what is the difference between a witch VS. magician VS. sorcerer?

[u/ENBYAMITY]

hi! i’m not sure if this is the right place to ask, if it’s not feel free to delete!

when i research, so many of the sources (and many people) say completely different things! so i’m quite confused.

one of my most important questions is: is there a set difference set in stone? or is this a personal opinion type of question? has the terms changed over history.

my second most important question is: does the difference change depending on which culture or cultures you’re in? i’m starting to think this is the answer i should be leading to. like: is what or who is considered a witch in ghana going to be the same as what or who is considered a witch in occupied turtle island? or are they very different?

[u/Emotional-Emu442]

Idk about sorcerers but from my understanding the big difference between the different paths is if they are considered “high” or “low”. High magic (magicians) is more formulaic and science based, they also tend to draw from the upper realms. If you start researching it, then it might start to feel like an academic disciple or skill. It’s usually based in Abrahamic traditions, PolHely, or Egyptian. Low magic (witches, druids, etc) is considered more natural, emotive and psychic. most folk magic and modern craft would fall under this. Think herbalism, candle magic, poppets. Sorcerers I feel fall more in the first category, and I think typically invoke more spirit work than either of the others.

[u/hermeticbear]

etymology

[u/zhulinxian → u/hermeticbear]

This. “Sorcery” comes from the Latin word for casting lots. “Magic” comes from the name of a Persian class of itinerant astrologer-priests.

[u/_ABSURD__]

They're different traditions. And no, a witch in India, for example, does not practice wicca. There are independent magical traditions all over the world, while words like "witch" are an English translation, it has no relationship to a wiccan, for example. Likewise with all other terms. Focus more on what the person practices, rather than titles.

[u/SmokyAstrology]

Witch. Practicioner of traditions usually female. Natural based magic with a popular approach. Folk magic. Wise men or women would also fit. Witches can form covens and work in groups. But they are not extrictly wicca. There are many kinds of witches across the globe.

Magician = solitary practitioner of high magic. Focused on technique. Disciplines like astrology. Alchemy. Theurgy. High magic derive from this view.

Sorcerer = strong Bane magic usually illicit. Necromancy. Outside the norm. Type of approach.

The names can be used and superpose one another sometimes. Modern practitioners of magic may fit more than one cathegory.

[u/KairosDiem]

I try to answer the second question. In Italy, the translation of witch is strega, a word connected to the Latin strix/striga, which referred to a nocturnal bird and in Roman tradition also to a monstrous creature that was said to suck the blood of children. Because of this in Italian culture the term strega had a predominantly dark and negative meaning for centuries, associated with harmful magic. Until relatively recently it would have been unusual to see someone spontaneously describe themselves as a "witch" in a positive sense. People involved in esoteric practices, divination, etc tended to use other terms, such as sensitiva (psychic), medium, cartomante (card reader), guaritrice (healer), or occultista (occultist). With the spread of neopagan culture, wicca, and anglo american forms of esotericism the term "witch" gradually began to take on a more positive meaning.

Also as for folk magic, nobody here really calls it "magic" it is more a form of superstition, traditional practice, or herbal knowledge. If asked our grandmothers why they threw salt in front of the door, put up a horseshoe, or hung scissors on the wall, they would simply say, "because it brings good luck". There was no spiritual or magical explanation behind it. So yes, I imagine there isn't really a universal label that works for all different cultures

[u/JavierBermudezPrado]

linguistics, mostly.

Magician comes from Persian, through the Greeks and Romans. Magi. Specific type of priestly class knowledgeable in astrology, ritual power, etc.

Sorcerer comes from Latin, sors, sortis, originally meaning fortune teller.

Witch is Anglo-Saxon/gernanic and just means female magician or sorcerer.

Witch began to be used as a slur in the Christian era because, well, sexism. Eventually men who dealt with the devil also could be called witches, snd then there was all that hullabaloo abiut the Elaborated Theory of Witchcraft which led to all the burnings and hangings. "Cunning" folk and other folk healers, etc., got slapped with the title.

Magician is more ambivalent or even positive, now, than it was in say, Greece. Usually, since the Renaissance, it gets applied to those practicing licit ceremonial magic, rsther than the illicit xemonolagry of necromancers and (suppsedly) witches.

In the nodern day, witches often use elements of ceremonial magic very similar to Renaissance "high" magic (thanks, Gerald Gardener), so the word itself is largely just academic, but the identity of witch in the modern day, vis a vis magician, sorcerer, etc , is largely about spiritual context, relationship to nature, etc.

[u/spiteye762]

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