#witch-blood

[etamina-amata]

I would love to hear you describe the witch-fire in your own words, and what exactly is it. I mean, just by the name I do get a general idea but would love to read a description. You're actually the first person who I've seen use the term. Is it something obvious to tell in other people wether they possess it or not just by mere observance?

I’m sorry for the delay with answering this, but I wanted to make sure to give you the best answer I could, so I mulled it over for a day. Also keep in mind that I, as always, only ever answer for myself and my tradition. Witchcraft is not a monolith, and I am not  the Pope of Witches with all the answers.

So, to talk about the witch-fire, we must first talk about the witch-blood. This tends to be a misunderstood term, thanks to people who wrongly claim you need some kind of blood link to witchcraft in order to be a witch. This is not true. The witch blood is what pushes a person to seek out the secret, the hidden, the magical. It is what allows them to see and hear and draws them to magic. Witch-blood does not a witch make, however. I’ve known people with witch blood who have had the draw to it beaten out of them, or pushed into denial from abuse.You can reject it. Some witches can pick up or sense witch-blood in someone, and some cannot.

The witch-fire, on the other hand, is what makes a witch. It is the witch-blood set aflame. It is the soul on fire, with magic, with power. This is why we, in my tradition, refer to the witches who have come before us as the Cindered Dead, not out some misled idea about the witch trials, but because their souls are still burning, even after their bodies have been left, or turned to cinders. It is the mark of someone who has been through and been touched by black, green, and red magic. 

I’ve gone more in depth in my post on Frau Trude and the Traditional Witch which you can find HERE.

[eglentyne-morven]

“Witch-Blood”

Orion Foxwood defines this term as that sense of being drawn to witchery, like it’s literally in your blood to just be it. I had never heard of the term prior to reading his book (The Fire in the Cauldron).

To speak of my own experience, you know, when people talk about how they come to their path (or whatever), I was but a wee lass when I saw my friend reading a book on Witchcraft. I asked about it. I was intrigued. Without any prompting, I asked to borrow it, and I immediately read it and that was a launching pad for me to gather any material I could find. I was ravenous for anything on Wicca and Witchcraft.

Okay, that was like that first year, as a young teen. We didn’t call ourselves “baby witches” back then.

Most people see a friend read a witch book and have an adverse reaction to “something like that.” It’s because it’s not for them. Either the spark is immediate or it will never take. And people who need proof that Witchcraft works, they will never be Witches because there is just an innate knowing inside of every true Witch.

And that definitely paints a picture of “otherness” about us, but I’ve come to accept that. People who are out to demystify our work, stop, really. This is not a religion for the masses, this is not all-inclusive. Let it be for the few among us. That is really all that we need.

Foxwood speaks of the Witch-blood being apparent in young children, at early ages, and lists all those quirky indigo children behaviors. And I... take that with a grain of salt. I don’t think there is a certain way people behave that indicates they “carry the witch-blood.” This can delve into the realm of magical thinking (or delusion). I can see someone saying something like “I talked to faeries as a child” as a means to legitimize their witchiness and it’s really not necessary. Nobody has to prove anything.

And I don’t put a lot of weight to hereditary witches, maybe because I’m not familiar with any. Or, I’ve seen Witches who have families with children, and I watch those children grow up and not take to Witchcraft at all. They just weren’t called to it, and that’s perfectly legit too.

“Witch-blood” is not a very useful term for me. And in truth I can see the potential weaponization of this concept. Just one more way for people to question others legitimacy as a Witch, one more measuring stick, even when the term is not intended in that way at all. It adds fuel to the “my such-and-such was a Witch” kind of practitioners, well my “such and such” was a Presbyterian, what does that make me? Nothing. I’m a Witch because I fuckin’ said so. That’s witch-blood.

[wartime-stories]

Witch-Blood

Let's make a girl out of destiny and bind her together with magic. Or, rather, taint her soul with Houseworld. it will make her infamous, feared, and worst of all, significant. The end of the world will come, and she'll stay standing. The rules will be bent, snapped, broken and reshaped, but she'll stay solid, a heavy stone in the river of time. And she will be beautiful, and deadly. She'll lose her past, and move onwards to a horizon that she'll only recognize when she reaches it. In the meantime, she'll face battles and intrigue in appropriate intervals, and whether her odyssey is successful will never be revealed. Poor thing.