30/10/2025
As we come to that time of year when witches suddenly become popular and witchcraft fills our feeds, I wanted to share a few thoughts on what being a practising witch really means to me.
I’ll begin with the words of Terry Pratchett, which I read recently and which capture my feelings perfectly:
“Certainly witchcraft... has very little to do with magic as people generally understand it. It has an awful lot to do with taking responsibility for yourself and taking responsibility also for less able people and, up to a certain point, guarding society. This is based on how witchcraft really was, I suspect. The witch was the village herbalist, the midwife, the person who knew things. She would sit up with the dying, lay out the corpses, deliver the newborn. Witches tended to be needed when human beings were meeting the dangerous edges of their lives, the places where there is no map. They don't mess around with tinkly spells: they get their hands dirty.”
That, for me, is witchcraft.
These days, the most visible forms of witchcraft on Instagram and TikTok are all pretty candles, feathers and “how to manifest love and abundance” videos. There’s nothing wrong with beauty, ritual or manifestation. I also love my feathers, candles, bones (as you can see in the photo below) and stones. I have a large collection of cauldrons too! But they’re just tools and tools are only as powerful as the hands and hearts that use them.
Historically, the word 'witch' might not even have been used. Every community had someone who did what Pratchett describes: the one who knew, who tended, who witnessed, who served.
I believe witchcraft is rising again now because we live in a time when so many rights are being stripped away and so many voices are being silenced. Look at the state of the world and what is happening! The witch has always been a rebel, a guardian at the edges, an activist in her own way, a protector of the vulnerable and a guide who helps others find the strength to stand for themselves.
A witch is in service to her community, to the earth, to the unseen.
Yes, spells matter. They shift things on an energetic level. But witchcraft isn’t just about casting spells for personal love or abundance. True magic is also in standing up, speaking out and weaving energy for the greater good for those who have been repressed, forgotten or cast aside.
That’s the witch I aspire to be. The one who tends, witnesses and dares. The one who gets her hands dirty.
What does being a witch mean to you?
Witch blessings
Monika 🧙🖤
