Are You a Witch? Not Sure? This is What You Need to Know

When you have been a Witch for more than 20 years as I have, you occasionally run into people who need advice because they think they might be a Witch. Due to the popularity of magical figures in fiction, it's practically a phenomenon these days, especially among teens and young adults. Someone E-mails you out of the blue to ask if he is a blood Witch because he has a relative burned at the stake 300 years ago. In a book shop occult section, someone spies your pentacle necklace asks you what you recommend, because a psychic just told her she was a Witch and she needs to claim her powers. People post questions on internet forums daily, wondering if they are a natural Witch because they have dreams that come true sometimes, can sense what people are feeling or can communicate empathically with their cats.

"Does it make me a Witch?" they ask, their voices quivering with hope, or perhaps with fear, depending on how they view Witchcraft.

There is an effective yardstick to measure if someone is a Witch. It comes down to one question: Do you think you might be a Witch?

If you answered, "no, I doubt it," you are not one.

If you answered, "yes, I think I might be,"- guess what?- you are most likely not a Witch, either.

With this revelation, you might find yourself either sighing in relief, or huffing in anger, again depending on whether you think being a Witch is a positive or negative thing. You are probably wondering, though, how this simple question can offer any real insight. It's quite easy, really. You simply cannot be a Witch without knowing you are one.

Witchcraft is a Practice

It is an ancient art found in every religion and culture in history in some form, even when it is not called "Witchcraft" specifically. But one thing that all these cultures and practices have in common is this: Witchcraft is a craft; in fact, practitioners refer to it as "the Craft." A craft is a conscious, learned skill; something you actively pursue.

Witchcraft doesn't happen accidentally. If you were a Witch, you'd know it. You would be studying and doing activities involving magical and metaphysical practices. You wouldn't have to ask.

If you never play the guitar, you are not a guitar player. If you never paint, you are not a painter. By the same token, if you are not practicing the Craft actively, you are not a Witch.

You Can't Be Born A Witch

Witchcraft isn't something that runs through bloodlines like blue eyes. Being a craft, it's more like painting, carpentry or cooking. Whole families may share and pass down the art, but new offspring aren't born an artist, carpenter or chef.

You could come from a family of carpenters, you could know a lot about carpentry just by being raised around it. You might even be able to hang a shelf. But until you pick up tools and learn the skill, you are not a carpenter yet. Your great grandfather being a carpenter does not make you one by default. Your great grandfather being a carpenter is not even a guarantee that you'll be very good at it- you'll have to put the work into it. You can't inherit the title. Same thing with Witchcraft.

Like any other craft, some people just seem to have more of a natural knack for the Craft than others. This is especially true if you're exposed to it at an early age by the people around you. It might also be true if you happen to possess certain personality traits or talents conducive to the practice of the Craft, such as having good mental discipline. This is why some wise Witches in the past might have taken young, eager students under their wing- because they saw potential. That doesn't mean the student was a Witch from the womb. The student had a lot of work to do to earn the title for himself.

For some people, the bloodline argument is compelling. But if you go back far enough on anyone's family tree, you'll find Witchcraft in some shape or form, even if it wasn't called Witchcraft. You'll also find a lot of people accused of Witchcraft who were not, in fact, practicing the Craft at all, but victims of superstition and mass hysteria. Either way, you don't inherit the Craft through the bloodline; you earn it through effort.

"Witch" and "Psychic" are Not the same Thing

This seems to be one of the biggest causes of confusion thanks to so many books and movies that have put forth the idea that when strange supernatural things happen to a person, they are special and born to be magical. The fact is, psychic abilities are not Witchcraft.

Psychic abilities are innate sensitivities- intuitions that we all possess to a certain degree. It is a talent, like singing or drawing. Some people are just prodigies and a lot comes naturally. Some people have to work harder to develop or control their raw talent. Some people can try and try and will probably never be great, though they can improve some with effort. A few people are truly and impressively gifted.

There is a connection between psychic abilities and Witchcraft, just like there is a connection between artistic abilities and oil painting. Think of it this way: being artistic doesn't make you an oil painter until you pick up the oil paints and apply them to a canvas. By the same token, having psychic abilities doesn't make you a Witch unless you practice the Craft. Being naturally artistically inclined can help you when you do finally pick up the oil paints, just like being naturally intuitively inclined (psychic) can help you when you begin to practice the Craft.

In fact, many Witches work to hone their psychic abilities. To achieve mental discipline and open yourself to the subtle energies in all things, it is inevitable that a Witch's natural psychic abilities will somewhat improve over the years as his skills grow in the Craft, just like your artistic abilities will improve as you practice oil painting. Likewise, your psychic ability might be what leads you to the Craft, just like artistic ability might be what leads someone to oil painting, but that still doesn't make them one in the same.

Being one thing (a psychic, or artistic) doesn't automatically make you the other (a Witch, or an oil painter).

Knowing a Thing or Two doesn't Make you a Witch

You can hem your curtains, but that doesn't make you a seamstress. You can cook a mean lasagna, but that doesn't make you a chef. You can care for someone with the common cold, but that doesn't make you a nurse. You tried a cigarette when you were 14, but that doesn't make you a smoker.

Likewise, dabbling or experimenting doesn't make a person a Witch. Your grandmother might have taught you how to lessen the pain of a burn with a little folk chant, or your friend might have shown you how to cleanse a house of negativity with sage. Again, Witchcraft is a craft. It requires a bit more active practice before you go from casual learning and experimenting to actually earning the title.

But I was initiated!

Initiation alone doesn't make one a Witch. Being initiated makes you part of a group, such as a coven, but does not in itself impart upon you skills and knowledge of the Craft.

An initiation is a rite of passage when you are embraced by a particular group as a member. Right there, that kills the myth of "self-initiation" that so many bad books and web sites on Witchcraft try to sell you. You cannot initiate yourself into a group any more than you can graduate yourself from a college you didn't attend.

The good news is this, though: you don't need to be initiated into a group to be a Witch.

Sure, there are benefits to being in a coven. A skilled and knowledgeable coven will train initiates (preceeding initiation) in the art of the Craft. The initiation itself- the ceremony- just gives you a status in the group. If you wanted to walk away after the training but before the initiation ceremony, you might not be a member of that group; but, if properly trained, you still walk away a practitioner of the Craft. If you are initiated, when and if you leave the group, you are still a Witch taking your skills and practices with you.

On the flip side, a group of people playing Witch might initiate you into their group. But that doesn't make any of you Witches necessarily, either. You can't stop anyone from starting their own little group, calling it a coven and calling themselves Witches. People can do it without actually earning the title. This is why it is so important to understand a bit about Witchcraft before committing yourself to a coven- you need to know that this group is the real McCoy so that you can be assured you will get some proper training, and not just be caught up in essentially what amounts to a great big role-playing game without the dice.

Some Witches might tell you that you need to join a coven- that it is actually the only way you can actually become a Witch. Like the idea of self-initiation, this is also hogwash.

A group can say "You are not a member of our group/tradition," but they cannot decide if you are a Witch or not, and they cannot keep you from being a Witch. No single group, culture, religion or organization owns Witchcraft; not Wiccans, not Pagans, not Celts, not occultists or Satanists, not any particular coven. They can only define their own methods and expressions of the Craft, but the Craft is bigger and older than all of them.

When can you call yourself a Witch?

Where you cross that line, no one can really say. It is not a clear line; no one is giving standardized tests or issuing licenses for the Craft.

You have to think of it more philosophically. When does a person go from being a beginner interested in art to an actual artist? Is it when they paint their first painting? Their tenth? Hundredth? When they have taken a certain amount of classes, or studied a certain amount of books? Is it when they have sold their first painting? Or their fifth? Or when they make a living from painting?

What about gardening? Are you a gardener because you have a potted plant on your table someone gave you? Or because you have pulled a few weeds out of your front yard's landscaping? How many plants do you have to put into the ground, how many flowers do you have to gently nurture to full bloom, how many tomatoes do you have to harvest from your yard before you can say you are a gardener?

The lines are equally as unclear for Witches. There are those who have definitely earned the right to the title- they have studied, applied the knowledge and accomplished what they set out to do. Then there are those still learning, still practicing... who knows when they cross the line?

Of course, there are those who are fooling themselves, too- or trying to fool the rest of us. There are posers and posturers in Witchcraft. There are people who thought they were above the actual study and work by right of birth, or by right of initiation (usually initiated by other posers), or by simply not taking the responsibility to do their research. No one can do anything about that. There is no law regarding regulation of the title "Witch." But if any Witch ever expects to gain respect in the Witch community at large, she is eventually going to have to do more than dress in goth attire and blow hot air.

A Witch Doesn't Have to Ask

For me, it comes back down to my initial test: do you think you might be a Witch?

If you are actively studying and practicing the craft in some form, on at least a semi-regular ongoing basis, especially if you are having some measure of success, then you don't have to ask that question. You know you are a Witch when you make Witchcraft part of your life. You'll know you are a Witch when your answer to that question is, "I don't think I might be; I know I am."

So, Can You be a Witch After All?

If you want to be a Witch, don't search around for evidence of blood lines in your past, or look to innate abilities and experiences. These kinds of things can actually hinder your progress because it is very easy to take it for granted. To properly learn the Craft, it is beneficial to keep your ego in check and continuously remind yourself that skill and knowledge only come with hard work, they are not bestowed upon anyone. No matter how good you think you are, or how much you pride yourself in knowing, there is always more to learn and room for improvement.

Does the Craft make you special? Sure... in a way. So does playing music, or speaking another language, or being really good at making sushi. We all have things we can be proud of that set us apart, and the Craft is no different. But approach it with a bit of respect; don't use the Craft to stroke your own ego, impress people or feed your own delusions of grandeur.

If you want to be a Witch- begin your study and practice of the Craft, and enjoy growing in it.

References:

Wicca For the Rest of Us: Margaret Murray's Unlikely History; essay found at http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/murray.shtml

"Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft"; Ronald Hutton; Oxford University Press; May 2000

"20th Century Magic"; Alan Richardson; Llewellyn Publications; Revised edition, January 1951