Are witches real? Well, have you ever had deja-vu? Consider that your intuition. Have you ever been stressed about your midterms, so you filled your bathtub with sweet smelling oils and soothing salt scrubs, maybe you lit a few candles? Sounds like a self-love spell to me. You wished you didn’t have to go to class, then it was cancelled? Manifested. Have you ever just – cleaned your room – because clutter gives you heavy negative energy? Look at you, performing whole cleansing rituals like a pro.
So, are witches real? Not the kind with green skin and an appetite for babies, but yes. They’re people who practice magick, directing and raising energies to serve a purpose. And if you haven’t noticed lately, witchcraft is having a moment. A whole magical moment. So let’s take you through the basics:
A witch is someone aware of their own power, and puts that power into action.
That’s it. No consumption of children’s souls required.
Historically, an increased interest in witchcraft is synonymous with current society. The rise of witches is always rising parallel with another political or social movement. Because witchcraft is so easily malleable, you can make it whatever you want it to be. The witch trials were less a witch issue, and more so a response to a threatened patriarchy. Similar feminist ideologies were being brought to the forefront in the 1970s, along with a revival of modern witchcraft. In our current society, we’ve seen a steady rise in Feminism in the popular and political culture. Witchcraft urges you to practice positive self-love, and to “the witch is a woman fully in her power” translates perfectly to activists today. Of course, witchcraft doesn’t have a binary rule over it, and boys are witches too. Witches are inarguably having a large moment in the present, providing control, confidence, and accountability.
There are so many common misconceptions about witches - and no - the E-girl in your gender studies class isn’t a witch. Okay, maybe she is. But the point is that witches don’t have a specific look. There are witches of all expressions and identities. Confusion corner is where Wicca rolls on in. Here’s a super simple graph to help:
WITCHCRAFT ≠ WICCA
Wicca is a religion associated with witchcraft. So, all Wiccans are witches, but not all witches are Wiccan. Kapiche? Witchcraft itself is a spirituality, a philosophy of life. There are wiccan witches, but there are also witches who practice Christianity, paganism, or atheism. When we think of witches, we usually imagine those creepy old gals from Macbeth, Hermonie Granger, or Angelina Jolie’s cheekbones in Maleficent. In reality, witchcraft really isn’t as cookie cutter friendly, as popular culture tropes would have you think. This is an overwhelmingly vast practice, with so many different types. There’s no specific look for a witch, and that makes witchcraft and each person’s personal practice, 100% their own. To name a couple types of crafts in the cauldron, kitchen witches use magic in cooking and baking, green witches use flowers, herbs, and other plants, cosmic witches employ astrology and planetary cycles. There are some crafts that also relate directly to indigenous shamanism or African hoodoo. Who knew?
The most important step is to let go of fear. When we lack understanding for something, we tend to develop fear. For years, I had been mixing my own tea blends, collecting crystals, and taking bubble baths. The only change I’ve made is releasing the fear of people’s judgment and recognizing the magic in these activities. Witchcraft Is all about intention. If you have a purpose for drinking a cup of tea (i.e. to relax), then congratulations – you’ve got a spell! Some people will absolutely drain others for the fun of having their tarot cards read but become uncomfortable the moment someone says “witch”. But as it happens, the more I hear someone say “witch” the more people seem to lift their heads to say “me too”.
