An Introduction to Witchcraft, Part 1
To the reader of this grimoire, allow me to extend my greetings, and the assurance that you hold a great treasure in your hands, for you hold the key to beginning a journey onto the often misunderstood, wondrous, bizarre, and admittedly dangerous path of the witch. It is a path of constant balancing, a path that runs between mortality and monstrosity in pursuit of power that can be grasped by neither alone, and the culmination of which brings one to stand as a being wholly unique, reaching beyond mortality.
Before beginning, I must acknowledge those whose words and examples I borrow and adapt. Lady of Certainty, Golden Lady. Without your examples, I doubt I would have survived my failures. “Witches keep their promises, but neither can they fail to show gratitude.”
As a former human, I shall attempt to speak in a more direct manner from here on, without the excess ‘oooooooooooooo~ so mysterious~’ of the standard occultist, that I might be understood by creatures across different times, worlds, species and creed. With that, let us begin.
What is a Witch? Part 1 - Background
To understand what a Witch (or Warlock) is, it is necessary to very briefly cover magic, and the division between mortals and monsters. As this is a tome about Witchcraft, I shall leave excesses on magical theory to mages and their studies. For you, the reader, please allow this to suffice:
The world, all the worlds, can each be considered a creation, a work of art, composed of countless countless other works. Painting, sculpture, music, writing, all these things embody the living spark, to use one’s mind and soul to create something that exists beyond simple reality. That is the basis of magic, and the first step in using it is opening oneself to the possibility that it exists, and that it can be wielded. Magic allows its users to make the world from what it is, to what they believe it should be.
That stated, magic is a living force, and a powerful one. Magic changes its user. Put simply, this is the difference between mortals and monsters: mortals can’t handle magic freely. Consider fire. A human cannot hold fire in their hand without hurting themselves. Instead, they make a torch, a tool to carry the fire with them. For mortals, magic does not support their life, so it does not come naturally to them, and the uninitiated trying to channel magic directly through their bodies can cause serious harm or unpredictable results. So, they use tools. Wands and staves, orbs and books, crystals and totems, ritual weapons, holy symbols, all of it allows them to channel and shape magic, each a little differently from the other.
‘Monsters’ much more simply have magic as part of their life. This allows these creatures to use magic freely, as it is a part of them, but is also means they *must* have magic to survive, as their existence often spits in the face of physics. On the upside, this means powerful creatures, like archfiends or Fae Lords can’t freely treat worlds like their personal game rooms and larders.
What is a Witch? Part 2 - What Actually Are Witches?
All of that out of the way, A Witch is a magician that uses the magic of monsters to cast spells and perform their craft. That is a short, neat definition, but what does is mean? Broadly, it means a mortal taking monstrous influence into oneself, becoming something between monster and mortal. By doing so, a witch gains the powers of monster for themselves. A fae’s glamour, A demon’s lore, a gorgon’s gaze, a harpy’s wings, or the resilience of the undead. All this and oceans more lies within the secrets of witchcraft, needing no fetish or magic tool but one’s intuition and soul to guide themselves, with the potential to reach heights outside the realm of humanity, and even beyond monsters.
What does it mean for a mortal to take a monstrous influence into themselves? How does this occur? In short, witches gain their abilities by making contact with monsters, and the monster’s power is set within them, like a seed the witch nurtures by exercising their craft. The methods witches make contact and gain these powers vary broadly, but can be grouped into three categories: The exchange, where both a mortal and monster agree to a contract or deal (stories of witches selling their souls to demons and becoming their slaves, do happen, though is not nearly so omnipresent as stories would lead one to believe), the curse, where a monster forces their magic onto an unsuspecting or unwilling mortal, and the theft, those cases where a mortal forcefully takes a monster’s power, often by its subjugation or consumption.
The place witches inhabit between mortal and monster also gives them a unique role, as one of the fundamentals of witchcraft includes the ability to universally speak to and understand monsters, which is unheard of in mortals. This gives witches recognition among monsters, and witches can often provide goods and services to magical beings as well as mortals, making friendly connections with monsters and gaining new spells and abilities, as well as having the potential to mediate between mortals and monsters.
However, there are risks in dealing with monsters. Just like mortals, there are all kinds, and many of them stand outside of mortal sensibilities of what one might consider good and evil. Even those not actively seeking to trick a witch may include burdens with their gifts not easily carried. “A blessing and a curse share the same substance.” Though one is protected against magic by this monstrous power, carelessness and excess can cause the magic placed in them to grow out of their control. This turns witches into monsters themselves, robbed of their mortality, and often, their sanity. Once this fate befalls them, only legends return.
What is a Witch? Part 3 - Why Mortals Pursue Witchcraft
Despite the title of this section, I will not be so arrogant as to state that every mortal’s desires could be captured in a mere part of a single text. Perhaps it would be more accurate to consider ‘why do mortals pursue witchcraft over other magical arts?’ Particularly given the dangers and often ill-reputation that follows witches. For a brisk comparison, consider the fundamental arcane magician, a Mage.
Mages are students of magic, the embodiment of the mortal approach to magic. Gathering into schools, they take a more rational and rigorous approach towards the arcane arts. Study, research, training, practice, seeking scientific precision. Spells and formula, recorded, reproduced, and refined. Though different schools or teachers will have variations in their practices, magecraft is a form of study that is built on that which came before.
Though this certainly makes it much less inherently dangerous than witchcraft, it is also much less accessible. Attempting to learn magecraft alone is the equal of trying to learn about a foreign art, written in a language you do not speak. One requires a competent teacher. Lone teachers are difficult enough to find. Then consider how rare schools to magecraft are, never mind worlds where magecraft does not exist at all. Then there is the matter of the costs to attend such schools, as well as the resources necessary to practice magecraft, beginning with a magic tool. It is not only resource intense, but it is demanding of one’s time and ability. And while there are many different branches of the craft to explore, a weakness or failure to grasp certain fundamentals or grasp certain concepts will block one’s ability to advance, sometimes for a lifetime.
Imagine a great, spiraling tower, built from all the knowledge and discoveries of past mages. With dedication, one can master each step, continuing to climb the path built by those who came before. But is a narrow path, and there are simply those lacking the ability to make such an arduous climb, and it is only as one nears the top that one can take in the freedom of the heights, and begin adding to that great monument to mortal mastery.
In contrast, witchcraft is a much more flexible path towards power. Though perilous, it is open to many. This includes the foolish hungry for power, yes, but also those without the ways or means to pursue magecraft. It is a craft of the self, and intuition. A witch can still use magic tools, but does not need them. A witch can seek out fellow witches, or speak with monsters for new paths and new insights, but it is their own aesthetics that they use to advance down the witch’s path. This means a witch can advance on their own, by making peace with and creatively using their own talents and crafts. And one gets results immediately. As dramatic as they are, stories of deals with devils to escape from dire straights form the basis of many humble witch’s beginnings.
To compare once again, if magecraft is a tower built of knowledge, leading to the heights, then witchcraft is a spiraling stair, leading into a deep, dark well. It is easy, even natural to descend downwards, and the knowledge is all along the walls and stones, new insights waiting for the hands as much as the eyes, but the deeper you go, the more treacherous the steps leading down, and carelessness or recklessness can mean a never ending fall. All the while, “they abyss returns even the boldest gaze.”
What is a Witch? Part 4 - Why Do Monsters Create Witches?
Fortunately, while monsters are as individual as mortals, the reasons why they grant mortals their power and create witches fall under a fewer, broader categories.
Primarily, witches are useful to monsters. Setting aside their unique position as beings between mortal and monster, many monsters, even unsophisticated ones, can appreciate the work of mortals, whether this is offerings of food and drink, or simply a humanoid with thumbs and time to spend. For every story of a monster that attacks a human village, kidnaps elves, or turns goblin tribes into cults of worship, there are monsters that want to go about their lives and be left alone, just as much as any mortal creature, with the difference being that many monsters are not able enjoy the comfort of mortal civilization. Having a reliable and reputable provider of services is something all creatures can appreciate. Even a demon will often take a simple deal without any attempts at manipulation, even if only to wait for another chance at some sinister plan.
The other main purpose, and arguably the ultimate purpose of why monsters *can* create witches, is as a form of propagation. The list of creatures considered monsters is vast. Creatures that only possess a single gender, creatures that are rare, and even creatures that cannot naturally increase their numbers, such as many undead. Even ageless creatures like the Fae still desire companions. A witch who loses themselves and becomes a monster is still a gain for monsters, and probably one that has at least helped monsters, if not made more monsters themselves along the way. Of course, there are monsters infamous for attempting to trick witches into being their minions and slaves, but as a great witch who has crossed many worlds and met many creatures, mortal and monster alike, thinking creatures are more alike than they ever know, wherever you may go.
And thus concludes the introduction to the world of witches. There is still much more to be told, and many witches to speak of, and stories to tell. To those who wish to walk the path, I wish you well in all your striving.