Knit Witch ~ casting on a spell

Filed in Thursday Thirteen, Witch, Memes & Meta
on October 25th, 2007 @ 4:08am

Thirteen Things About Witches

Last year, I posted a TT on Samhain. Read it here. That done, here’s some information on witches!

I am a witch. Or so I like to think. Some days, I’m more of a bitch than a witch, but I like to think of that as just ‘part of the package’.
Though some beg to differ, not all witches are Wiccans, and not all Wiccans are witches, though most Wiccans are witches, and quite q few witches are Wiccans. How’s that for a mixup? Here’s how it works: Wicca is a religion. Wiccans are followers of that religion. Witchcraft is a practice, like, for example, prayer. Christians pray - but not all who pray are Christian. Some are Jewish, some are Islam, and some are Wiccan. Likewise, Wiccans often practice witchcraft, but not all who practice witchcraft are Wiccan. (For those who want to know, there are even Christian Witches.)
Witchcraft generally involves magic. Any type of magic, really, but practitioners of specialized magic (chaos magic, ceremonial magic) may or may not call themselves witches - they often refer to themselves as magicians, and their craft as magic.
Witches cannot fly around on brooms, but most of us would love to learn.
Witches generally do not distinguish between ‘white magic’ and ‘black magic’ the way movies and certain pathetic books exclaim. Witches are not automatically beings full of light and love, and witches can - and sometimes do - practice darker flavors of magic. Most - but not all - witches view witchcraft and magic as simply a tool that can be used for either positive or negative purposes.
Many - but certainly not all - witches do take a moral view of trying to do the least harm in every situation. Hence, most witches don’t lightly cast spells to harm another.
Not all witches believe in karma, or the Threefold Law or any of that. But almost all agree that there are consequences - seen or unseen - to every action we take.
Both men and women prefer the term witch. Warlock is generally not in use. Originally, this term meant ‘oathbreaker’, and most male witches cite this as the reason not to use the term. Considering the general population “knows” that ‘warlock’ means ‘male witch’ and this supposed taboo has to be explained to everyone, I’ve come to the personal conclusion that they just find the term hollywood-style-silly. And in this, I agree. Nonetheless, if you meet a man who considers himself a warlock, assume he doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about until proven otherwise.
Witches don’t have to wear black. Honest. It’s not a rule.
There are different types of witchcraft - some of the most commonly heard being “elemental”, “kitchen”, and “green”. Elemental witches typically focus on the elements (air, fire, water, earth, and possibly spirit) and tend to be somewhat more Wiccan in nature. Kitchen witches tend to focus on simplistic home magic - literally infusing everything from food to mopwater with magic and blessings, and often tend to be much less formal in their spells and rituals than others. Green witches are often more focused on nature and herbs and the like.
Witches generally love Halloween, and most don’t have any problems with the evil witch stereotype that goes along with it. Despite a couple schools evidently banning Halloween activities as a ploy to be politically correct toward witches, most have no problems with the traditional green-faced wart-nosed hag. Some, however, take offense, and to those people I say ‘go sit on your thumb and spin a while’.
Witches often have a large supply of herbs and resins and such. Usually, they have names like: sage and basil and mugwort and frankincense and sandalwood and holly. Not ‘lizard tongue’ and ‘eye of newt’ and ‘bat wings’.
To set the record straight, ten million [or whatever number seems to be popular at the moment] witches did NOT die during The Burning Times. Not /all/ that many people died during the Inquisition, and most of those poor saps were just lonely old women who had the misfortune of being an outcast - and there may not have been a single actual witch in the bunch. This isn’t to say that witches haven’t been persecuted, then /or/ now. We are still persecuted today to a degree even in the States [yes, people have had children taken away for being pagan, have lost jobs, etc.] but there’s really no need to inflate the big ol’ persecution complex here.

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16 Comments »

Wonderful, informative and with a twist of humor! I’ve never had the best luck with trying to inform/explain things like that and most of the things I’ve read from witches/wiccans tend to come off as either high and mighty or very defensive. I adore this post, thanks so much for sharing!

Comment by Christine — October 25, 2007 @ 4:22 am
One word………..EXCELLENT!!!!

[and I’m not Witch OR Wiccan]

Comment by Hootin' Anni — October 25, 2007 @ 4:32 am
Wow, that was very interesting - I didn’t know witches didn’t believe in karma.

I have a friend who was Wiccan but never asked her much about it, most likely becuase I don’t know that much about it. I’m thinking at our next ladies lunch I’ll have to get her to open that vault.

Thank you darlin’.

Comment by Tilly Greene — October 25, 2007 @ 5:00 am
Great list! Very informative and entertaining!! I’m not a witch or wiccan … but I have known to be a bitch on occasion! ;) Happy Thursday!!!

Comment by Patti — October 25, 2007 @ 5:03 am
Growing up in the (American) South, I am familiar with Voudoun and Hoodoo, and being from Germany, with the Asatru, but I am a bit loose on my understanding of Wicca, so thanks for the primer!

Comment by Jon Tillman — October 25, 2007 @ 5:04 am
I wish I could be a witch. I do not think they allow cats though. Your kitties look very, very cute in their lion cuts!

Comment by Daisy the Curly Cat — October 25, 2007 @ 5:24 am
thanks for your comments on my blog

Comment by marcia v — October 25, 2007 @ 5:38 am
interesting information

Comment by Babystepper — October 25, 2007 @ 5:42 am
I didn’t know all those things about witches. I thought all witches were willing to harm those that did them wrong.

Comment by Kat — October 25, 2007 @ 6:36 am
And Wicked is a wonderful musical…is that appreciated by the witch community?

I think I would rather be called a witch than a bitch because I think witch implies more intention and bitch just a state of being.

Comment by Di — October 25, 2007 @ 6:40 am
Wow, I’m really intrigued. I’ve often wanted to learn about Wicca. I wish we could fly on brooms, too!

Comment by Christy — October 25, 2007 @ 9:22 am
Thanks for coming by and commenting. I really like your list. There’s so much back and forth on #13 that I won’t add to it, except to say that however many women died, it was a tragedy for which the church should apologize as it has to many other groups. It won’t because there’s the fear that to do so would be sanctioning witchcraft, despite the fact the majority, if not nearly all the women and men who died during the inquisition were Christian or of no declared faith.

A sad twisting up of facts on all sides with that. But alas, it’s better to worry about stopping the current witch hunts rather than quibbling over who did what when and what they practiced.

Happy TT from a Kitche/Water/Geo-Witch depending on who’s catergorizing me. :)

~X

Comment by Xakara — October 25, 2007 @ 10:14 am
Hmmm - how come you know so much about witches? Can it be - oh no…

Comment by TorAa — October 25, 2007 @ 10:50 pm
Hmm. That’s the first thursday thirteen of yours that I’ve read that I was SURPRISED to find myself at the end. Yay!

Comment by Amber — October 26, 2007 @ 8:56 pm
I am a Witch and a Wiccan, “Kitchen” Witch that is and yes one of those who is not so formal or riged about spell work. I do love your littel post here and I do agree with the those who take offense to the modern symbols of halloween such as the long nosed green faced witch should sit and spin, I did however want to indicate that the exact number of persons who where murdered (Yes Murdered not died as they where intentionaly killed in a manner that was planned not accidental nor was their passing of old age or aillment)during the as so called “burning times” or salem Witch trials or whatever titel one chosses to use will never be known for a fact as their was not a very accurate record keeping of such things in those times and although their is no definate proof that any where in fact witches some may have been and that we will also never know just the same they where “Convicted” of being witches and even if that was not the titel of their crime it is still quite a tragic, horrible, and worth remembering event as that by educating ourselfs on the past may we not make the same mistakes in the futer and let this be an example for all as to what is possible if we judge the beliefe systems of another person or group of persons. Blessed Be.

Comment by LeQuita — June 10, 2008 @ 11:57 pm
I added your blog to my favorites! I love what you write about!

Comment by Halloween Costumes — August 29, 2008 @ 5:25 pm

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