To me, the internet seems to be unknowingly divided into two different categories: the spiritualists, and the witches. They both have a crap ton in common, by the way, using practically the same tools, teachings, and maybe even philosophies.
Personally, I struggle with the labels sometimes.
Everywhere, it seems like the idea of preforming rituals is becoming more and more mainstream. Full moon rituals, release rituals, meditation rituals. Witches and spiritualists alike are preforming them. Some astrologers, like Galit Raimen – who recently came on Leeor Alexandra’s YouTube channel, talked about how this could just be us connecting with our ancestors and craving a sense of tradition and connection again.
Witches, however, seem to practice both rituals and spells. You can find tutorials to create one yourself, or buy one online these days, or even a kit.
But personally, I see rituals and spells….basically the same. They both have an intention. They both use specific ingredients, vessels, and actions to put forth energy or create something in the physical world. It’s just a different word for the same thing. Ritual, being definitely more mainstream and socially acceptable these days, I think – speaking from the one time I accidently let it slip I did a spell in front of my sister and her eyebrows upturned in, well, horror.
It also seems witches interact, a lot of the times, with different deities, or decide they wish to follow the wheel of the year and celebrate the Sabbats. Maybe working with those deities is part of whichever religion they choose to follow, or maybe it’s not. And just because you don’t work with deities, doesn’t mean you’re not a witch either. Same idea with the sabbats.
I just find people in the witchy community are more likely to have these habits than others in my experience.
Maybe it’s the aesthetic or culture?
Witches never seem to have enough jars and get excited about the Halloween season. They follow different paths, focusing on lucid dreaming and the astral realm, or take to herbalism quite easily. Some prefer Hellenistic approaches, while others prefer celtic.
Spirituals focus more on meditating and the law of attraction and possibly astrology - though again, those things aren’t limited to just for spiritualists. I find they’re more outwardly about self-development and journaling.
As I write this, I’m starting to think a witch is a spiritualist, but maybe a spiritualist isn’t a witch? What are your thoughts?
One thing is definitely clear: the line is very, very blurry.
It’s almost impossible to define.
So I think it comes down to preference. If you want to be called a witch, call yourself one, and ask to be called one. But if you prefer to focus more on general spirituality and label it that way, that’s your choice too. And hey, my friends call me a space magician because they’re not really sure what to call it either, so feel free to come up with your own label too.
As always, if you’re keeping yourself and others safe, there really is no harm.