What is a witch?

[Polarity27]

A person who practices witchcraft, a form of nature-based low magic. Possibly a person who practices a form of religious witchcraft, including Wicca, Feri, and others.

or

A fictional sorceress of some kind.

(Female, age 41.)

 

[The Funslinger]

16.

I'll give you the Dean Winchester definition: Witches are disgusting, unhygienic and creepy with a penchant for spilling their bodily fluids everywhere. Sold their soul to demons in exchange for power. Vengeful.

Male 16-21.

A witch is a female who can cast spells, brew potions and cause stupid European nobles to go out and murder kings for their amusement.[footnote]See 'Macbeth' for more details.[/footnote]

For the record, go and tell a Scottish person they're European and tell me what happens.

It's technically correct. Although in the context it would have been easier (and also more accurate) to have just said Scottish.

It's not as if it's an obscure fact that Macbeth is set in Scotland. Hell, it's referred to as "the Scottish play" within theatres.

I know it's correct, but people in Britain never consider themselves European. Especially not the Scots.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Female 16-21

Witch used to merely mean 'wise woman' and was used to refer to a woman who had knowledge of herbs and nature. People would go to her for medicines and other helpful things.

Then Christians came along and went "Women are sinful and not as intelligent as men, if that woman has power to make sick people better it must be magic from the devil. AND ONCE SHE GAINS YOUR TRUST SHE WILL USE IT TO HURT YOU TOO."

And then you know the rest.

Correction, dumb people went "Women are sinful and not as intelligent as men, if that woman has power to make sick people better it must be magic from the devil. AND ONCE SHE GAINS YOUR TRUST SHE WILL USE IT TO HURT YOU TOO."

All the gifts to Jesus have medicinal uses, and of what we know of middle-eastern culture at the time, was given for that reason from the Wise Men.

 

[Mookowicz]

Another meaning of the word 'Wicca, or witta (Spelling in doubt)' was 'Wise one' and not 'sorceress' and ancient kings often took the advice of a council known as the wittan, or 'Council of Wise ones

Yes, perhaps hence 'soothsayer' as I first mentioned (before the 14th century, a soothsayer was just 'one who tells the truth'). But by around 890CE, the word had already taken on the 'sorceress' meaning. The Laws of Aelfred [http://www.dr-fnlee.org/docs6/alfred/alfred.pdf] (Alfred the Great) of the place that would eventually become Wessex, said (Law 30, translated): 'Don't let women live who are wont to receive enchanters and conjurers and witches!' So the meaning might have been different before Alfred's time (I suspect it probably was), but it has meant 'sorceress' for most of the documented history of English civilisation, and I think that's still pretty much what Hollywood and most non-religious usages mean.

 

[Jak LesStrange]

I am a male and I'm 18.

A witch is a person infected with the Green Flu that has massive claws in the place of their hands and tends to cry a lot. Don't startle a Witch...

Seriously though, a witch can be many things, such as a magical practiser or a woman/ man in league with a fictitious being known as Satan.

 

[Jedoro]

Male, B

A witch is a female monster slayer who has white hair, yellow eyes, can brew potions, and has a small selection of magical signs to use that are focused on combat applications, but can be used for other purposes.

Basically, a female form of a Witcher, such as Geralt.

 

[Halceon]

Male c)

A witch is a woman with knowledge of natural medicine, folklore and various rare crafts, and often suspected of magical abilities because of this knowledge.

 

[Amplify]

Male - (C)

 

[gazumped]

Female 16-21

Witch used to merely mean 'wise woman' and was used to refer to a woman who had knowledge of herbs and nature. People would go to her for medicines and other helpful things.

Then Christians came along and went "Women are sinful and not as intelligent as men, if that woman has power to make sick people better it must be magic from the devil. AND ONCE SHE GAINS YOUR TRUST SHE WILL USE IT TO HURT YOU TOO."

And then you know the rest.

Correction, dumb people went "Women are sinful and not as intelligent as men, if that woman has power to make sick people better it must be magic from the devil. AND ONCE SHE GAINS YOUR TRUST SHE WILL USE IT TO HURT YOU TOO."

All the gifts to Jesus have medicinal uses, and of what we know of middle-eastern culture at the time, was given for that reason from the Wise Men.

Hadn't meant to give off an anti-Christian vibe or offend, it was more that when Christians were trying to establish their religion in Britain and other countries they had to oppress the pagan cultures in order to gain power. It wasn't dumb, it was very very smart, actually, as it worked like a charm.

 

[MorphingDragon]

Female 16-21

Witch used to merely mean 'wise woman' and was used to refer to a woman who had knowledge of herbs and nature. People would go to her for medicines and other helpful things.

Then Christians came along and went "Women are sinful and not as intelligent as men, if that woman has power to make sick people better it must be magic from the devil. AND ONCE SHE GAINS YOUR TRUST SHE WILL USE IT TO HURT YOU TOO."

And then you know the rest.

Correction, dumb people went "Women are sinful and not as intelligent as men, if that woman has power to make sick people better it must be magic from the devil. AND ONCE SHE GAINS YOUR TRUST SHE WILL USE IT TO HURT YOU TOO."

All the gifts to Jesus have medicinal uses, and of what we know of middle-eastern culture at the time, was given for that reason from the Wise Men.

Hadn't meant to give off an anti-Christian vibe or offend, it was more that when Christians were trying to establish their religion in Britain and other countries they had to oppress the pagan cultures in order to gain power. It wasn't dumb, it was very very smart, actually, as it worked like a charm.

Psch thats OK.

 

[dlsevern]

Male 34

A witch is a female that that practices some form of witchcraft whether it be Wicca or black magic, many worship the goddess.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

I am a male A, 16-21, and think a witch is a female practitioner of magic of any sort, hopefully wearing that pointy hat for simplicity's sake.
The male version is called a "warlock" or "Sorceror" as far as I know, excluding witch doctors.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

Male 16-21

Witch- Man or woman who made a pact with the devil,(typically was in bed with him 2) and uses their magic to promote fear and sin among mortal humans.

Yes i know the stories, but witch also applies to men. Same as warlock (for women). But sorcerer and ess are the sexual orientations used for that phrase. These apply to the other ways magic is used ex holy, healing, war. Its more of a classification.

 

[Togs]

Im male and 22.

A witch is a female adherent to the pagan religion.

 

[walrusaurus]

Witch is the modernization of the old english word Wicce (pronounced which-ay). Which was the word for a male 'wise person' ie. the village sage; usually well versed in herb lore, and the local spiritual traditions. The female varient of the term, wicca, is these days used to refer to a specific type of modern paganism (specifically celtic reconstructionism).

Male 22-30

EDIT: clearing some misconceptions.

a. Witch is gender, and age agnostic.
b. Witch is typically used as a religious indicator. While wicca is typically referential of someone who practices ritual solely for the sake of magic (ie. hipster witches). Some witches would be balk at being called wiccans for that reason.
c. As in b witchcraft is an umbrella term for 2 different things: religion, and ritual. The christian analog would be belief in Jesus, and prayer. Just as not all christians pray, not all people who pray are christians.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Eh... you *are* aware that letting other people see each other's responses also introduces bias to your sample, right?

It's just that I've seen a few of these "I need a poll for school" threads and people don't seem to notice that.

I'm aware. The essay isn't nearly important enough for me to bother putting together an online survey and begging/bribing/threatening enough people to click the link and fill it in. This way, I get over a hundred responses (enough to draw some weak conclusions about the age/gender group most captured) with no pain at all except for typing up the results.

Interesting side note: From my experience, the drop-off in respondents to a survey that takes even one click to reach (against one with zero clicks to reach, such as a forum topic) is unfathomably large. If I ever get the time, I would love to investigate whether this is most due to laziness or suspicion of strange links.

 

[midknight129]

C) 22-30

Witch is a pejorative term derived from the word Wicca. It is used to describe a person, especially female, who practices pagan/wicca religious rituals in a negative light, implying that their rituals can be harmful or dangerous and that their powers are demonic in origin. Similar in nature to the derivative pejorative "******" from the Spanish word Negro, meaning "black"; and similarly taken by some wicca to describe themselves... what up my wicca?

Note that the actual religion of Wicca has nothing to do with "devil worship" as there isn't even a "devil figure" that represents the source of all evil in Wicca. It has more in common with American Native religions or Japanese Shinto than with Judeo-Christian beliefs.

 

[Engarde]

Age is 16-21.

A witch is a fantasy character (like a paladin or wizard). It tends to mean an evil woman who brews potions and can hex or curse others with magic (generally called dark magic). Modern works can play them as less evil with less hexing and cursing and they could be anything from young to old. The male counterpart tends to be called a warlock (though that is subject to debate). Can also means someone who is Wiccan.

Or perhaps, in a more meta fashion, a witch is an idea. Everyone has an idea as to what the idea is and that is the idea of silly definitions!

 

[DoctorFrankenStein]

"Your average witch is not, by nature, a social animal as far as other witches are concerned. There's a conflict of dominant personalities. There's a group of ringleaders without a ring. There's a basic unwritten rule of witchcraft which is 'Don't do what you will, do what I say'. The natural size of a coven is one. Witches only get together when they can't avoid it" (Witches Abroad).


As quoted from our lord, Terry of Pratchett..

This^^^ I love Terry Pratchett. The plural of 'witch' isn't 'witches' it's 'argument'.
I'm a solitary witch-doctor, but my original training was in Wicca. [I'm female, 33.]
I find I usually get called a witch when I express a strong contrary opinion in front of an insecure male. Haha.
But witch is a genderless term. Calling a male Wiccan a warlock is insulting because the word actually means 'oath-breaker'. I see a pagan referring to themselves as a witch in a similar light to an African-American using racial slurs on his friends in an attempt to 'take back' an insulting word.