Illes - The Weiser field guide to witches: from hexes to Hermione Granger, from Salem to the Land of Oz

First published in 2010 by

Red Wheel/Weiser, llc

With offices at:

500 Third Street, Suite 230

San Francisco, CA 94107

www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright 2010 by Judika Illes

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser, llc. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-479-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

Typeset in Adobe Jenson and Priori Sans

Cover photograph Vintage Images / Hulton Archive / Getty Images. Images on p 5, 6, 9, 15, 17, 18, 23, 24, 29, 35, 36, 43, 50, 55, 58, 61, 64, 71, 78, 82, 87, 93, 95, 99, 101, 103, 105, 108, 110, 114, 116, 126, 134, 140, 148, 154, 162, 169, 176, 179, 180, 185, 187, 188, 206, 208, 218, 227, 228, 241, 244, 249, 254, 262 dreamstime.com; images on p 33, 38, 98, 190, 198 istockphoto.com, images on p 52, 223, 225, 232, 247 Pepin Press, images on p 19, 26, 30, 46, 73, 90, 111, 122, 128, 137, 175, 217, 235, 237, 243, 261, 265 Miss Mary.

Printed in Canada

TCP

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

Witches call to us from thresholds, crossroads, sea-shores, swamps, and mountain tops. Fairy-tale witches beckon from within wild forests. Urban witches mingle in stores stocked with candles, crystals, statues, and mysterious books. Witches fly through the air and dig twisted roots from the ground.

Beautiful witches dance beneath the stars. Robed magicians chant in arcane tongues. Alluring witches ensorcell with the power of potions. Cadaverous hags stir steaming cauldrons. Flower- and pentacle-bedecked witches celebrate the seasons. Hideous witches lurk in horror films, working their wiles and definitely up to no good.

Witches peep out of greeting cards. They appear in advertising for hosiery, alcoholic beverages, and sandwich meat. They commandeer the pages of comic books, appearing in the guise of both villain and heroine. Witches consistently steal the show in movies and television, whether live-action or animated.

The obviously witchy dress in black and wear peaked hats. Other witches remain resolutely discreet, appearing totally ordinary and nondescript: nothing about their appearance reveals that they are witches. Witches gather herbs, draw down the moon, roll in morning dew, commune with animal familiars, perform magical feats and miracles of healing, live harmoniously with nature, and impose their will upon others. Witches hex, bless, curse, and remove curses cast by others.

So, what exactly is a witch? How can you recognize one? Is it possible that you are one?

A field guide is a book intended to help readers identify living beings or objects of natural occurrence (sea shells, for example). This may be a straightforward task when it comes to identifying butterflies or wild flowers, but witches are another story. Witches defy simple classification.

Since the earliest days of humanity, witches have been admired, adored, loved, feared, trusted, mistrusted, loathed, persecuted, killed, lusted after, and worshipped. Every culture around the world acknowledges the existence of witches, or at the very least recognizes some kind of witch. Witches inspire, in one form or another, every creative art: theater, music, paintings, dance, cinema, television, literature, and so forth. Witches appear in the most ancient myths and folklore. As brand new forms of entertainment, such as video games, emerge, witches continue to make their presence felt.

As time marches on, witches are more prevalent, not less. Even so, attempts to define exactly whoor whatwitches are consistently leads to confusion and impassioned argument. Although very many are convinced that they know the true definition of witch, their many definitions contradict each others'. Part of the problem is that one little wordwitchhas evolved into an umbrella term encompassing many different concepts.

A witch is commonly defined as someone who practices magical arts, a spell-caster, or occultist. Many understand witch to be a synonym for magic user. Other synonyms include enchantress, sorcerer and sorceress, wizard, magician, mage, magus, and its feminine counterpart, maga. A host of comparable words exist in multitudes of languages.

The magical arts are a broad field, not restricted to the casting of spells. Historically, at one time or another, alchemists, astrologers, mediums, seers, and fortune-tellers have all been classified as witches, although some would object to this classification. Some people do not differentiate between shamans and witches; others do. Over the centuries, the term witch has also encompassed midwives, herbalists, and other traditional healers. Healing and midwifery were once perceived as magical professions even though they may not be perceived that way today.

Some consider devotees of the Wiccan religion to be witches, regardless of whether or not a particular individual casts spells. Some perceive witches as those who live harmoniously with Earth's natural rhythms and resent the automatic association of witches with the occult.

Yet according to still others, magic isn't what witches do; it's what they are. Some define witches as members of a special magical race living amongst humans. Witches may look like people, but that resemblance is only superficial. Witches have superpowers that are innate or inherited. These witches are commonly found in popular culture; the TV shows Bewitched and Charmed and the Harry Potter series spring to mind. Although some people consider this type of witch sheer fantasy, others sincerely believe that they exist.

East Asian lore takes this concept one step further: just as some people possess superpowers, so do some animals. Certain animal species, especially cats, foxes, and snakes, may also produce witches. The truly powerful are shape-shifters who can convincingly assume human form.

These animal witches tend to be female, which underscores another common perception about witches. Many consider witches and women to be intrinsically linked, although whether positively or negatively so is in the eye of the beholder.

Some perceive any sexy woman to be a witch; she's literally bewitching. This might be meant as a compliment, but it could also be construed as a warning. At times when women's beauty was perceived as dangerousand in some places todayalluring women have sometimes been accused of being witches. The roots of the practice of veiling women may lie in attempts to protect vulnerable men from witches' wicked wiles.

To some, the word witch is a compliment, a badge of honor. Witches are emblematic of a certain kind of innate female power. A witchy woman is a creative, confident, resilient, indefatigable woman, walking her own path, comfortable in her own skin, in control of her own sexuality, beholden to no one.