Witchcraft

Witchcraft is a practice of magic used by Witches that encompasses many different types of activities including astrology, divination, spell casting and spirit communication. It includes the practices of many cultures, nations and religions as well as many books and writings from ancient times. Depending upon the individual, some witches practice their power by certain belief systems, such as Shamanism, Voodoo, Santería, Wicca, or any number of other magical practices from countries and cultures all around the world. While most witches appear as kind and selfless humans who use their powers to maintain balance within the world, it has been proven by multiple characters that some witches are independent thinkers who may go against the Balance of Nature by practicing their powers for dark and sinister deeds.

Dark Magic
Dark Magic (also coined "Black Magic") is a powerful form of sorcery that draws on malevolent powers and may be used for negative purposes (e.g. to cause destruction or misfortune, to injure or kill, or for the profit of oneself rather than for the benefit of others). In popular usage, the term "dark magic" is often used to describe any form of sorcery that is used against the Balance of Nature.

Sacrificial Magic
Sacrificial Magic can be a powerful form of sorcery, though is highly dependent upon the ritualistic sacrifices of natural and supernatural beings. Similar to Expression, this form of sorcery can draw upon the energy, in various forms, from any supernatural creature that is sacrificed. According to the werewolf Katherine Pierce, Sacrificial Magic is but one of the many branches of witchcraft that is popularly practiced by many of the witches in Los Angeles.

Traditional Magic
Traditional Magic is one of the oldest and purest forms of sorcery inherent to the Earth and the forces of Nature. Traditional Magic is undoubtedly the most popular form of witchcraft known-to-man, however it is also the most exhausting. This is mainly due to the fact whenever a witch uses this power they must exert their own energy, causing them to experience symptoms of dizziness, fatigue, and minor nosebleeds.

Elemental Magic
Elemental Magic is a magical practice that involves the utilization of the four alchemical elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. A witch with enough magical power can interconnect Elemental Magic within their rituals and spells to draw on their unique properties.

Voodoo
Voodoo is a very old magical practice, that is also a religion, used by a number of witches. Voodoo is described as a set of spiritual folkways which originated from the traditions of the African diaspora. It is a cultural form of the Afro-American religions which developed within the French, Spanish and Creole population of the U.S. state of Louisiana.

Representational Magic
Representational Magic is a magical practice which use representative objects to manipulate reality. Its origins remain unknown however, they are shown to have existed at least as far back as 10th Century A.D.

Spell Casting
One of the main components of witchcraft is the ability of witches to cast spells. Spell Casting is a power of Witches to work magic through the recitation of incantations. This allows users to magically alter reality to a wide number of effects or to evoke forces to change their surroundings. Though this is an ability possessed by all witches, it can also be achieved through thoughts, gestures and rituals, although generally spoken.

Description
Spells are capable of producing a wide variety of effects, both harmful and helpful. They can produce physical or chemical changes in a person or object. They can also have profound mental effects such as altering memory, manipulating emotions, or causing magical compulsion (such as forcing someone to speak truthfully).

Spells can manipulate other kinds of magic, such as binding (preventing the use of) a witch's powers, transferring powers between individuals or objects, breaking magical barriers, lifting or casting curses, protection from harm and range from healing to resurrecting the dead. Some spells require more than one witch to make them work in order to increase the amount of magic and therefore potential power available for the spell.

The capabilities of spell casting are nearly limitless, though it depends on the type of magic being invoked, the proficiency of the witch and the spell being cast. A great majority of spells contain a spoken component, notably known as an incantation. An incantation is written and recited as a verse that can vary widely in length from a single word, to a short phrase, to a long verse repeated to completion.

Spells and Rituals
One of the defining characteristics of a witch is their ability to cast spells; a "spell" typically being the word used to signify the means employed to carry out a magical action. A spell could consist of a ritual action, a set of words, a verse, or any combination of these. For reasons unknown, the majority of spells used by practitioners of Traditional Magic are spoken in an ancient language very similar to Latin, while the ancient witches Esther and Christopher Chamberlain performed spells using a yet to be identified ancient magic in Old Norse, similar to the modern-day Norwegian, Icelandic, Germanic, Danish, Scandinavian and Swedish languages.

Trivia

 * Along with Spell Casting, Channeling, is yet another basic characteristic of a witch's power.
 * Some spells can replicate the effects of magical powers such as Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis or Pain Infliction though they may also be the result of non-verbal spells or simply spells that help focus these powers.
 * Spells and rituals are recorded in Grimoires by witches in order to gather information and improve their work.
 * A witch has access to an inner source of power that gives them the required amount of energy to perform a spell.
 * According to Malachai Chamberlain, "all witchcraft was rooted in psychic energy".
 * A witch can only ever channel so much power. Going beyond that limit risks the witch from disintegrating from the inside out.