There is a misconception with regards to the word “ witch”. People seem to think that a witch is a female only and that a warlock is the male counterpart this is wrong.
A witch is female and male. A warlock is an Americanism and actually means traitor.
A witch means actually the wise one, the one with the knowledge. This knowledge was amiably of herbs and cures for ailments.

Welsh witches are fond of turning themselves into hares, but only the women know the trick, and this knowledge gets handed down from mother to daughter. A legend has it that the hare (welsh witch) runs so fast that it can only be caught by a coal black greyhound without a single white hair.
It is believed that witches cannot enter your house if you have a broom lying across the threshold. Two broomsticks laid crosswise will stop a witch passing along a road or up your garden path.

Stand a bowl or a vase made of blackboy wood in a prominent position, say on a window ledge. No witch will come near it. It will also help to keep a length of four by two handy.

Holly full of red berries when hung over the front door will protect the house against witches. Prickly holly is supposed to be lucky for men while variegated holly is lucky for women. Witches hate ivy, this is the reason why in the past so many houses had ivy growing up the walls of their houses.

Stonecrop and houseleek, salt, carraway seeds, sloe berries and flaxweed are all excellent witch repellents. Goose feet, tails of snakes and the gall of swine dried and mixed with oil are also good repellents.

If you see a witch coming towards your house, grab a pair of scissors opens them up to form a cross and places the scissors on the doorstep. If the witch gets through the window place the scissors near the window under a cushion or a mat.

To keep a witch occupied:
Get hold of a glass stick, a hollow one. Fill the stick with hundreds and thousands and up a stopper on it. Now when the witch comes into the house, she is immediately attracted to the nice colours of the sweets. She is determined to count the number of hundreds and thousands. But she has to complete the counting by early morning. And you know this will take her quite a while to count, so she is occupied and has no time for any mischief making. In the morning take the stick outside and wipe away any negative vibrations left on the stick.

To keep spirits away:
Write on four pieces of parchment the following: “ thy evil and thy sorcery have not the power to injure me. Begone, begone!”
Sarah Kulkens©