Animism: A worldview in which all things are understood to be alive with spirit and consciousness. Animism forms the spiritual foundation of many folk and traditional magical systems and informs their ethics and ritual logic. Animism is not a revitalized or reconstructed practice. It exists as a living practice in many forms of witchcraft, in many contemporary spiritual practices, and in countless traditions of continued indigenous religious practices. It exists in many forms and expressions; different animistic traditions may approach the life-containing nature of non-human things in different ways.

Apotropaic Magic: Protective magic intended to ward off harm, evil, or unwanted influences. Apotropaic objects and actions—such as charms, amulets, iron nails, or protective markings—are used to repel spirits, misfortune, or the Gaze/evil eye by startling, confusing, destroying, or repelling the source of harm.

Bioregional Magic: A practice of witchcraft and magic centered on the local ecology, culture, folklore, and spirit of the land. Bioregional magic emphasizes the importance of knowing one's local plants, animals, folklore, weather patterns, spirits, and histories. It seeks to build spiritual relationships with the land one inhabits rather than importing symbols and correspondences from distant traditions.

The Chaos Model of Magic: A model in the discipline of magic theory that closely associated with chaos magic. This model posits that belief itself is the most powerful magical tool. According to this philosophy, reality is malleable and that results can be achieved through shifting paradigms, using belief as a functional tool rather than an absolute truth. It emphasizes pragmatism, experimentation, and personal gnosis.

Cochranian Witchcraft: A formal path of Traditional Witchcraft founded by British occultist Robert Cochrane (1931–1966). Sometimes called Cochrane’s Craft, Cochranianism, or the Clan of Tubal Cain. Cochranian Witchcraft was short-lived in its original form; however, Cochrane’s teachings heavily influenced later forms of traditional craft.

Cross-Mark: In folkloric and traditional magic, a cross-mark (represented by an “X” or equal-armed cross and sometimes called a witch-cross or a witch-mark) is a protective sign placed over a threshold, object, or person to bar unwanted forces and invite blessing. It may be drawn, etched, carved, sprinkled, or traced in the air, using materials such as chalk, ash, water, oil, or herbs. The intersecting lines symbolically “bind” or “seal” the point they cover, making it both a ward and a sign of claim.

Discernment: One’s ability to critically evaluate experiences, information, and relationships, both mundane and magical. It involves listening to intuition, identifying red flags, questioning the validity of claims, assessing personal belief and disbelief, and applying personal judgment rather than accepting things at face value. In the context of witchcraft, discernment helps us determine what is true, what is useful, and what aligns with our values and practice.

The Energy Model of Magic: A framework for understanding magic as the manipulation of subtle, invisible energies that flow through and connect all things. Practitioners using this model focus on raising, directing, and shaping energy to bring about change.

Folk Magic: The practical use of magic, charms, herbal remedies, and spiritual protections developed within a particular culture or community. Folk magic tends to be passed down informally and often focuses on healing, protection, and livelihood. It is not always religious and often exists alongside or beneath dominant spiritual systems.

Note: In creating and interacting with my own magical community, I have become familiar with a second definition of folk magic. Many practitioners identify their folk magical path as such because it is a personal path of magic that exists outside of formal, ceremonial initiatory traditions and systems. Although this is notthe definition that is used throughout this website and its associated resources, it is a definition that you may encounter elsewhere, particularly on social media.

Diasporic Folk Magic: The practical use of magic, charms, herbal remedies, and spiritual protections as preserved and adapted by communities living outside their place of origin. Diasporic folk magic is folk magic that is reshaped, however subtly, by displacement, migration, and cultural exchange. Examples of diasporic folk magic are often passed down through communities orally and blend inherited traditions with new influences while maintaining a connection to “original” folk practices.

Folkloric Witchcraft: A type of witchcraft that draws heavily on regional folklore, mythology, and historical magical practices. While it may include elements of folk and historical magic, folkloric witchcraft typically interprets old stories, rituals, customs and beliefs through a modern magical lens. It may or may not be historically authentic, but it aims to honor the cultural spirit and symbolism of traditional tales and customs.

Hedge: A liminal boundary between the physical and spiritual realms, often visualized as a living wall of thorn, vine, or bramble. In the Hagstone Tradition, the hedge can be planted and walked to establish a permeable threshold for spirit contact, vision-seeking, or trance work.

Hexbag: Any magical bag. The word hex here refers not to baneful magic, in specific, but to magic in general.

Informal Ritual: A magical act that is performed with intention and repetition but without the rigid structure or ceremony associated with formal rituals (such as those found in Wicca or Cochranian Witchcraft). Informal rituals are often integrated into everyday life and may occur annually, monthly, weekly, etc. They rely symbolism, repetition, and meaningful action rather than scripted liturgy. Examples of informal ritual may include collecting water from a church on the first day of spring, making candles on a particular saint’s feast day, or using a particular verse/charm to ward one’s home.

The Information Model of Magic: A magical model that treats the universe as a network of information, patterns, codes, and symbols. Magic in this model is understood as changing or manipulating information to alter reality.

Law of Contagion: A magical principle stating that, once two objects have been in contact, they continue to share a magical and spiritual connection. This connection allows influence to pass between them, even after separation. In folk and traditional magic, this law underpins many practices involving personal effects (such as hair, clothing, or handwriting), as well as magical tools or items tied to specific spirits, places, or events. Practitioners may use these connected objects to direct energy, establish sympathetic links, or affect a person or spirit from a distance.

Law of Sympathy / Law of Similarity: A foundational principle in magical thought which holds that like affects like. It suggests that objects, symbols, or actions that resemble one another can influence each other. This law is the basis for sympathetic magic, where items such as poppets, images, or tokens are used to represent a target or outcome. Through this resemblance, practitioners aim to produce change by acting upon the symbolic stand-in, allowing intention and energy to flow between the symbol and what it represents.

Liminal Space: A middle space that exists on or between two distinct spaces. In folk and traditional magic, liminal spaces are considered potent for magical and spiritual activity due to their transitional nature. Physically liminal spaces can include natural or built environments such as crossroads, shorelines, doorways, or old steps where a structure once stood. Folklorically liminal spaces are those culturally or traditionally recognized as spiritually significant, such as the edge of a forest, the mouth of a cave, or the space between a churchyard gate and the field beyond. These spaces are often worked within for their heightened connection to spirit, transformation, and otherworldly presence.

Magic Theory: The study and interpretation of how and why magic works. Magic theory includes magical models, metaphysical principles, historical context, and philosophical frameworks that inform magical practice.

Magical Authority (as a Tenet of the Hagstone Tradition): The right and responsibility of the witch to shape, and direct their own magical practice. Within the Hagstone Tradition, the witch is not subordinate to any external doctrine or teacher unless they freely choose to be. A witch’s magical authority is based in practical experience, sound judgment, personal agency, and the understanding that no one else can determine the terms of one’s magical work.

Personal Sovereignty (as a Tenet of the Hagstone Tradition): The understanding that the witch owns their body, mind, spirit, energy, power and practice, and has the right to set and maintain associated boundaries. It is the freedom to choose who or what one engages with; whether spirit, human, tradition, media, or idea.

Place of Power: A naturally, historically or folklorically significant location believed to possess inherent magical or spiritual potency. Unlike spaces that must be ritually created or activated, places of power are considered intrinsically charged due to their natural features (such as springs, caves, or crossroads), historical use (such as ancient temples or battlefields), or folkloric significance (such as fairy mounds or haunted sites).

Practical Traditional Magic: Contemporary magic inspired by folk magic and pre-Wiccan magical methods and traditions. Much of practical traditional magic is performed to meet everyday needs using common tools and materials. Emphasizes utility, accessibility, and the sacredness of ordinary acts.

Psychological Model of Magic: A framework that views magic as a tool for psychological transformation and healing. Rituals, symbols, and spells are seen as expressions of the unconscious mind, helping the practitioner access inner wisdom, change behavior, or affect outcomes through belief, focus, and will.

Ritual: 1. A ceremonial ritual (as used in Wicca, Cochranian witchcraft and other magical paths influenced by ceremony and esotericism) is a structured magical or spiritual act composed of distinct phases, such as cleansing, invocation, magical work, and formal closure. 2. Practical or simple ritual (as used in in Hagstone Witchery, folk magic, and various folkloric paths) serves as a practical tool for guiding the practitioner through energetic and spiritual states using symbolic, seasonal cycles, and magical action.

Spell: A focused magical act performed to bring about a specific outcome, typically involving symbolic actions, spoken or written words, and the direction of energy or intention. Spellwork can take many forms (such as charms, sigils, knotwork, candle burning, or spoken incantations) and may be performed on its own or as part of a larger ritual. Unlike ritual, which provides structure and transition, spellwork is the core magical act itself.

Spirit Model of Magic: A model in which magic is performed, at least in part, through direct interaction with spirits or nonhuman persons—such as ancestors, land spirits, deities, or familiars. Spirits are viewed as autonomous beings with will, and ethical spirit work includes reciprocity and consent.

Spiritual Autonomy (as a Tenet of the Hagstone Tradition): The right of each practitioner to define their own beliefs, pursue their own spiritual path, and choose who (if anyone) they worship, serve, or collaborate with. In the Hagstone Tradition, spiritual autonomy is honored as a birthright. It means the witch may take guidance from spirits, deities, teachers, or traditions, but never at the cost of their own conscience or will.

Strangers’ Burial Ground: A burial site for those excluded from consecrated or family graves, such as paupers, criminals, suicides, and outsiders. Regarded in folk magic as a liminal space suited for spirit work and offerings.

Sympathetic Magic: A form of magic based on the principle that “like affects like" or that objects once connected continue to influence each other. In sympathetic magic, practitioners use representations or linked items to influence a person, place, or outcome through symbolic action.

Traditional Witchcraft: 1. An umbrella term for several forms of witchcraft that emphasize pre-modern magical worldviews, regional folk beliefs, and spirit-centered practices. 2. Formal, initiatory, non-Wiccan magical systems that developed in the 20th century alongside Wicca. Often based on the work of Robert Cochrane. 3. Non-Wiccan and non-initiatory witchcraft that tends to emphasize “traditional” and pre-20th century magical methods, beliefs, and modes of transmission. Traditional witchcraft of this kind may include folk magic or personal systems of magic that draw from folk magic and folklore.

Traveling Stories: Folklore narratives and tales that appear across multiple cultures, regions, or time periods, often with variations in characters, settings, or moral lessons. These stories ‘travel’ through oral tradition, migration, trade, conquest, and cultural exchange, adapting to the values and worldviews of different communities while retaining core elements or recognizable structures.

Wicca: A modern, initiatory, nature-based religion that emerged in the mid-20th century, drawing on ceremonial magic, Western occultism, and romanticized ideas about ancient paganism. Wicca typically emphasizes the worship of a Goddess and a God, the celebration of seasonal festivals, and the practice of ritual magic within a structured framework. While some Wiccans identify as witches, not all witches are Wiccan, and not all forms of witchcraft are religious.

Witch: A person who practices magic or sorcery, often through the manipulation of various spiritual, natural, or symbolic forces. The term is sometimes embraced as a religious identity, a magical role, or a symbol of empowerment.

Witchcraft: The practice of magic, spellwork, spirit communication, and other magical arts by a witch. Witchcraft can be religious or secular, structured or intuitive, solitary or communal. It often involves the use of ritual, herbalism, divination, and contact with the spirit world. Witchcraft is practiced in diverse forms around the world.

Witch’s Compass: A ritual space often used in rituals of traditional witchcraft to orient magical workings and facilitate spirit contact. Unlike the Wiccan Circle, which contains energy or protects the practitioner, the Compass marks a threshold between worlds and guides the flow of spirits and power.

Working Altar: An altar that serves as the focal point of a witch’s magical practice. Unlike devotional altars dedicated to deities, a working altar is not a site of worship but workspace; used for spellwork, spirit contact, tool preparation, and other hands-on magical acts. In Hagstone Witchery, the working altar is a meeting place between the witch and their spirits, a reflection of their relationship with their craft, and a space that supports the rhythms and needs of magical practice. It may be permanent or temporary, indoors or outdoors, and is often arranged with purposefully chosen tools, tokens, and symbols.

Worldview: A foundational lens through which a person interprets and interacts with reality. In magical and spiritual contexts, a worldview encompasses one's core assumptions about the nature of existence, the structure of the cosmos, the role of spirits or deities, the nature of the self and soul, and how magic functions. A practitioner’s worldview often draws from personal experience, cultural or ancestral traditions, philosophical systems, and spiritual revelations.