Dreaming of a Witch

What does it mean to dream about a witch?

Few dream figures carry as much fear and fascination as the witch: dreaming of one describes a power you fear, cannot make sense of, or have pushed down. Since the fairy tales, the witch has been a figure who lives by her own rules, frightening and fascinating at once with her knowledge and power. Sometimes she stands for ill will, envy and trickery; sometimes for a suppressed feminine strength, intuition and independence. The dream witch gives a face to a person you feel you cannot control, a jealousy, or the hard, strong side of yourself you have not yet accepted. What she held matters too: a wand or broom points to power, a cauldron to confusion, a handful of herbs to the knowledge of healing.

Notice how the witch treated you and how you felt. A witch who chased or frightened you points to a confrontation you are running from; one who guided or helped you points to wisdom inside you. If her face was familiar, the dream brings up a feeling that has been building in you about that person, perhaps an unease you have not voiced.

Being chased by a witch, spells and other common witch dreams

Being chased by a witch

A witch coming after you describes a confrontation, a fear or a person who unsettles you, and how hard you are working to avoid it. Did you tire as you ran, or hide? The dream shows how much this fear is draining you. If you stopped, turned round and the witch shrank, the fear loses its power once you face it.

A witch casting a spell

A witch casting a spell on you shows a feeling that a person or situation has you under its influence, pulling you somewhere you do not want to go. Resisting the spell shows you discovering your own willpower. Falling under it shows you feel carried away in a relationship or a habit.

Being a witch yourself

Seeing yourself as a witch shows a wish for a suppressed strength, anger or independence to come out. If the power felt good, you are ready to claim your own voice and intuition. If you frightened yourself, you do not yet know how to use this strong side of you.

A witch on a broomstick

A witch flying across the sky on her broom describes freedom, crossing limits and defying rules. If she filled you with admiration, there is an area of life where you want more freedom. If she swooped down on you, that freedom feels like a threat in a situation you are living through.

An old witch

A wrinkled old witch is an image of experience and hidden knowledge, and also of a fear of ageing or of authority. If she told you something, the voice of experience is speaking inside you, and her words are worth remembering. If she wanted to harm you, tension with an older, controlling figure is spilling into the dream.

A good witch

A kind witch who helps you or solves a problem describes trusting your intuition and your power to heal. If she gave you a potion or a herb, you are finding a way to look after and mend yourself. The dream may also bring to mind a wise woman who supports you.

Talking to a witch

Talking with a witch shows you ready to open a dialogue with a side of yourself that is feared or judged. A calm conversation shows you making peace with it. If she told you a secret, you are close to learning a truth about yourself you have not accepted yet.

Defeating a witch

Overcoming a witch shows you freeing yourself from the influence of a person, a situation or a thought that has frightened you for a long time. An easy fight means your fear was bigger than the real threat. Winning after a hard struggle shows you earning your freedom through effort.

A witch and a black cat

A black cat beside a witch shows intuition, mystery and independence appearing together. If the cat came to you, it is a time to trust your instincts. If it ran from you, you are ignoring your gut about something.

Inside a witch’s house

Stepping into a witch’s cottage deep in the woods shows you entering an unexplored, slightly eerie but intriguing corner of your inner world. A warm house full of herbs holds knowledge that is good for you. A dark, threatening one asks you to tread carefully in a new area you have entered.

The emotional and psychological meaning of witch dreams

The parts of ourselves we find hard to accept, what Jung called the shadow, often appear in dreams as frightening figures, and the witch is one of them. She carries everything society has deemed improper: anger, independence, sexuality, intuition, power that cannot be controlled. The dream witch shows which of these you are suppressing in yourself, or watching fearfully in someone else.

Your feeling towards her shows where you stand in that encounter:

• Fear shows you still see this power as a threat.
• Curiosity or admiration show you coming closer to claiming the independent, strong side of yourself.
• Anger says you need to set a boundary with someone in your life.
• Pity or understanding for the witch show you beginning to look kindly at a part of yourself you shut out for a long time; that is the first step in making peace with the shadow.

Write down the witch’s strongest trait in a single word, then think about where a small, everyday version of that trait could serve you.

Witches in folk tradition and history

A witch, in Turkish folk reading, stands for trickery, gossip, someone with bad intentions and envy in your surroundings. Driving a witch away or defeating her is read as overcoming an opponent, and escaping from one as keeping clear of a trouble.

The word lives on in everyday Turkish: a place seething with gossip and rivalry is a “witch’s cauldron”, and condemning a whole group at once is a “witch hunt”. That phrase comes from real history, from the trials in which thousands of people across Europe were prosecuted for witchcraft between the 15th and 17th centuries. In Anatolia, meanwhile, the kocakarı, the old and knowing women of a village, were known for their knowledge of healing herbs, and the idiom “kocakarı ilacı”, an old wives’ remedy, keeps that memory. In the Grimms’ Hansel and Gretel the witch’s gingerbread house stands for one of childhood’s oldest fears, a trap that looks sweet. Slavic tales have their own ambiguous witch, Baba Yaga, who sometimes devours travellers and sometimes helps the brave. The witch carries both faces: a feared power and a hidden knowledge.

Tarot and Katina cards linked to witch dreams

The Queen of Wands is the card of a confident, intuitive and passionate woman. She sits on a throne carved with lions in the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, a wand in one hand and a sunflower in the other, with a black cat sitting at her feet. The card describes a feminine power that is creative and independent rather than frightening; the cat at her feet shows a woman at ease with her intuition. In a dream where you were the witch, she reminds you to carry that power with warmth rather than fear.

Ariman in Katina is the card of the desire and will that set a person in motion. Coming together with a witch dream, it suggests that the power you fear is fed less by ill will than by a want you have held back.

The Shadow Work spread in the Larisa app opens with the “Main shadow theme” position, and that is where the side of you the dream witch gave a voice to first shows itself.