What Is A Witch?

What is a Witch?

Rebecca writes:

"I hear about witches all the time and I am really curious about them. So what is a witch? What do witches do?"

The interest in Witches have been around for centuries. I usually find that the fascination with witches either comes as genuine curiosity to exactly what makes a witch a witch, or a deep fear of what a witch is capable of.

A witch is simply someone who practices magic for herself, the community, & the world through the alignment with the natural forces that make up our universe.

Though I use "she" a witch does not have to be a woman, a witch can be a man as well. Most feminist witches wouldn't agree with me on this. To each their own, I think anyone can be a witch in-fact there are plenty of people in my life that I classify as Witches that do not identify themselves as such, but I sense that power within them, and not all are women.

What is a Magic?

Magic is the art of creating change through the focus of ones will.
We all do magic, we just may not realize it. Each wish we make, each silent plea we make to a higher power is an act of magic.

However, witches go a step further- as they wish or state their desires they usually couple that with an act of sympathetic action. Such as lighting a green candle surrounded by various amounts of currency. That is a witches magic.

What are these natural forces?

Natural forces are the stars, moon, plants, stones, and animals that make up our natural world. Each has a power specific to itself. For example the planet Venus rules love, the growing moon or waxing moon increases power, an aventurine crystal correlates with abundance, and bay leaves are good for granting wishes, a hawk is a messenger from the universe to pay attention as something important is coming.

A Witch is in a state of constant alignment with the natural world around them.
A Witch goes outside and doesn't just see beauty, a witch sees magic. The universe is in a constant state of communication with us, the trees will tell you the weather, an animal will tell you about the health of the ecosystem around you, finding a specific stone on your walk is a message from the universe about your personal life. I haven't met a Witch to date who rather stay inside then go outside and connect deeply with nature (except maybe myself during allergy season.)

Each witch has a different connection to the natural forces around them, some are green witches connecting deeply to the plants and trees, others are water witches connecting to streams, rivers, oceans, lakes, and ponds. I know of witches who work only with crystals to create magick. Every witch is different but the underlying theme, the place where the witch gets her power, is the natural world. It can be found everywhere, even in the most industrialized places.

Is This a Religion?

Well it can be, Wicca is as religion; i'd surmise that 95% of wiccan's consider themselves witches, but only 50% of witches consider themselves to practice the religion of Wicca. This is a confusing topic that is best for another post, and it's something that not a lot of witches really understand (especially Wiccans). I do not mean this in a derogatory way by any means, for many years i did not fully understand myself because there is so much mis-information about this topic; I really want to talk about it in depth in another post.

There are catholic witches, Jewish witches, and witches that do not believe in God.

Being a witch is a practice or craft, not a religion.

So yes it can be a religion, but no just because someone identifies as a witch does not immediately mean that it is their religion.

I really enjoyed your question Rebecca I hope this question helped answer your question about what is a Witch, and has brought you clarity.