Witch

A witch is a practitioner of magic, or witchcraft and can be either male or female, and good or evil. Somtimes, an evil witch (at least in Charmed) is called a warlock.

Classification
Witches come in two types: Magical witches and Practitioners. This method of classification has been used several times in the show when practitioners have been an element of the storyline.

Practitioners
The majority of the good witches the sisters have interacted with on Charmed have been termed as practitioners. These are people who practice witchcraft, but do not have any magical powers.These witches tend to treat witchood as a more spiritual or religious experience than the sisters do. Witch practitioners are usually followers of the Neopagan religion Wicca. Alice Hicks, the witch who shot and killed Piper in an alternate timeline during All Hell Breaks Loose was a witch practitioner.

Magical Witches
Magical witches differ from witch practitioners in that magical witches possess supernatural abilities. All magical witches have the ability to invent and use spoken spells, to manufacture potions, and to scry for supernatural beings such as demons and other magical witches. They also have the ability to see ghosts.

In addition, magical witches are each born one or more personal powers. These powers can be used at will, and do not require incantations. Powers vary widely among individuals, although powers do appear to have a hereditary aspect. That is, witches of common ancestry are most likely to have the same or similar powers, or to have powers drawn from the common list. For instance, the descendants of Melinda Warren tend to have premonition, molecular immobilisation or telekinesis. However, unrelated powers do sometimes appear. Two witches of Melinda Warren's line who lived during the 1920s had unrelated powers: one could create fire, and the other could exhale blasts of extreme cold.

Charmed Novels
Although the idea of the pactitioner is not elaborated on in the show the Charmed Novel "Mystic Knoll" goes into great detail about them. According to the book, witch practitioners are mortals with a natural affinity to magic. Hence they can use magic. However, the witch practitioner must rely upon external sources of power from which to draw upon in order to use the three basic witch powers. For example Abigail Thornwood was able to curse her daughter at Mystic Knoll because the place was a natural reservoir of magic which she could tap into and use as 'fuel'. Magic may also be drawn from magical people such as when Harriet Thornwood cast a spell using both Mystic Knoll and the Charmed Ones magic.

However, magical witches have an internal spring from which their magical power flows and hence can use basic witch powers wherever and whenever they want. Due to the nature of their power source (i.e. an inward one personal to them) they have a unique connection with magic and because of this they are able to tap into it in a unique way through personal powers i.e. Premonition, Telekinesis etc.

Although the books are only semi-canonical this idea does not contradict anything on the show and both is highly similar to modern ideas on magic Wicca (especially Scott Cunningham's concepts on "powers") in reality and serves to explain a lot about the diference between practitioners and Magical witches and so would not be too much of a stretch to consider it canon rathr than fanon.

To Separate A Witch's Power
The following spell debuted in "How to Make a Quilt Out of Americans" and has been used a number of times throughout the series to transfer active powers from one witch to another however it needs the one who's powers is being taken to drink a special potion for it to be effetive:


 * Powers of the witches rise
 * Course unseen across the skies
 * Come to us who call you near
 * Come to us and settle here.

To Call A Lost Witch
The following spell has been used a number of times throughout the series to call or to find a lost witch. Sometimes only the words are needed for the spell to be effetive although this may be because in the past, when the spell was first made, the Warren witches weren't as strong as The Charmed Ones or The Ultimate Power (who are the only ones seen using it) and so needed the ritual elements (i.e. the herbs and blood) to amplify its magic and make it work for them:

'':Put the following Ingredients in a Silver Mortar:
 * A pinch of rosemary
 * a sprig of Cypress
 * A yarrow root.''


 * Grind with a Pestle while Chanting:


 * Power of the witches rise
 * Course unseen across the skies
 * Come to us who call you near
 * Come to us and settle here.


 * Spill the blood of the Caller into mortar

and continue Chanting:


 * Blood to blood, I summon thee
 * Blood to blood, return to me.

History
During the late 1600s in Salem, Massachusetts, several men and women were prosecuted for witchcraft. During this period in Colonial America, many of the Puritans who had settled in the Northeast believed that witches were servants for the Devil. During this time, Melinda Warren was accused, prosecuted, and condemned to death. This became known the Salem witch trials, in which numerous woman - witches and not - were hanged and burned at the stake.


 * In reality, none of these people were witches. Furthermore, people believed to be witches were hanged, though burning is a common historical misconception that has been stated and shown in Charmed. Although in an earlier time period, known as the Dark Ages (and referred to by Wiccans and other Pagans as "The Burning Times") accused witches were burned at the stake.

Portrayal in Fiction
Witches have been central to the plot of numerous fictional stories, even if the general public doesn't believe in real magic.

Bewitched was a popular TV show that originally ran from 1964 to 1972 that followed the witch Samantha Stephens and how she had to avoid using her magic because her husband didn't approve. The show (in reruns) was Phoebe Halliwell's favorite show growing up, and she has said it is where she learned "how to be a wife." Cole Turner however had never heard of the show. ("Lost and Bound")

Piper occasionally watched Passions, a soap opera involving an evil witch Tabitha who wreaks havoc on the city the show takes place in. While watching Tabitha cast a spell once, Piper noted: "Hm! Like that spell would've worked." ("The Day the Magic Died")