9 minutes read time.
There is this unique space where European folk traditional witchcraft meets Jewish magic.
Let’s explore some areas where there is shared lore and perhaps a similar current of magic between European folk magic and Jewish witchcraft.
Table of Contents
- What is Traditional Witchcraft?
- What does Jewish magic have to do with Traditional Witchcraft?
- How Magic Entered the World: The Nephilim
- The Demon Lilith and The Angel Azazel
- A Crossroads of Traditional Witchcraft and Jewish Witchcraft
- Sources
What is Traditional Witchcraft?
Traditional Witchcraft is a broad term for some contemporary witches who practice European folkloric magic and witchcraft traditions. Many of these practices are also inspired by Neo-pagan traditions such as Reclaiming and Western Occultism.
Traditional witchcraft has a focus on accessing the power of local and seasonal land magic, sometimes working with faeries, the dead, European folk magic, and sometimes spirits that are termed devils or genii loci.
Traditional Witchcraft has solo and coven practitioners, some initiatory lineages, a vibrant plant and herbal heritage, and a visionary, ecstatic or shamanic dimension to the practices. It’s found alongside terms like the Crooked Path, the Left Hand Path, Modern Traditional witchcraft, folkloric witchcraft, witchery, and the Poison Path.
What is Jewish Magic?
Jewish mystical practices span centuries and cover a wide region. Magic has always been a part of Judaism as it was born from an area of the ancient world where magic was ingrained in the everyday landscape. Ancient Canaan, Egypt, and Mesopotamia were steeped in the magical.
Jewish magic is a living tradition that moves where the Jewish people move. As someone who comes from this diasporic lineage, I recognize the traditions of my people as being where I am. Local traditions have blended with Jewish mysticism and traditions wherever we are, creating a rich matrix of practices all over the world.
Jewish magic will look different depending on who is practicing it. It can rely on Jewish folklore and practices to ward off the evil eye as much as Jewish Kabbalah using practices found in texts like the Sefer Yetzirah (book of creation) and the Zohar (book of splendor).
Kabbalistic texts contain wisdom on cosmology, meditation, breath and dream work, and magic for traveling along different spiritual planes, meeting angels, and communing with the Divine.
What does Jewish magic have to do with Traditional Witchcraft?
A large portion of Western Esotericism has drawn inspiration from Jewish mysticism (as well as Christian mysticism). Jewish witchcraft merges with the mystery traditions developed in Europe throughout the middle ages and beyond including with modern Traditional Witchcraft.
Historian Carlo Ginzburg in his book Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath, goes into detail on the rampant antisemitism in Europe at the time and how this contributed to Jewish people being persecuted for doing ‘witchcraft’ (1). Jewish religious practices interpreted as magic was really a conflation of Judaism and witchcraft by outsiders looking in.
At the same time, Jewish spiritual practices were ‘othered’ or taboo in Europe and took on an element of being more ‘magical’ or charged up with power as a result.
This is one of the contributing factors as to why we find Jewish magic and lore in the magical traditions of Western Occultism. Other reasons are that as pagans were converting to Christianity, pagan beliefs were organically being blended with Christian and Jewish mysticism and religious beliefs.
How Magic Entered the World: The Nephilim
One area where we can see Jewish mystical tradition and Traditional Witchcraft overlap is in the stories of how magic entered the world. In the Book of Genesis it says,
“The nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also after that, when the benei ha-elohim (son’s of God) came to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; these were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.“
Some have interpreted the Nephilim to be giants, fallen angels, or some other powerful spirits. This concept of fallen angels or the Nephilim is expanded on in the Book of Enoch (not canon in Judaism).
In this text it says,
“The angels taught the daughters of men incantations, exorcisms, and the cutting of roots, and revealed to them healing plants.”
The telling of Fallen Angels bringing magic to humans shares similar origin stories of how humans obtained magic in the Faerie faith and folk traditions from Europe, especially from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. These stories tell of spirits falling to Earth (perhaps akin to fallen angels) and bringing with them their magical powers (2).
The Demon Lilith and The Angel Azazel
Another area of overlap between traditions is in figures from Jewish lore including Lilith, Azazel, and Tubal Cain, which are prominent entities in many contemporary traditional witchcraft lineages. Let’s explore some of these entities starting with Azazel.
The Angel Azazel
In traditional witchcraft there is deep lore around the Hidden Witch Father or Horned God coming to witches as a Lucifer, a being of light and illuminator of the mysteries.
Another dimension to the story of this horned-god being is referenced in the figure of the fallen angel Azazel, who also shares his magical knowledge with humans (3).
In the Book of Enoch 10:8 it says,
“The whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.”
Although it is interpreted that Azazel was bringing ‘sin’ into the world, what if we were to actually read this as Azazel sharing forbidden knowledge or mystical wisdom in the form of magic?
It is a similar motif to the Serpent guiding Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden as an initiation into Divine knowledge.
In Genesis 3:4-5, it says,
“And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.”
These stories of Azazel and the Serpent demonstrate that certain spirits take an interest in humans, revealing to us occult or secret knowledge, giving us access to our ‘cunning fire’, our power as witches.
Lilith, the Queen of Demons
Another figure, Lilith is found in both Judaism and traditional witchcraft. While she is not likely to be called upon in Jewish practices, there is a strand of Jewish feminism and goddess worship that has reclaimed her (4). In general, Jewish magic takes measures to protect against Lilith.
An excellent podcast called The Hidden Djinn talks about Lilith as a figure that matches up with the Jinn from Arab lore. In Jewish tradition, Lilith falls into the category of being a sheydim, which are betwixt beings sometimes called demons and sometimes called jinn.
When it comes to traditional witchcraft though, Lilith holds a much different place. She is worked with in some branches of the craft as a goddess or guide to witches.
The Subversive Guides of Witches
Who gets to have magic?
For centuries, clear distinctions have been imposed on us around who gets to have access to spiritual knowledge. Spiritual power (magic) is often reserved for those operating within approved and dominant religious systems.
For magic to be shared with witches by these ‘maligned’ beings, it lends credence to the subversive spirit that The Witch archetype represents.
When folk witches obtain power with the support and encouragement of these beings who are disruptive to the dominant paradigm, we are undermining the power structures in play.
Regardless of how many times we hear the sentiment ‘there is no devil in the craft’, witchcraft does have a history of carrying the ‘outcast’ narrative in which local land spirits, deities, giants, and devils were driven deeper underground with the rise of Christianity.
A Crossroads of Traditional Witchcraft and Jewish Witchcraft
Magic from the Stars
While there is a history of antisemitism that is a large part of the evolution of European occultism and witchcraft, I think there are some bits of magic we Jewish witches can still relate to from traditional witchcraft.
We know that western occultism has been heavily influenced by Jewish and Christian mysticism. In bringing the magic of both my European and Jewish ancestors together in my practice, I have found that discernment, curiosity, and openness has helped be braid the various threads of my ancestral magics together.
For one, there is a current of power that includes spirits from a celestial elsewhere, whether described as angel or Faerie in origin.
These beings are seen as helping humans develop in their magical skills and transferring magical power to us. As a spirit worker, these stories give me a creative narrative to connect my magic with.
I like to speculate how the Faeries and other land spirits of Europe can have a similar agenda to the spirits and entities housed in the Jewish traditions.
This open-minded perspective helps me expand my vision of the complexities of the spirit realm. As Jewish mysticism and European folk magic continue to inspire new generations of witches, these crossroads remind us that ancestral magic is never lost.
I am curious if there are others out there practicing Jewish witchcraft alongside some traditional witchcraft elements and what your practices look like? I invite you to share in the comments.
Sources
- Ginzburg, Carlo. Ecstasies : Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. Chicago, University Of Chicago Press, 2004.
- Morgan, Lee. Sounds of Infinity. The Witches’ Almanac, 5 Aug. 2019.
- Jackson, Nigel. Masks of Misrule : The Horned God & His Cult in Europe. Chieveley, Capall Bann Publishing, 1996.
- Barbara Black Koltuv. The Book of Lilith. Nicolas-Hays, Inc., 15 Jan. 1986.
- Hammer, Jill. Return to the Place: The Magic, Meditation, and Mystery of the Sefer Yetzirah. 7 Sept. 2020.
- Frankiel, Tamar, and Judy Greenfield. Entering the Temple of Dreams. Turner Publishing Company, 10 Aug. 2012.
- Ahuvia, Mika. On My Right Michael, on My Left Gabriel : Angels in Ancient Jewish Culture. Oakland, California, University Of California Press, 2021.
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