I’m frequently asked what a red witch is, and in hopes of saving myself some time in the future, I figured I’d do a write-up! To preface, this is my interpretation of red witchcraft, others may vary, but I can only expand on my own views, so here goes:

Simply, a red witch is someone who uses passion and desire as a energetic source for his/her craft. Things like love, lust, anger and sadness are the driving forces, and as such, there can be some overlap with what has been come to be called “black magic.” The difference is the heavy leaning toward love and lust work, and the craft often surrounds a “red goddess” – a love goddess who often also has a warrior or volatile temperament. Crowley’s Babalon is a good example, though my craft does not center around a goddess, but instead a spirit.

In this regard, I would call red witchcraft a sort of methodology more than I would say that it was its own faith, which can be said for many types of witchcraft. Because that’s what it is, a type of witchcraft and as we all know: witchcraft is not synonymous with faith or religion, but it is a practice. Red witchcraft, then, is a type of practice – utilizing raw (or what some might consider carnal, though anger is a secondary) emotion to power the work. Which isn’t as easy as it sounds.

It requires the ability to control your emotions, and use them productively. When you use your emotions to illicit change, you can’t just go flying off the handle anytime there’s a small problem. It can be disastrous, not to mention a waste of energy that could have been more pointedly used. It also provides the opportunity to master them, to know how to produce and transform emotion into something specific and something productive. Which also gives the witch an opportunity to explore themselves, and an outlet to blow off anything you’ve kept bottled up.

The biggest obstacle, I think, is selfishness. Given that desire is the foundation, it’s important to dig deep and find out what one truly desires. That isn’t to say the objective is to be completely selfless, as that’s damn near impossible, but to be conservatively selfish.

Finally, I want to add that when using red witchcraft for other people, a connection is very important. You have to care. You have to care about who you’re working with, you have to care about the result as though it were going to affect you. You must empathize, and that’s hard for some. I’m a bit of a bleeding heart, so I’ve never found an issue… when it’s something that they truly need. Conversely, my emotions greatly differ when they ask me to chase a whim for them. Moral of the story: don’t ask a red witch for help if you don’t know exactly what and why you want something.