I get a lot of funny looks when I first tell people that I’m a witch. I like to divide the looks into several categories:

• “You’re Joking Right?” – This one is usually accompanied with intense looks of judgement and comments along the line of “Like Harry Potter?”
• “Oh Cool.” – These are the people that I encounter most often, people who don’t quite understand but are intrigued and have probably picked up one of the “Crystals for Aries” books at Bookmans but were too afraid to buy it.
• “OMG ME TOO” – Truly the best kind of reaction that I could hope to get. I love meeting other witches, wiccans, and pagans; its nice to have a rest from having to explain what my being a witch means and it’s fun to exchange tips.
• “Begone Satan” – These reactions are pretty fun too, it doesn’t matter if I’ve known them for 2 minutes or 17 years, I get this reaction from people in all facets of life and I think it requires very little explanation.

Other than the “OMG ME TOO” category of reactions, most other people I talk to about my witchiness tend to have at least a couple misconceptions about what witchcraft is. Lucky for all of you, I am here to address those questions.

Witches sold their soul to the devil for their powers or they worship the devil.

This one is most commonly associated with the “Begone Satan” category of reactions but weirdly enough it’s more of a common misconception than one would think. There are a couple of things that I’d like to break down about this: first of all, witchcraft is about personal power, not power that you bought from an otherworldly being. Secondly, most witches don’t even believe in the devil. Contrary to popular belief, Satan is a specifically Christian concept and a majority of witches are not Christian and those who are would not worship Satan (*drinks tea*).

Obviously you’re going to have an exception to every rule but for the most part witches don’t spend their time sacrificing children to the devil in the woods. We are much too busy being normal people with an unhealthy rock obsession and far too many candles. Additionally, most witches that I know have a solid respect for life in general and don’t do sacrifices because that would be in direct violation of their beliefs.

We believe that we can shoot sparks and various other forms of energy from our fingers.

A lot of people who don’t understand what witchcraft truly is can come into the conversation thinking that we are a little bit delusional. Most people’s pre-existing ideas of witches come from Disney movies, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and sources like that. OF COURSE we would LOVE nothing more than to wake up one day and find out that we can snap our fingers or wiggle our noses and make things happen instantaneously. Who wouldn’t love that? But unfortunately, that is not the case.

Witchcraft is not about being special or particularly magical in one way or another, it’s about tapping into your personal power that everyone has to manifest what they want in their lives through positive intention and productive steps. Of course there are people who are born more empathetic or come from a long line of witches but at its core, witchcraft is a practice, like yoga, that anyone can do if they’d like.

As I mentioned in my previous article on Witchcraft, my boyfriend considers it essentially “positive thinking with extra steps” and he’s right. It’s really just about connecting with the universe and putting out positive vibes while you’re taking steps toward what you want. And I know what you’re thinking, what about curses? And spells that affect other people? Well, if that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t find that here. There are plenty of witches who will dabble in curses and work in spells that work on other people, but personally I only do spells for other people with their consent and I’ve found that I’m far too much of an empath and susceptible to taking on the energies of other people to work with negative vibes like that, so I tend to focus primarily on the positive.

That’s all that I can think of for now, perhaps I will make a part two someday. For my other witches out there, what are some other misconceptions you’ve run into on a regular basis and how do you handle them? Please let me know!