Wicca:
When witchcraft is practised as a religion, it is called by the Old English term for witch, Wicca. This term is used to counter all the negative stereotypes that society has given witchcraft. Wicca is primarily a religion that worships nature, and sees all creation as sacred. In fact, all Wiccan holy days follow the cycles of nature and the changes in the seasons. Wicca also worships both a male and female deity, a female Goddess and a male God, who had together created the world and everything in it.
Black and White Witchcraft:
Witchcraft is neither black nor white. Witchcraft is a religion that respects Mother Nature and She is neither completely positive or completely negative, this is the same for witches.
Witchcraft Spells
Spells are used by Wiccans, and are a series of rituals and prayers that are conducted in witchcraft to ask for divine help in a certain aspect of life. All spells must adhere to the Wiccan Rede, the witchcraft code of conduct, meaning that any spells used to manipulate, dominate or control another person is forbidden. In witchcraft, spells may also be changed or adapted to suit a Wiccan’s personality or specific wishes in casting the spell. In this site there are a range of free spells to practise at home.
Witchcraft Book - The Book of Shadows
A good Book of Shadows will serve as a witch craft reference guide a place where you keep tables and correspondences, spells and rituals that you’d like to try, divinatory meanings and many other things of that nature
The Wiccan Rules (Rede)
The Wiccan Rede is the rule of conduct that all witches must follow while practising witchcraft. It rules that a witch may engage in any action, as long as it is carefully considered, and their actions harm nobody, including themselves. Witchcraft is ruled by the Threefold Law, which is the belief that any action taken by any witch that affects another person, will come back to the witch threefold, whether it be harm or good.
Witch Kia
Read what our resident witch Kia has to say about all things to do with witch craft and about her personal journey to becoming a witch. Her latest article:
Witchcraft, Paganism, Spell craft and Magic
To some, these words have no place outside of fairytale and films; they’re figments of overactive imaginations that don’t belong in the “real world”. Yet to those who believe in them; witches, they're symbols of pride and a sacred heritage that spans thousands of years.
Who or what are witches? Is there such a thing as magic?
Three Red Leaves Spell
This spell is used to protect the mind against things such as nightmares, negative thoughts and “invasions of evil”. First you must gather three red leaves from any tree, plant or bush. Lay them in a triangle on a flat surface. In the centre of the leaves, place an already lighted candle, and place a few drops of chrysanthemum oil on each leaf.
Witchcraft originated with the human civilization itself. The fear of the unknown and its imagined role in making our day to day life easy or difficult, created witches and their craft. Even though witchcraft as such was practiced mainly by experienced and old women, men also practiced it. Witches were the mediators between the human beings and the mysterious super powers such as spirits and angels. When a witch succeeded in resolving the apparently mysterious problem of someone, the performance was termed as magic, a process that could not be easily explained away through any logical analysis. The witches prayed to the higher powers or the spirits for help and guidance in resolving the problem by performing certain rituals and the whole process was called witchcraft.

Witchcraft, an earth based religion, was practiced in almost all the societies and cultures across the world according to local beliefs and traditions.

According to scholars of witchcraft, it was a belief system whose origin predates the majority of well known religions on this earth. It dates 40,000 years back to Paleolithic period. It has been evolving since then and its present form is quite different from what it was a thousand or five thousand years back. It did not probably have this name as well. Even different covens perform the witchcraft differently.

Archaeological Discoveries
Archaeological discoveries have revealed that people worshipped hunter god and fertility goddess during the Paleolithic period. This has been proved by the discovery of cave paintings which are estimated to be 30,000 years old. There is a painting that depicts a man with the head of a stag. In yet another painting, there is a pregnant woman standing in a circle with eleven other people. These relics go to prove that witchcraft is one of the oldest religions in the world. Wiccan view of God and Goddess aspect of the supreme creative force predates thousands of years before Christianity.

A Craft of the Wise
In the ancient times, Witchcraft was known as ‘craft of the wise’ as the wise persons were those who followed the path of nature and were in tune with its forces, had the knowledge of herbs and medicines, gave wise counsel and were held in high esteem as Shamanic healers and leaders in the village and community. They understood that nature was superior to human beings and that human beings were simply one of the many parts of nature, both seen and unseen that combine to form one whole. As Chief Seattle said, “We do not own the earth; we are a part of it.” They understood that what we take from nature or use, we must return in kind to maintain the balance and equilibrium. The modern man has, however, forgotten this and has paid the price in form of many ecological and environmental disasters.

Modern day Witchcraft
Unfortunately for the past several hundred years the image of the witch has been associated with the evil, heathenism and unrighteousness due to prejudices created by the Christian church. Of late people have started understanding and practicing witchcraft as the true religion of God and Nature. There is renewed interest in witchcraft and witches profess to believe and practice the witchcraft with a sense of pride and confidence. The believers in New Age movement have understood witchcraft in its true perspective.

Modern witchcraft attracts believers from all walks of life and positions in society all over the world. They come together to understand the life, nature, evolution and mysteries of the universe through witchcraft. Witchcraft is the most democratic religion in the world. There is no rigid dogma and no hard-line regime except for a simple premise that we should not sow the seeds of evil if we want to reap the evil fruit multifold and secondly that we should not misuse the munificence of nature by disturbing its balance. Who would disagree?


Say this incantation three times:
“Red leaves, gift from earth,
Birth to death and death to birth,
Keep all evil far away,
Day to night and night to day.”

Then extinguish the candle, and wrap the leaves in a white cloth or pouch. Place this near your bed within three feet of your head and it will stop all nightmares and negative thoughts.

Invocation of the Elements
Air, Fire, Water, Earth,
Elements of astral birth,
I call you now; attend to me!
In the Circle, rightly cast,
Safe from curse or blast,
I call you now, attend to me!

From cave and desert,sea and hill,
By wand, blade,and pentacle,
I call you now, attend to me!
This Is my will, so mote it be!

Protection Spells:This is mainly for your home, to keep out negative influences and people. Believe me when I say “eople”. If you put enough energy and intent behind this spell, people who annoy you or come over to be negative will find being at your front door and your home, an uncomfortable experience indeed.

Use a black candle for this, and some sea salt. First of all, if you can that is, sprinkle of fine line of salt on every window sill and door frame of your house…from the outside. If this is a bit too difficult, you can do it inside, just don’t forget why the salt is there and sweep it up by accident. Salt purifies, which is good for repelling negative forces.

While sprinkling, say something like:

Sacred Salt protect this house,
Keep it safe from thug and louse’
Protect all those who dwell inside,
Negative forces have no place to hide
Yeah I know it sounds a bit hokey, and for those who aren’t sure of what a “louse” is, imagine that pain in the butt neighbour who keeps annoying you.

Egyptian Witchcraft:Like the witch craft of any other region, the Egyptian witch craft is based upon the country’s tradition, myth, legend, rituals, drama, poetry, song, dance, worship, magic and living in harmony with the earth. The practitioners of Egyptian witch craft honor the ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses including the Triple goddess of the waxing, full and waning moon and the horned god of the sun, death and animal life.

Since moon has an important place in Egyptian witch craft, therefore both men and women in city apartments, suburban backyards and country glades meet on full moons and on festival occasions to raise their energy levels and harmonize themselves with the natural forces.

Congregations in Egyptian witch craft are called temples and covens where the seekers are initiated into learning the witch craft. The repeated patterns of changing seasons have great importance in the Egyptian witch craft. Ritual and festivals evolved to celebrate these seasonal cycles more especially during the sowing and harvesting seasons.When you’re finished sprinkling, come back inside, light the black candle and sprinkle a circle of salt around it and say something like:

Sacred Candle, Sacred Flame
Protect this household in your name.

Keep chanting this again until you feel like you’ve made a “connection”. When you’re finished, snuff out the candle and say:

This is my will, so mote it be!

It’s important to mention here that one should never blow out a candle. Either use a snuffer, moist fingertips, or allow it go burn out. Blowing out a candle scatters the Fire and Air energies that you’ve worked so hard to focus together. It sort of instantly undoes all the work you’ve just done.


Egyptian witch craft, therefore, has an image of the ‘Wheel of the Year’ with its eight spokes which symbolize the four agricultural and pastoral festivals and the four solar festivals commemorating seasonal solstices and equinoxes. Like the ancient Pagans and witches, Egyptian witches consider the day as beginning at sundown and ending at sundown the following day.

Egyptian witches hone their divinatory skills in the increasing starlight and moon light and as winter begins, they work with the positive aspects of the dark tides. Therefore October 31-November eve is the most auspicious period for the Egyptian witches as this, according to them, is the time when the veil that separates our world from the next is the thinnest. This period allows the dead to return to the world of living when their kith and kin welcome and feast them.

Egyptian witches perform magic at gatherings called Moon Celebrations or Esbats which coincide with the phases of the moon. Witches practice healing magic, protection, retaliation and channeling of energy to develop themselves spiritually. They create circles to work magic. The primary tool that they use to work magic is a ritual knife called a Sacred Blade or Athame. The sacred blade gets charged with energy of the owner and is used to define space such as drawing a sacred circle where the owner’s will and energy work. A bowl of water is used to symbolize the element of water and its properties: cleansing, regeneration, and emotion.

Other important tools denote the elements earth, air, fire, and water. A pentacle (a pentagram traced upon a disk, like a small dish) is often used to symbolize earth and its properties, stability, material wealth and practical affairs. Alternatively, a small dish of salt or soil can be used to symbolize the earth element
Witchcraft and Sorcery
Witchcraft and sorcery are almost identical terms as both use the magic spells, mystical or paranormal means to harness occult forces to produce desired results. Ideally speaking, persons pursuing witchcraft do not aim at producing evil results. Somehow the term sorcery is used pejoratively to denote the use of supernatural powers to produce unnatural and negative course of events.

Another factor that differentiates witchcraft from sorcery is that while sorcery can be learnt and practiced by anyone, witchcraft is considered to result from inherent mystical powers and is practiced by invisible means. Modern witches, however, claim that witchcraft can be acquired through learning as well.

Both Witchcraft and sorcery have existed since times immemorial in all the societies and cultures around the world. In ancient Greece, witchcraft existed as early as the time when Homer lived. The legendary Medea was considered as the best known sorceress in classical times. The Roman Horace describes two witches in his famous Satires. There are several references to witches in Bible. Saul (1 Samuel 28) consulted Witch of Endor.

Though witches were hounded and persecuted as being aligned with evil spirits in the past ages, Witchcraft has acquired respectability with the passage of time. It has washed away the stigma attached to it and cleared many popular misconceptions about it.

In twentieth century, witchcraft movement termed as Wicca the Craft, the Wisecraft is professed and practiced as religion.
The term wicca comes from an old English word wicca which has its origin from the Germanic root ‘wic’ and means ‘to bend or turn’. A witch is supposed to bend or turn the course of events for a good cause. Earlier the female practitioners of witchcraft were called witches, while their male counterparts were called wizards. But now the term witch is used both for male and female practitioners of witchcraft.

Witchcraft as a religion was developed in the United Kingdom by Gerald B Gardner, a British civil servant. Gardner had a life long interest in occult and supernatural forces. Witchcraft is now openly and proudly practiced in almost all the English speaking countries including the United States of America besides many traditional societies and cultures around the world. In Africa people seek medical aid for external physical problems and consult witch doctors for internal illnesses.

It is now widely believed that witches cast their spells for good objectives like love, health and wealth. Genuine believers in witchcraft do not cause harm to others. They worship God or deity or Mother Nature which is believed to possess both male and female aspects. They, however, emphasize on the female aspect or the Goddess side of the deity. Wicca is a religion of fertility. It celebrates the seasonal cycles of the nature that are central to the farming communities. The religious rites are tied to the cycles of moon which is the symbol of the power of the Goddess and also the seasons of the year.

Religious witches use their craft for the benefit of the people. They religiously follow their golden rule called the Wiccan Rede which says: "An' it harm none, do what ye will.” They believe in the theory of karma that any act of witchcraft will return to its practitioner magnified three folds, whether it is good or evil.

Wicca is the most democratic and free religion in the world. There is no central authority. The witches work in loosely organized groups called covens. Some covens are made up exclusively of women, some of men while others have mixed membership. There are witches who do not join any coven at all and practice their faith alone as solitaries.

Modern witchcraft is a recreation of pagan, folk and magical rites selected from the major cultures and societies across the world such as Babylonian, Celtic, Egyptian, ancient Greek, Roman, and Sumerian Buddhism, Hinduism, and the rites of American Indians.
Witchcraft Dictionary
This witchcraft dictionary is for everyone to use to get a clearer definition of different words that are used in witchcraft. To get more information about a specific witchcraft word simply click on the word and it will take you to a page of information.

Age of Aquarius - the ‘‘New Age’ of mankind
Astral Plane - the world of the supernatural
Autumn Equinox - one of the four lesser Sabbats
Chakra - the spiritual energy centers of the human body
Challenge - tests courage before initiation into witchcraft
Charge - commands given by the Goddess to the High Priestess
Coven - a coven is a gathering of witches
Curse - the use of supernatural power to inflict harm
Exorcism - the expulsion of demons from a possessed body
Fairy Ring - a powerful site where whitches perform spells
Lycanthropy - the ability of a witch to change into an animal
Oath of Wicca - a binding oath to protect Wiccan secrets
Pagan - relating to non-orthodox religion
Pentacle - the pentacle is a witchcraft symbol
Sabbat - the name given to the principle festivals
Solo Witch - a solo witch is a witch that practices witchcraft alone
Triple Goddess - the principle female deity of witch craft
Wand - a magical rod used to perform magic and witchcraft
Witchcraft - in Europe the term witch is described as male or female shamans
Witch Hazel - were used as divining and dowsing rods to locate water or ‘witch’ a well or find hydration.