Solitary

A witch who practises alone, as most witches do.

A solitary is a witch who practises on her own, without belonging to a coven or any other group. She chooses her own rituals, sets her own pace and answers to nobody for how she works.

In the first decades of modern witchcraft the usual way in was initiation into a coven. That changed in the 1970s and 1980s, when books began to teach the craft to readers working alone; Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner of 1988 is the best known. Today most witches are solitaries, and this app is written for them.

Practising alone has clear advantages: freedom, privacy and a practice that fits your life exactly. What it lacks is someone who notices when you go astray. Reading widely, keeping a Book of Shadows and talking with other witches now and then make up for much of that.

Related: coven, eclectic witchcraft.