13 Forms Of Witchcraft That Exist In Real Life
You’d be surprised to learn that there are still people who practice witchcraft in this day and age. Modern witchcraft is all the rage right now, so check out what makes these type of witches distinct!
1. Kitchen Witchcraft
There’s magic everywhere you look, including your own kitchen! These witches’ domain is the home, as they make and perform their magic in the house, specifically the kitchen. They believe there is natural magic in one’s home that is sacred and unparalleled for every witch.
They love to cook and use all the tools at their disposal inside the home. Kitchen itches use the coziest form of witchcraft among this list!
2. Eclectic Witchcraft
Eclectic witches are practitioners of magic that do not follow one religion, tradition, or even a singular form of spiritualism! Rather, they choose different elements from multiple established beliefs and magic systems.
Eclectic witches construct their own methodology by using bits of differing magical systems that, when merged together, create their own unique, yet harmonious, practice. An eclectic witch might be inclined to borrow Goetic summoning pentagrams while also still worshipping the Dianic pantheon.
3. Wicca
Wicca is probably the most commonly known form of modern witchcraft that worships the earth and nature. You might even know a practicing Wiccan! Wicca is a unique system in that it’s one of the few religions in the western world that incorporates and even encourages witchcraft.
Created in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, Wicca holds a very karmic belief system in that whatever positive or negative action one does, that same energy will be returned to them three-fold.
4. Hedge Witchcraft
Back then, hedges acted as borders between two communities, so jumping them was an act of traveling between the two. Hedge witches are those who can jump the metaphorical (or metaphysical?) border between the mortal world and the spirit realm. They can see beyond this border because of their magical prowess.
Divination is an extremely focused skill, so its no wonder why many hedge witches prefer to work in solitary!
5. Green/Garden Witchcraft
Nature and flora are the realms of influence for this form of witchcraft. While most witches already work with herbs and plants, green witchcraft, or garden witchcraft, encompasses spells and magical work that requires the usage and intimate connection to nature.
Green witches’ spells are mostly, if not all, plant-based because they love the earth and what she provides for them. They just love nature and surround themselves near forests, trees, and anything green.
6. Gardnerian Witchcraft
Gerald Gardner may be the founder of Wicca, but there exists another form of witchcraft that claims his influence as well. Gardnerian witchcraft is a practice of Wicca whose members can trace their lineage back to Gerald Gardner’s original coven.
Gardnerian Wicca is directly influenced by Gardner’s teachings, making it the only form of Wicca surviving that stays closer to Gardner’s original philosophies, beliefs, and intent.
7. Solitary Witchcraft
Witches who prefer working alone and without the aid of a coven can usually fall under this category. Solitary witchcraft is a very individualized sense of magic-weaving. A solitary witch isn’t a magical practitioner that lives alone but rather works alone and relies on no one but themselves.
If you’re so not a people person, or you don’t like group projects since you’re always doing most of the work anyway, then solitary witchcraft is a good fit for you!
8. Hereditary Witchcraft
To all those who never got their Hogwarts letter in the mail or never had Agatha Cromwell as their grandmother, you probably weren’t this type of witch! Hereditary witchcraft is as it implies: a lineage of witches who’ve passed on their knowledge and spellwork to their next of kin.
Hereditary witches are those born into witchcraft, so it’s a very exclusive club!
9. Sea Witchcraft
Love the ocean? Sea witches got your back! Sea witchcraft heavily relies on oceanic imagery, symbols, and associations in their line of magical work. They must have strong emotional ties to water and feel at home in that element in order to use in their spellwork.
Water magic can derive from seashells, beach sand, seaweed, and ocean water that must be used in whatever performance their magic requires.
10. Secular Witchcraft
Witchcraft may be an exercise in low magic, but usually, there’s something a witch is appeasing in order to ensure their spell works as intended. Secular witches, on the other hand, are not. Secular witchcraft is the practice of magic without the appeasement or worship of any deity.
11. Astrology Witchcraft
Astrology witchcraft is exactly as it sounds- the interpretation and utilization of astrology for magical purposes. Astrology witches look to the stars for answers, meaning that they must read the alignment of planetary bodies and stars according to whichever astrological path they believe in.
Astrology witches harness energy from a celestial framework and believe those on Earth are dictated by what the cosmos say. Astrology witchcraft is currently rising in popularity due to the millennial fascination for non-traditional alternatives to religion.
12. Satanic Witchcraft
While it’s unfortunate that witchcraft has been so heavily demonized by Abrahamic faiths, some witches really pertain to this association with Satan and all his dark machinations. The difference is that they’re not actually bad people. Indeed, Satanic witches pull from the ideas of leisure and free will rather than arbitrary cannibalistic death rituals and fire.
13. Cultural Traditions
Many cultures have their own version of witchcraft. Witchcraft, however, is a broad term that varies culturally, as different assumptions can be made for what it means to be a ‘witch’. As such, spiritual practices around the globe are often translated into English as ‘witchcraft’ that posits their magic with a western view rather than with their cultural origin.
We have South African witch doctors, Indian daayan, and Chinese xhu. There exist Nyongo societies, the druid reconstructionists, and medicine men. Across the world, there are strong footholds in mysticism that make the Earth a more magical place.
