How to Be a Certain Kind of Witch

Pinterest is full of spells and pictures for the Green Witch, for the Earth Witch, for the sassy Witch, for, well, every adjective you can put with Witch. Sexy Witch, Modern Witch, New Witch. Crone, Wicked, Sea, Traditional, and Tarot.

But how to become a (fill-in-the-blank) Witch?

It's actually pretty simple, and not that easy, which is typical Witch fashion.

To begin, decide what kind of Witch you are. Not what kind you want to be. This comes later. I'm a Kitchen Witch, meaning my actual practice is about cooking and crafting. Almost all my spells are for the benefit of my home and family. I use herbs, spices, crystals,  and knot spells. I don't do involved rituals or work with the dead. I do what I do because of how my life currently works. I can't leave a spell set up on the altar for days because I have children who move things and xian inlaws who are extremely nosey. I barely have time to brush my teeth so there's not much chance of being able to disappear into the woods at midnight to work under the moon.

I would like to be the kind of Witch who turns everything into a spell. But if I start trying to turn every little detail into magick then I'm going to get burned out quick. I don't do anything on impulse. I plan as many details as I can because I don't like surprises. This is why it's important to know what kind of Witch you are. If you don't like clutter there's no point in having 200 spell bottles because you are never going to find that many that match and the cabinet to keep them in AND still be able to use them all efficiently. It looks great in movies, but that's a lot of bottles to wash, prepare, enchant, use before the magick rubs off, keep track of what you have, and then still be able to find the bottle you need. Did I forget to mention labels and recipes plus notes on whether the spell works?  Oops.

So, to figure out what kind of Witch you are, spend a little time thinking about what you're good at. My element is Earth. I use lots of crystals. I like things I can see and touch rather than things that are spoken or that only exist in the imagination. I prefer to do the work rather than spending time prepping for the work.

I'm going to tell you how to be a Stitch Witch. All sewing has the opportunity to be a spell. This is the easy part. The not so easy part is figuring out how much magick to do.

Before I work a sewing spell, I must be proficient with type of sewing I'm doing. So at least once, I do the technique to understand the process. If it's difficult I do it again and probably another 3 or 4 times to really know what I'm doing. That means searching for other methods to see if there's an easy way. It means trying other materials. It could mean a change in tools. With knot spells that could mean using a particular pair of scissors to make sure I haven't bound myself to the work. Maybe I use the modern scissors for regular sewing and the heavy, antique scissors for magick the way some Witches put on special robes for rites.

Adding in magick could mean working in the same place each time I do a spell. It might mean chanting while I work, or it could mean using certain colors, or it could be what I do before I start sewing like smudging or meditation or lighting a special candle.

Let's use another example, say wanting to be a Kitchen Witch. For simplicity's sake will say you already know how to cook. Now decide how to cook with magick. Maybe you decide all baking is abundance magick because typically things that are baked rise so baked dishes grow. You might decide boiling is banishing because boiled liquids kill bacteria. Grilling could be a fire spell. As far as I know, there is no set tradition about cooking methods and magick. There are a ton of corospondences for herbs, fruit, nuts, and spices, but nothing about how to prepare the food. I think if you're going to be a good Kitchen Witch that's something you should figure out immediately.

A Tarot Witch would obviously read the cards, but would she have a deck for her personal life and another for friends? I think she would. I think she'll use regular playing cards as well. I think she would copy her favorite deck and use the photocopied Tarot cards for spells such as placing the one of swords under the front steps for a house protection spell. She might mail the Judgement card to an enemy or she might leave the Empress card with her resume to help her get a promotion at work.

A Water Witch might put as much emotion as she could into her work, believing the spell wouldn't take effect until tears were cried over the work. A Fire Witch might do all spells at her hearth or on her stove. A Sexy Witch might think of ways to boost her attraction thus all her spells would resolve how she looked when she did them, it could mean wearing enchanted perfume, or her main focus might be glamour spells. If she did those spells with mirrors or by enhancing aura energies, that would be her personal practice and how she thought a Witch should work.

It can be fun to think about your practice to decide if you are happy with the way things are. Trying new things is fun. Witchcraft is about knowing yourself. What kind of Witch are you?