Witch

"We're witches, dear. We can do anything."

- Penny Halliwell.

A witch is a person with the power to affect change by magical means ("Witchcraft"). A witch can be either female or male, as they connect with the elements and forces of nature, in order to practice sorcery.

Blood Witches:
A blood (or natural witch) is a person who is genetically born with magical powers. Due to the fact blood witches are more attuned with the energy of the Earth and the magic of the universe, blood witches have stronger powers than those of a regular witch.

Practitioner Witches:
A practitioner witch (or spiritual witch) is a person who develops magical powers through practice and study. Due to the fact regular witches are less attuned with the energy of the Earth and the magic of the universe, regular witches have weaker powers than those of a blood witch.

Coven:
In Wicca and other similar forms of modern Neopagan beliefs, a coven is a community or gathering of witches, a group of believers who gather together for ceremonies of worship, such as Drawing Down the Moon or celebrating the Sabbats.

Description:
Humans who practice magical powers are called "witches". The origin of witchcraft dates back to the beginning of the Earth itself, and has since then been passed down through generations in family lines. Contrary to popular belief, witches do not inherit their magic from demons, nor do they worship the devil. Instead, many witches receive their powers from nature and may practice witchcraft however they choose.

History
Back when the world was dark, a nuetral, spiritual energy was imbued within everything that existed within the universe. Thousands upon thousands of years ago, after woman came across this power, she alerted her mate of what she had found. At first they were afraid of it, but she pushed past that fear and tapped into this power. The woman was infused with more of the All than any human was supposed to possess. The woman shared that power with her mate and it changed them, made them immortal and invulnerable. It bonded them forever to one another and to the All, creating a state beyond consciousness beyond the known universe; That place was called the Higher Realm, a place of pure, utter bliss that they shared with the All.

However, their presence there affected the earth and their magical bond contained the All in the Higher Realm. The world started to die. The only way to save earth was for the woman and her mate to separate their powers. To allow the power of the All to flow freely again. The woman and man were forced to abandon the Higher Realm, never to return again. Once back on Earth, the woman gave birth to a pair of twins that were conceived while she was in the Higher Realm. The first child was a female and had powers like her mother, just not as strong; it was from this child that natural-born witches came. The second child was a male born with the same abilities, but he used the magic for dark purposes and that gave rise to warlocks. The other children that came later had no powers to speak of, but they and their descendants could tap into the magic as magic practitioners. In very rare cases, these non-magical descendants can give birth to a full witch, but this can upset the Grand Design. The Warren family of witches did not just come into magic, but are a part of Neena's bloodline. Every time a witch is born, she inherits a tiny piece of the All.

During the late 1600s in Salem, Massachusetts, several men and women were persecuted for practicing witchcraft. During this period in Colonial America, many of the Puritans who had settled in the Northeast believed that witches were servants for the Devil. This became known the Salem witch trials, in which numerous people - witches and mortals- were hanged or otherwise killed.

Magic
Magic (or Witchcraft) is the power to affect change by supernatural means. magic can often be split into dark and light, though depending on the situation can also be neutral. magic is a both a genetic heredity and a studied technique that connects a person to the elements and forces of nature in order to practice witchcraft.

Bright Magic:
Bright magic (or White magic) is a form of sorcery that draws on benevolent powers, and may be used for positive purposes that deliberately cause help in some way (e.g. to cure or protect, to improve or restore, or for the benefit of others rather than for the profit of oneself.) In popular usage, the term "bright magic" is often used to describe any form of magic that follows the Wiccan Rede.

Dark Magic:
Dark magic (or Black magic) is a form of sorcery that draws on malevolent powers, and may be used for negative purposes that deliberately cause harm in some way (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 magic that goes against the Wiccan Rede.

Gray Magic
Gray magic (or Traditional magic) is the most commonly practiced form of sorcery among modern-day witches. Gray magic draws on a neutral source of power, and may be used for either negative or positive purposes. In popular usage, the term "gray magic" is often used to describe any form of magic that is neither against nor loyal to the Wiccan Rede.

Wicca:
Wicca is a religion whose adherents are alternatively called Wiccans. By contrast, traditional witchcraft is not a religion, but a universal magical practice that transcends any religious belief or lack thereof. While Wiccans generally acknowledge and revere a pantheon of gods and goddesses, traditional witches may belong to any religion or none, they may believe in a God or gods or they may be atheists. According to Phoebe Halliwell, Wicca is an earth-centered, polytheistic religion, where the adherents are extremely conscious of their one "law" called the Wiccan Rede which advises them to "Harm None".

Witchcraft:
Witchcraft is a practice of Magic 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 Hoodoo, Voodoo, Wicca, or any number of other Magical practices from countries and cultures all around the world. Although the majority of traditional witches are commonly portrayed as being kind and selfless humans who use their powers to maintain balance within the world; in the case of Christy Jenkins, it has been proven that some witches are independent thinkers who may go against the Wiccan Rede by practicing their powers for dark and sinister deeds.

Warlocks


A witch who betrays the Wiccan Rede, sells his or her soul to pure evil and kills another witch to steal his or her powers becomes a warlock. A warlock can be either male or female.

They tend to strengthen their powers by killing other magical creatures and obtaining theirs. Upper-level warlocks possess the ability of blinking, which was originally a witch's power before it transcended into a warlock's.

Although a warlock is usually originally a witch, some are also born that way. They can also be converted through a dark wedding ritual with a warlock, which will convert the witch in hours. The very first warlock to walk the Earth was the male of the twins born to the first witch, Neena.

The first enemy the Charmed Ones ever encountered was a warlock named Jeremy Burns, who became Piper Halliwell's boyfriend to lure her into a trap.

Evil Witches
An evil witch, sometimes confused with a warlock, is a witch who renounces the Wiccan Rede, and uses his/her powers for personal gain and evil, sinister means, though they do not kill witches for their powers and do not sell their soul to the forces of evil.

When witches turn evil, they renounce their right to a Whitelighter.

One memorable evil witch was P. Russell, who was a distant relative of the Charmed Ones as well as Phoebe Halliwell's past life. Another was the Evil Enchantress of the Dark Ages, who was Paige Matthews' past life.

Whitelighter-Witches


Whitelighter-Witches are the offspring of a witch and a whitelighter. These hybrids possess the basic powers their Wiccan heritage and may develop the powers and calling of a Whitelighter. These hybrids are also able to develop unique hybrid powers, such as Telekinetic Orbing, which is the combination of Telekinesis and Orbing.These hybrids are vulnerable to the poison of Darklighter arrow.

Cupid-Witches


Cupid-Witches are the offspring of a witch and a Cupid. These hybrids possess the basic powers of their Wiccan heritage and may inherit the powers of Cupids. Unlike pure Cupids, they do not require a Cupid Ring to activate their powers. The only known half-cupids are the three daughters of Coop and Phoebe Halliwell, the eldest of which is P.J. Halliwell.

Phoenix


The Phoenix is a coven of assassin witches who have risen from the ashes from the Salem witch trials. Powerful, agile, and cunning, these witches will stop at nothing to collect whatever bounty they have been hired for. Such witches are born with the birthmark of a phoenix on their bodies as proof of their legion. These witches are neither pure good or evil and possess powers that appear demonic in nature. They also possess Grimoires instead of a Book of Shadows.

Demon-Witches


Demon-Witches are the offspring of a witch and a Demon. Only one of these hybrids is known to have existed. The Source's Heir was the child of Phoebe Halliwell and Cole Turner, who at the time was possessed by the Source of All Evil. The union between Cole and Phoebe created a massive concentration of power. The unborn child was later stolen by The Seer and its overwhelming power destroyed them both.

Gypsies


The Gypsies are the sister species of witches. The High Priestess of gypsies is called a Shuvani and is wiser than most Gypsies. Unlike witches, they are not as powerful, and rely on using herbal remedies and spells to access their powers. When a Gypsy sees a "mulo," the spirit of a living dead, it only depicts that something horrible is about to happen. In the Nicolae family, one member of each generation was assigned with the task to protect the Evil Eye - the protective symbol of the Gypsy family, much like the symbol of a witch family.

Firestarters
Firestarters are magical beings born with the ability to create and manipulate fire. However, Firestarters do not possess any other magical powers. It was later revealed to be possible for an individual to be both a witch and a Firestarter, as shown by Christy Jenkins. She possessed the power of Telepathy as well as Pyrokinesis and was mentioned as being a Firestarter as well as a witch.

Empaths


Empaths are reincarnated mortal beings with the ability to sense the emotions of others. These beings are destined to offer guidence and healing to those that need it. As shown by Phoebe Halliwell, it is possible for a witch to be destined to receive the power of Empathy and gain the title of empath. Phoebe mentioned this power most likely grew from her Premonition power and Leo mentioned she was meant to receive it.

Spirits


After witches pass on to the afterlife, they may become spirits unless they choose to be reincarnated. Witches are generally powerful spirits and retain the powers they possessed during their lives. Spirits of witches are also able to cast the spell to banish other spirits, as the spell requires the caster to be a spirit. They may be summoned to cross the divide and some possess the power to come and go as they desire.

The Window of Opportunity
The Window of Opportunity presents itself if a new witch hasn't decided to use his/her powers for good or evil yet. During this time, she/he could be swayed either way. The Window of Opportunity remains open for forty-eight hours from the moment the witch's powers awake.

Because of free will, good and evil are unable to make her/him choose her/his path magically. However, evil can tempt the witch to take an innocent's life to make her/him take the path of evil, which will make her/him evil forever. On the other hand, if the witch does an act of good, she/he becomes good.

The Window of Opportunity was created eons ago by good and evil to protect free will. What happens after the forty-eight hours if the witch still hasn't made his/her choice remains unexplained.

A window opened for Paige Matthews when she first gained witch powers. Paige initially feared magic —especially after her encounter with Shax— and attempted to stay oblivious from the magical world. Unfortunately, this gave the Source a chance to turn her evil. However, Phoebe and Piper managed to turn her good before the time ran out.

Charmed Novels
Although the idea of the practitioner is not elaborated on in the show, the Charmed novel "Mystic Knoll" goes into great detail about them. According to the book, witch practitioners are mortals with a natural affinity to magic. Hence they can use magic. However, the witch practitioner must rely upon external sources of power from which to draw upon in order to use the three basic witch powers. For example, Abigail Thornwood was able to curse her daughter at Mystic Knoll, because the place was a natural reservoir of magic which she could tap into and use as 'fuel'. Magic may also be drawn from magical people such as when Harriet Thornwood cast a spell using both Mystic Knoll and the Charmed Ones magic.

However, magical witches have an internal spring from which their magical power flows and hence can use basic witch powers wherever and whenever they want. Due to the nature of their power source (i.e. an inward one personal to them), they have a unique connection with magic and because of this, they are able to tap into it in a unique way through personal powers i.e. Premonition, Telekinesis etc.

Although the books are only semi-canonical, this idea does not contradict anything on the show and both is highly similar to modern ideas on magic Wicca (especially Scott Cunningham's concepts on "powers") in reality and serves to explain a lot about the difference between practitioners and Magical witches and so would not be too much of a stretch to consider it canon rather than fanon.

Popular Culture
In popular culture witches are believed to be evil creatures who sold their souls to demons in exchange of magical powers. They are also believed to be hook-nosed hags riding broomsticks, a stereotype which was started by Phoebe Halliwell. Witches also have been central to the plot of numerous fictional stories, even if the general public doesn't believe in supernatural magic.

Bewitched was a popular TV show that originally ran from 1964 to 1972 that followed the witch Samantha Stephens, and how she had to avoid using her magic because her husband didn't approve. The show (in reruns) was Phoebe's favorite show growing up, and she has said it is where she learned "how to be a wife". Cole Turner, however, had never heard of the show. ("Lost and Bound")

Piper occasionally watched Passions, a soap opera involving an evil witch Tabitha who wreaks havoc on the city the show takes place in. While watching Tabitha cast a spell once, Piper noted: "Hm! Like that spell would've worked". ("The Day the Magic Died")

Many other shows also deal with the concept of modern day witches. Below is a list of shows and movies that have at least one of their main characters a witch.

TV Shows mentioned in Charmed

 * Bewitched
 * Tabitha
 * Sabrina the Teenage Witch
 * Buffy - the Vampire Slayer

Films mentioned in Charmed

 * Harry Potter series
 * Sleepy Hollow
 * Sleeping Beauty
 * Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
 * The Little Mermaid
 * The Chronicles of Narnia