Possible Hot Take:

Possible hot take:

So it's been a hot minute since I made a post about witchcraft, but I felt compelled to say something here.

I'm not a fan of the term baby witch. Like, I don't utterly loathe it, but it makes me personally uncomfortable and I don't think it's having a positive effect on the community. The term comes with the connotations of infantilization and inferiority, and from what I've seen it breeds more confusion and elitism than clarity.

I've seen two posts within the past week, from two different people, wondering when they can be considered a full blown witch instead of just a baby witch. To both of which I replied "you're a witch when you start practicing witchcraft, you don't have to call yourself a baby witch." So I don't repeat myself again, I'm stating it here definitively.

You do not have to call yourself a baby witch. You are not an inferior witch because you're new. You're certainly not a baby. You are a strong, capable individual embarking on a journey of empowerment and personal discovery. You are learning to change your reality. That is not something to be minimized or reduced to a clueless baby being spoon-fed their breakfast in a high chair. You are a "full" witch the moment you begin this journey. If your concern is whether or not to call yourself an experienced witch, I don't think that's a clear cut definition either.

The truth is, witchcraft is all about growth and learning. By practicing, you expand your horizons, your world, your mind. It is also highly individual, so your experience is unique to you, and you can offer your perspective at any time in your journey. It will be valuable whether you've been practicing for a day or for a decade. There is no point where you stop growing as a witch. You should always be seeking guidance and learning about your craft. You're going to make mistakes when you're new, but you'll make mistakes when you've been doing it for a while too. Hopefully they'll just be different mistakes. That's learning. A witch is inherently someone committed to learning, an eternal student of the universe. In that sense, we would all be "baby witches." Therefore the term is both condescending and redundant.

In short, can we retire this bullshit please? Thanks.