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Witchwater

Folklore
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Water infused with magical properties, used for cleansing, cursing, or divination, often drawn from sacred springs or at midnight.

Detailed Definition
Witchwater in poetry symbolizes fluidity as power—the medium of memory, cleansing, and transformation. It appears in Celtic and feminist verse as the river that remembers every name, every tear, every curse—where to drink is to become what was drowned.
Example
Example in poetry:
In Scottish ballads, witchwater is the stream that flows backward at midnight: “Drink not of the witchwater, child”; in Yeats’ “The Celtic Twilight,” the witchwater is the well that holds the memory of the dead; in Keats’ “Lamia,” the witchwater is the spring that turns lovers to stone; in Thomas Hardy’s “The Darkling Thrush,” the witchwater is the frozen stream that sings of endings; in Emily Dickinson’s “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,” the witchwater is the tide that pulls the soul under; in Sylvia Plath’s “The Applicant,” the witchwater is the liquid that washes away identity.
Additional Notes
Witchwater is water infused with magical properties, used for cleansing, cursing, or divination, often drawn from sacred springs or graves. In folklore, it remembers every soul that touched it. In poetry, it symbolizes memory, purification, and the flow of time. Poets use it to explore grief, renewal, and the way water carries what is lost.
Also Known As
Water of Witches Enchanted Water
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