Witches

A witch casting a spell

**Witches** are human beings who are born with the ability to perform magic. Witches can be either good or evil, depending upon their moral alignment. Good witches are tasked with protecting innocents, as well as fighting and ultimately vanquishing demons. For this task, neophyte witches were originally granted magical guides and protectors called Whitelighters.

In addition to hereditary witches, it is also possible for a mortal to become a witch through stem cell donation, though this is very rare and uncommon to occur.

## Appendices

Witches are born with a primary active or passive power, such as telekinesis or empathy, but their powers can grow as they age. In addition to their powers, witches also have the ability to cast spells and create potions to amplify their magic. They live by the rule that they are not to use their magic for personal gain, and doing so causes unforeseen consequences. Witches must decide within the first forty-eight hours of their powers awakening if they wish to renounce their magical powers, however doing so will reverse all acts involving magical intervention.

## History

The exact origins of witchcraft are unknown. It is known, however, that the witches' powers came from the Sacred Flame, as did all of magic. Throughout history, witches became the target of persecution by mortals in events known as Witch Hunts. These events might be the reason why modern witches have to practice their craft in secrecy and heavy efforts are taken to conceal the existence of magic and the supernatural from humans. The Vittra is an ancient order who protected the secret of magic by killing any magical being who showed it to mortals. They were notorious enough to be added to the Vera Family's Book of Shadows. They are known to wear older fashion and wear a bag that carries a deadly pet tentacle, which they use to carry out punishments on the exposers. As times changed, their numbers have dwindled and went to near extinction.

### The Ancient Times

In the ancient times, a group of female witches called the Elders was formed. These witches took control over the world of magic and held power over other magical creatures.

At some point, an ancient Elder crafted a spell in a language taught only to Elders by their own, that could extract the power of the Source.

### The Charmed Ones

Ten-thousand years ago, a sisterhood of three witches named Ishta, Inara and Ishani rose to power and became the first Charmed Ones through a ritual initiated by nine magical clans. Together, they defeated the first Conqueror, a power-hungry mortal who wanted to steal all magic for himself. They were eventually cursed with the Destruction of the Sisterhood by the Power of Three when Ishta and Ishani entombed Inara to stop her from taking in all the power the Conqueror had collected, which effectively destroyed this sisterhood. Since then, new Charmed Ones were born and chosen to wield the Power of Three and use it to protect the world from destruction, encountering new Conquerors. The Charmed Ones are known to be the world's most powerful witches. However, no matter the time, place or realm, every generation ended with the death of one sister, thus the destruction of that sisterhood. Once a sisterhood was gone, a new one would be chosen. This continued as an endless cycle for eons, well into 2021 when the Vera-Vaughn Charmed Ones were destroyed with the death of Macy Vaughn.

## Powers and Abilities

*Basic Powers*
* ​​​​​**Spell Casting:** The power to cast spells and perform rituals.
* **Potion Making:** The power to brew and concoct potions, remedies and elixirs that have supernatural properties.

*Active Powers*
* **Individual Powers:** Most witches possess individual supernatural abilities that are varied depending on their own skill, lineage, or level. Also depending on their lineage and skill, their powers will slowly expand until they reach their full potential, as well as develop new powers associated with their initial power. In addition, a witch's individual power is associated with their characteristics, such as an artistic personality developing manifestation or sensitivity developing telepathy.

*Other Powers*
* **Immunity:** All witches without exception are immune to the effects of pixie dust, the sirens' songs and to being frozen in time.

## Weaknesses

* **Darklighter Poison:** This green substance is fatal for witches. However, if the poison is transported in time, death can be prevented.
* **Distraction:** Preventing a witch from concentrating or giving full attention to their spells, may render them ineffective. Since most spells are spoken verbally and take time to take effect, witches are vulnerable to being subdued before their completion. Additionally, certain spells may require prerequisites (e.g., select items, tools, and/or special events) during their casting, and therefore they can't be invoked on mere whim.
* **Emotions:** A witch's magic is subject to the influence of their emotional state and may fluctuate according to them when untrained. For example, anger prevented Mel from properly accessing her power to freeze time whereas Macy was too overly analytical of her telekinetic power and had difficulty using it. Maggie also needed to trust her inner voice in order to prevent herself from being overwhelmed by the thoughts of others.
* **Mortality:** Despite their mystical attributes, witches are still human and share many of the same weaknesses as non-supernatural humans (e.g. age, decapitation, disease, heart-failure, suffocation, snapped neck, etc.). Sometimes witches can get around this weakness through the use of magic. However, there are fatal injuries that even the Whitelighters are not able to heal.
* **Magic:** Witches are still susceptible to the effects of magic. This is inclusive of mystical objects, such as the Amulet of Archangels and enchanted rosewood rings.
	+ **Aura Stripping:** A witch can be stripped of their aura, preventing them from being magically detected while also rendering their active witchly powers dormant; they can still access the basic powers of a witch (i.e., spell casting) and Macy, a witch with demon-blood, retained her demon capabilities. Aura stripping presumably only renders a witch's current powers dormant, as Maggie and Mel were able to receive a new power after having her aura stripped.
	+ **Magical Renouncing:** A witch can willfully renounce their powers and become human. However, they can only do so during the first 48 hours after they discovered the magical world and doing so will reverse all acts involving magical intervention.
	+ **Power Binding:** A witch's powers can be neutralized by binding spells, however, this can be reversed.
	+ **Power Stripping:** Witches can be stripped of their powers, effectively becoming mortals. Usually, it cannot be reversed.
* **Death of Magic:** All witches without exception are tied to the Black Amber Tree. If the tree dies, all magic dies with it, along with them all.

## Accepting Witchy Fate

According to Harry Greenwood, a witch can decide to accept their fate as witches within forty-eight hours after her powers awakened. If the witch refuses to accept her fate, she will revert to human and lose all magical powers and memories related to magic.

## Known Witches

### Vera Family

Melinda Warren
* Temporal Stasis (presumed)
* Foresight

Macy Vaughn
* Pain Resistance
* The Evil Sight
* Demonic Translation
* Voice Manipulation
* Telekinesis
	+ Advanced Telekinesis
		- Telekinetic Energy Generation
			* Telekinetic Immobilization
			* Energy Beam Emission

Mel Vera
	+ Time-Traveling
		- Temporal Displacement
* Molecular Manipulation
	+ Molecular Inhibition
	+ Molecular Acceleration

Maggie Vera
	+ Emotional Inception
	+ Empathic Mimicry
* Foresight
	+ Hindsight

Marisol Vera

Joséfina Reyes

### Other Witches

* Season 1
* Season 2
* Season 3
* Season 4

Jada Shields
* Electrokinetic Orbing

Charity Callahan
* Disintegration (stripped)
* Portal Creation (stripped)
* Energy Channeling (stripped)

Ravyn Ribera

Merant Arnaud

Fiona Callahan
* Telepathy
* Telekinesis
* Voice Echo
* Swirling
* Power Mirroring
* Sensing

Cyd

Priyanka Bari

Medusa

Devorah Silver
* Remote Teleportation
* Pocket Dimension Creation
 Cate Monroe | Cate Monroe was a member of the Elders. She was killed by Hunter Caine.
 Elder Hathaway
 Elder Keilani
 Elder Robinson
 Elder Zaragoza
 Elder Wade
 Elder Connor
 Elder Chen

 Mary Chapman | Mary Chapman was a witch who owned a bed and breakfast with her partner. She was hanged by Rat Demons.
 Kara Willis | Kara Willis was a witch who was killed alongside her partner, Mary, by Rat Demons.
 Forest Witch

Layla Chapman
 Sara

Abigael Jameson-Caine
* Pyrokinesis
* Mind Melding
* Smoking

Florence
 Tank Witch

Cassie

Ruby Malone

Ishta
* Technopathy
* Flight
* Dream Leaping

Celeste

Eleanor Anderson

Kyra

Willow

Francesca Jameson
* Electrokinesis

Ancient Charmed One #1
 Ancient Charmed One #2

Ancient Charmed One #3

Waverly Jameson
 Lydia Jameson

Kaela Danso

Patricia Malone

Ishani
* Conjuration

Inara
* Voice Manipulation
* Clairvoyance

## Trivia

* In the original series, witches, although primarily female, could also be male. There was never a confirmed appearance of a male witch within the world of the the reboot. The introduction of Joséfina Reyes confirmed that only biological females are born with active powers, whereas transgender females, such as herself, must acquire powers through external means. It can be presumed that the same would apply to males.
* Witches can be either good or evil. It is also possible that they can be morally neutral (neither good nor evil). However, witches are generally perceived as good, given Abigael's fear that the demon world would learn she is half-witch.
* Witchcraft in real life is mostly considered to be related to Wicca, a religion originating in England in the 1940’s by Gerald Gardner. Wicca is often characterized as a Neo-Pagan faith, emphasizing honor to both a Goddess and a God, as well as taking personal responsibility for one’s own actions, and many traditions will draw from different cultures for their own unique brands of honor and worship. Witchcraft is, as Harry has said, a craft that needs to be learned and not necessarily be based on faith.
	+ The original Charmed series often made references to Wicca, such as in titles, the Wiccan Rede, and the writings by Doreen Valiente. Many aspects of Wicca have also been embellished throughout both series, mostly for the sake of plot.
* It is presumed that the Window of Opportunity, if the witch doesn't have her powers bound, begins when the witch turns 18 and is given the choice to remain a witch or give up her powers as it happened with Ruby.
	+ Unlike the Charmed Ones, if they had chosen to give up their magic, Ruby kept her memories and knowledge over magic. However, this could be because she always knew about magic and erasing her memories would erase most of her life. Since the Charmed Ones had just found out about their powers, turning down the opportunity of being witches and erasing their minds would only change a small portion of their lives. There is still the possibility that Ruby didn't lose her memory because her powers were awakened before a demon tried to kill her at 16. Thus, when she made the decision to give up magic at 18, she had long since lost her "48 hours of escape."
	+ However, the term "Window of Opportunity" has not been officially introduced into the reboot. So it can also be assumed that Ruby's decision could be dictated by the fact that she came of the age of majority and in the eyes of her mother could now choose her own life way. Thus, Ruby's desire not to use magic may be based on her willpower and not other external factors, since she is still able to cast spells and make potions when she needs it.

## See also

* Whitelighter-Witches
* Demon-Witches
* Psychics
* Mediums

## References

1. ↑ *Pilot*
2. ↑ *Unsafe Space*
3. ↑ *Schrodinger's Future*