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1. I want to learn more about Wicca - how do I do this?
2. What are some good websites with information on Wicca?
3. What are some good books to read about Wicca?
4. I feel as though I have a psychic power does that mean I am Wiccan?
5. What do I need to buy if I want to be Wiccan?
6. Okay then…so I know I don’t need to BUY my stuff…but what will I NEED?
7. What is a familiar?

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1. I want to learn more about Wicca - how do I do this?
Research, research and more research. Did I mention research? Seriously though, if you feel that Wicca is the right path for you there are many books and websites out there to begin your research. The next two FAQs (numbers 5 and 6) list a wide variety of web sites (number 5) and books (number 6), however you can also gain a LOT of information by using any search engine on the web. Below are a list of search engines that will be of great use in your journey. Just type 'Wicca' in and you'll get hundreds of sites to choose from.
Google: http://www.google.com
Dogpile: http://www.dogpile.com
SearchEngine: http://www.searchengine.com
Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com
Lycos: http://www.lycos.com
ParaSeek - mainly paranormal: http://www.paraseek.com
SpiritSeek - mainly spiritual stuff: http://www.spiritseek.com
Questia - online library: http://www.questia.com
Mamma: http://www.mamma.com
MetaCrawler: http://www.metacrawler.com
Colossus: http://www.searchenginecolossus.com
About: http://www.about.com and http://paganwiccan.about.com/mbody.htm
WhisperingStone: http://www.whisperingstone.com/search.htm
WebWeaver: http://www.webweaver.sapphiremoon.info/

2. What are some good websites with information on Wicca?
See Recommended Web Resources

3. What are some good books to read about Wicca?
Here are some very frequently recommended introductory books on Wicca (aka Wicca 101).
Books by Scott Cunningham:
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner
Living Wicca
Earth Magick
Earth, Air, Fire, Water

Books by Dorothy Morrison
The Craft: A Witch's Book of Shadows (The Companion Journal for this book is NOT worth the Money)

Books by DJ Conway
Moon Magick - A MUST for information on the moons to plan Esbats

Books by Starhawk
The Spiral Dance - This books has a highly feminist tilt and can be difficult to read but it has EXCELLENT exercises and information. It's also where the Quarter Calls for the film The Craft came from.

Books on Advanced Wicca and Magickal Study (aka Wicca 202)
The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle by Deborah Lipp
The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition by Dianne Sylvan
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Ronald Hutton
The Sacred Round: A Witch's Guide to Magical Practice by Elen Hawke

Useful Books on the Tarot
Please note: This list covers a wide range of topics from Beginners (the first 4 books) through Advanced (the ones closer to the bottom of the list.)
Tarot for Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation by Mary K. Greer
Tarot Plain and Simple by Anthony Louis (Uses The Robin Wood Tarot instead of Rider-Waite as it's 'education' deck)
Learning the Tarot: A Tarot Book for Beginners by Joan Bunning
Complete Book Of Tarot Spreads by Evelin Burger, Johannes Fiebig
Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot by Rachel Pollack
The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals (Special Topics in Tarot) by Mary K. Greer, Barbara Moore
The Tarot Court Cards: Archetypal Patterns of Relationship in the Minor Arcana by Kate Warwick-Smith
Tarot for Self Discovery (Special Topics in Tarot) by Nina Lee Braden
Designing Your Own Tarot Spreads (Special Topics in Tarot) by Teresa Michelsen, Mary K. Greer
Tarot and Magic by Donald Michael Kraig, Mary K. Greer (Surprisingly good book. More than just "here's a spell go do it")
The Forest of Souls: A Walk Through the Tarot by Rachel Pollack

Pagan/Occult e-Books
There are some EXCELLENT e-books, in Adobe Acrobat format, available at http://www.hermetics.org/ebooks.html. (If you don't have Acrobat Reader you can get it from http://www.adobe.com.)

NOTE: NOT ALL THE BOOKS ARE ABOUT WICCA! They cover a wide variety of Pagan and Occult topics; some you may be interested in and some you may not.

BE VERY CAREFUL. Use these books with maturity, intelligence and with a mind to the three-fold law & Rede! DO NOT just go throwing spells around that you find in these books. Using magic requires maturity and understanding of WHAT you are doing lest you harm yourself or another unintentionally. Don't go off casting spells and summoning things just because you read it in a book. Just because you read it doesn't make you (1) strong enough to control what you summon, (2) educated enough to fully understand what you are summoning, (3) able to "put the cork back in the bottle if you summon something you didn't expect, and (4) wise enough know if this is right or not.

Basically:
If you have to ask if you are "ready" you aren't.
If you have to wonder if you are "ready" you aren't.
Most importantly: If your instincts tell you something is NOT right, chances are you are 200% right!

The books in the Wicca section are VERY good and VERY useful. The books on the Tarot look very good too... especially the "Pictorial Key to the Tarot" by Arthur Waite; the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck (the artist Pamala Smith being the other creator).

Top 13 "Classic" Pagan Books per PanGaia Magazine
Finally, in a recent issue (November '03 - February '04) of PanGaia magazine (www.pangaia.com), they compiled a list of some of the best Pagan books to have on your bookshelf. (The article was entitled "Creating a Pagan Bookshelf" and was edited by Carl McColman.) While not all of these books deal with Wicca, I have to agree that they are highly valuable books so I'm going to add them to the list. (You will find that some of them are repeats from above.) This particular list is called "The Classics" and consist of books published before 1990. They are listed in same order as the article (1 - 13).

The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Religion of the Great Goddess by Starhawk
Wicca: A Guide for the Soliary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham
Real Magic: An Introductory Treatise on the Basics of Yellow Magic by Isaac Bonewits
Positive Magic: Occult Self-Help by Marion Weinstein
Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshipers, and Other Pagans in America Today by Margot Adler
A Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook Janet and Stewart Farrar
Psychic Self-Defense: A Study in Occult Pathology and Criminology by Dion Fortune
The Way of the Shaman by Michael Harner
Tarot for Yourself: A Workbook for Personal Transformation by Mary K. Greer
Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles G. Leland
Witchcraft for Tomorrow by Doreen Valiente
When God was a Woman: The Landmark Exploration of the Ancient Worship of the Great Goddess and the Eventual Suppression of Women's Rites by Merlin Stone
The HOly Book of Women's Mysteries: Feninist Witchcraft, Goddess Rituals, Spellcasting, and Other Womanly Arts by Zsuzsanna Budapest

4. I feel as though I have a psychic power…does that mean I am Wiccan?
No. Psychic power comes from within all of us - although some people are able to tap into their psychic abilities while others can not - or do not know how. There are many ways this power might manifest; telepathy, empathic abilities and telekinesis to name a few. There are various ways to stimulate your psychic awareness through meditation to try to enhance these latent abilities that we all have, but you do not need to be a Wiccan to do this. Just as with witchcraft, there are many Wiccans who do have psychic power, however it is separate and not part of their spirituality or their religious observance of Wicca.

5. What do I need to buy if I want to be Wiccan?
Nothing. Nada. Zip. Many might argue this point, but I do believe that anything that you might need to practice the religion of Wicca can be ‘found’ (or may find YOU ) instead of bought. Mind you there are some fancy, schmacy items that you may want to buy because they look pretty, or something in it draws you - but you really do not need to spend a lot of money (if any). If you can’t afford to buy books on Wicca, search the internet. There are a ton of websites out there which have great information - including posting boards where you could ask other Wiccans for websites that they frequent. Never be afraid of asking another Wiccan to recommend a book or website to help you. As for ritual tools, there are many items you can find in your house or in nature that you can use instead of going to a Pagan store and spending a lot of money on them. And there are always places like the flea market, garage sales and dollar stores in which to buy items such as candles or supplies to MAKE your tools. And, when it comes right down to it, magic comes from YOU. If you can’t afford a wand or an athame…use your finger.

6. Okay then… so I know I don’t need to BUY my stuff… but what will I NEED?
There are a few items that you might want to have on hand to practice Wicca and/or magic. These are:

Altar - a surface to perform your rituals - preferably wood or natural material

Altar Cloth - to spread over your altar. The colour of the cloth varies from ritual to ritual, however it should be natural material such as silk, wool or cotton.

Candles - all colours, but white will do to start as it can substitute for any other colour

Book of Shadows - this is a place to write your spells, rituals, etc. It doesn’t have to be fancy, a spiral notepad will do - or even a folder on your computer or a disk

A Witches Journal - Again, a book in which to write the RESULTS of your practices, dreams you’ve had, things you’ve discovered. Many use their Book of Shadows for this - but it can make it a little bulky. It’s up to you.

An Athame - an athame is a knife, usually black handled and double bladed - that a witch uses to channel energy. A kitchen knife CAN be used (you can wrap a black ribbon on the blade to show it is different than your Boleen knife) but please be advised that an athame should never be used to cut flesh - either human or otherwise. So if you are using a kitchen knife make sure it has never been used to cut meat. Any athame which has been used to draw blood or cut flesh is rendered useless. You do not necessarily need to use an athame for this function, however, and many use their own fingers for this function instead.

A Bolline - a bolline is a knife, usually white handled and with a curved blade - which a witch uses for any cutting activity (again, and I can not stress this enough, not to cut flesh of any kind) - such as to carve runes or words onto candles, wands, staffs, etc - or to cut herbs. Again, you could use a kitchen knife for this function, but only one which has not been used to cut meat.

A Wand and/or Staff - again, like an athame, a wand and a staff is used to channel energy. It could be made from any kind of wood - and many witches have different wands for different tasks as each wood has its own properties.

Herbs, salt, oils, incenses & charcoal (for incense) - during rituals many different herbs, salt (preferably sea salt) oils and incenses are used. Which ones are used are dependant on what the ritual is for.

Incense censor, burners, bowls, chalice, bottles, cauldron - these items are used to hold the herbs, salt, oils & incenses. You do not need to buy these new - regular glass or ceramic bowls & glasses will work fine (stay away from plastic & metal) as well as a cooking pot instead of a cauldron (again - a glass pot works better).

Stones, crystals, feathers, talismans, etc - various items are used during rituals and spell crafting dependant on what they are for.

7. What is a familiar?
A familiar can be either an animal or a spirit which willingly lends you his or her energies during a spell or ritual - or even during everyday life. everyday life.

Special thanks to Silaria, Lilybunny and Soleil for this information.