Besides obvious decorations like pentacle necklaces, are there certain ways witches or magicians dress, words they say or gestures to identify one another? I read in Scott Cunningham's book that at pagan festivals they make a horns gesture (like Ronnie James Dio) or a crescent moon with their thumb and pointer finger held in the air.
Some symbols are not only for practitioners but also those related to the surrounding faiths. Issues come when people do not choose to wear them to stay discreet, while others wear them for fashion, or to appear unique.
Re: Identifying witches By: Brysing Moderator / Adept
Post # 3 Dec 07, 2015
Actually we don't look any different from anybody else. I have never worn any ornaments. But, the first time I entered the magic shop near where I live, the owner of the shop knew.I asked her how she could tell that I was a witch, she said, "It's in your eyes! I knew as soon as you came into the shop.".
There are a few Witches out there who wear their practice on them, necklaces, rings, clothes etc. Then there are others who dress like a Hippie and practice witchcraft. And then there are a few of us who don't wear our practice outwards, some people claim its the look in the eyes, or the aura or whatever. Most of the time its cold calling, making a guess.
There is no definitive way to tell if another person is a Witch, those some people just have a knack for figuring out someone.
Words? Generally some will say things like 'Blessed be' 'merry meet' etc very stereotypical 'Wiccan' addressing (Which is not always true), as a few youtubers I have watched state that this is the way for Witches to interact with the world, which is not true.
Never assume someone is a witch, a few people you can tell easily, other times some people just like wearing pentacles on their persons etc. And some people you could never tell.
WeatherWax has a point, I have a cousin who loves Supernatural so she wears a pentacle but she doesn't practice. I also had a co-worker who is a devout Christian who wore a tree of life necklace without knowing what it was.
Some pagans might wear black robes [see Laurie Cabot] crystals or various pagan symbols, but it isn't a common thing. Wiccans might say to each other 'Merry Meet' and 'Blessed Be' But again, it isn't commonplace. [I'll say it at my local occult shop but I've never greeted a stranger off the street with it]
I wouldn't go around looking for other pagans, but if you have a hunch you could just ask. There's also pagan pride days and pagan conventions you could go to if you want to meet other pagans. There might even be a local coven you could meet with. [Theres a website that could help but be careful meeting people offline]
You can sometimes tell who is a witch by a certain glow they give off in their personality which I see as calm and nurturing, like a monk in some ways.
Like Brysing mentioned, you can see it in the eyes, but usually I get a physical feeling of heightened energy when they enter the room that can give me goosebumps. I don't have to be looking at them to know one is nearby. But sometimes that can be deceiving because there are many people out there that are naturally talented and do not purposely practice, but they will still give off the same glow of someone that considers themselves a witch or magician.
