I’m a member and moderator of a witchcraft Discord server. Not the one I used to host myself, as part of The Unseen Realm tapestry; but one that seems to have a diverse range of witchy folks, of all ages, from different places around the world and all walks of life. It feels lovely that I can say I’ve made some witchy friends from around the world!
We’ve been having some discussions about the server, at the moderator level lately, that got me thinking about definitions.
Particularly about how different people define their identity & practice. I also thought that for those who don’t identify with witch, that there may be some general understanding of what it might mean to be a witch, and a vague familiarity with term “witchcraft”… but I have to wonder how much of this understanding purely stems from pop culture ideals, and what we see on social media for those that aren’t a part of the community?
Unless you’ve otherwise met, befriended, and experienced someone’s personal practice**… you might not have a handle on what witch or witchcraft means, outside of those cultural norms and viral social media posts.
**(especially those of us who are weird solitary mystical folk practitioners of the craft)
But here’s the thing: even if you are another witch, I can guarantee our definitions and practices don’t look the same, even if they’re based in the same general language. They may appear the same on the outside because of the label… but what I’m interested in is the innards, the way we define our practices for ourselves when no one is looking.
How do we live out witchcraft, and how do we hold the title of witch?
So I got real curious how everyone else within the server relates to this identity of “Witch”, and the concept of “Witchcraft” as a practice.
Of course, I reflected on this myself, and offered my reflections to get the conversation started… which landed us here!
Accused of Witchcraft: the blog post where I share my current, in this present moment, feels about all my curiosities above… [and subsequently offer why I’ve just emphasized “current and in this present moment”].
For me, the identity of Witch is a reclamation.
A reclamation that the world is a magical place, filled with wonder. A reclamation that I am sovereign and my innate, inner power is stronger than any governing body of this strange, beautiful world, would want me to believe. A power that allows me to be a co-creator of my own reality. And not a power I don’t know, that I’m claiming blindly; but one I’ve come to meet deeply in recent years, one I’ve come to know and witness.
Claiming the title of witch for me is a big ‘fuck you’ to those who tried to hide and dismiss magic throughout history. For me, and for my ancestors. (At least one of whom, I came to find through ancestral records, was on trial for witchcraft; which he admitted to, without realizing the harm. If I recall correctly, he actually died prior to being executed.)
But I also see this identity—all identities really— as fluid, ever changing; as one that resists rigid definition and invites continual inquiry. (But hey, that’s just my nature.)
I relate to witch as a:
- Weaver: of worlds, selves, ideas, resistances
- Transgressor: of binaries, of systems of control, of inherited roles
- Rememberer: of ancestral threads, cosmic truths, and the freedom that’s been obscured
- Practitioner of liberation: self-liberation, and collective, energetic, cultural liberation
And for me witchcraft is the practice and embodiment of what I mentioned above.
I hold witchcraft as a practice of resistance, remembrance, and re-enchantment, not bound by tools or traditions, but rooted in the intention to pierce through illusion and reclaim one’s agency.
I have been (primarily) leaning into working in a way that is a resistance towards pop-witchcraft (no shade to you if this is what you love, much respect, it’s just not my path.. and I’ve been at this for decades now) and is largely anti-capitalist.
So for me, in this season of life, I work a lot of no-tools magic & energetic practices.
Practices which are deeply informed by: my teachings from many mentors; from all the books and blogs and blurbs I’ve read in this lifetime; from ancient wisdom traditions, and Eastern spiritual traditions; from Animistic belief structures and being in relationship with the unseen and the inanimate or rooted in place; from what I’ve channeled, assisted by my good ancestors, my many spiritual guides, and most importantly my own inner wisdom and lived experience.
My personal understanding and definition of witchcraft is deeply experiential, experimental, and relational. I channel more than I follow. I aim for my witchcraft to be decolonial + system-aware, as well as non-dual… because I live in the paradox, often.
And I believe I drag the edges, those boundaries that hold “witchcraft” into more spiritual-leaning spaces where the craft typically does not venture, and vice versa. I’m a bridge to and from many worlds, connecting what did not start out as a likely pairing (or group) of concepts, ideas, traditions, practices. Ones that you would not likely try to merge together, like a cluster of perfect-fit puzzle pieces because they just seemed too different, or too at odds, or not even in the same realm.
But my audacity always says: Let’s try, and really find out what’s possible!
And so I do.
So that’s me, and my mystical folk witchcraft as an identity and practice, in a nutshell.
If you relate to the identity of Witch, or the practice of Witchcraft, I’d truly love to hear what it means for you! I’m curious to see all of the different definitions for a single word.
And if you’re in the process of reclaiming the word “witch”, and shedding that Witch Wound, I hope this has expanded (or skewed) what you thought was possible (in the best way), or has at least given you something to reflect upon for yourself.