“WITCH”

Drew Beckett, Untitled, 2022.

A Witch is someone who identifies with and reclaims the ancient Anglo Saxon name for a northern European shamanist healer and magician, from the Anglo Saxon root word for shapeshifter and generally magical wise person. ‘Wicce’ denoted a female practitioner and ‘wicca’ a male practitioner, both pronounced ‘witch-eh.’ (The double ‘c’ gives an aspirated ‘tch’ sound.’) The gendered word also denoted the Craft itself, as in ‘Wicca Craeft’ giving us Middle English ‘Witchcraft.’