A mixture of fact and fantasy
by Tom Moldvay
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The word “witch”
has several meanings. In popular parlance, a
witch is a woman who practices magic. The
woman is usually either
an ugly old crone, or a beautiful young
girl. Often, because of her
supernatural power, she can transform herself
from one to the other.
In modern occult parlance, a witch is an
individual who practices a
religion that supposedly traces its roots
back in time for more than
5,000 years. The practitioner of witchcraft
can be either male or female.
The practice itself mixes a large amount
of magic in with its
worship.
The word “witch” comes from the Old English
word “wicce”
(feminine) or “wicca” (masculine). It is
akin to the Anglo-Saxon root
word “witan” which means “to know, to learn,
or to perceive.” The
words “wise and “wit” have similar roots.
Originally, a witch was
someone who possessed knowledge, a person
with keen perception, <perception>
someone who was wise. Such knowledge included
supernatural <wisdom>
knowledge and the ability to “see” into
the spirit world.
The knowledge a witch possessed would have
included knowledge
of magic through the drawing of magical
symbols, particularly through
the use of Germanic Runes
or Celtic Ogham. A witch would also be
knowledgeable about herbal
lore, and hence is represented by the
person who cured wounds and healed diseases
in the village in an age
where medicine was still in its infancy.
Some early witches were probably the descendants
of druids (after
the cult was destroyed by the Romans) or
shaman-priests (after
Christianity became widespread). The knowledge
behind witchcraft
would have been passed on by word of mouth
from generation to
generation (possibly becoming distorted
in the process). At first, the
witch would have prayed to the
old “pagan” gods for power. As
Christianity grew in strength the old gods
would have become
“devils”
or “demons.” Eventually, witchcraft became
confused with
the Black Mass,
an inversion of the Christian Mass which individuals
practiced, in desperation, during lean
times in the Middle Ages. Witchcraft
and the Black Mass,
however, are not the same thing.
The modern religion of witchcraft is a reconstruction
of a religion
which predates Christianity. In prehistoric
antiquity, the religion was
centered around the cycle of life and death
as manifested in nature.
The religion was an integral part of a
widespread matriarchal society,
i.e. a society run by women. The witch
archetype of the old crone who
can transform herself into a beautiful
young girl and back again may
well be an echoed memory from the distant
past.
A witch usually practices a type of magic
known as sympathetic
magic. The two principles of sympathetic
magic, as defined by Sir
James Frazer in The
Golden Bough, are: “First, that like produces like,
or that an effect resembles its cause;
and second, that things which
have once been in contact with each other
continue to act on each
other at a distance after the physical
contact has been severed.” Thus,
to charm an enemy, a witch would make a
wax miniature of the intended
victim, then activate the magic using the
victim’s fingernail or
hair clippings.
In my opinion, a Witch NPC class should
include 1) The ability to
use herbs
for healing and magic; 2) The power of fascination, i.e. a
kind of super-charm ability; 3) A combination
of both Clerical and
Magic-User abilities; 4) The ability to
practice sympathetic magic; 5)
Witches would be worshippers, in secret,
of a religion otherwise forbidden
in a particular area; and 6) Powers based
on nature and the cycle
of the seasons, similar to druidic powers.
While Witches would predominantly
be women, the NPC class would not be limited
to women.
A Witch NPC class, like any NPC class not
given in the AD&D or
D&D rules, should be viewed
with caution by a DM. New NPC classes
should be used only when they are not liable
to upset the play balance
of an existing campaign. If the DM exercises
discretion, a new NPC
class such as Witches, like a new monster,
can add enjoyment and a
touch of the unexpected to gaming adventures.