What kind of witch are you?

[HarpingHawke]

I hear it's not easy being green.

 
Only you. Only you.

[Caffeinated Autumn]

Wow, nothing like an incoherent rant about Satanists to really make a site sound credible.  (Here's one for the ongoing thread about that topic, huh?)

(The definition of "kitchen witch" it puts forward includes specifically working with gemstones.  About which I am without words.  Well.  Aside from.  "Tasty.")

 
Yeaahh, I though she was kind of ranting too much on that...I'll be sure to warn everyone next time if something like that comes up again.  

[Caffeinated Autumn]

It's sketchy. (I can't even tell just what she means by 'Celtic' there... or maybe I should say I have absolutely no idea why she thinks 'Goes by the elements, the Ancient Ones and nature' makes it 'Celtic' - it doesn't appear to connect to either of the senses of 'Celtic' that inform the modern pagan movement.)

There are lots of other things on that page that are dubious as well - it's a very unreliable resource.

Sunflower

 
Ah thank you for confirming that, Sunflower. I feel kind of embarrassed that I'm still having trouble finding out which sources are good ones or not.

[SunflowerP]

Ah thank you for confirming that, Sunflower. I feel kind of embarrassed that I'm still having trouble finding out which sources are good ones or not.

 
Pretty much anything that divides types of witches into too many tiny categories based on something super-specific is likely to be full of nonsense.

Take, even, 'kitchen witch', which these days people often use to mean, 'cooking magic'. That comes of two things: one, that the modern Western urban kitchen is much more single-purpose than what you might call the 'traditional' kitchen, which was much more of a living room than just a cooking room; two, people being hyper-literal in interpreting it. Only two or three decades ago, it meant something roughly parallel to 'kitchen chemist' (a term whose meaning has also taken on new connotations in that time): basically, DIY-at-home, not in laboratory conditions. That was one thing I did like on the page you linked: at least it counted 'cottage witch' and 'hearth witch' as synonyms.

(And not long before that, the first thing people would think of when they heard 'kitchen witch' was a wooden spoon dressed up in a tea towel, hung on the wall as a decoration, often given as a gift at a wedding shower or housewarming party. Many neoPagan witches found this amusing, had such decorations, and took to using the term for themselves, to mean 'DIY at home, not in a dedicated workspace such as some ceremonial magicians have', or in the case of solitaries, particularly self-taught, 'DIY at home, not in a coven'.)

While an individual witch might describe their own craft by referring to something specific (f'ex, I think this thread originates long enough ago that Dark Midnight posted in it to describe herself as a crystal witch, because all her magic involves techniques involving crystals), such things aren't really across-the-board types of witches. Most witches who've been practicing for any length of time will have a repertoire of different techniques, and would fit equally well into several of the categories listed on that site (and on other sites of a similar, and similarly dodgy, sort) - and would likely not identify themselves with any of those categories; they'd identify as things like 'religious witch' or '(non-religious) traditional witch'; if they're part of a tradition, by the trad's name; etc.

If no one has yet pointed you at it, Jenett's Seeking site is very reliable, and has lots of information that should help you figure out how to become better at figuring out the reliability of other sites.

Sunflower

[Caffeinated Autumn]

Pretty much anything that divides types of witches into too many tiny categories based on something super-specific is likely to be full of nonsense.

Take, even, 'kitchen witch', which these days people often use to mean, 'cooking magic'. That comes of two things: one, that the modern Western urban kitchen is much more single-purpose than what you might call the 'traditional' kitchen, which was much more of a living room than just a cooking room; two, people being hyper-literal in interpreting it. Only two or three decades ago, it meant something roughly parallel to 'kitchen chemist' (a term whose meaning has also taken on new connotations in that time): basically, DIY-at-home, not in laboratory conditions. That was one thing I did like on the page you linked: at least it counted 'cottage witch' and 'hearth witch' as synonyms.

(And not long before that, the first thing people would think of when they heard 'kitchen witch' was a wooden spoon dressed up in a tea towel, hung on the wall as a decoration, often given as a gift at a wedding shower or housewarming party. Many neoPagan witches found this amusing, had such decorations, and took to using the term for themselves, to mean 'DIY at home, not in a dedicated workspace such as some ceremonial magicians have', or in the case of solitaries, particularly self-taught, 'DIY at home, not in a coven'.)

While an individual witch might describe their own craft by referring to something specific (f'ex, I think this thread originates long enough ago that Dark Midnight posted in it to describe herself as a crystal witch, because all her magic involves techniques involving crystals), such things aren't really across-the-board types of witches. Most witches who've been practicing for any length of time will have a repertoire of different techniques, and would fit equally well into several of the categories listed on that site (and on other sites of a similar, and similarly dodgy, sort) - and would likely not identify themselves with any of those categories; they'd identify as things like 'religious witch' or '(non-religious) traditional witch'; if they're part of a tradition, by the trad's name; etc.

If no one has yet pointed you at it, Jenett's Seeking site is very reliable, and has lots of information that should help you figure out how to become better at figuring out the reliability of other sites.

Sunflower

Wow, that's pretty interesting! I knew about the whole kitchen witch being a little figure put in the kitchen but I didn't know that neopagan witches took the word for themselves.
 
Thank you again. I will definitely take a look at Jenett's website.

[vassal]

I see lots of people who define themselves as a witch:

 
I would say Alchemist if pressed because the aim of my magic is to transmute my soul. I harness this through my yoga and qigong. No idea really what to call myself. LoL.

[john barleycorn]

I see lots of people who define themselves as a witch using specific labels- Green or Hedge or Kitchen or what-have-you, and they always make me curious. So: what kind of witch are you, and what about your witchcraft makes you choose that particular label?

 
I consider my self a Pagan who practices folk magic.

[Otter]

I see lots of people who define themselves as a witch using specific labels- Green or Hedge or Kitchen or what-have-you, and they always make me curious. So: what kind of witch are you, and what about your witchcraft makes you choose that particular label?

 
I simply prefer the term Pagan.

[Geosmin]

I see lots of people who define themselves as a witch using specific labels- Green or Hedge or Kitchen or what-have-you, and they always make me curious. So: what kind of witch are you, and what about your witchcraft makes you choose that particular label?

All in all I have to say I am an Eclectic Witch, because I do not follow just one type of Craft, although I do not really like the term. IMO Eclectic doesn’t really make a statement if one doesn’t explain it further because it can seriously be everything and anything.

I started out not knowing what I was and after time and research found a home in Green Witchcraft, where my plants, nature in general, animals, the Elementals, Herbalism and our planet, the moon and the sun play the entire role for me. I grow my own plants, which is why my garden, green house and apartment look like a mini copy of the forest. I have a special relationship with all of my plants and animals and am emotionally connected to them to the point where for example I literally do not like it when visitors touch my plants.

Since the Hedge witch and the Green Witch aren’t very far apart from another, IMO, I soon adopted "riding the hedge" between the worlds and incorporated most of my Spirit work and Divination from Hedge Witchcraft. For specific occasions I will find myself drifting to other cultures that base most of their work around spirits of the land, nature and German or Scottish folk magic. But I always make sure everything I incorporate eclectically is harmonious with my green and hedgy path.

What I personally still battle with after all these years, is incorporating any sort of Religion into my craft. I don’t ever feel the need to worship or incorporate any kind of Deities, Gods or Goddesses. The word worship and bowing to something always has a negative touch for me and I feel like you can’t have it without having strings attached. Which is why, I shy away from it so much. Also when I devote myself to something I want to pay it the utmost respect that it deserves, and leaving it after a year, because of a change in mind or feels, just feels like I am disrespecting.
In reality I like the idea of having a bond with Deities and a Belief system with a Goddess or a God, I just haven’t found my home yet when it comes to that. And perhaps I never will.

[anubisa]

I see lots of people who define themselves as a witch using specific labels- Green or Hedge or Kitchen or what-have-you, and they always make me curious. So: what kind of witch are you, and what about your witchcraft makes you choose that particular label?

I am mostly an Egyptian Wiccan, but I am exploring Kitchen Witchcraft as well.