What is a Witch?

If you turn back a few hundred years, you can see the word witch all across the records of one of Europe's greatest holocausts, the witch trials. Men and women were persecuted and killed for being different. Some call it the Burning Times, because many were put to death by fire, burnt at the stake. Typically, history books gloss over this particular bit of history, but it is every bit a part of us, as relevant to our modern cultures as wars of conquest.

At the top of the list of victims were those accused of practicing witchcraft. The ruling powers of the time had their own ideas about witchcraft, spreading stories of black masses, sacrifice, and contracts in blood signing souls over to the Devil. These stories are the roots of the children's fairy tales. The vast majority of the condemned were not practicing "true" witchcraft. Some held the teachings of the wise women and cunning men of the tribes, a knowledge of healing herbs, remedies, mid-wiving, and simple charms. We call such skills old wives' tales, but they have endured because there is truth to them. We don't know how many of the accused and condemned were actually practicing what is now call the Old Religion, the way of the witch.

If you turn back even further, to cultures whose histories were not often written down, you find a different kind of witch. This witch was not shrouded in the darkness of fear and fairy tales, but in the darkness and light of the Goddess. This witch was revered as a healer, teacher, leader, and wise one. The image of the witch inspired the same reverence that a priest or minister does now in modern culture, for the ancestors of modern witchcraft were the priestesses and priests, the seers and advisors living a spiritual life by turning into the forces of nature, the tides of the seasons, and the cycles of the Moon. They held a kinship with the plants and animals and, in essence, all life. Their teaching and histories were kept in the oral tradition, holding the myths and magic of the culture.

Modern witches focus on this particular root in the witchcraft tree. Those claiming the name and title of witch are truly reclaiming and building on the image of the witch from these ancient days. If you really want to know what the words witch and witchcraft mean as we move into the next century, look at the growing movement of modern witches.

If you ask a witch what he or she means by the word, you will get as many definitions as there are witches. And yes, witches can be both women and men. Male witches are not called warlocks. The word warlock can be traced from Scottish, Old English, Germanic, and Indo-European roots and is now generally regarded to mean "deceiver" or "oath breaker" to those involved in the craft. Such a title was probably associated with witchcraft by those who wanted to defame the practice.

The root of the word wic, or wicca, means "wise", for witches were the keepers of the wisdom, evolving into the images of wise women and wizardly men. Another definition was "to bend shape", meaning those who practiced witchcraft could bend and shape the natural forces to do their bidding, to make magic. The word witch is actually considered to be Anglo-Saxon in origin, and some feel that only those who are practicing European traditions, or more specifically Celtic, Saxon, or Germanic traditions, have the right to claim the title witch. The etymology of the word can possibly be traced back to Sanskrit and the earliest Indo-European languages, although this could be a popular folk etymology used by many modern witches. The Middle English word wicche is traced back to the Old English wiccan, meaning "to practice witchcraft". Male and female witches were distinguished through the words wicca and wicce, respectively. In Middle High German, wicken means "to bewitch or divine the future". In Old German, the word is traced to wih, meaning "holy". From the Old German to Old Norman, we have the ve, meaning "temple". Notice an interesting shift from the W sound to the V sound, but notice the similar shape of the letters. The letter W actually looks more like double V in our alphabet. In French, the letter is called doublevay. The further back you go, the further away you get from the stereotypical witch and to a word of sacredness and spirituality.

In modern English, witch is used to refer to both men and women. Wicca refers to the modern revival of witchcraft. After the witch trials and persecutions, what remained of the teaching went underground. Other teachings were lost forever, but the practices were revived and the surviving traditions came to light in the twentieth century. In several modern traditions, witchcraft refers to the practice and art of the the craft., such as spells, while the religion is known as Wicca. Thought you can make a strong distinction between the definitions of witch and Wiccan, or Witchcraft and Wicca, most practitioners accept both words and identities. If you are not sure what to call someone, ask them. 


* Credit to Christopher Penczak