The General Beliefs of Traditional Folk Witchcraft
Before you jump into this article, I recommend reading these first:
Witchcraft is often confusing, simply because the beliefs and ideas behind it are not clearly defined.
It’s also difficult because the modern Western world was shaped by imperializing Christian colonists. Today we vastly underestimate the influence that Christianity had (and still has) in shaping our contemporary overculture—whether it is the doctrine of Protestant work ethic (which is now refashioned into hustle culture), purity doctrines (which is utilized in wellness and new age spirituality spaces), the idea that we are very powerful or chosen and the world is ours to plunder, or the driving savior/villain narratives inherent in most modern story telling where morality is a binary black and white with no grey between.
Note: This is something I plan to address in an upcoming workshop, as decolonizing these ideas is a deep part of returning to an animist worldview, for any spiritual path—not just that of the witch.
However, in this article I want to focus on the fundamental decolonized beliefs of traditional folk witchcraft, using as little Christian diabolizing language and principles as possible.
This framework helps us understand what a witch is and how witchcraft is practiced. Below is what I understand from my own spirit communication, practices and experiences, and ongoing research.
I am not aiming to outline the beliefs of a specific region of folklore, but instead want to show the common and general tenants that emerge where different cultures intersect in the broad category of pre-modern European witchcraft.
These tenants are rarely ever explicitly stated in historical record. Instead they have to be extrapolated from the information available to us. Information on pre-modern (non-Christian) European folk beliefs is easier to find, as more microhistorians and anthropologists decode them.
Disclaimer: There is no completely accurate reconstruction of pre-modern beliefs and practices. While we continue to gain more information as time goes on, it is still fragmented.
The goal is not to recreate what happened previously, but to honor it with our modern witchcraft. This means that our practices are rooted in the fundamentals we can identify from the past. From there we continue to add to that framework within the context of our present location and time.
It's also important to know that witchcraft has always been a flexible practice. Historical witchcraft reveals surprising similarities and parallels between cultures. Yet, every practice is still unique to its place and time.
Setting the roots of our witchcraft in the past while also updating it for our present time and place, continues this tradition.
By following these basic principles, we can understand and draw inspiration from traditional folk beliefs for our modern witchcraft.
In no particular order:
The mundane and spiritual are intertwined and parallel, rather than distinct and separate. They interact with one another, affect one another, and change one another. It's important to see that our spiritual world is an active component of our mundane lives. For all intents and purposes, the world is spiritual.
The world is animate. Intelligence, sentience, and soul are not exclusive to only human beings. There are various layers of reality full of intelligence, soul, and specifically spirits that are both seen and unseen. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are constantly interacting with other living, sentient beings. By living in the world, we are constantly in active relationships with those beings.
Non-human spirits and beings are not inherently good or bad. Spirits are ambivalent with their own agency, personalities, beliefs, agendas, needs, and desires. We should learn to interact respectfully and thoughtfully with spirits. We should try to learn how to have safe relationships with consenting spirits.
Spirits have a direct impact on the human world. This is evidenced in natural and supernatural events. These events include: harvests, weather events, sexual fertility, sickness, good or bad luck, conflict in our lives or a lack thereof, experiences that cannot be explained mundanely, recurring nightmares or dreams, and much more.
Living in a spiritual world, it is our responsibility (and in our best interest) to be good neighbors and take care of our surroundings. To do this, we should learn or create customs to appease spirits, draw closer to spirits, or push spirits away. We should understand, respect, and steward our local place.
Folk stories, beliefs, and practices, are not outdated primitive superstitions. The tales are transmitters of important knowledge regarding initiation, belief, and practice. They also relay important regional knowledge for how to have a good relationship with the animistic world, and how to care for our physical world.
Regional location is the defining force of folk stories, beliefs, and practices. The land and its specific flora and fauna, particular cycles of weather and seasons, and its resident spirits are the first informants for this spiritual reality. When you have a deep understanding of a region, you can fully absorb and live the spiritual meaning of its folklore and traditions. This also pertains to celestial spirits, who communicate distinctly with people from different areas.
Each human contains a soul complex, which means a multiple-part soul. It's typical that there are 3 parts of the soul or more in various folk beliefs. Each different part of the soul have various manifestations, some of them physical and others non-physical.
The spirit of a human is capable of temporarily separating from the body. When doing so, this is called spirit flight, which is more broadly considered a form of spiritual ecstasy. (Should the spirit not return to the body, physical death of the body occurs. As far as whether the spirit itself dies or disappears depends on several factors.)
The world of our dreams and states of alternative consciousness are just as valid, important, and real as our waking lives. Paying attention to them is vital in folk witchcraft practice.
There are many worlds, which I refer to as Otherworlds, that intersect, interact, and run parallel to our material mundane world. Often we make contact with those worlds through spirit flight, in dreams, and in alternative states of consciousness.
Death is not the end of life, but rather the beginning of another way of being in a different layer of reality. Some of the dead have gone on to exist in Otherworlds. Some have remained close to our mundane waking world for various reasons. The most important part: the soul does not disappear into the void after the body has died, generally speaking (there may be some exceptions).
The general world/universe/layers of reality are impersonal, like an ecosystem. They are neither for or against you. They are not your candy machine, nor are they watching to see that you behave by some pre-existing moral code. Rather, this ecosystem runs on cause and effect, in an attempt to maintain equilibrium through deep time. We sometimes do not understand the methods of cause and effect, because we cannot fully fathom the complexity of this ecosystem.
There is no singular organized practice of witchcraft in history or at present. As Gemma Gary has written: “A traditional witch’s practice is born from their own response to the ways of their particular locality and landscape, and an individual's instinct, insight, inspiration, and creativity.” I would also add that it depends entirely on the spirits relationships of a practitioner. Where those spirits guide and teach you will be unique to you. This is demonstrated in historical record, as well as modern transmissions of personal practice.
Witches are morally ambivalent. This means they are neither purely good or purely bad. Historically, witches have always acted from what Morgan Daimler calls "situational ethics". This means that they choose the actions they take based on the situation and relationships at hand. If it made sense to help someone, they would. If someone tried to harm them, witches had no problem protecting or defending themselves. Some witches would also act to harm others, without being instigated first. This is why witches would be consulted for so many different needs in a community. They were also feared, as it was usually a very bad idea to screw over a witch.
Witches are mediators and agents of power. Historically, most people did not seek to become a witch. However, they benefited from the power that witchcraft and spirit communication gave to them.
Power is also morally ambivalent. It can be used for good or for bad. It depends on the choices we make. Power is simply agency--choice and sovereignty. Power is the ability to act and create change as you desire or need. Whether that is morally good or bad is up to you.
Witchcraft is just that: a craft. Craft is an action, something you do. It is an art that someone strives to improve over time. There are many people undergoing witch initiations who do not go on to perform the craft given to them. To not move forward with craft is harmful to a witch. It's like damming a very powerful river. It disrupts the wellbeing of a witch, as well as their mundane world. Our goal as witches should be to move forward in craft over time.
Witchcraft is historically not a formal organized practice. Until recently it was not a literal group practice either. Because of this, there is no defacto authority on witchcraft. There are facts about the history of witchcraft. (Which I try to share in the easiest to understand manner possible through these articles.) There are modern groups of witchcraft that have their own processes for initiation. But it is not necessary to join a group of witchcraft, unless you desire to follow their framework. The contemporary practice of witchcraft comes down to individual preference and experience.
Broadly speaking, pre-modern European witch initiation was spirit-induced. This means it was not governed or facilitated by human authority. Instead, it was induced by a spirit choosing to interact with a human being. Sometimes this was confirmed by another human at a later date. But most of the time it was a solo experience for the witch. The evidence that initiation was successful was whether a witch gained special skills, and/or their world changed in profoundly tangible ways.
If you prefer having a witchcraft that is rooted in the past through decoding the original beliefs of our pre-modern European ancestors, I hope to provide overviews and resources for you to track your own path. If nothing else, it may give an entirely new and enlightening perspective on what all those strange tales were secretly teaching, once upon a time.
Additional Sources Worth Checking Out:
The Wakeful World by Emma Restall Orr
Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade
Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbat by Carlo Ginzburg
The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth-Century Miller by Carlo Ginzburg
Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies: Shapeshifters and Astral Doubles in the Middle Ages by Claude Lecouteux
Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and the Ghostly Processions of the Dead by Claude Lecouteux
The Hidden History of Elves and Dwarfs: Avatars of the Invisible Realms by Claude Lecouteux
Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church by Richard Firth Green
Between the Living and the Dead by Eva Pocs
Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits by Emma Wilby
Traditional Witchcraft: A Book of Cornish Ways by Gemma Gary
Folk Witchcraft by Roger Horne
Standing and Not Falling by Lee Morgan
