What is a Craft Witch?

 You might have stumbled on this blog post thinking what the hell is a Craft Witch? Well, I'm going to tell you. In my opinion, a craft witch is a practitioner of the magical arts whose practice consists of making crafts that are infused with the witch's personal brand of magic. Craft magic is in the very way we make things. Making an artistic vision a reality is essentially bringing that vision to life, and that is very strong magic indeed. I use the energy of creation in my practice and that energy gives my crafts a certain amount of animism. Animism is the concept that all things have an essence or spirit. I'll talk more about that later. The crafts I make are inanimate objects, but once I craft, and weave, and put my energy into them, they then become filled with a bit of my essence. In essence, I'm bringing them to life or into being. This may sound crazy if you aren't a witch or someone who practices the magical arts, but it makes perfect sense to me. 

It is my belief that the power of creation is one of the greatest powers that we are given. Whether that is the power to create life, or create art, or music, etc. That in itself holds a large amount of magical energy. If you can harness that energy and put it into an object, that object then holds the power of the artist and the power of creation. Creating charms and enchanting objects is something that I want to talk about at another point in this blog, but I will mention here that it is my belief that this is essentially what I do in the process of creating my crafts.

Now that I've shared my belief with you, let's talk a little more about animism and what it is, and how it applies here, and also to many aspects and types of witchcraft. By definition, Animism is the attribution of a soul, to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. Animism, as a religious belief, is the belief in an infinite amount of spiritual beings that are concerned with us, and that are capable of helping us or harming us. Many modern witches believe that gods or deities are out there and are willing to work with us or assist us in our craft. There are also witches who believe that there are other spirits, earth spirits, water spirits, the fair folk, etc. in all things. These are the spirits that are called during workings and meditations, spells, and rituals, that we ask to assist us in making things happen. 

When you walk out in nature, do you believe the trees speak to you, or can you hear voices in the wind? This is a type of animism. Many ancient peoples believed that all things had a spirit. This is why you often see gods of the wind, gods of thunder, goddesses of rivers, etc. in ancient belief systems. Many polytheistic cultures felt there were just too many things for them to all stem from one place or one spirit. Many modern witches also feel this way. Obviously, witchcraft is a practice, not a religion, and all witches' practices look different, but when you begin to break down the systems, many relate back to this concept in some way.

Next time I'm going to talk more about what witchcraft is to me and a little more about what my practice looks like. I hope that maybe this reaches someone who is inspired by my words and decides to do some research and learn a little more to advance their craft.

Thanks for reading!