Urban Ghost Stories: May 2021

If you didn't read Part I you can find it here

https://urbanghoststories.blogspot.com/2021/04/which-witch-is-which.html

In the last Blog I said

A Witch is as individual as you or me – Their personality will decide Which sort of Witch they are.

A Witch is male or female – Warlock male / Witch Female is a much later notion.

A Witch has few rules – Their deities, their lore, their beliefs and their practices are their personal choice.

A Witch has knowledge – Whether its Herb Lore or Psychology a good Witch (ability wise) will know their stuff.

Because a Witches own personality is such a big influence, they tend to specialise in an area that interests them.. They will use what works for them, this means there is more than one sort of Witch.

In broad terms there are two kinds of Witch, an Hereditary Witch and a Called or Chosen Witch. An Hereditary Witch is a Witch born into a family of Witches and a Chosen/Called Witch is a Witch who Chose or was Called into Witchcraft later in life.

Both sorts of Witch can practice their craft in different ways, but again this falls into two broad categories – A Solitary Witch or a Witch that is part of a Coven.

An Hereditary Witch may stay as part of a coven or may choose to become Solitary, likewise a Called Witch may remain Solitary or choose to join a coven... A Witch is free to choose their own path.

Hereditary or Called, Solitary or Coven a Witch will have their own special way of practising their craft and these ways are numerous...

ECLECTIC WITCH

An Eclectic Witch will look at all of Witchcraft and pick and choose the bits that they like to formulate their own special form of Witchcraft. Eclectic Witches can fall into other categories depending on what elements of Witchcraft they have chosen.
GREEN WITCH

Green Witches are nature based.  They are  in-tune with the seasons and often use natural materials to create their own magical tools. They most likely try to perform all of their craft and rituals outside in nature.
HEDGE WITCH

A Hedge Witch is definitely a subcategory of Green Witch
In the past a ‘hedge’ would mark a boundary of a village and you would find the local Witch living outside the village beyond the Hedge, also a lot of the Roots, Herbs, Plants and Fungus that the Witch relied on would be found amongst the hedge rows. Hedge is also the term for the boundary between our world and the astral plane and Hedge witches are usually skilled in Astral Projection. Hedge Witches are usually solitary but its not unknown for them to be part of a coven.
KITCHEN WITCH

Again a Kitchen Witch is more than likely to be a green Witch but rather than going out to pick herbs and such, they will probably choose to grow their own. Unlike a Hedge Witch, a Kitchen Witch prefers to practice at home. The whole kitchen will be their cauldron and every work surface their alter. Whatever is produced in that Kitchen, Potions, remedies or even food wont just be made but crafted. Kitchen Witches are usually solitary but its not unknown for them to be part of a coven.
COSMIC WITCH

As the name suggests a cosmic Witch incorporates astrology and astronomy into their Witchcraft. They will follow the alignment of the planets and they will often will coordinate their spells and rituals based on the location of the planets and the moon. A Cosmic Witch can either be Solitary or part of a Coven.
TRADITIONAL WITCH

A traditional Witch is someone who looks at the history and lore. Often traditional Witches focus on working with the nature and history of the place they live. Traditional Witchcraft refers to "any non-Gardnerian, non-Alexandrian, non-Wiccan or pre-modern form of the Craft. They will practice ritual magic, spellcraft and devotional mysticism
Wiccan, Gardnerian and Alexandrian

These three types of Witch are both similar to each other and different form the other sorts of Witches in that they have a hierarchical system that consists of a high priest or priestess, they also have a formalized belief system which contains it’s own traditions and initiations which must be followed.
There are of course other types of Witches, in-fact there are limitless types because most Witches are free to choose what elements they put into their craft, but in one way or another they will fall into one, more or all of the categories above.