What Are Names of Famous Witches?

Depending upon what your view of a "witch" is, you might have some of your own suggestions to make. However, here are names of people who are/were generally accepted as witches:

Weird Sisters (from Macbeth)
Hecate
Starhawk
Gavin Bone
Merlin

Weird Sisters (from Macbeth)

Those individuals who are familiar with Shakespeare's Macbeth most likely remember the "Weird Sisters." Although they are not named - most likely due to the mysterious aura surrounding them - they have a very key role in this story.

There are different sources to which the emergence of the three witches has been attributed; however, it is not 100% certain where they came from. What we do know though, is that a ban was imposed upon witches nine years before this masterpiece came out. Therefore, we can truly see the darkness that Shakespeare wanted to infuse.

Hecate

Although the weird sisters are not named in MacBeth, the one who seems to lead them - Hecate - is mentioned. There is much more history, or at least known history, to her character than to the other witches in the play.

Hecate is the name of a Greco-Roman goddess. In her days as a goddess, she was associated with magic and crossroads, making her a suitable persona for the role created by Shakespeare.

Starhawk

Let's bring our study a little bit more up to the present. We said that these witches are not "real," but we left you with a little bit of a teaser about that - and for good reason too. Starhawk is a self-proclaimed witch and pagan, living in the United States today. During the 1970s, she worked to revive the pagan and god/goddess religions in the country. She travels today, often making speeches and talking with different types of professionals about how to infuse these movements into society.

Gavin Bone

Another self proclaimed witch who is alive and practicing today is Gavin Bone. He was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire in 1964. At the age of 22, he was initiated into the Ray Buckland Seax Wica Tradition of Wicca. In 1993, he entered into a group marriage with Stewart Farrar and Jane Farrar. Stewart passed away several years later, but Bone and Farrar continue their marriage life together today, as well as their work in spreading the ideas of Wicca and paganism.

Merlin

Let's lighten up our discussion a little bit now. Most people have heard of Merlin in some capacity or another. He was a composite figure, drawn from a variety of sources, who was said to have acted as an advisor to King Arthur. He is one of the most well known witches, since his image has been used over and over again in various forms of pop culture.

Names of Other Famous Witches

There are so many other witches throughout history that we could not give biographies of them all. Here are a few of the more famous witches in history:

Witch of Endor - A woman in the Bible who called up the ghost of the prophet Samuel
Simon Magus - A sorcerer in the Bible who could levitate
Baba Yaga - A female witch from Russian folklore
Abramelin the Mage - An Egyptian sage who taught a system of magic
Edward Kelley - A lawyer-turned spirit medium from the 16th century who had a crystal ball and could change base metals into gold
Tamsin Blight - A woman of early 19th century England who could remove curses and conjure spells.
Margaret Murray - A famous British anthropologist and Egyptologist who was seen as an expert in the history of witchcraft.
Gerald Gardner - An English Wiccan who is often called the father of Wicca.
Dion Fortune - A British occultist and author in the early 20th century
Eleanor Bone - An English witch who is often called the "Matriarch of British Witchcraft"
Monique Wilson - A High Priestess of Gerald Gardner. The Queen of the Witches.
Silver RavenWolf - An elder of Wicca and a controversial author about Wicca.

Enjoy your study of witches of the past and present!