quotations about witches & witchcraft
Witchcraft is seeing a resurgence among queer-identified young people seeking a powerful identity that celebrates the freedom to choose who you are.
MOIRA DONOVAN
"How Witchcraft Is Empowering Queer and Trans Young People", Vice, August 14, 2015
The light in her Gypsy eyes
Fenced with saffron tongues
As they burnt off her skin.
And she wailed before she died,
Before the hush of holy sacrifice.
And her sinful thighs
Created for the danse macabre
Withered into ashes.
PETER HARGITAI
"Witch's Island"
It is an accurate statement that the followers of Witchcraft do not usually proselytize, which means you aren't going to find us standing on your local street corner thumping our Books of Shadows. Nor do you have to worry about jumping out of the shower to answer our serene and smiling faces at the door with your clothes stuck to various uncomfortable places on your wet body. But just because we (hopefully) aren't the forcible type doesn't mean we don't exist.
SILVER RAVENWOLF
To Ride a Silver Broomstick: New Generation Witchcraft
I practice mostly solitary witchcraft, which means it's very inward focused and about finding your own way and meeting up with others when you have a question or want to try something new. That's one of things about witchcraft, it's less formal communing, but in many respects it's closer.
HANNAH THOMAS
"Student practices witchcraft, found communities within Des Moines, Drake, internet", The Times-Delphic, March 22, 2017
Since man cannot live without miracles, he will provide himself with miracles of his own making. He will believe in witchcraft and sorcery, even though he may otherwise be a heretic, an atheist, and a rebel.
FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY
The Brothers Karamazov
To deny the possibility, nay, the actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of God in various passages both of the Old and New Testament, and the thing itself is a Truth to which every nation in the world hath, in its turn, borne testimony, by either example seemingly well attested or by prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the possibility of a commerce with evil spirits.
SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE
Commentaries, 1765
The public image of witchcraft, Wicca and Paganism is of a tradition that embraces women and places them at their centers. After all, the stereotypical image of a witch is of a woman: brewing potions, riding away on her broomstick or simply being punished for the crime of refusing to live the way men thought she should. It's no surprise, then, that witchcraft has primarily attracted women, both in the religious and aesthetic sense. Many sects of Wicca promote goddess worship, equality between the sexes and the sacredness of the female form.... But something happens to men when something isn't about them. Used to being put at the center of the conversation they, for lack of a better term, freak out. Witchcraft may be a woman-centric lifestyle, but it still exists in a man-centric world -- which means that sexism is, of course, an issue.
JAYA SAXENA
"There's a Sexism Problem in the Modern Witchcraft Community", MIC, November 19, 2015
Witches don't look like anything. Witches are. Witches do.
FRANNY BILLINGSLEY
Chime
Although the most acute judges of the witches and even the witches themselves, were convinced of the guilt of witchery, the guilt nevertheless was non-existent. It is thus with all guilt.
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
The Portable Nietzsche
Witchcraft in 2017 is about women coming together, not about being torn apart. Whether it's Lana Del Rey getting her goth on or thousands coming together for the Women's March in January, the witches are rising -- excuse me while I go and fetch my broomstick.
LEONIE COOPER
"Witchcraft is the new feminism", NME, March 2, 2017
When have I last looked on
The round green eyes and the long wavering bodies
Of the dark leopards of the moon?
All the wild witches, those most noble ladies,
For all their broom-sticks and their tears,
Their angry tears, are gone.
WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS
"Lines Written in Dejection", The Wild Swans at Coole
Numerous studies done on schizophrenia, including at Mayo Clinic, in the United States, show that its symptoms begin to show in early 20s and late 20s for men and women, respectively. These studies showed that it's uncommon for children to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and it's very rare in adults aged over 45. So for some Ugandans, when a previously healthy family member suddenly begins to exhibit these symptoms ... it's not uncommon for some patients and their relatives to jump on the witchcraft blame-game, a common diversionary mechanism that hinders timely and appropriate psychiatric treatment because we are in state of denial.... One only wonders out of the 41 million Ugandans, how many of those who need psychiatric healthcare are suffering silently in the shadows!
VIVIAN ASEDRI
"Uganda: Witchcraft is a Vulnerable Person's Quickest Antidote!", The Monitor, January 14, 2016
Being a modern witch not only adds a dash of magic to everything you do, but gives your life some serious hex appeal!
ELLEN RICKS
"Here's How Being A Modern Witch Is My Middle Finger To The Patriarchy", Vocally, April 6, 2018
A witch ought never to be frightened in the darkest forest ... because she should be sure in her soul that the most terrifying thing in the forest was her.
TERRY PRATCHETT
Wintersmith
There are spiritual forces of witchcraft working to destroy our marriages, families, relationships, ministries, faith and churches.... Witchcraft is a real force and Jesus has given power to every believer to break free from its deceiving clutch.
JONAS CLARK
Exposing Spiritual Witchcraft
I believe witchcraft is one of the powers in the hierarchy of demons Paul listed in Ephesians 6:12. Just as the Holy Spirit is the power of God, witchcraft is a power of the enemy.
JENNIFER LECLAIRE
"3 More Sure Signs Witchcraft Is Attacking You", Charisma News, October 17, 2015
Witchery is merely a word for what we are all capable of -- heightened nightsight, an empathy shared with the beasts, a utilization of the more obscure abilities of our minds. Nothing that science can't explain away. Wizardry is spells and enchantments. Fairy tales.
CHARLES DE LINT
Into the Green
For me "an act of Witchcraft" is one that brings me closer to the things I value in my spiritual life. In that sense gardening becomes an act of Witchcraft because it brings me closer to the Earth and the turn of the seasons. The simple act of putting a picture of my deceased grandparents up in my living room is an act of Witchcraft because it tells their spirits that they are welcome in my house and helps me to connect with them.
JASON MANKEY
"An Act of Witchcraft", Patheos, April 25, 2018
Witchcraft is the art of the Fallen Angels, the Watchers and the Children of Cain. It is the art of encircling the shadows of darkness and light to serve your will and create through your own being.
MICHAEL FORD
Luciferian Witchcraft: Book of the Serpent
One might think you knew all about witches, to hear you chatter. But your words prove you to be very ignorant of the subject. You may find good people and bad people in the world; and so, I suppose, you may find good witches and bad witches.
L. FRANK BAUM
"The Witchcraft of Mary-Marie", Baum's American Fairy Tales