Difference between a Mage, a Warlock and a Sorcerer?

[Blu]

Can anybody tell me whats the difference between a Mage, a Warlock and a Sorcerer is?

A year ago I ask the priestesses in a email what the can do, but they said they will make post about it in the forum what never happend.
Did anyone of you have a Mage or a Warlock or a Sorcerer as a companion?

I know what a Warlock is in World of Warcraft.
He summons and controls demons, but I doubt that this is what the priestesses define as such.
A demon who summons demons.

[Red6joker]

Coulda sworn this was answered already but couldn't find it using the search function.

From what I know mages and sorcerers are pretty similar but warlocks are more involved with baneful magicks and cures.

That's about as far as my knowledge goes in that regards. I've seen people use them interchangeably implying they mean the same thing. Honestly I think the meaning depends on the person.

[Kharybdis]

I agree with Red!

I don't know entirely how S&S uses the terms for their conjures, but I do know many people use them interchangeably.

My personal preference is as follows:

Mage: General magician, literally all magics are their specialty under their purview, and they are skilled with many different forms of magic and can assist with a wide variety of spells. However, they tend to have less "mastery" over any specific type of magic.

Sorcerer: Magician that works with high ritual and is very firmly about using their personal power to change and influence the world for their benefit (and the benefit of their friends). Wheels and deals with spirits, making pacts to great effect. Includes some chaos magic, as well.

Warlock: As Red said, tends to focus on baneful magics, usually with the help of particularly dark spirits. Blood magic, specifically used for cursing. I also see a lot of "folk" magic you might see from witches used by warlocks, but, again, they tend to be of the baneful variety.

Again, these are my personal definitions! YMMV.

[User1265455]

A mage is someone who practices ceremonial high magic. Wizard and Mage seem to be interchangeable, but Wizard has fallen out of favor because Wizard typically denotes a ceremonial advisory position, such as in a court. Mage typically ONLY refers to ceremonial practitioners of western magickal traditions.

The word warlock derives from a saxon word meaning Oathbreaker. So, pretty much anyone who does magickal work and fails to keep their pacts and promises is a Warlock, whether they're practicing LHP or RHP mystical magickal traditions.

A sorcerer is someone who works with demons. A mage can be a sorcerer, if their practice is based around the summoning and controlling/partnering of demons in order to achieve magickal results. The people here who work with demons regularly, though we do NOT practice methods of control, are all sorcerers.

[VioletShirokuma]

I am going to quote from a book. It's "Wicca: What's the Real Deal?" by Dayna Winters.

I'll only answer the part about the whole Warlock definition since I feel this gives a general meaning:

"The word 'war' comes from the Old French 'werr' meaning fury, and 'werran' meaning to create chaos and disorder. The word 'lock' originates from the Old English loga meaning 'liar.' The word warlock stems from the Old English 'waeloga' meaning 'traitor,' the Old Saxon 'warlogo,' latter etymology suggests that a warlock is someone who acts vengefully, creates disorder or chaos, uses deceit in Magickal practices, and is one who is 'a traitor' of a particular faith. Early Christians would identify all male witches as warlocks because they believed them to be traitors of the Christian faith."

I have a human warlock spirit in my keep actually and he is one of the most active strongest ones in my spirit family and I think he would agree partially to the definition, mine is kind of "vengeful" but at the same time I feel he wouldn't completely agree. He is very 'grey arts' and isn't afraid to cast out to people he feels does me wrong or would cross him.

As for S&S I wouldn't know because they center on demon companions so I cannot attest for something like a 'demon warlock' but this is my experience, with one in my keep.

[Dragonoake]

A few writers have suggested that the word Warlock derives from the Old Norse word varðlokkur, which can be translated as “caller of spirits”, or more literally as "spirit song"

This, in turn, suggests a connection with the practice of Seiðr, a form of Norse Shamanism. although it appears to have been seldom practiced by men (Odin was a notable exception) in period