Definition of ‘witch’
Here are my definitions of witch. If you disagree, that’s fine with me. This is my website, my definitions. Fair?
There are three main definitions of which I am aware.
1) witch as etymological & ethnic root
witch is an English word so thereby a witch can only be a practitioner of the Germanic/Norse ways
2) Neo-Pagan
a witch is a practitioner of a nature-based religion or practice, who does spells. Could be Wiccan or any number of new labels - green witch, kitchen witch, and more
3) universal
a person who follows certain practices, but more importantly, has particular views of reality, fate, the world, nature, sacredness.
From my experience and knowledge, the idea of ‘witch’ goes beyond borders. I respect that ‘Witch’ is specifically of the English Isles, but other than a few differences, namely lore, our similarities abound to make One - witch, bruja, strega, hexe, bruxsa. So I adhere to the third basic definition.
Those insistant on the “witch only equals a British witch” are ignorant of the line that supercedes bounderies, of the power that is in the Land, Earth. ‘Witch’ is simply a label, a word, my family and the Old Ones did not name themselves, and if someone today insists upon its limited definition, they are likewise limited. The realm of spirit is beyond - beyond time, space and the physical Now.
Gods
A witch of the Old Ways has no deity at all - the knee does not bow.
There have been many witches who have combined their ways with the culture they are born into, whether paganism, Christianity or some other religion. But witchery at its core is not paganism.
The witch recognises elements of the Greater Reality in somewhat anthropomorphic ways, but they are never Beings in the religious sense.
Nature & Religion
A witch of the Old Ways is not simply a member of a ‘nature-based religion’ or spirituality. That is for Wiccans and some neo-pagans. Even most serious neo-pagans would not label their religion with that phrase.
Nature is fuller, deeper, and richer, than honouring the moon, trees or plants, or following seasonal Sabbats or lunar esbats. It is more complex and expands into the Great Void.
Not all witches come from ‘agricultural’ societies, that is such a misleading, singular, rose-tinted glasses view of the past.
It is NOT a religion. If it is a religion to you, that is fine. But let me explain why I disagree that being witch is of a religion.
Firstly, the original meaning of religion is lost to us. But we know that it evolved from a latin word meaning to bind or be tied to. In its present form, religion means binding to gods. Witches don’t have deities, we therefore don’t have a relgion.
If you love cooking, devote your life to it, teach others, find it is a sacred thing, does that make cooking a religion? If it does in your mind, then fine, witchcraft is a religion. Totally ludicrous to traditional witches.
I chose cooking for a reason. Witchcraft cannot be a religion because it is a set of crafts, practices, things witches do. Isn’t religion about beliefs? In fact, even ‘witchcraft’ is merely the non-witch word for what non-witches think they do. It is a term denoting certain practices that ANYONE can do, not just witches. Witchcraft is really witchcrafts - it is not not one craft but many.
If being witch/bruja is a religion to you, that at least makes more sense. Yet this is only because the word ‘witch’ has evolved to mean so many things.
Magic
What we do is not magic, that is for sorcerers, mages, occultists, Neo-Pagans, etc. Sorcerers are very similar to witches, and I believe that most people have mixed up the two. We either tend to have sorcery witches or folk magic witches. Niether is what the primal witch is.
Magic is bending forces with your will to create change. The witch never, ever bends forces.
Many witches dabble in folk magic, some even in sorcery, but that is the witch’s prerogative, those things do not make her a witch. Just as many witches work with tarot, runes, or even astrology, but none of those things are inherently witch.
Ethics
This gets special attention on so many websites. Witches do not have any code of ethics, creeds, etc, that are associated with organisations or religions. Some state that witches rely on their own sense of responsibility. This is true to a point. It is more that we are creatures of Fate. In the web of Fate we understand that no part of the web can be pulled without affecting the whole web. We choose what we do wisely, regardless if it is traditionally ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
We don’t measure responsibility against morality at all, we are willing to do anything, but there is a price. Our decision comes down to what price we are willing to pay.
I know that this is unpalatable for many of the new-age, but that is the way of the witch.
In many cultures, we do have ‘black’ and ‘white’ witches, but this is a description according to non-witches’ views of morality.
Main Fate
A witch of the Old Ways is a traveller into the unseen realms. She crosses the hedge. But she is not shaman. The role of the witch is as keeper (that is as far as I can say, please don’t email to ask).
Spirits
Elements of nature (plants, animals) are her allies. Witches believe in spirits. Not ghosts, but spirits. Depending upon your culture/tradition, this might be called fearie, sprites, and so on. Some witches believe in spirits as separate entities, other witches believe that all spirits are unique expressions of the earth, if you will, and not separate beings.
Death
We do not believe in ghosts. We believe the spirits of the dead return to the web of life. We believe that powerful witches or other peoples, like some shamans, remain as the Old Ones, whilst others return to stones, rivers, weeds, trees… We are from the Land and to the Great Land we return, we do not become ethereal beings roaming the earth.
Festivals & Ritual
Ritual has absolutely nothing to do with being a traditional witch. It is like a dedicated Formula 1 driver using a bike to win the race. Why!??
I’m not against ritual at all, some of my family do it. I also think that in this day and age, there are a lot of hereditary brujos who are displaced from family (which is the motivation for my website). If ritual helps them get to where they belong, then it’s a good thing.
Some witches celebrate festivals, like solstices or full moons. Traditional witches don’t. We don’t get why you have to celebrate that the moon becomes full every month; were you not expecting it? I’m not being rude, I’m showing as clearly as possible how we think.
Pagan-witches do tend to celebrate such events, yes. Traditional witches do have ’sabbats’, gatherings, if there are enough like-minded witches around, or just Family, they might engage in revelry like everybody else, and throw in some rites while they’re there.
Witches are very practical and sceptical. Yes, sceptical. We don’t accept truths unless they have been revealed to us personally. We go about our work with simple tools, herbal mixtures of 2 or 3 plants, no correspondences, and no elaborate rituals.
We say - we work from the belly.
Powers
Witches are not psychics. If I had a euro for every time somebody told me they thought they were a witch because they and their mother were psychic, I could purchase Amazon.
Witches have absolutely NO special supernatural powers. We are allies with the spirits. Our insights come from our deep relationship with the spirits, with nature.
We do share traits amongst ourselves, but not special powers.
Symbols and Books
Witches are not only sceptical, but extremely secretive and cautious. We do not write things down at all, full stop/period. Those that wrote things down were not witches, they were sorcerers or mages.
Likewise, we do not have symbols. Any written language, whether words or symbolism, as part of what we do, is against our ways. We don’t have pentagrams, or squiggly sigils. Sigils come from occultists or mages, not witches.
Symbols are very powerful things. But they are human made and therefore not our interest. A shape or form in nature has more meaning to our ways.
Other
The line is matriarchal. Does not mean men cannot be witches, but the line stops at a male, the female carries it.
My Line
My name is Sandra. I am a Spanish witch , or bruja.
I am called a white witch by my people. Yes, these terms still exist. Despite Neo-Pagans harmless world of ‘there is no black or white’, ‘witches love the earth and believe in karma’, the older world still recognises the witch as something to fear. So ‘white’ denotes that you publicly claim to not harm without reasonable cause.
Yes, we do harm, but in self-defense or as justice. Your world has justice, it might be humans (judges, police, prison wardens or the person who gives the lethal injection), it might be a god (passing judgement and eternal sentence, or natural disasters like a poor harvest), or it might be a belief in something like karma.
In my world, justice comes through the hand of Fate, and the witch is a finger of Fate. If you harm me, my loved ones, you will pay - but the justice is from your own doing (Fate). But as a white witch, I choose to help and heal first.
My family is made up of witches and pagans, mostly hidden as shadows, but occassionally veiled under cloaks of Christianity, sometimes openly walking the paths of pagan world view and reality with a Jesus as prophet or even a god.
As a bruja, I do not worship deities, nor even believe in them. However, as part of the traditions threaded through my ancestral tree, I acknowledge the myths of deity. I recognise the truths held within their stories and characteristics, as well as their archetypal truths; to acknowledge the old gods is to connect and respect my ancestors.
Brujeria is Spanish witchery. It has many traditions. The largest differences are between the continents - European, Latin American and Filipino brujeria are very different from each other, and further so amongst new-age brujeria. However, all traditional brujeria, in fact, all traditional witchery, has essential core beliefs or, more accurately, perceptions.
My ancestors are from the Spanish peninsula. A place influenced by Celts, Visigoths, Phoenicians, and Romans, amongst others. My ancestors derive from the land in the south - enriched by a few cultures, especially the Greco-Roman, but its antiquity has Phoenician roots.
My family’s tradition is mixed, depending upon which side of the family and what other brujeria families they married into. But my personal lineage recognises the old gods of the Phoenician-Canaanite world. I follow a purely traditional witchery (no deity) but offer respect to Los Viejos (the Old Ones) by doing my part to keep the old gods alive.
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