Reference
Witchcraft Glossary.
Clear definitions for the terms a solitary practice uses.
47 terms covering divination, ritual, astrology, herbology, deity work, and the tools of the craft.
Apothecary
A witch's collection of magical supplies — herbs, resins, oils, crystals, candles, and ritual tools — kept organised and stocked for working use. A well-tended apothecary holds only what is actually used, not everything the lore mentions.
Apothecary in Grimoire →Athame
A ritual knife used in magical practice, typically double-edged and black-handled. An athame is an instrument of will and direction rather than a cutting tool — used to cast circles, direct energy, and carve sigils into wax, not to cut physical material.
Book of shadows
A personal journal in which a witch records her own practice — rituals performed, spells cast, dreams, reflections, and accumulated magical knowledge. The term was popularised by Gerald Gardner in the mid-twentieth century. In contemporary practice it often merges with the grimoire into a single private working record.
My Craft journal in Grimoire →Casting a circle
The act of defining and consecrating a sacred space before ritual work. A circle marks the boundary between ordinary and sacred space, contains the energy raised within a working, and offers a degree of protection during the opening of the work. It is closed at the end of a ritual.
Charm casting
A form of divination in which a collection of small symbolic objects is cast onto a flat surface — a cloth or mat — and read for meaning according to which charms appear, where they land, and how they relate to one another. It belongs to the older traditions of lithomancy and cleromancy.
Guide to charm casting →Cleromancy
Divination by casting or drawing lots — one of the oldest recorded forms of divination, found across cultures from ancient Greece to sub-Saharan Africa to medieval Europe. The ancestor of rune casting, charm casting, and many other divinatory practices.
Correspondence
A recorded link between two things within a magical system — a herb and a planet, a colour and an element, a number and a quality. Correspondences are the working vocabulary of Western occultism, allowing a witch to build a coherent ritual by selecting elements that share the same symbolic register.
The Vault — correspondence tables →Dark moon
The phase immediately preceding the new moon, when the moon is invisible in the sky. Traditionally associated with endings, banishing, deep introspection, and underworld work. Distinct from the new moon itself, which marks the beginning of the next lunar cycle.
Sacred Calendar →Deity work
The practice of building and maintaining a sustained relationship with a specific god or goddess — through regular offerings, devotion, prayer, and ritual attention. Distinct from simply acknowledging or invoking a deity as part of a working.
Deity Journal in Grimoire →Devotional practice
The regular, ongoing acts through which a witch tends her relationship with the divine — offerings, altar maintenance, prayer, sacred dates observed, and sustained attention to a specific deity over time. Devotional practice is measured in years, not sessions.
Divination
The practice of seeking knowledge — of the self, a situation, or the future — through symbolic or intuitive means. Tarot, runes, charm casting, scrying, and astrology are all forms of divination. In contemporary witchcraft, divination is most usefully understood as a tool for reflection rather than prediction.
Tarot Gallery in Grimoire →Eclectic witch
A practitioner who draws from multiple traditions rather than following a single lineage — taking what resonates from various paths and building a practice that fits their own nature and circumstances.
Elemental correspondence
The association of a herb, crystal, planet, colour, or magical working with one of the four classical elements — fire, water, earth, or air. Each element carries its own energetic quality, direction, season, ritual tool, and magical application.
Elemental tables in The Vault →Esbat
A ritual observance held at the full moon or new moon, distinct from the sabbats which follow the solar calendar. Esbats are lunar celebrations — more frequent and often more personal than the seasonal festivals. Traditionally associated with the goddess and with cycles of renewal.
Full moon
The lunar phase when the moon is completely illuminated as seen from Earth. Associated with peak magical power, manifestation, completion, and high ritual. The traditional time for esbat observance and major workings that require sustained energy.
Moon phase in the Daily Pulse →Green witch
A witch whose practice is rooted in the natural world — herbs, plants, the garden, and the magic of growing things. Green witchcraft emphasises plant lore, herbalism, elemental work, and connection to the land rather than formal ceremonial structure.
Witch Path archetypes →Grimoire
Originally, a textbook of magic — a reference work containing spell formulas, correspondence tables, and ritual instructions, meant to be consulted and used by others. In contemporary practice the term is used more loosely to mean any personal collection of magical knowledge, often merged with the book of shadows into a single private record.
My Craft — digital grimoire →Hedge witch
A witch who works at the threshold between the seen and unseen worlds — one who practises spirit travel, trance work, and communication across the veil. The hedge refers to the boundary between the human settlement and the wild beyond it, and the hedge witch is the one who crosses it.
Witch Path archetypes →Incantation
Words spoken aloud as part of a magical working — a spoken spell, chant, or prayer used to direct intention and raise energy. The word derives from the Latin cantare (to sing), reflecting the originally musical quality of spoken magic.
Spell Builder in Grimoire →Intention
The clearly held, consciously articulated purpose of a magical working. In most contemporary traditions, intention is considered the primary force of a working — the correspondences, timing, and tools amplify it, but the intention is what the magic is. The Spell Builder in Grimoire asks for intention before anything else.
Spell Builder — intention-first →Lithomancy
Divination using stones or crystals — reading meaning from their positions, colours, and relationships when cast onto a surface. One of the ancestor practices of contemporary charm casting, with roots in multiple ancient cultures.
Major Arcana
The twenty-two numbered cards (0 to 21) of the tarot deck — from the Fool through to the World — depicting archetypal forces, life lessons, and significant turning points. They are generally read as carrying more weight than the Minor Arcana in a spread.
Tarot Gallery — Major Arcana →Minor Arcana
The fifty-six suit cards of the tarot deck, divided into four suits — Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles — each running ace through ten plus four court cards. They tend to describe the everyday texture of a situation rather than the major thematic currents the Major Arcana represents.
Tarot Gallery — Minor Arcana →Moon phase
One of the eight recognisable stages of the lunar cycle — new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, full moon, waning gibbous, last quarter, and waning crescent (dark moon). Each phase carries its own traditional magical associations for timing ritual work.
Moon phases in the Sacred Calendar →Natal chart
A map of the sky at the exact moment and location of a person's birth — showing the position of the sun, moon, and all planets within the twelve astrological houses. Read as a description of the person's character, potential, and life themes. Requires birth date, time, and location to calculate accurately.
Natal chart in Grimoire →Numerology
The practice of reading numerical patterns encoded in a person's name and birth date as a map of personality, purpose, and life direction. Draws on Pythagorean philosophy and Hebrew Kabbalistic traditions. Key numbers include the life path (from birth date), expression (from full birth name), and soul urge (from the vowels in the name).
Numerology in Grimoire →Offering
Something given to a deity, spirit, or ancestor in a ritual context — food, drink, flowers, incense, candles, art, or sustained attention and prayer. Offerings are the material expression of a devotional relationship. Traditional offerings vary by deity and pantheon.
Offering log in the Deity Journal →Pantheon
The complete collection of gods and goddesses belonging to a specific culture or religious tradition — the Greek pantheon, the Norse pantheon, the Egyptian pantheon. In witchcraft, also used to describe a practitioner's personal working relationship with multiple deities drawn from one or several traditions.
Pantheon in Grimoire →Patron deity
A god or goddess with whom a practitioner has a sustained, personal relationship — one who is honoured regularly, called on in workings, and tended through ongoing devotion. A patron deity is typically encountered rather than chosen: they make themselves known through signs, dreams, or persistent resonance.
Patron Deities quiz →Planetary hour
A division of the day in which each hour is governed by one of the seven classical planets — Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, or Moon — following the Chaldean order. The system divides the actual hours of daylight and darkness rather than clock hours, making each planetary hour vary with the season and location. Used to time magical workings by planetary correspondence.
Planetary hours in Grimoire →Resin
A plant-derived aromatic material used in incense and ritual burning — frankincense, myrrh, copal, dragon's blood, and benzoin are the most commonly used in Western magical practice. Resins are typically burned on charcoal discs in a heatproof censer. They tend to last longer than dried herbs and carry stronger scent.
Apothecary — resins →Retrograde
An apparent reversal in a planet's path through the zodiac as seen from Earth — an optical effect caused by the relative motion of Earth and the other planet in their orbits. In astrological practice, retrogrades are traditionally read as periods to revisit, review, and refine rather than initiate. Mercury retrograde is the most widely known, but every planet retrogrades.
Retrograde tracker in Grimoire →Reversed card
A tarot card drawn or laid upside down. Reversed cards are not simply negative versions of their upright meanings — most readers approach them as the same card's energy in a more internalised, blocked, or shadow form. Some readers do not use reversals at all.
Tarot Gallery — upright and reversed meanings →Rising sign
The zodiacal sign that was ascending on the eastern horizon at the exact moment of a person's birth. Also called the ascendant. The rising sign is considered to describe how a person presents themselves to the world and how others first perceive them — distinct from the sun sign, which describes the core self.
Natal chart in Grimoire →Sabbat
One of the eight seasonal festivals that mark the turning of the wheel of the year — Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule. Four sabbats fall on the solar events (solstices and equinoxes); four fall at the cross-quarter points between them. The framework was synthesised in the mid-twentieth century from older Celtic, Germanic, and folk traditions.
Sabbats in the Sacred Calendar →Scrying
Divination through focused gazing into a reflective or translucent surface — a black mirror, a bowl of water, a crystal ball, or a candle flame — in order to receive visions, impressions, or information. One of the oldest divinatory practices, requiring patience and a receptive, unfocused gaze rather than active searching.
Shadow work
The contemplative practice of examining and integrating the parts of the self that have been repressed or left unacknowledged — patterns repeated without intention, emotions suppressed, contradictions held alongside one another. The term comes from Carl Jung's concept of the shadow. In contemporary witchcraft it is practised primarily through journalling and reflective writing.
Shadow Work journal in Grimoire →Sigil
A symbol created to represent and carry a specific magical intention — typically constructed by encoding a statement of intent into a visual form, then charged and activated. Sigils are among the most accessible tools of contemporary spellcraft and do not require elaborate apparatus or prior knowledge.
Spell Builder in Grimoire →Solitary witch
A practitioner who works alone, outside a coven or formal tradition. The majority of contemporary witches are solitary — practising at home, without initiation, and without a designated teacher or lineage. Grimoire is built specifically for solitary practitioners.
Grimoire Practice tools →Soul Portrait
In Grimoire, the single page where a practitioner's self-knowledge results are held together — witch path archetype, patron deities, natal chart, and numerology profile, built incrementally as each Discovery tool is completed. The four results approach the same person from four different angles.
Discovery & Soul Portrait →Tarot
A deck of 78 cards — 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana — used as a divinatory and reflective tool. The modern tarot tradition is rooted in the Rider-Waite-Smith deck of 1909, whose symbolic vocabulary underpins most contemporary decks. Best understood as a mirror for the questioner's own thinking rather than a system for predicting fixed outcomes.
Tarot Gallery in Grimoire →Transit
In astrology, the movement of a planet through the sky relative to its position in a natal chart. When a transiting planet forms a significant angle to a natal placement, the transit is said to be active — marking a period with a corresponding quality or theme. Transits are the primary tool for astrological timing.
Natal transits in Grimoire →Waning moon
The lunar phase between the full moon and the new moon, when the moon's visible illumination is decreasing. Traditionally associated with releasing, banishing, letting go, and diminishing. The waning moon is the natural time for workings intended to remove, reduce, or end something.
Moon phases in the Sacred Calendar →Waxing moon
The lunar phase between the new moon and the full moon, when the moon's visible illumination is increasing. Traditionally associated with growth, drawing in, building, and manifesting. The waxing moon is the natural time for workings intended to increase, attract, or grow something.
Moon phases in the Sacred Calendar →Wheel of the year
The cycle of eight seasonal festivals observed in contemporary Pagan and Wiccan practice — Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain, and Yule. The framework was synthesised in the mid-twentieth century by Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols from older Celtic, Germanic, and folk traditions and has become the backbone of contemporary witchcraft's seasonal practice.
Wheel of the year in Grimoire →Witch path
The particular tradition or archetype that most closely matches a practitioner's natural way of working. Contemporary frameworks typically identify ten or more distinct paths — including green, hedge, sea, dream, fire, solar, cosmic, word, ceremonial, and devotional — each with its own characteristic tools, energies, and practices.
Witch Path quiz in Grimoire →Working
A magical ritual or spell — the act of performing intentional magic. Used as a noun: 'a working' refers to a specific ritual act (a protection working, a binding working, a manifestation working), distinct from the broader ongoing practice it belongs to.
Spell Builder in Grimoire →Explore the app
Be among the first
Grimoire is launching on Android. Join the waitlist and we'll let you know the moment it's ready.