Taken from the book Southern Cunning

Witches today can’t agree on what a witch is. However, folklore and anthropology are relatively clear on what witchcraft is: magic done to harm someone or something. To them, witchcraft is magic that does a bad thing. So, do we as contemporary witches have to accept that as the way we ourselves think of witches today? No, as long as we realize that almost the entire world thinks otherwise.

“Witch” is a reclaimed slur. It has always been a negative thing, and in most places, it is still a negative thing. Depending on where I travel, I go from being a witch to being an ancestral practitioner real fast. When we use the word “witch”, we have to know what its historical meaning is, especially if we plan on inverting it in some way.

In a book on witchcraft, there has to be some kind of definition as to what a witch is. Whether you agree with the definition I give ain’t important, but if there’s no definition to set things straight, then the perspective may be confusing. I’ll define “witch”, and then define what a folkloric witch is within the confines of this book.

To help define what a witch is, I did a short catalogue of various elements that take place in initiation rituals of The Silver Bullet. These tales give us a solid read on the views of the general Southern population concerning witches. I went through these stories to find the most common themes on what makes a witch and, most importantly, to answer the question “What did witches in folklore do?”

They cursed. They cursed a lot. In seventeen out of twenty four stories, witches are cursing someone. The cursed cows, butter, kids, and guns. They were able to do all this cursin’ because they had been initiated into witchcraft by the Devil through various rituals. As shown in folklore, a witch is someone who gains power from the Devil and utilizes that power most often to curse, and always to further their own goals.

That is what we see in folklore; however, we do not live within our folklore. So, what matters to us is how we define what a witch is within the context of this book. For the goal of this book, a witch is someone who attains power from otherworldly entities to be used in whichever way they see fit. It’s important to go through the stories and the information because that allows us to know the rules. When you know the rules, you can break them accordingly.

Definitions and Terms of Importance

For clarity, there are some other terms that I use specifically throughout the book that could benefit from definition.

• Contemporary witchcraft refers to the entire body of witchcraft being practiced in the contemporary era (1945-present) which includes folkloric witchcraft, Traditional Witchcraft, and Wicca. Ultimately, it’s a broad term that refers to a specific time frame, though not a specific tradition or approach.
• Early Modern Witchcraft is historically attested witchcraft beliefs and practices found throughout trial records, historical documents, and archaeological research. Early Modern Witchcraft is frequently looked to for inspiration in contemporary witchcraft practices as there is a wealth of information surrounding witchcraft during this time.
• Traditional Witchcraft is lineaged non-Wiccan witchcraft. Traditional Witchcraft often includes a coven structure and very specific ritual techniques that vary little between person to person. Conversely, traditional witchcraft refers to non-lineaged, non-Wiccan witchcraft that draws on history, folklore, and bioregionalism as influences.
• Folkloric witchcraft is a term I use to replace lower-case traditional witchcraft which focuses primarily on local folklore, ancestral traditions, and bioregionalism to inform a person’s witchcraft. Both folkloric and traditional witchcraft are individualized practices, often lacking any kind of coven or group structure and has high amounts of variety between practitioners who claim the terms.

Now, folks may not agree on the specifics of all these terms and that’s quite alright. Witches are finicky creatures, and we have very strong opinions on what things mean. Take the terms as I use them for this book and then draw your own conclusions.

Folk Witch

A folk witch speaks with the dead. They know the stories and build upon them. They keep a familiar spirit who is the witches’ seat of power. Folklore is how we enact that power. A folk witch isn’t initiated by flesh; rather, a folk witch learns from the story of Jonas Dotson. A folk witch is initiated by spirit. This initiator was originally called the Devil, but it’s probably more honest to call this initiator a devil; one of many.

Beyond any of that, a folk witch is someone who holds themselves accountable, learning to tread the line of what can and cannot be changed, in both practice and life. Honesty is what propels folk witches forward – honesty with other witches, with the spirits, and with yourself. That’s not to say that a folk witch is an open book as there are still secrets to be had. But, a folk witch isn’t someone to say what they do is authentic over what another does, or tell other witches what they’re doing is wrong. A folk witch knows, “what you eat don’t make me shit.”

Aaron Oberon is a Southern folk witch with a passion for bringing witchcraft to people from different roots. Aaron writes about queer magic, bioregionalism, and witchcraft that gets down in the dirt. It is deeply important to Aaron that he helps to make witchcraft and magic more accessible to those from underprivileged areas. His goal in writing is to demonstrate that there is power in the stories of families and local land.

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/our-books/southern-cunning