The Feri Tradition Feri is a modern form of American Traditional Witchcraft founded in the 1960s by Victor and Cora Anderson and passed down through initiation. It is a diverse ecstatic spiritual tradition that seeks to transform the initiate through ritual magic, energy work, healing, and meditation and emphasizes the more natural and wild forms of magic and sorcery. There is also an emphasis on sensual experience including sexual mysticism. Some scholars categorize Feri as a Wiccan tradition, and others as witchcraft. Victor was a gifted witch and shaman, and he was legally blind since childhood, but soon developed the skill of reading auras He claimed that in 1926, a group of fairy women initiated him into witchcraft. Cora was a descendent of a "root doctor" who called himself a Druid and worked with herbal remedies. She was also a kitchen witch and psychic. She and Victor met and created the tradition, initiating about thirty people into the craft over the course of forty years, one of whom is Starhawk, a famous witch and writer, whose best-selling book "The Spiral Dance" is considered a classic and was influenced by Feri teachings.

Feri has many elements from various cultures and their magical systems including Huna; Conjure; Voodoo; Tantra; Celtic Folklore; Christian Mysticism; Yezidi Mythology; Greek Gnosis; and others and focuses on direct experience for practitioners and those initiated into the mystical tradition. It may also be referred to as Faery, Faerie, or Fairy traditions . Feminist and Activist Witches Some covens and solitary witches are devoted to working for equal rights for women, LGBT, animals, and indigenous peoples and focus most of their craft on activism and spell casting for a better world. Every witch honors and reveres nature and wants a better world, of course, but activist witches organize meetings, marches, petitions, and work on political campaigns to promote people who will treat the world with more respect. The activist witch can be an armchair activist working from home spell casting and writing letters, emails, and phone calling, or someone who is out in the world educating and enlightening others and fighting the good fight. The activist witch is usually also a green witch, and someone who recycles and engages in environmental activism to clean up their neighborhoods. With the rise of feminism in the 1960s, many witches and pagans alike have embraced activism into their daily practice as a way of using magic and the forces of nature to improve the quality of life for all living things. Modern witchcraft allows for a witch to be any of the above styles and descriptions.

The bottom line is to be the witch you are meant to be and practice the kind of craft that resonates with your heart and spirit. Just like any other area of life, trying to shoehorn yourself into a particular brand or description can hamper the amazing energies and gifts you bring to the craft in general. It may take some time to come to understand where you fit in best, or what feels most right to you, but once you get there, go with it. Never let another witch or any outside person tell you how to practice, what to believe, and who you are as a human being, or a witch. Tip : In 1986, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recognized Wicca as a religion and belief system protected by the First Amendment. In 2014, Wicca had become the fastest growing religion in America, and the numbers of Wiccans, witches, and pagans continues to grow faster than any other religion.

In England and Wales, Wicca and other pagan traditions, including Druidism, have seen a major revival in popularity since 2001. The Wiccan Traditions Wicca is not a synonym for witchcraft, as many have thought over the decades. While witchcraft is looked upon as a practice or craft, Wicca is considered a spiritual or religious tradition, even though they both share so many things. Wiccans subscribe to the Wiccan Rede, their Golden Rule, which states, "Do what you will but harm none." Wiccans also worship a Lord and Lady deity as witches do with gods and goddesses, but like goddess-based witchcraft, Wicca has a tradition that strictly focuses on the feminine, the Lady. This is the Dianic tradition . Dianic Wiccans worship the huntress goddess Diana and do not recognize a god or male deity. Dianic Wicca is the only form of witchcraft or paganism that is focused on the feminine divine exclusively and embraces modern women''s rights.

Many Dianic Wiccans become feminist activists fighting for equal rights and equal pay, and they are messengers of the power of the female and female sexuality. One of the founders is Z. Budapest, a Wiccan author and activist who lead the Susan B. Anthony Coven in Los Angeles. Her book, "The Feminist Book of Lights and Shadows" serves as the basic textbook for Dianic Wiccan rituals, spells, and rites. By the way, witches don''t hate men, or exclude them out of hatred. They simply realize there must be a return to balance and are drawn to the energies of the feminine divine that is expressed through them. Though Wiccans follow many of the same holidays and ritual celebrations as witches do, they may have their own spin or uniqueness, and they consider their focus the Wheel of the Year, with cycles and seasons marked with sabbats, and esbats, or festivals that honor that time of the year, such as Halloween, Beltane, Imbolc, and Yule.

More on those later. Tip : Never call a male witch a "warlock." It is a totally inaccurate and derogatory term more popularized by movies and pop culture but does not describe a male witch. During the witch trials in Europe when witches were tortured, they would often under duress give the names of others who were witches. The word "warlock" was applied to these poor souls because it meant "traitor, accuser," and never had any association with the practice of witchcraft itself. A male witch is a witch and calling him a warlock is claiming he is some kind of traitor or betrayer. Don''t use that term!.