If you imagine witchcraft to be like an ancient tree - with each branch representing a different branch of witchery - there are many varied branches.
From green witchcraft (such as the branch I practice) right through to kitchen witches, hedgerow witches, grey witches, cosmic witches, eclectic witches, crystal witches and many others in between, one of these types is the sea witch.
Sea witches - as the name suggests- utilise the magickal and healing powers of the sea and water in general. These practitioners work with the chaotic and unpredictable powers of the sea to work their magick.
Sea witches were blamed in 1590 when King James the 1st and his Danish wife were sailing home from Denmark to England across the North Sea. A huge storm blew in and almost capsized the ship with James and his new bride aboard, and James then became obsessed that witches were plotting against him and his young wife. This lead to the passing of the Scottish and English Witchcraft Act of 1604, with subsequent trials and deaths of thousands of innocent men and women all accused of 'sorcery, witchcraft and conjuration in league with the devil'.
The sea has a hypnotic pull and a long history of folklore and superstition. From the fisherman’s tales of old, of mermaids, kelpies, Atlantis, monsters and ghost ships, right through to the present day mysteries of the Bermuda Triangle, shipwrecks and pirates, the sea has always had a very complex and very close relationship with magick.
Sea witches use the gifts of the sea in their magickal work, such as drift wood, seaweed, old bits of rope, sea shells, sea glass, witch stones/hagstones (smoothed pebbles which have a hole through them chiselled by the movement of the waves) and the wide variety of flotsom and jetsum that washes up onto our shores. All of these types of items hold significant magickal value to sea witches.
They also work with the raw natural elements of air and water, and the chaotic vastness and voids of the earth's oceans, and the ebbing and flow of the tides of life.
So if you are the type of person who feels a strong draw towards the coastal regions of the world, and long to be walking the shores as you listen to the whispers of the waves, you just may well have the heart of the sea witch and the salty waters of the depths flowing through your veins.
For more musings, why not join our Facebook group 'Beneath the Canopy'?