Following the recent video of Oyedepo slapping a girl on youtube, i begin to wonder about the existence of witches. I have asked over a hundred people though they all deny ever seeing a witch but strongly agree to their existence. Hmmmmnn!

If you've ever come across one, can you share with us the characteristics or better still how do we know if someone is a witch?

When I was a kid I remember some of my father's estranged relatives travelled all the way to our house to accuse my mother of being a witch. According to them I and my siblings were successful in school because my mother was feeding us the brains of her students. Imagine that.

So yeah, I guess I'm the spawn of a witch (I'm a witch by association?). Fear me!!!

Thankfully my parents were enlightened enough to laugh at the whole thing and keep it moving, but there are many people who are being harrassed by so called family, friends and 'men of god' because of silly superstitions and overall ignorance. I weep for my people.

[size=13pt]<sup>Haribo darling your story is quit touching --- ;Dsorry about whatever accusation against u and your mother . I believe that is a mentality problem worrying those your other family relatives that were involved ! . Well , as i never goes against Witches , Wizards , warlocks i would conclude by saying been a witch would remain my priority if i can be one right now -- I mean , the real ones that flies @ night just like the stories we've been hearing .

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the terms "Wicca", "Witchcraft", "Wiccan" and "Witch". It would appear that there are some who use the terms virtually synonymously, while others categorically deny a similarity, and yet others again admit that the terms are close but want to allow for some sort of distinction. This respond will simply seek to present some of the various views on this subject by those in the Pagan community like me --

Maybe a good place to start is by looking at some definitions of the words "Witch, "Witchcraft", Wicca", and "Wiccan".

Wiccan authors, Janet and Stewart Farrar's, in their A Witches Bible trace the etymology of the word "Wicca":

"Like most modern witches, we call the Craft "Wicca", but we might as well be honest and admit that it is in effect a new word, mistakenly derived. The Old English word for 'witchcraft' was wiccacraeft, not wicca. Wicca meant 'a male witch' (feminine wicce, plural wiccan), from the verb wiccian, 'to bewitch, to practice witchcraft', "The actual meaning of the word 'witch' is allied to 'wit' to know." Robert Graves (The White Goddess, p. 173), discussing the willow which in Greece was sacred to Hecate, says: "Its connection with witches is so strong in Northern Europe, that the words 'witch' and 'wicked' are derived from the same ancient word for willow, which also yields 'wicker'." (Janet and Stewart Farrar, A Witches Bible, p. 22, footnote 6.).</sup>
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