Witchcraft

**Witchcraft** is a practice of magic used by Witches that encompasses many different types of activities including astrology, divination, spell casting and spirit communication. It includes the practices of many cultures, nations and religions as well as many books and writings from ancient times. Depending upon the individual, some witches practice their power by certain belief systems, such as Shamanism, Voodoo, Santería, Wicca, or any number of other magical practices from countries and cultures all around the world. While most witches appear as kind and selfless humans who use their powers to maintain balance within the world, it has been proven by multiple characters that some witches are independent thinkers who may go against the Balance of Nature by practicing their powers for dark and sinister deeds.

## Different Types of Magic

### Ancestral Magic

**Ancestral Magic** is an extremely powerful form of witchcraft that is commonly practiced by the Nine Covens of Los Angeles. Similar to Spirit Magic, this form of sorcery draws its energy from the power of ancestral witches who have been consecrated into Los Angeles soil. However, according to Alexander Deveraux, this power can only be harnessed within the boundaries of Los Angeles, meaning that should the witch abandon the area, their power will diminish and will be forced to utilize other forms of magic. In addition to this, should a witch abuse the power that has been given to them by the Ancestors, the spirits can repeal this power from any witch in Los Angeles, including the Regent.

### Dark Magic

**Dark Magic** (also coined "Black Magic") is a powerful form of sorcery that draws on malevolent powers and may be used for negative purposes (e.g. to cause destruction or misfortune, to injure or kill, or for the profit of oneself rather than for the benefit of others). In popular usage, the term "dark magic" is often used to describe any form of sorcery that is used against the Balance of Nature.

### Traditional Magic

**Traditional Magic** is one of the oldest and purest forms of sorcery inherent to the Earth and the forces of Nature. Traditional Magic is undoubtedly the most popular form of witchcraft known-to-man, however it is also the most exhausting. This is mainly due to the fact whenever a witch uses this power they must exert their own energy, causing them to experience symptoms of dizziness, fatigue, and minor nosebleeds.

## Known Magical Practices

### Blood Magic

**Blood Magic** is a magical practice that refers to the mystical properties found in non-human blood. Blood from different supernatural species possess different uses with those most notably from a Doppelgänger and can be seen used by witches to interconnect them with their rituals and spells to draw on their unique properties.

### Elemental Magic

**Elemental Magic** is a magical practice that involves the utilization of the four alchemical elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. A witch with enough magical power can interconnect Elemental Magic within their rituals and spells to draw on their unique properties. Witches typically utilize fire, in the form of candles or torches, to aid them in their spells.

### Voodoo

**Voodoo** is a very old magical practice, that is also a religion, used by a number of witches. Voodoo is described as a set of spiritual folkways which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish and Creole population of the U.S. state of California. According to Christopher, Voodoo is but one of the many branches of witchcraft and is popularly practiced by many of the witches in Los Angeles.

## Spell Casting

One of the main components of witchcraft is the ability of witches to cast spells. Spell Casting is a power of Witches and witch-related species such as Witch-Vampire Hybrids and, possibly, Werewolf-Witch Hybrids to work magic through the recitation of incantations. This allows users to magically alter reality to a wide number of effects or to evoke forces to change their surroundings. Though this is an ability possessed by all witches, it can also be achieved through thoughts, gestures and rituals, although generally spoken.

### Description

"*Concentrate. Forget about the vampires. Focus on tapping into your power, listen to the sound of your heart beating, the sound of your lungs filling with air*"
—**Christopher Chamberlain** to **Hope Chamberlain**

Spells are capable of producing a wide variety of effects, both harmful and helpful. They can produce physical or chemical changes in a person or object. They can also have profound mental effects such as altering memory, manipulating emotions, or causing magical compulsion (such as forcing someone to speak truthfully).

Spells can manipulate other kinds of magic, such as binding (preventing the use of) a witch's powers, transferring powers between individuals or objects, breaking magical barriers, lifting or casting curses, protection from harm and range from healing to resurrecting the dead. Some spells require more than one witch to make them work in order to increase the amount of magic and therefore potential power available for the spell.

### Spells and Rituals

One of the defining characteristics of a witch is their ability to cast spells; a "spell" typically being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a ritual action, a set of words, a verse, or any combination of these. For reasons unknown, the majority of spells used by practitioners of Traditional Magic and Spirit Magic are spoken in an ancient language very similar to Latin. However, witches who practice other forms of magic have been known to use spells in different languages; for example, the Los Angeles Coven, which practices Ancestral Magic, performs their spells in French or French Creole, while the Travelers typically perform their spells in Czech. Christopher and Alexander Deveraux have performed spells using a yet to be identified ancient magic in Old Norse, similar to the modern-day Norwegian, Icelandic, Germanic, Danish, Scandinavian and Swedish languages.

## See also

*The **Witchcraft** article uses material from the "Witchcraft" article from the Vampire Diaires wiki at FANDOM and is licensed under the Commons Attribution-Share Alike License.*