What is a Traditional Folk Witch?
Before you jump into this article, I recommend reading these first:
Witch is a term that has evolved over time. Nowadays, the word witch seems to have lost its meaning because it is used for anything considered magical. Let’s fix that by clearly laying out how someone becomes a traditional folk witch, and what a witch does.
(If you want to know how people originally used the term and what they likely believed a witch was, please see my earlier article, A Brief History of Pre-Modern Witchcraft.)
Disclaimer: This article is specifically referring to traditional folk witchcraft inspired by pre-modern European folk culture. Pre-modern witchcraft is considered a parallel to an extant European shamanism (for lack of a better term). This is also a general article with broad definitions. If you’d like more details you can check out the resources I recommend at the end of this article.
First, know that the term witch is not particular to a gender. Witch was originally interchangeable with terms such as cunning people, wise people, sin eater, and fairy doctor, and many other names in pre-modern Europe. Their characteristics, talents, and spirit relationships all form a very broad framework for how one became a witch. In fact, their experiences broadly mirrored and paralleled one another.
Becoming Other
A person became a witch after a process of othering, usually through some sort of loss or extreme disempowerment that led to initiation and ecstatic experience.
The othering was a pairing of the:
Social - becoming a widow, painfully losing a beloved, becoming destitute and impoverished, going through extreme illness or a near death experience, occasionally just being born into being treated like an outsider, as a few examples. It is important to note that undergoing mundane trauma or feeling/being treated like an outsider alone was not enough to qualify one as a witch (otherwise the majority of the world would be considered a witch, and that historically, to the present day, is absolutely not the case).
Spiritual - usually there was a confusing and often painful ordeal experience in a meditative-sleep or trance state. This was the first experience of spirit flight to the Otherworlds. Typically this was induced by a spirit wanting to get the attention of the person, usually to start a close relationship with that person. That spirit would then become the person’s spirit familiar. All of this occurred in spirit flight (an alternative form of consciousness). The spirit was only visible or sensed by the witch, even after the initiation ended.
Spirit flight is a form of ecstatic out-of-body experience. It is described as the soul temporarily separating from the body. Usually this is done in a meditative-sleep state. In some places it has been achieved with mind-altering substances (such as the ancient Scythians and their smoke tents of cannabis).
Most spirit flight resulted in a visiting Otherworlds. These are worlds parallel but different to the corporal waking world of the witch. Time, distance, and many other things were different in the Otherworld. (We see this frequently in fairy tales, when someone visits fairy land for what seems like a only day. Yet, when they return to their normal world it’s been years.)
Witches taking spirit flight are either accompanied by a familiar spirit, or the familiar spirit would meet them in the Otherworld. A familiar spirit is a spirit that has an ongoing relationship with a person. That spirit is not part of that person, but is distinct from the person themselves. Some familiar spirits have a long term active relationship with a person. Others only have a temporary relationship with a person. Familiar spirits are distinguished from general spirits, in that they have a vested interest in being familiar (intimate, close) with a person.
Ordeal experiences are like challenging spiritual quests. For example, while in spirit flight someone has to journey through the Otherworld for years. (Remember that time, distance, and even physics are different in the Otherworlds.) During that journey, the initiate has to battle monsters. Or they become mortally injured. Or they are captured, having their bones removed and then replaced.
Ordeal experiences were not usually pleasant, and were often frightening and painful. And while this is "only" in an alternative spiritual world, it still has a profound affect on the person experiencing it.
Othering is a central part of the witchcraft initiation process. In order to regularly have contact with spirits and Otherworlds, one must have a body made for the work. The Otherworld is demanding and dangerous for the normal human body and mind to encounter on a regular basis. Othering is the process of gaining a witch's body, so as to be capable of frequent spirit interaction and Otherworld journeying. Vital skills and knowledge are also encoded and given to the witch through this process.
Initiation usually happens through multiple spirit flights or journeys to the Otherworld. Usually, a person undergoes this process spontaneously. A successful initiation was evidenced by the person returning with new skills, and/or their life changing in profoundly tangible ways.
Within fairy and folk tales we have many encoded specific details regarding this process. These details are mirrored by the initial testimonies in early witchcraft trials. This points to a practice that was long ingrained and encoded in these tales and their subsequent folk beliefs and practices. (I'll be writing more about this in the future!)
To that end, several people still undergo this process, but without the context for what it means or what to do. And this tends to wreak havoc on their lives in countless ways, at the very least.
An initiation that does not complete was linked to madness, physical illness, general life chaos, and more. (If you suspect this has happened to you, it is a good idea to seek professional spiritual help. You can contact me for recommendations.)
A witch may undergo many different initiations in their lifetime. They may also gain many different spirit familiars as time goes on. (We’ll talk more about spirit familiars in another article.)
Skills are Craft
Through the recently gained skill of regular spirit flight and communication, a witch is taught her craft. The spirit familiar teaches the witch how to utilized their newly gained supernatural skills. The spirit familiar also empowers their folk magic, gives them divinatory insight, and much more.
The skills a witch gains from initiation varies. Some become skilled in healing and knowledge of plants. Others are spirit mediators (the ability to see and communicate with spirits) for their community. Others work intimately with the dead and ancestors. Others become highly skilled in methods of divination and prophecy. Others become skilled in creating powerful charms and talismans. Most of them, if not all, develop highly effective folk magical skills to deal with the challenges of everyday life.
These skills are the craft of the witch, otherwise called witchcraft. The witch strives to improve and expand these skills as time goes on. Some skills are not spontaneously given to the witch, but something the witch is prompted by their spirit familiar to acquire. For example, they may not spontaneously know everything about plants. Instead they suddenly feel the urge to learn occult herbalism.
It’s important to know that you can study and learn folk magic, without going through the process of becoming a witch.
Many people throughout time have practiced folk magic who were not considered witches. For more on the difference between a general occultist (aka a magician or sorcerer) and a witch, check out the article I wrote here.
Historically, most people who became witches did not do it on purpose. It was a spontaneous process that happened due to a culmination of certain circumstances. Those circumstances varied based on the region and culture of that person.
The Pros and Cons of Becoming a Witch
The benefit of becoming a witch is an increase of personal power. As I stated in my earlier article on the fundamental beliefs of a traditional folk witch: power is morally ambivalent. It can be used for good or bad. 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.
During the development of traditional folk witchcraft, common people desperately needed more agency and sovereignty. They were not educated nor were they financially privileged. The governing system was designed to exploit them for labor and oppress them. Circumstantially, the common pre-modern people had many of the same challenges that we have today. Gaining more power was revolutionary to common people then, just as it is now.
On a less transactional note, even historic witches found their relationships with their spirit familiar to be profoundly important. Intimacy with the supernatural and the ability to have ecstatic experiences was highly prized. Today, I believe, people are looking for personal relationship with the divine and ecstatic experiences more than ever.
The downsides to becoming a witch is that by becoming othered, the witch is often treated like an outsider. What happens when your body and mind is fundamentally changed? What happens when you can see or sense things that others cannot in waking life? What happens if your dreams often come true, like prophecy? What happens when you have relationships with beings that no one else believes exist? What happens when you have skills that defy the rules of reality?
Many may come to you for assistance, but otherwise keep you at a distance. There is an inherent dual feeling of awe and fear for those who have direct connection to the spiritual world, or supernatural skills. It’s an almost instinctual reaction humans have to things they find different.
At the very least, witches profoundly feel different to those around them. How could they not? When you experience spiritual ecstasy and have intimate relationships with non-human spirits, relating to humans can be a challenge.
On top of it, there are often physical changes related to becoming a witch. One of the most common motifs of pre-modern witchcraft initiation is the replacement of bones while in spirit flight. While this was a spiritual experience during an altered form of consciousness, often the waking mundane world would parallel it. That person would need surgery for an injured limb, or would grow deadly sick. This fundamentally changed a person, as well as marking them as different to their community.
While this all may sound fantastical, many modern witches report similar experiences.
When someone is unaware of the meaning of this process, it is disorienting and scary. Well, to be fair, it can still be disorienting and scary even if you do know.
The Modern Folk Witch
Today people still spontaneously undergo this process, and others actively seek it out. There are many modern processes for inducing a spirit initiation. Within these modern lineages, you can attempt initiation with supervision and assistance. It's important to note that even if you go through all the steps of a human designed initiation, there is no guarantee it will work.
This makes sense when you consider the process I've just described. It's difficult, sometimes even dangerous, and has many risks. We all have spirit courts that are watching over our life and destiny. They will often protect you from undergoing such a risky process if it is not your path. And this path is not for everyone.
Before deciding to undergo witch initiation, I suggest reading some of the books I've listed in the recommended resources section at the end of this article. It's important that you are of sound body and mind before attempting witch initiation or spirit flight.
Becoming a witch is not for everyone, and that's okay! There are other magical spiritual paths to walk that do not require this difficult process.
For those who feel you may have already undergone this process spontaneously, I hope this article gives you reassurance. I went through initiation (involuntarily) several times from childhood to my mid-20s, without knowing what it was. It was terrifying and so lonely not to have any resources or peers to talk to. I've written these articles with my younger self in mind. If that's you, may this help you carve out your own crooked path with greater confidence.
Recommended Additional Sources:
Standing and Not Falling by Lee Morgan
Folk Witchcraft by Roger Horne
Traditional Witchcraft: A Book of Cornish Ways by Gemma Gary
Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath by Carlo Ginzburg
Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits by Emma Wilby
Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy by Mircea Eliade
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
Travels to the Otherworld and Other Fantastic Realms: Medieval Journeys into the Beyond by Claude Lecouteux
Between the Living and the Dead by Eva Pocs
