Day 31: Piece of advice for anyone starting out?

My advice is "question everything."  If someone says, "the goddess goes on the left and the god on the right," ask why.  If someone says, "fire is in the south," ask why.  If someone says, "the rede says 'harm none,'" ask why.  If someone says that a wand is masculine and a bowl is feminine, ask why.  If someone writes that you can't blow out a flame, you must snuff it out to show respect to the element of fire, ask where the writer got that information.

Ask.  Question everything.

Do your best, and forgive your mistakes.

Make like-minded friends in the flesh.

Read voraciously, but be skeptical.

Honor diversity.  Converse with people with other opinions and practices.  Learn from them.  Realize that you might be right, wrong, or neither right nor wrong, just different.

Trust your intuition, but check your facts.

Make sure to stay involved in healthy, non-magical pursuits.  Read some realistic fiction and go bowling, or whatever else non-magical that floats your proverbial boat.

Respect your own boundaries and comfort zone.  Respect the boundaries of others.