This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at PS Behrend chapter.

Witches are everywhere especially during Halloween time. They are a popular halloween costume, they are seen is some favorite tv shows like the Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, American Horror Story, Charmed, and Sabrina. There are some cult classic movies like Harry Potter, The Craft and Hocus Pocus. Everyone knows about Salem and the Salem Witch Trials, but what does real modern witchcraft actually look like. There are many who claim to be a witch in 2018 and claim to practice witchcraft. You can find hundreds off book, some even in Barnes and Noble, alot of online articles, even some youtube channels dedicated to witchcraft and the Wiccan religion. So what does modern day witchcraft really look like:

To start, let’s get rid of some misconceptions:

Witches are evil, practice dark magic and do the devils work: Witches and Wiccans (a religion commonly practiced by witches) often oppose the use of negative, harmful magic and discourages people from hurting others physically or emotionally and believe in the ethical guideline called the “Threefold Law,” which states that whatever a person wishes upon someone else returns to them three times over.
Witches use odd ingredients in spells and practices, like eye of newt, animal part, and blood: Modern witchcraft wont call for anything of that nature rather crystals candles and nature based products like plants and herbs. Wiccan is a nature based religion and is taught to respect nature and all of it’s living things.
Witches are old lonely women: Witches can be of any age, religion, or gender, a witch can be anyone with any profession! Who knows your professor, doctor, dentist, best friend could be a witch.

So what is modern day witchcraft, it’s not the point your finger spell casting you see in movies like Hocus Pocus, but rather a thought process that through different practices and rituals you can harness energies from the natural and cosmic world. Common things that seem interesting to us have a very real importance in the practice of witchcraft through magick. Things like crystals, stones, incense, smudges, sage and herbs, even things like tarot decks, or Law of Attraction can fall into these practices. It can be defined as the “practice of manipulating energy through various means to produce a desired result”. I mentioned the magick it might not be how you are normally used to to seeing the word magic, the difference in spelling helps differentiate magic that is used for stage illusions/ performances. Magick is the term used when talking about practicing witchcraft, it refers to when a witch is bending or shaping energy in practice.

To know even more about witchcraft let’s dive into what different kinds of witches there are:

Green Witch: A witch that works with the environment/ nature. They use things like rocks and plants to do their practice. Most of the time they will work outside in the environment. In today times most green witch will work out of small gardens and greenhouses. They are nature based, earth oriented and do a lot with herbal remedies.

Hedge Witch: They are home based witches that practice earth based spirituality. They are known as wise men and women. They are the witches who like to dive into the spiritual world and do their craft there. They work with ancestors and spirits.

Wiccan Witch: Wicca is the religion closely related to witchcraft however you could consider yourself a witch but not be wiccan, you could also consider yourself Wiccan and not a witch. Wiccans observe certain customs, rituals, and practices, but have a very flexible religion. They strongly believe in the Threefold law, that whatever you put into the world will come back to you three times over.

Sea Witch: They use large bodies of water and they pull their energy and practice from the element of water. They pull their power from that or the sea and the oceans even with things like sea shells.

Kitchen Witch: They work in their kitchens, they put their energy and power into the food and drinks they create. A lot of kitchen witches will have their own herb gardens where they grow their own ingredients.

Tech Witch: They stive in environments like big cities, they are witches that use their phone computers and technology to practice the craft. They use the internet and technology to carry out their practicing. This is a type of witchcraft that is very modern even using app on their phone to practice. Their tools of the craft are electronic in nature.

Fae/ Fairy Witch: This type of witch works with the fae/ fairy and are very eco friendly in nature. They are able to communicate and work well with the Fae/ Fairies.

Chaos Witch: They do things outside of the books, and they are able to move and flow inside and outside and stive in the chaos area. They will incorporate and disregard parts of different practices to form their own practice. They strive in a changing environment. They break away from tradition.

Cosmic Witch: This type of witch follows what goes on in the universe. They draw their energy on the universe and all of it planets and astronomy. They use both the practices of astronomy and astrology.

Eclectic Witch: This type of witch is a witch that takes practices from a lot of different types of witchcraft and forms their own practice. They don’t focus on one type of witchcraft, but all different kinds.

This is just a few well known type of witch you can find so many more just doing a little bit of research!

Remember practicing witchcraft the biggest thing you need to remember is to get into the mindset, just get into the magickal mindset. Modern Witchcraft is all about the energy around you and how you are using it!

To learn more there is tons of information online including full youtube channels dedicated to knowledge of witchcraft and wicca. Some examples being Harmony Nice, and Anais Alexandre. Like I mentioned above you can also find tons of books on the subject!

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Modern Day Witches

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