Who is a Word Witch?

First, let’s define the word Witch (before the Word Witch). Witches are anyone, regardless of gender, sexuality, race, age, or class, who live by sacred cycles. Witches are committed to justice and reclamation; they honor the web of our planet that we’re all connected to. Witches cast spells, gather in covens, or practice in a solitary practice. There is no one way to be a Witch. Witches are dedicated to enchantment, awe, and possibility. They know that magic is a birthright and that all the magic you need can be found inside yourself and on our beautiful planet that we call home. If you long to call yourself a Witch, you are a Witch. Witch can be handed down in a long magical lineage, but can also be claimed for the self. 

There are many different ways to embody or practice your magic (and you can embody many of these approaches). There are Green Witches, Kitchen Witches, Hedge Witches, Eclectic Witches, and there are also Word Witches (to name a few). And if the word Witch doesn’t resonate with you for whatever reason you hold in your heart, I’m here to say that’s okay too. Magic can still be found in these pages, and whatever magic or ritual or practice you’d like to develop can come from that place. Word Witches are not prescriptive. They celebrate that artists and writers and magic makers go by many names. 

In Missing Witches by Risa Dickens and Amy Torok, they quote Amanda Yates Garcia saying, “It matters whose stories get told; it matters how we tell them. Imagination matters. Our connections to one another matter, as does the pleasure we take in our experience. Witches stand in solidarity with those already doing this work. Because people have been doing this work since humans first appeared on the surface of the earth. Now we listen to them, we participate, we use techniques of the healer, the poet, the artist, the scholar, the cunning folk to re-enchant the world.” 

The ideas of re-enchantment, or enchantment are essential to the life of a Word Witch. When you write, you love the world. When you write, you believe that the intangible can be made tangible, that story can persevere, that the human spirit is resilient and inherently creative. The word enchantment comes from the the old French encantement meaning, “magical spell, song, concert, or chorus,” but that the root of that might be from the Latin, “to sing.” 

Stories sing the soul of the world. And Witches tell these stories. 

Now, let’s talk about Word Witchery…

Word Witches are spellcasters of language. They are storytellers, poets, writers, and ritualists who know that writing anything is a form of channeling: spirits, ancestors, collective dreams, and their most authentic and surprising selves. Word Witches spent their childhoods reading paperback novels by flashlight. They conjure up poems with their magic wands and their pens. Word Witches love music and write lyrics down on napkins and notebook covers. They love making. They have a worn-out library card or a stack of books on their nightstand. They listen to audiobooks while they walk. Word Witches have a favorite pen. They keep a dream of publishing something in their heart. They submit writing to journals. They run journals. They collaborate with other Word Witches. Word Witches might share at an open mic or keep their words secret and tucked into a journal. Word Witches love a story. They love a storyteller. 

And a Word Witch might be you.