What you DON’T need in order to practice magick

You do not need to be wealthy.
You do not need to be white or Western.
You do not need to be male.
You do not need a male.
You do not need a work schedule that is 9-5.
You do not need to be a parent.
You do not need eugenics.
You do not need to publish a book.
You do not need to have a college degree.
You do not need to have an “anything goes” attitude.
You do not need to conform to bigoted political ideologies in the name of “purity.”
You do not need to claim an old history for purposes of legitimacy.
You do not need to attempt to rewrite history for purposes of legitimacy.
You do not need to accept everything that old dead (and often rich and white) men taught or said.
You do not need to cherry-pick and appropriate from other cultures.
You do not need to conform to gender roles in the name of the ‘divine feminine’ or ‘divine masculine.’
You do not need to pander to males in the name of ‘phallus worship’ or ‘god worship.’
You do not need to deny female truths.
You do not need (as a woman) to be tokenized and seen as merely optional and auxiliary, whereas men are seen as essential.
You do not need to be part of a group or organization.
You do not need to put up with abuse from other practitioners.
You do not need so-called “sex magick” or to be “skyclad” or let people touch you while naked.
You do not need to be polyamorous or promiscuous.
You do not need to change your sexual orientation or sex practices to “be open-minded” or (if you are straight) appropriate LGB terms.
You do not need to be straight.
You do not need to be hypnotized.
You do not need to take drugs or alcohol, especially in the company of others (namely, strangers).
You do not need to have co-ed groups.
You do not need to have white-only groups.
You do not need (as a woman) to be called “witch” while the men in your group are called “magickians” even as you are practicing the same magick – ceremonial.
You do not need to refuse money for divination.
You do not need to mask payment for things as “donations.”
You do not need to be told you don’t know anything just because you’re a woman or you’re younger than such-and-such; conversely, that you’re old and useless.
You do not need to join or be initiated into a group as soon as you meet the group.
You do not need to give out personal identifying information or throw away your privacy.
You do not need to accept vague, highly abstract or ambiguous definitions in your search for knowledge.
You do not need to “obey” any teacher.
You do not need to respect anyone trying to pull rank in order to silence your views and criticisms.
You do not need a teacher.
You do not need to read a lot of books, or rely on books alone for knowledge.
You do not need (especially as a woman) to be dismissed as hysterical, frigid, mentally ill or that you “need help” in order to silence you.
You do not need to respect someone who has violated your boundaries, no matter how much “good” they say they have done for the community or what they have accomplished in their lives.
You do not need to support everything that other practitioners you associate with think, do (or have done).
You do not need to continue to associate with other practitioners or groups if certain individuals have been known to abuse others, or if a group supports abusers because “it’s the magick that matters most.”
You do not need to hide your practice under another – and often inaccurate – name in order to appeal to a larger audience or to hide what it really is at first.
You do not need to give your money or devote your life to anyone.
You do not need to buy repackaged or plagiarized knowledge.