Witches (female) & Warlocks (male) are humans who are gifted in the magic arts. Note that ANYONE can perform magic, but those that study it and are especially gifted with magic abilities are witches.
Applying to be a witch? For the "Powers & Limitations" section of your application: Link to this page. Note your witch's power level and if your witch has innate mind powers or special abilities.
Types of Witches
Traditional
Traditional magic is what many call the basic but most pure form of magic. It is what most witches use - power from the earth/nature and peaceful spirits to generate power. Traditional magic often involve talismans or other elements with mystical energies such as the moon and the sun.
Family Lineage (Traditional)
Some witches have the innate gift of magic passed down through generations, giving them certain powers. If witchcraft is in their lineage, they have the potential of becoming very strong with enough practice. For example the Bennett family has a history of strong witches and they are known for their mystical power. Bonnie Bennett have steadily shown signs of strength as time goes on. One could be granted innate magical power, however, without family lineage, such in the case of Willow Rosenberg.
Ancestral Magic
Ancestral magic directly draws from the power of past anscestors who have died. Witches who practice this magic must stay in close to where their anscestors are buried otherwise they are powerless.
Traveller Magic
Travellers are a subculture of witches. It is removed from Traditional magic (the basic kind that uses spirits and nature). Travellers are much like gypsies - as they drift from place to place most of the time. All spells and incantations are performed in a different language outside of English. Travellers are known for their powers in spirit possession - jumping from body to body, and manipulating the body from the inside in various ways to inflict pain or change. It appears as if Traveller Magic is also a form of group magic - in which spells are cast with many people as opposed to just one.
Gypsy Magic
Gypsies move from place to place just like Travellers. They are much more secretive and elusive than the Travellers however. They are often known for curses and hexes (like ones that restores and removes souls). This subculture of witches use both traditional and non-traditional magic to achieve what some may believe are over-the-top tricks and abilities such as glamour/illusion spells, the most advanced can perform shapeshifting, create a mystical thrall, and teleportation to name a few. Gypsies with these abilities are extremely rare - which is what makes someone like Dracula such an anomaly, outside of the fact that vampires cannot have natural magic abilities.
Necromancers
Some level 4 witches are powerful enough to control the essence of the dead, especially vampires. Using powerful, draining, and skilled dark magic, they can affect the physical corpse (including vampires) through telekinesis or control/destroy the essence that makes vampires animated. They are also able to affect the minds of vampires, either causing them to have amnesia or influencing them like glamour or compulsion can on humans. It is an extremely powerful form of necromancy that can bring the dead back to life.
Expression Magic
Expression magic isn't necessary black magic - but black magic can be a subset of it (as it is not natural magic). Expression magic, essentially, is said to be worse than black magic. It is any magic not bound to the spirits of nature. It can be in and of itself, limitless and can exceed the abilities of a level 4 witch. It is extremely easy to lose control with expression magic, and it is extremely easy (more so than black magic) to get addicted to. Using too much of it can ultimately kill the user because it severally opposes the laws of nature. Expression magic requires three mass sacrifices (of a group of specific species. For examples, one sacrifice of vampires, one sacrifice of humans, one sacrifice of witches) for a witch obtain power. The more sacrifices, the more power the witch obtains. If the sacrifices occur at certain locations (creating an expression triangle) - the middle of that triangle will have immense mystical energies a witch can draw from.
Excessive use of this magic, although it is not bound by nature, still has consequences. If the witch isn't strong enough or is unable to contain this amount of power, it can have adverse effects on the body. The power can be too much and can kill them. The power can shift into undesireble forms, much like black magic.
Demonic Based Magic
Some magic traditions, such as Brujería - common in latin american sects, use sacrifices of living beings (such as animals) for rituals that will call upon demonic spirits, drawing power from them or using their spirits to do their bidding. Any magic that calls on demonic energies or beings can is a part of this category. It is actually easier than one might think for a non-witch to access this sort of magic through rituals and other means, perhaps doing traditional magic spells wrong.
Spell Casting
Many spells are recorded in spellbooks/grimoires. These are often needed for reference, especially for complicated spells with intricate instructions. Many spells require incantations to be recited, most often in an ancient language such as latin.
Talismans are often used to contain a magic spell or a curse. This can be anything, including: stones, jewelry, statues, tattoos, weapons, amulets, etc.
Traditional Innate Powers
Witches often get their powers from the elements : earth, wind, fire, water, etc...in addition to the energies of other people, sun and moon phases, talismans, mystical potions, energy carrying compounds such as blood, or mystical grounds.
Innate Powers
Some witches have innate powers passed down to them through lineage that other witches don't have. For instance, those in the Bennett or Martin family lineage (from the Vampire Diaries) have these abilities:
- ESP. The ability to have a "sixth sense." Through touch or general intuition, one could tell if someone is human or not, dead or not, visions of their immediate past, of a certain origin, etc.
- Precognition. The ability to obtain vague details about a future event.
Depending on the lineage and the specialty passed down from generations, a witch's innate abilities may vary.
However, all witches if they have innate mind powers, can perform the following things at some level:
- Pyrokinesis. Starting fires with the mind.
- Hydrokinesis. Willing water to move with the mind, however larger bodies of water expends more energy and is exceptionally harder to do.
- Telekinesis. The ability to move objects and people with the mind. The larger the object the more energy is expended.
Skill Levels
There are a ton of spells and rituals possible that we cannot name them all. But to assure there is no power playing, we'll give vague magical results that are possible and the level of witches capable of those spells. The higher the level, the more experience/power the witch has. Yes, a level 2 witch CAN do a level 4 spell but it would take considerable effort, one or more accompanying witches as an energy source, and it could possibly harm all participants involved.
In addition, a level 2 witch might be able to perform a level 3 spell easier than another level 2 witch due to the power that their family lineage gives them.
Level 1
This witch is just starting out and just discovered his/her abilities.
- Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, and Hyrdokinesis on a basic level, only if they have mind powers. Can float/lift small light-weight objects, start small flames, etc.
- Channeling energy from other (alive) witches (requires no spell)
- Ability to perform small, low energy, harmless spells.
Level 2
This witch has been practicing a bit, has done a good number of spells, and has grown in his/her abilities
- Tracking/location Spells
- Barrier Spells (Creating an invisible wall in an entrance etc. The stronger the witch, the stronger the barrier and the longer it holds up)
- Breaking force-fields (if its a normal one with out much power to it)
- Teleporting Messages/Telepathically send messages
- Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, and Hyrdokinesis on a developed level, only if they have mind powers. Can move objects and control their direction with concentration. This ability can grow more advanced in level 3.
Level 3
This witch has been practicing for a while, and is very comfortable with his/her abilities. Many of the spells in this category require a lot of ritual items and energy channeling.
- Opening/Closing Portals/ Mystical Gateways/Barriers (Can be Lv 4 if the barrier is powerful enough)
- Channeling/harnesting energy from dead witches (requires a spell - depending on how much energy is channeled, using this energy could severely harm the witches)
- Astro Projection ('teleporting' ones form or image to another place)
- Excorcisms
- Behavorial Spells (love spells, truth spells, memory spells etc)
- General Protection Spells (such as creating a lapis lazuli ring)
- Revoke/Invoke Power from a mystical object (could be Lv 4 if the mysticism is strong)
- Revoking natural mystical elements put in place (such as 'uninviting' a vampire)
- Minor Glamor Spells (hiding or disguising something small or temporarily by creating a mystic cover)
- Communication with good spirits/ghosts. Summoning good spirits/ghosts
Level 4
This witch is extremely powerful. Many of the spells in this category require sacrifices and mass amounts of energy/mystical forces.
Blood sacrifice.
- Anything that draws energy from the Hellmouth
- Telekinesis, Pyrokinesis, and Hyrdokinesis on an advanced level, only if they have mind powers. Can move heavy objects (even people), control their direction, move the objects with force and power, hold the object in place, etc. Can create large fires.
- Transpossession (body switching or using someone else's body)
- Mass Magic (performing magic on multiple people at the same time, even mind magics like telekinesis)
- Cast and cure mystical ailments
- Restoring someone's soul
- Removing/Weakening Mystical Powers
- Transformation Spells (changing someone into something else).
- Advanced Protection Spells (keeping larger, powerful, more mystical forces away)
- Teleportation (of themselves and others, sometimes to other dimensions. Requires a very intense spell and can't be preformed at all via mind power)
- Major Glamor Spells (hiding or disguising something by creating a mystic cover, likely to alter memories. Casting a spell to make a body seem dead when it really isn't fits into this category.)
- Vengeance Spells (some require black magic)
- Revivification (of any dead thing) (Black Magic - extremely hard, nearly impossible to achieve and has definite after effects)
- Summoning a Mystical/Demonic entity (Mostly Black Magic)
- Removing someone's soul (Black Magic)
- Voo Doo Magic (Black Magic)
- Temporal Folds (Mostly Black Magic)
All witches can grow in their magic the longer and more often they practice.
Weaknesses
All magic from spells must come from somewhere. So no matter how powerful the witch is innately, it is difficult to perform complex and extreme spells without a power source.
All spells expend a certain amount of energy from the caster, which may or may not drain the body in a physical manner. Some powerful spells, if the witch not strong enough, may harm or kill them (anything from headaches, nosebleeds, unconsciousness, severe exhaustion or fatal sickness). This result might occur if the witch is doing too much magic in a short amount of time without rest.
Spells contain a large margin of error as well. If spells aren't preformed right, they can create undesirable results or not work at all. Concentration is a must.
Simply put, ALL magic has consequences and many witches do not take this concept lightly.
There are many ways to disrupt/avoid a spell as well.
- Breaking/Destroying/Removing a talisman.
- Harming a mystical body involved
- Breaking a mystical sequence
- Casting a counter-spell
- Interrupting spell casting
- Some magics cannot reach all beings due to some discrepancy. For instance a spell might not affect a person because he/she is dead/has no soul/have special abilities of their own.
Magic Addiction
Some witches can suffer from magic addiction - becoming dependent on using magic and casting spells, all the time. Some might argue that it is the addiction to the power of magic that makes it unhealthy. Such an addition will cause the witch to crave spells that are way outside their means, which may harm themselves or others. Magic addition often leads the witch to more 'liberal' and dangerous uses of magic, such as black magic.
Black Magic
Fiddling with black magic is not for the inexperienced. This type of magic draws energy from dark powerful
Willow affected by black magic.
forces and almost always have undesirable consequences - especially if handled by a low leveled witch. One such consequence may result in a loss of control - the dark forces might take a mind of its own and will do more destruction than desired if the witch cannot contain the magic.
A powerful witch (level 3- level 4) might lose control of themselves when dealing with black magic. If they use too much dark magic, the dark forces will overcome them - creating an immensely powerful, mystically driven, but dangerous and destructive version of themselves. A witch overcome by dark forces will go on a downhill tirade, losing sight of their usual moral beliefs and aiming only to kill and destroy.
Black Magic Witches
Some witches have dabbled in black magic since they've been practicing by selling their souls in order to get the magic from dark demons. All of their magic stems from demonic forces, and though they are able to handle these forces easier (so that they arren't controled by them) their souls are forever compromised because of it.
Salt is a weakness for those effected with Black Magic, reaching to the dark powers controlling the witcn. It can torture and prevent magic from interfering with anything being protected by it.