The Trappings of a Witch

Many apologies to those who are reading this under the misapprehension that it provides instructions for trapping a witch, although I can deal with that quite briefly. Take a bottle of vodka, some chocolate and a net. Place the chocolate and vodka in a prominent position, retain net and wait for a witch to be lured. Hex and the City cannot be held responsible for the calibre of witch obtained by this summoning. If one wants a "traditional" witch one should replace the bait with something more appropriate, or be prepared to discover that one's captive witch's dabblings in the spirit world tend toward the draining of glasses rather than using them to contact the dead, and that this ritual could involve heartfelt invocations to the "Porcelain God"... but I digress. Although I suppose the point above may possibly be related to what I'm about to say. (The fact that I have managed to stay at university for three years is largely due to the fact that I'm very good at using words to convince the marker that my essay is actually related to the question.)
This article will attempt to address the query "What makes a witch?"
In fairy tales it was oh so easy, the witch was the one with the pointy hat who had obviously found something very amusing, as she was cackling a great deal. Oh yes, and she had warts. In his children's book, The Witches, Roald Dahl warned children that modern witches did not conform to the cultural stereotype and were therefore nigh impossible to spot. But they do have certain telltale features, such as large nostrils, blue spit and a disturbing lack of toes and hair. So that will make it easy at the next moot I go to then, I'll know who I'm looking for. Right? Erm, maybe not. Organisations such as the CoA and the Pagan Fed keep trying to calm the media circus that is stirred up by the mention of witchcraft with assurances that witches are "normal people", (though I have to point out that very few people I meet in everyday life are "normal" and I certainly don't consider myself to be one of them!) Which would mean that outwardly, we are the same as everyone else. With this in mind, I was rather apprehensive about my recent trip to Witchfest. How would I know when I got to the hotel if there were any witches already there? Should I put on my pentacle and wait for someone to approach me? Would Mr B's "Pagan Radar" serve me well? But I needn't have worried. Yes, we are physically similar to everyone else; but we compensate for this with a love of occult jewellery to rival Magrat Garlick! I suppose I shouldn't have started this with a question, as anyone with an ounce of sense knows that power and witchiness do not come from the accessories, but the witch. I think the question that I really should have asked is, "Why do a vast number of witches invest large sums of money in expensive tools, jewellery and clothing when they make no difference to our magic whatsoever?" But the thing is, I can answer that question in one sentence. Because these are nice things.
I’ve read in several places that some people hold the belief that having all these nice things is actually detrimental to magic, which at first sounds a little daft, because if these things can’t add to the magic, then surely they can’t detract from it. However, I can see a little sense in it. Picture the scene, you are organising a lovely romantic meal for your partner. You get lots of scented candles to dot around the room to create ambience. You buy a lovely swanky tablecloth to make the table look just fab, and you dress yourself up and look amazing. Your partner arrives and you realise you've forgotten to cook dinner.
With this in mind, I began to look at the people around me at Witchfest. I looked at the people who hadn't put on velvet dresses and pentacles the size of VW camper van badges. I mused; "Are these people better witches than me then, because they don't have to get dressed up?" Because I think that is really what this was supposed to be about. There are no definitive trappings of a witch, because no two people are the same, witch or not. "Witchy" clothing does not make a witch, and likewise not having it does not make a better witch.
I'll end on a saying that I think came from Kate West, I can't quote it verbatim but the gist was that in terms of attainment, there are no good or bad witches, just those that are good and those who are working towards becoming good. I believe that it is not what you have or what you do that makes you good, but who you are.