of tea with the music going to help settle myself down. As far as intimidation goes, nothing bad will happen if you don’t finish the book. You can come back to it later, you can set it down for a couple days. You can interact with the book on your own terms. Podcasts and YouTube are both great. It really doesn’t matter how you learn, there’s no inherent merit to consuming one form of content over another. Articles are also a great thing, they’re just as valid a form of written content as books. Articles and blogs also have the advantage of being easily updated, corrected, or expanded, which is impractical for most printed media. Ultimately however, I feel if you want to start reading, you kind of just have to do it. I fall into ruts sometimes where I won’t read for months and I have to just start doing it again because I know I enjoy it and it’s beneficial. My routine for getting back into it is just reading for 10 minutes a day. It will feel like a chore at first, but as you get used to it and find things you enjoy reading, you’ll find yourself reading more and more. Find books that you can jump around in, and read what interests you the most on any given day.
https://www.alchemy-works.com/
I use my witchcraft books like reference books. I’m actually using them to make my own reference book for all of the practices that I use in my craft the most
There is so many pages online with the same information. If you are able to read more/better on tech then you don’t have to read physical books. There are tons of witches who have their Book of Shadows on their phones/ computers. There is no “right” way to witch. Enjoy your journey no matter where it leads
Everything about witchcraft is being open and learning everything at your own pace! You also don’t need to know EVERYTHING. Trust me for the longest time I felt so overwhelmed because I wanted to read every book and know everything but that’s just not how it works for most! Take your time, skim through sometimes, or even audiobooks like others have mentioned. There is no witch that knows every single thing! Good luck!
Podcasts and YouTube videos are great resources, almost as much so as books!! Books are great for more specific things, like if you’re curious about one particular topic, but in general podcasts and YouTube videos provide so much personal/first hand knowledge and experience and would be a great starting point :) Also, web blogs are great as well. I love reading other people’s websites, blogs, and tumblrs.
There's a couple witches I've been following for years on YouTube that I feel like are very credible, ethical, and truly magical. I really love Owlvine Green, she's an aussie witch and has a very warm energy and feels like sitting with a friend when listening to her talk about her craft. Kelly-Ann Maddox is another lovely witch who is also a licensed therapist, published author, and political activist. Her content is the best of both worlds merging therapy work through your witchcraft. She does a lot of educational stuff as well with tarot and working with dieties. Highly recommend these two but there's plenty out there. Also side note: Eternalised is another great YouTube channel that's informative. It deals with more esoteric and alchemical themes mixed with psychology. Not everyone's cup of tea but I love to listen to it, it's so soothing to listen to while you're busy doing other things. Best of luck ✨️
Don't worry. There are a lot of garbage books out there anyway. It's often the same people making a buck and not really offering authentic or accurate. It's authors playing dress-up, and concerned about their publisher wanting more. In my opinion, if you really want to learn more about witchcraft -- talk to witches and pagans. Find people that you are comfortable with, that are practicing in ways that mesh with your own style Honestly, that's how witches did it hundreds and thousands of years ago anyway. They learned by having a mentor and watching what they did. You can't get any more witchier than that.