Wand:
A short stick of wood or metal, used ritually in western occultism as a symbol (usually) of the “element” of Fire, as well as for concentrating and directing energies. A magickal tool used for directing and/or harnessing energies. By most traditions, the wand is cut from a limb of a willow tree on the night of the full moon and ot is approximately 13 inches long
Waning
The lunar phase when the moon is getting "smaller" (more crescent-like). This is the time when magick that involves banishing things, breaking habits, and getting rid of things is to be performed. Opposite of waxing.
Waning Moon - The period from the time the moon is full until the time the moon is dark. During this time, 'destructive' magick is usually worked. E.g., banishings, protection, and (shudder) curses. (See also "Retribution" and "Three-Fold Return, Law of"; "Waxing Moon" and "Lunar Phases")
Ward
A protection spell.
Warlock:
A Christian word with no place in magick. It mean "oath-breaker". This work has no place in anyone's magickal vocabulary. Well, it's not strictly a Christian word. In the past, a warlock was the term for a male witch or magician, but yes, the literal meaning of the word as we know it today is "liar" or "traitor", and most Pagans would agree that the term is derogatory and most males would rather be called Witch, Mage or Magi, Sage, Shaman, etc. They could be considered a traitor and oath breaker (See 'Wiccan Rede' below)..
Water:
One of the main “elements” in occultism; associated in the West with emotions, intuition, blue, green, silver, cups, bowls, wisdom, passivity, cleansing, passive psychic arts, cold, dampness, etc.
Watchtowers
A concept derived from ceremonial magick; the four watchtowers each represent a cardinal direction, element, elemental, and a colour. They are commonly used in modern
Wicca.
Water Witching:
Rhabdomancy when done for finding water.
Waxing
The lunar phase when the moon is getting "larger" (nearing the full moon). This is the time when magick that involves growth and bringing things to you is best performed. Opposite of waning.
Waxing Moon - The period from the time the moon is dark until the time the moon is full. During this time 'constructive' magick is usually worked. E.g. invocations, evocations, and summonings. (See also 'Waning Moon' and 'Lunar Phases').
Web, The:
(1) The total pattern formed by all the interactions of all matter and all energy.
(2) The INTERNET, the current best example of the Law of Infinite Data.
Weight:
The effect of gravity upon mass.
Weight Control:
Mass control and/or gravity control when done in a gravity well (on the surface of a planet, for example).
Werewolf:
Someone who can supposedly change their body into that of a wolf’s, as a result of deliberate intent or unfortunate curse.
Wheel of the Year:
The yearly cycle. The 4 seasonal quarters and their cross-quarters are the 'spokes' of the wheel. When it end depends on traditions, but most commonly the Pagan New Year is Samhain. (See also 'Sabbat')
White Magic:
A racist, sexist, creedist and classist term used to refer to magic being done for “good” purposes or by people of whom the user of the term approves.
Wic-:
An Old English root meaning (1) to bend, turn or twist, and (2) to practice magic. No significant connection to “wisdom.”
Wicca and Wicce:
The male and female terms, respectively, in Old English that eventually became “witch” in Modern English.
Wiccan:
(1)The original plural form for “wicca/wicce” or “witch.”
(2) An adjective used to describe their religion by the followers of Neopagan Witchcraft.
Wicca:
A neo-pagan religion based upon worship of a Goddess, God and the Earth. It is commonly recognized as the modern forms of Witchcraft or the Craft of the Wise. 'Wicca' (male) is translated as 'Wise One', also
Wicce:
(female), Wica and Wita. (See also 'Witch')
Wiccaning :
A Pagan birth rite. The Pagan equivalent to the baptism of an infant in Christianity. (See also 'Rites of Passage')
Wiccan Rede:
The code by which most Witches live. "An' It Harm None, Do What Ye Will." I would have to say that any true Witch tries very hard to follow this without reverse. Of coarse we all have good and evil inside, so there's going to have to be some exceptions.
Widdershins:
Counter-clockwise. Sometimes, dependant on time of year, lunar phase, Tradition, type of ritual or spell, etc., practitioners may move about the Magick Circle in the fashion. The direction is Negativity. But is most common to move Deosil. (See also 'Deosil')
Wice
The Old English words for the activities of a “wicca/wicce.”
Window Dressing:
The scenery and passive props used to provoke and reinforce specific moods and associations.
Wine Moon - The tenth Full Moon of the year.
Wise Woman:
The solitary female Witch who dispensed charms and prescribed healing herbs to the common inhabitants of rural villages in Europe.
Wita:
The witchcraft tradition of Celtic Scotland. The term Wita is a Gaelicised version of the older Anglo-Saxon word Wicca.
Witch:
Anyone who calls themselves a “witch” or is called such by others; an utterly useless term without a qualifying adjective in front of it. The only thing the definitions of “witch” have in common is the idea of magic or other techniques of change being practiced. From ancient Gaelic roots, the word witch means "wise-one". A commonly accepted term for anyone who practices Witchcraft, be they male or female. (See also 'Wicca')
Witch Ball
An 18th century tradition; a glass sphere hung in windows to ward off evil spirits. This is where the Christian concept of the Christmas tree ornament came from.
Witchcraft:
From “wiccecraeft,” the craft of being a witch. Notice that “craft” has no specifically religious connotation.
Witchcraft, Alexandrian:
A variety of Gardnerian Witchcraft founded by British magician Alex Sanders.
Witchcraft, Anthropologic:
Anything called “witchcraft” by an anthropologist, usually referring to (a) the practices of independent (real or supposed) magic users who are suspected of at least sometimes using their magic outside of their society’s accepted cultural norms, and/or (b) a perceived state, often involuntary, of being a monster who can curse people with the “evil eye.” Definition (a) is what the word “wicce” probably originally referred to, annoying as that may be to modern Wiccans.
Witchcraft, Classic:
The practices of the persons often called “witches” (if seldom to their faces) in pre-medieval Europe, to wit: midwifery; healing with magic, herbs and other folk remedies; providing abortions, love potions and poisons; divination; casting curses and blessings, etc. A Classic Witch’s religion may well have been irrelevant to his or her techniques. After the monotheistic conquests, most survivors were — at least officially — Christians (or Moslems in Spain and Portugal). Some may have retained a certain amount of pre-Christian/Islamic magical and religious tradition. Classic Witches have continued to exist to this very day, in ever dwindling numbers, mostly in the remotest villages and among the Romany or other Traveling Peoples.
Witchcraft, Dianic:
(1) A postulated medieval cult of Diana and/or Dianus worshipers.
(2) Term used by some henotheistic Neopagan Witches to refer to their concentration on the Goddess.
(3) Term used by some Feminist separatist Witches to describe their practices and beliefs.
Witchcraft, Ethnic:
The practices of various non-English-speaking people who use magic, religion and alternative healing methods in their own communities, and who are called “witches” by English speakers who don’t know any better.
Witchcraft, Familial or “Fam-Trad:”
The practices and beliefs of those who claim to belong to (or have been taught by members of) families that supposedly have been underground Paleopagans for several centuries in Europe and/or the Americas, using their wealth and power to stay alive and secret. Even if they existed, none of them could have a pure religious or magical tradition by now; instead, they would have fragments of Paleopagan customs mixed with Christianity or Islam as well as every new occult wave that hit the West. 99.9% of all the people I have ever met who claimed to be Fam-Trad Witches were lying, or had been lied to by their teachers. Also sometimes called “Hereditary Witchcraft” or even “Genetic Witchcraft” by those who think they must claim a witch as an ancestor in order to be a witch today.
Witchcraft, Fairy or Faery or Faerie Trad:
(1)Any of several traditions of Mesopagan and/or Neopagan Witchcraft started by the blind poet and scoundrel guru Victor Anderson since the 1970s, mixing British and Celtic folklore about the fairies, Gardnerianism, Voodoo, Hawaiian Huna (itself a Mesopagan invention of Max Freedom Long), Tantra, Gypsy magic, Native American beliefs, and anything else he was thinking about at the time he was training the founders of each trad.
(2) Varieties of Neopagan Witchcraft focused around homosexual or bisexual images and magical techniques rather than the heterosexual (and often homophobic) ones used in most Wiccan traditions.
(3) Other sects of Neopagan Witchcraft focused around real or made-up fairy lore, often taken from romantic poems, plays, and novels about the fairies. In most of these traditions, there is usually an assumption that the ancient associations between fairies and witches were true, and that the fairies were originally the Paleopagan nature spirits and/or deities.
Witchcraft, Feminist:
Several new monotheistic religions started since the early 1970s by women in the feminist community who belonged to the women’s spirituality movement and/or who had contact with Neopagan Witches. It is partially an outgrowth of Neopagan Witchcraft, with male deities booted unceremoniously (!) out of the religion entirely, and partially a conglomeration of independent and eclectic do-it-yourself covens of spiritually inclined feminists. The religions usually involve worshiping only the synergetic Goddess and using Her as a source of inspiration, magical power and psychological growth. Their scholarship is generally abysmal and men are usually not allowed to join or participate.
Witchcraft, Gardnerian:
The originally Mesopagan source of what has now become Neopagan Witchcraft, founded by Gerald Gardner and friends in the late 1940s and 1950s, based upon his alleged contacts with British Fam-Trads. After he finished inventing, expanding and/or reconstructing the rites, laws and other materials, copies were stolen by numerous others who then claimed Fam-Trad status and started new religions of their own. (See Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon for all the messy details.) Though Gardnerians are sometimes called “the scourge of the Craft,” together with the Alexandrians and members of some other British Traditions, they may be considered simply the orthodox branch of Neopagan Witchcraft.
Witchcraft, Genetic:
See Witchcraft, Familial and Grandmotherly.
Witchcraft, Gothic:
A postulated cult of devil worshipers invented by the medieval Church, used as the excuse for raping, torturing and killing scores of thousands of women, children and men. The cult was said to consist of people who worshiped the Christian Devil in exchange for magical powers then used to benefit themselves and harm others. Also called “Diabolic Witchcraft” and “Satanic Witchcraft.” I coined this term many years ago, before the rise of the “Goth” subculture of the 1980s.
Witchcraft, Grandmotherly:
Refers to the habit common among modern Witches of claiming to have been initiated at an early age by a mother or grandmother who belonged to a Fam-Trad but who is conveniently dead, doesn’t speak English, and/or is otherwise unavailable for questioning.
Witchcraft, Hereditary:
See Witchcraft, Familial and Grandmotherly.
Witchcraft, Immigrant or “Imm-Trad:”
Refers to the customs and beliefs of Mesopagan peasants and supposed Fam-Trad members who immigrated to the Americas and mingled their magical and religious customs with each other, the Native Americans, enslaved Blacks, and the previous immigrants, helping to produce the dozens of kinds of Voodoo and Hoodoo, along with Pennsylvania “hex” magic and Appalachian magical lore.
Witchcraft, Neoclassic:
The current practices of those who are consciously or unconsciously duplicating some or many of the activities of the Classic Witches and who call themselves (or are called by others) witches.
Witchcraft, Neogothic:
The beliefs and practices of modern Anarchists most of whom work very hard to be everything that the medieval Church and current Fundamentalists say they should be. Some of them perform Black Masses, commit blasphemy and sacrilege, hold (or long to hold) orgies, etc. There is some small overlap with the Goth subculture of the 1980s.
Witchcraft, Neopagan:
Several new duotheistic religions founded since the 1960s, most of which are variations of Gardnerian Witchcraft but some of which are independent inventions and/or reconstructions based on real or supposed Family Traditions, Immigrant Traditions, literary creations, etc. — just like Gardner’s! Most groups who call what they do “Wicca” are Neopagan Witches.
Witchcraft, Neoshamanic:
(1) The beliefs and practices of those modern persons who are attempting to rediscover, duplicate and/or expand upon the practices of the original (postulated) Shamanic Witches.
(2) Neopagan Witchcraft with feathers, drums, crystals, and other New Age additions of a vaguely Shamanic flavour. Most use drums and chanting rather than drugs to achieve their desired trance states.
Witchcraft, Shamanic:
(1) Originally, the beliefs and practices of members of postulated independent belladonna/Moon Goddess cults throughout pre-medieval Europe, remnants of which might have survived into the Middle Ages.
(2) Currently, Neoshamanic Witchcraft done by those who do not use the Neo- prefix.
Witchcraft, Traditional:
See Tradition and Witchcraft, Familial.
Witch Cult of Western Europe:
A European-wide cult of underground Pagans postulated, in a book of that name, by Margaret Murray as having been the actual cause or spark of the medieval persecutions, but which is not believed in by most of the historians, linguists, folklorists or anthropologists who have examined her arguments. Also known as the “Unitarian Universalist White Witch Cult of Western Theosophical Brittany.”
Witchdoctor:
A medicine person or shaman who hunts down and fights “evil” Anthropologic Witches.
Witchfinder:
A cleric or other person who seeks out and tortures alleged Gothic Witches.
Witchmark:
Blemish supposedly placed upon a Gothic Witch by The Devil as a sort of membership card or identification device.
Witta:
Pronounced Weed-ah. The witchcraft tradition of Celtic Ireland. The term Witta is a Gaelic-ised version of the older Anglo-Saxon word Wicca.
Wizard:
From the Old English “wys-ard,” meaning “wise one.” Originally may have referred to anyone whose wisdom was respected; later came to mean a male witch; now used to mean a powerful and wise magician.
Wolf Moon:
The first Full Moon after Yule. Some traditions have their new year begin with Samhain, and thus the moon's sequence would be different, the first Full Moon would be the Harvest Moon, and continue on from there.
Womanspirit:
A feminist tradition of the craft which focuses exclusively on female deities
Word of Power:
A word or name, often unintelligible, that is supposed to carry magic power.
Words of Power, Law of:
“There exist certain words that are able to alter the internal and external realities of those uttering them, and their power may rest in the very sounds of the words as much as in their meanings.”
Work, Magical:
The series of ritual actions conducted in order to realize a ritual desire. A working is an extended series of rituals designed to attain a single object.
World Tree:
The great tree at the axis of the world that was believed in shamanism to hold up the heavens with its branches and provide the framework for the entire universe.
Wort
An archaic word for herb.