30 Powerful Witch Quotes to Channel Your Inner Magic and Wisdom

10 years ago, I wrote a post for Elephant Journal called Pay Attention to the Omens: 10 Signs you might Be a Witch, it now has more than 450,000 views. When I wrote it, witch wasn't something I knew how to identify with. Flashforward and that word that used to haunt me has become my power.

Those of us with a witch identity may come to find ourselves differently, our path unfolding differently. My understanding of the word "witch" has become more nuanced. For me, a witch is someone who embodies power and wildness, two things certainly not encouraged, particularly with women. Though the word knows no gender.

Witchcraft can serve as a potent initiator into individuation – specifically through reclaiming power and wildness. For many self-identified witches, of all ages and gender identities, the question of who has power and who doesn’t is paramount to witchhood. In this way, the modern witch often aligns with feminism for its ability to challenge macro- and micro-forms of oppression while simultaneously claiming one’s own power outside of these structures.

Before diving into the quotes, I had to be an etymology detective—a skill I honed writing my entire thesis! Understanding the original meaning of a word often unlocks its true power. While the origin of "witch" remains a mystery, the strongest guess links it to a Proto-Indo-European root that means "to be strong, lively." This means the word is related to "wake." For me, this suggests that the ancient witch was simply an "awake" woman or man—one who was lively and aware.

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Through harnessing intuition, sexuality, and other “feral feminine” qualities modern witches connect to inspiration beyond spellcasting to redefine influence and magic. Below are some of my favorites from specific people--fictional and real--who root into their witchiness, inner magic, and wisdom:

Powerful Quotes:

1. "A witch ought never to be only a witch. She ought to be herself—by herself." - Terry Pratchett (though I would updated to all pronouns)

2. "A Witch is somebody who stands against patriarchy and everything that is currently wrong with our society and any society throughout the ages."— April Graham

3. "Magic is the very essence of it all. It’s spirit, the life force, that creative, inexplicable power which we all possess and seek to express in the world. How well we manage to do that is a totally individual matter.

   — Lucius Mattheisen

4. "Witch is an identity. It is an individual who has embraced their connection with the Earth and with the Goddess." — Fay Nowitz

5. A Witch is a person who takes responsibility for her own transformation through acts of creativity, ritual, and focused intention. She speaks the language of symbols and lives in liminal space.

   — Pam Grossman

6. "For me, being a Witch means having a commitment to the ancient, earth-centered spiritual and healing traditions...serving the well-being and development of the community that is practicing and regenerating this spiritual path. It is also a way of identifying with and reclaiming the heritage of the many, many women and men who have been persecuted down through the ages for holding to the old belief that the earth is sacred." - Starhawk

7. “To practice magic is to bear the responsibility for having a vision.” - Starhawk

8. "Magic tumbled from her pretty lips and when she spoke the language of the universe--the stars sighed in unison. - Michael Faudet

9. "When we assert intuition, we are therefore like the starry-night: we gaze at the world through a thousand eyes.”

   - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

10. "Being a witch means living in this world consciously, powerfully, and unapologetically" - Gabriela Herstik

11. "Witches do not kneel. They do not grovel. They do not beg. Witches rise and they fight." - Madeline Miller 

12. "To me, a witch is a woman that is capable of letting her intuition take hold of her actions, that communes with her environment, that isn't afraid of facing challenges." - Paulo Coelho 

13. Never put your faith in a Prince. When you require a miracle, trust in a Witch." - Catherynne M. Valente 

14. "A wise witch knows the shadows come from the light." - Dacha Avelin 

15. “Magic is what happens when the blueprint of who you are comes into the alignment with the expanding energy of the universe.”― Sasha Graham

16. “Paradox is at the heart of the mysteries of witchcraft. I believe that paradox is what allows the conditions for the witch to create magick. By creating a paradox, we essentially overload the processing of reality by breaking the rules." - Mat Auryn

17. “Witchcraft is art, practice, discipline, knowledge, and passion. Only by working on yourself and exploring the world around you will you discover your own path, the truth that lies in you.”― Lidia Pradas

18. “Witches don’t look like anything. Witches are. Witches do.” — Franny Billingsley

19. “The Witch can gaze clearly into the dark hidden corners of the human psyche just as the full moon can light up the darkness of night.” ― Raven Grimassi

20. “Witches listen to the secrets of the Earth, work in harmony with the powers of the moon and understand the longings of the human soul.” ― Dacha Avelin

21. “There’s a little witch in all of us.” — Aunt Jet Owens, Practical Magic

22. “I’m not good, I’m not nice, I’m just right. I’m the witch.” — Witch, Into the Woods

23. “You’ve always had the power, my dear. You just had to learn it for yourself.” — Glinda, The Wizard of Oz

24. “Witch, we walk in fire because we ARE the fire.” - Lisa Lister

25. “This witch knows nothing in this world is supernatural. It is all natural.” --Laurie Cabot

26. “The day I decided that my life was magical, there was suddenly magic all around me.” - Marabeth Quinn

27. “Magic is desire made real.” - Alice Hoffman, Practical Magic

28. “Despite what modern society would have you believe, the Witch within you is not dangerous, but protective. She is not frivolous but exceedingly accurate and trustworthy.” - Laurie Cabot

    
    

And here's my own quotes I'm adding to the list:

1. "A witch commits to a political stance that rejects patriarchal power structures and their core value of dominance. This path requires actively dismantling personal privilege related to systemic oppression. The goal is to cultivate authentic unity and collaboration without ever spiritually bypassing the deep collective trauma of others." --Rebecca Farrar

2. "Being a witch means embracing wholeness, which includes the shadow and its wildness—never spiritually bypassing the uncomfortable or the ugly. This concept of wildness isn't about being carefree; it's a sacred aspect of the self that honors and nurtures the soul in all its forms, light and dark." --Rebecca Farrar

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P.S. I also wrote a blog post about Archetypal Omens in the natal chart of those potentially more likely to identify as a witch. Read that here.