Terms that come up often enough across traditions to be worth defining plainly, in one place.
Athame
A double-edged ritual knife used to direct energy, not for physical cutting. See Tools.
Banishing
A working aimed at removing or repelling something — an energy, influence, or habit — rather than drawing something in.
Book of Shadows
A personal record of rituals, spells, and correspondences kept by a practitioner.
Casting a circle
Marking out a working space, typically visualized or physically traced, considered set apart from ordinary space for the duration of a ritual.
Coven
An organized group of witches who practice together, most associated with Wiccan and other initiatory traditions.
Deosil
Movement in a clockwise, sunwise direction, traditionally used for drawing-in or constructive workings.
Esbat
A ritual gathering tied to the moon, typically the full moon, distinct from the eight solar/seasonal Sabbats.
Familiar
An animal, spirit, or entity believed to assist a practitioner — in folklore, often a companion animal thought to carry supernatural qualities.
Grimoire
A personal or historical book of magical knowledge — spells, correspondences, rituals, and notes — functionally a working manual rather than a text written for others.
Handfasting
A ritual union ceremony, historically a betrothal rite, now used within modern witchcraft largely as a wedding rite.
Invocation / Evocation
Invocation calls a power into the practitioner or the circle; evocation calls a power to appear separately, outside the practitioner.
Poppet
A small figure made to represent a person, used as a focus for a spell directed at that individual.
Sabbat
One of the eight festivals on the Wheel of the Year. See the homepage wheel.
Sigil
A symbol constructed to represent a specific intention, often condensed from the letters of a written statement of will.
Skyclad
Ritual nudity, practiced by some Wiccan lineages, though far from universal across witchcraft traditions.
Solitary
A practitioner who works alone rather than as part of a coven or group.
Warding
A protective working set to guard a person, object, or space on an ongoing basis, rather than a one-time spell.
Widdershins
Movement in a counterclockwise direction, traditionally used for banishing or releasing workings.