FAQ
What is a Witchcamp?
WitchCamps are magical intensives in the Reclaiming Witchcraft Tradition offered to people of all genders at any level of magical experience. WitchCamps involve classes (called paths), daily rituals exploring a common theme/story/intention throughout camp, affinity groups for integration, and optional offerings from campers which range in a variety of topics.
Typically, newcomers can learn the basic skills of magic and ritual, working with the elements, movement, sound, and the mythological and historical frameworks of witchcraft. Advanced paths offer the chance to apply the tools of ritual to personal healing and empowerment, or a focus of taking the Craft out into the world, creating public ritual, ongoing groups and healing issues surrounding leadership and power.
To read more about witchcamps, please visit the WitchCamp Council website. To read more about the Reclaiming tradition, please visit the Reclaiming Collective’s wordpress here.
Who are the teachers?
Check out our teachers here, read about the Path offerings here, and read about our ritual arc team here!
How might a day at WorldWide WitchCamp look?
A typical day at camp will include 3 hours of “Path” (what we call classes), an affinity group space, an all-camp ritual, and potentially attending optional offerings from other campers. In-between these things, we will also have an open “tea room” Zoom link and open rooms in our Discord server for folks to connect, chat over a cup of tea, and more. Check out our schedule to see what the timings will look like for you during camp.
What are “Paths” and “Affinity groups”?
“Path” is a fancy name for “class.” There are three days of Path, and we ask you attend the same path each day, if possible. There are three different Path time slots (labeled by color - Gold, Cobalt, or Scarlet) to choose from. In theory, you could take more than one Path in different time slots, depending on your time zone.
Affinity groups are spaces where campers can come together and process what’s coming up for them. They are co-shared by the campers present, without a designated facilitator. We will share some guides on how to hold this space for each other in our camper welcome information. Some affinity groups will be identity-based, such as a BIPOC affinity group, transgender/nonbinary affinity group, chronic illness & disability affinity group, or something else. Some affinity groups will occur in languages other than English. You can request an identity-specific or language-specific affinity group in your registration form.
How will we do magic online?
Magic can be quite powerful, potent, and accessible online! Most rituals will involve grounding, circle casting, trance, and some sort of magical working or song. Our priestexes and teachers are adept at teaching and guiding magic online and will guide campers through the experience, announcing ahead of time if any materials are needed, and instructing step-by-step ways to participate from your own space with the group. Ideally you will have a quiet, private space to experience camp, where you can speak in breakout rooms, sing along, close your eyes and hum, and otherwise participate in the ways that feel good to you.
How does this work over multiple timezones?
Please see the schedule for reference to offerings in your timezone. WWWC is intended to run basically 24 hours, but with the expectation that folks will attend paths, affinity groups, and rituals that work best for their time zone. The three main rituals offered throughout camp will occur at a centralized time that will work over many time zones. There will be several sets of path (class) offerings that will work well for different time zones (i.e. if you live in the Brasil, there will be a set of paths offered that work well for Latin America & North America, if you live in Europe, you will choose from those path offerings, and so forth).
Will I need to be “tech savvy” to do an online witchcamp? (borrowed from Cloudcatcher)
No. The organisers and teachers will guide you through an online camp experience and are prepared for people who may not consider themselves technically proficient. Lilo is our dedicated tech organiser & with a team of tech witches will address issues and help troubleshoot problems if they arise.
We will be meeting over Zoom for our Camp, which requires that you download the app (for free) onto your desktop, laptop, or mobile. Go to https://zoom.us/download and select “Zoom Client for Meetings” to download to your computer.
We will be using emails for general communication in the lead-up to camp and will release a password protected area of the website where registered Campers will access Zoom links, more detailed path information, and more.
What tech requirements will I need for online witchcamp?
A desktop or laptop computer with a basic webcam, microphone & headphones/speakers.
An internet connection.
The Zoom app installed.
A set of headphones.
Your mobile phone may also be able to provide you with all of these. If you are unsure if your computer/laptop/mobile will be able to handle the tech requirements, please reach out to us at worldwidewitchcamp@gmail.com and we will help you.
Who is organizing this?
WorldWide WitchCamp has five volunteer organisers. You can read about them here.
Where will I find the Zoom links, class information, etc. after I register?
A week before camp we will send out Welcome Information to all fully registered campers including Zoom links, a Discord invite, and more! Campers are considered “fully registered” once they’ve completed payment or received a scholarship.
What ages is this camp for? Can people under 18 attend?
While we are not explicitly designing this camp with a younger audience in mind, WorldWide WitchCamp will be open to teens. As we get closer to camp, we may announce some path offerings or optional offerings that will be restricted to 18+, but the majority of camp will be open to anyone who is drawn to this work. If you share a space with other people, or have young children around who are not participating in camp, we ask participants to use ear buds or headphones to respect the privacy of others who may be at WitchCamp.