What makes a Sea Witch?

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

What does it take to qualify as a Sea Witch? Is the title inherently evil? Is it a curse or a talent? How does sea witchcraft differ from other forms of marine magic? Can males be sea witches? Is a male sea witch a Sea warlock or does that title only belong to evil sea witches? Do sea witches have a link to Wicca and modern neopaganism? Or does it link more powerfully with Voodoo? Maybe instead it derives from nautical rituals and pirate magic, curses and fortune-telling? Or perhaps it is older still, such as the runes and sorceries practiced by ancient Norse cultures and the Vikings who explored so much of the waterways; or could it derive from the powerful, God-inherited magic of the height of Atlantis? Perhaps, since the earliest mermaids came from the middle east, it works from a sort of watery counterpart to the fire worship of the magi and the Zoroastrians. Or, if merfolk are a kind of fae, their magic might work through the deals, pacts, enchantments and glamours of the landbound fair folk. Can a human become a Sea Witch? Can any mer? Can only those of royal blood? Do sea witches look different from other mers, or do merfolk simply have greater range of appearance than we have been led to believe? Are sea witches a kind of hag? Must they be ugly? Do they have tentacles? Do they have serpentine or eel-esque tails? Does becoming a Sea Witch change one's appearance to something more monstrous? Or is that the fate of only evil sea witches? Are they related to or do they have some connection with krakens, leviathans, sea serpents and other monsters of the deep? Are their primary tools potions and knives, or do they have the same range of magical implements as other magical and occult traditions? Does their magic come with a price and cause pain, or was that only the sea witch in the little mermaid? Is their magic Faustian or demonic in nature? Druidic? Hermetic? Shamanic? Are their spells merely advanced technology? Are there limitations to what their magic can do and what it can affect? Can sea witches do anything a landbound witch can? Can sea witches fly? Do they have familiars, and if so, what sort of animals make good ones? Catfish? Eels? Devilfish? Do they celebrate particular holidays or have regular sabbaths? Do they live among, nearby, or far from other mer settlements, or do they travel, perhaps alone, perhaps in gypsy-esque caravans? Does the royalty of merfolk possess the same kind of Magic? Or a comparable, perhaps opposing sort of power? If so, which magic is more powerful? Is sea witch magic linked to the feminine? To death or life? To the storms and sky? To the creatures of the sea? To music? To love? Is it ever a good or safe idea to visit and ask a Sea Witch for help? What sort of spells can sea witches cast? Can one choose to give up the power and stop being a Sea Witch? Or does going down that path mark you forever? How long do sea witches live? Do they have the same lifespan as other merfolk, and if so, what is that? Are they immortal? Do they reincarnate? Are reincarnated sea witches automatically sea witches? Are ONLY reincarnated sea witches sea witches? Can sea witches become undead as sea liches? Are humans resistant to sea witch spells? Are merfolk resistant to sea witch spells? Are other sea witches resistant to sea witch spells? Can sea witch spells be broken? Can someone else take a Sea Witch-cursed creature's place? Does slaying the sea witch break their magic, or must even more difficult solutions (perhaps seeking the aid of another sea witch) be found? Do any of you consider yourselves sea witches?

[Meurgen]

Where does one even begin.... That is A LOT of questions haha. I figure you're just jotting down your thoughts though so.. Might have been better to tackle it a little 'slower' though if you were looking for other peoples thoughts too lol.

[Merman Dan]

I had this one bookmarked: The Book of Tides - sea magick, witchcraft, and sea spells (http://seawitch.org/basics)

In regards to fiction, I think the door is wide open. In my own undersea exploits, hags hold the key to forgotten magics. Thus there are coveys of hag witches, though not all witches are hags and not all hags are witches.

Pathfinder went this route as well, with their Witch Class (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/baseClasses/witch.html).

And then there is the nature of the magic itself. Would ichthyomancy (divination through fish behavior), conchomancy (divination by shells), margaritomancy (divination through bouncing pearls), or hydromancy come into play?

[SeaGlass Siren]

I know this one girl who is a witch. She told me any girl can become a witch, she just doesn't realize it yet. So in response to your question, if a mermaid is equivalent to a human girl, then yes a mermaid can become a sea witch. And witches are more about feminine power... And I gues it depends what kind of magic she practices for her to be considered evil or good I suppose... But I could be wrong.

[Merman Dan]

This seemed topical: The November Witch (Farmer's Almanac) (http://www.farmersalmanac.com/weather/2010/11/08/beware-of-the-november-witch/)

[Mermaid Momo]

are you looking to write about Sea Witchcraft or become a Sea Witch? Sorry if you mentioned that in your post, its just so much so fast that I kept loosing my place and just gave up lol.

[Merman Dan]

I once used a tuna/slaad sand witch in a D&D game, but my players threw things at me. ;)

[Echinacea]

I once used a tuna/slaad sand witch in a D&D game, but my players threw things at me. ;)

*Looks around for more ammunition*

Anyway, I would agree that being a sea witch is no different than being a land witch, insofar as who can be one. And probably any and all of the divinatory methods mentioned by Dan would work! There is no set path, some land witches use tarot, some use meditation, so sea witches would use whatever is most comfortable and works best for them, I would think.

[Dee Tal]

I know this one girl who is a witch. She told me any girl can become a witch, she just doesn't realize it yet. So in response to your question, if a mermaid is equivalent to a human girl, then yes a mermaid can become a sea witch. And witches are more about feminine power... And I gues it depends what kind of magic she practices for her to be considered evil or good I suppose... But I could be wrong.

Any person, regardless of gender, can be a witch.

[Mermaid Momo]

Any person, regardless of gender, can be a witch.

Seconded


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[Echidna]

Wall of Text crits Eyes over nine thousand!

[SeaGlass Siren]

Any person, regardless of gender, can be a witch.

then i retract that statement.

[tealmermaid]

I had this one bookmarked: The Book of Tides - sea magick, witchcraft, and sea spells (http://seawitch.org/basics)
^ That's my site. :D

But umm, the wall of text? That's a lot of questions, and at least half of them sound like you're playing an rpg. Are you asking seriously or creating a character for a game?