The Wrath of the Witch

It's Halloween and one of it's favorite icon is the witch. But what is a witch?

The witch is a human being born with a piece of the All, which enables them to manifest magical powers. Like mortals, witches can be either good or evil.
The origin of witchcraft dates back to the beginning of the Earth itself. Since then, witches have existed for untold centuries, passing down their knowledge and skills through generations in family lines. Contrary to popular belief, witches do not receive their powers from demons, nor do they worship the Devil. Instead, witches use their powers to hunt and vanquish demons in order to protect the innocent and to make the world a safer place.

Humans who practice witchcraft, but lack any true magical powers are known as "practitioners." The practitioners usually follow the Neopagan religion of Wicca. Some practitioners do have the fundamental Wiccan abilities of casting effective spells and brewing potions, but just simply lack an active power. The witch practitioner must rely upon external sources of power from which to draw upon in order to use the three basic witch powers.

Magical witches are born with the ability to use magic. Their supernatural powers are passed on to them through blood from their ancestors, and are bound to their emotions, thoughts, and souls. Each magical witch possess the fundamental Wiccan skills to cast spells, brew potions, scry for lost objects or people and acquire information through divining. Besides this, their magic will manifest itself in the form of one or more individual, personal powers commonly known as "active powers." These powers can be used at will and do not require incantations or potions. Magical witches have an internal spring from which their magical power flows and hence can use basic witch power wherever and whenever they want. Due to the nature of their power source (that is to say an inward one personal to them), they have a unique connection with magic and because of this, they are able to tap into it in a unique way through personal powers.

An evil witch, sometimes confused with a warlock, is a witch who renounces the Wiccan Rede, and uses his/her powers for personal gain and evil, sinister means, though they and do not sell their soul to the forces of evil.

THE FAMOUS EVIL WITCH is CIRCE

In Greek mythology, flame-haired Circe is an immortal witch living on the island of Aeaea. She has a reputation of transform her enemies and those who offended her into animals through the use of magical potions.  She is also renowned for her knowledge of drugs, medicine, and herbs.

Circe's family is very interesting. her father was Helios, the God of the Sun, and her mother was Perse, an Oceanid or Hecate, Goddess of Witchcraft. She is also the sister of two kings of Colchis, Aeëtes and Perses, and of Pasiphaë, Immortal Queen of Crete and the mother of the Minotaur. She was the aunt and the teacher of the Medea, the murderous witch.

In Homer's “Odyssey”, Odysseus' crew stumbled onto Circe's island and her mansion in a clearing in a dense wood, around which prowled harmless lions and wolves (the drugged victims of her magic). She invited the sailors to a feast, but sailors acted like pigs. They wolfed down the food and drink, and harassed her maidens. As a result, she turned them all into pigs with a wand to teach them a lesson.

When this happened Eurylochus hastened back to the beach and reported to Odysseus that his whole party had vanished. And when Odysseus decided to go to Circe's mansion there was no way to convince Eurylochus to make his way back to the house of the witch.

So Odysseus went by himself and in his way to Circe's he met the God Hermes who, while giving him an antidote (a plant called Moly with black root and white flower), which would rob Circe's power, told him to oppose his sword to her wand, for she, fearing for her life, would shrink from him in terror and invite him to her bed. Hermes also advised Odysseus to accept Circe's favors while making her swear an oath not to try any more tricks, for otherwise, Hermes said, she could rob him of his courage and manhood.

That is how Odysseus could take Circe by surprise, and when she was threatened by him she remembered that Hermes had once told her of the arrival of this man to her island. And as Hermes had predicted she invited him to her bed and then Odysseus persuaded her to free his comrades. Circe then smeared their pig heads with a salve and they became men again even more handsome and taller than before. And from that moment there was friendship between Circe and Odysseus' crew, and charmed by the hospitality of the witch they stayed with her for a whole year.

When the year had passed and Odysseus beseeched her to keep her promise and send him home to Ithaca, Circe told him that before she could do that, he would have to make a journey to the Underworld and consult the soul of the seer Tiresias about the outcome of his wanderings.