Woman Mage Emoji
U+1F9D9 U+200D U+2640 U+FE0F:mage_woman:Skin tonesAbout Woman Mage ๐งโโ๏ธ
Woman Mage () is part of the People & Body group in Unicode. Added in Unicode E5.0. Type on GitHub and Slack to use it. On Discord it's . Click copy above to grab it, paste it anywhere.
Works in iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord, Slack, Instagram, Twitter, Gmail, and every app that supports Unicode. Pick a skin tone above to customize it.
Often associated with fantasy, mage, magic, and 9 more keywords.
Meaning varies across cultures, see cultural notes below.
Scroll down for the full story: meaning, trends, combos, and more.
How it looks
What does it mean?
A woman in a pointed hat and robes, wielding magical powers. She's a witch, sorceress, enchantress, or mage, depending on which fantasy tradition you're drawing from. The emoji was part of a complete fantasy roster added in Emoji 5.0 (2017), which also included ๐ง Vampire, ๐ง Elf, ๐ง Zombie, ๐ง Fairy, ๐ง Genie, and ๐ง Merperson.
In texting, ๐งโโ๏ธ has two main registers. The literal one: fantasy content, gaming (D&D, WoW, Final Fantasy), Harry Potter fandom, and any magical or mystical topic. The cultural one: WitchTok and modern witchcraft. The #WitchTok hashtag on TikTok has accumulated 69 billion views, making it one of the fastest-growing spiritual communities online. For practitioners of Wicca, neo-paganism, and modern witchcraft, ๐งโโ๏ธ is an identity emoji.
There's also the everyday-magic usage: "Pulled that off like magic ๐งโโ๏ธ" or "She's a wizard with spreadsheets ๐งโโ๏ธ" using the mage as a metaphor for impressive skill in any domain.
๐งโโ๏ธ lives at the intersection of three massive online communities.
First, fantasy and gaming. D&D has over 50 million players, and the mage/wizard is one of the most popular character classes. Harry Potter fandom, despite cultural controversy around its author, remains enormous. Video game mages (Final Fantasy's Black Mage, World of Warcraft spell casters) have dedicated fan communities. In all of these, ๐งโโ๏ธ is the default female magic-user emoji.
Second, WitchTok and modern spirituality. #WitchTok gained traction in 2019 and exploded during COVID lockdowns as people explored alternative spiritual practices. The community centers on tarot readings, crystal work, herbal remedies, spell casting, and moon rituals. ๐งโโ๏ธ appears in bios, post captions, and emoji spells, a practice where sequences of emojis are shared as digital incantations.
Third, Halloween. ๐งโโ๏ธ is a seasonal emoji that surges every October alongside ๐, ๐ป, and ๐ฆ. Witch costumes are consistently among the most popular Halloween choices, and the emoji anchors costume content.
It represents a female magic-user: witch, sorceress, enchantress, or mage. Used for fantasy content, gaming (D&D, Harry Potter), WitchTok/spiritual identity, Halloween, and as a metaphor for impressive skill. Its meaning depends heavily on the user's community.
What it means from...
From a crush, ๐งโโ๏ธ is usually playful. "You've got me under your spell ๐งโโ๏ธ" is flirty-magical. It could also signal shared interests in fantasy, gaming, or spirituality. If she's into WitchTok, it's identity.
Between partners, ๐งโโ๏ธ is either hobby reference (D&D night, Harry Potter marathon) or affectionate teasing ("How did you know I wanted pizza? You're a ๐งโโ๏ธ"). Partners into spiritual practices use it for moon rituals, tarot, and shared witchy activities.
Among friends, ๐งโโ๏ธ is game nights (D&D mage characters), shared fandom, Halloween costume planning, or complimenting someone who pulled off something seemingly impossible. "How did you fix my code in 5 minutes? ๐งโโ๏ธ"
In family contexts, ๐งโโ๏ธ is usually Halloween or playful. Kids love the witch archetype, and the emoji appears in costume discussions and spooky-season family plans.
At work, ๐งโโ๏ธ means someone performed magic with their skills. "Fixed the database in 10 minutes ๐งโโ๏ธ" is the highest compliment in tech Slack channels. It frames competence as sorcery.
She's either into fantasy/gaming, practices modern witchcraft or spirituality, is referencing Halloween, or using the mage metaphorically for a skill she nailed. The surrounding context and emojis (๐ฎ๐ = spiritual; โ๏ธ๐ฒ = gaming; ๐ = Halloween) clarify the meaning.
Emoji combos
Origin story
The figure of the witch has one of the longest and most complicated histories in human culture. Wise women, healers, and herbalists existed in virtually every pre-modern society. The European witch trials of the 15th-18th centuries (estimates range from 40,000 to 60,000 executions) turned "witch" from a folk healer into a figure of terror. The pointed hat, now the emoji's most recognizable feature, likely originated from anti-Jewish and anti-heretic propaganda in medieval art, where tall pointed hats were used to mark outsiders.
The rehabilitation of the witch began in the 20th century. Gerald Gardner founded Wicca in the 1950s, reframing witchcraft as a nature-based spiritual practice. The feminist movement of the 1960s-70s reclaimed the witch as a symbol of female power: WITCH (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) was an actual feminist activist group formed in 1968. By the 1990s, shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, and films like The Craft, made the teen witch a pop culture archetype.
The emoji arrived in 2017 as part of Emoji 5.0's fantasy batch. Unicode added an entire roster at once: mage (๐ง), elf (๐ง), vampire (๐ง), zombie (๐ง), fairy (๐ง), genie (๐ง), and merperson (๐ง). The mage was designed to cover both wizards and witches, with gendered variants providing the distinction. The fantasy batch recognized that emoji had been almost entirely literal up to that point: people, places, objects. Fantasy characters opened a new expressive dimension.
Then WitchTok happened. What started as a niche hashtag in 2019 became a spiritual movement during the 2020 lockdowns, as millions of people stuck at home explored tarot, crystals, herbalism, and spell work through TikTok. The hashtag has reached 69 billion views. The emoji went from a fantasy character to an identity symbol for a growing spiritual community.
Approved as part of Unicode 10.0 (2017) and added to Emoji 5.0. The base ๐ง Mage is . The female variant ๐งโโ๏ธ is a ZWJ sequence: + + + . Keywords: mage, sorcerer, sorceress, witch, wizard. Part of a batch of seven fantasy characters all released simultaneously in Emoji 5.0. Supports skin tone modifiers.
Design history
- 1486The Malleus Maleficarum is published, fueling European witch trials that kill an estimated 40,000-60,000 people over three centuries
- 1954Gerald Gardner publishes Witchcraft Today, founding modern Wicca as a nature-based spiritual practice
- 1968WITCH (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) formed as a feminist activist group reclaiming the witch archetype
- 2017๐ง Mage and ๐งโโ๏ธ Woman Mage added to Emoji 5.0 alongside six other fantasy charactersโ
- 2019#WitchTok begins gaining traction on TikTok
- 2020COVID lockdowns accelerate WitchTok growth; the hashtag eventually reaches 69 billion views
Around the world
The witch archetype carries wildly different connotations across cultures.
In Western culture, the witch oscillates between evil (Hansel and Gretel's witch, the Wicked Witch of the West) and empowered (Hermione Granger, the Charmed sisters, WitchTok practitioners). The emoji reads as either fantasy villain or feminist icon depending on who's using it.
In West African and Caribbean traditions (Vodou, Obeah, Candomblรฉ), spiritual practitioners hold respected community roles. The Western "witch" label, with its history of persecution, doesn't map cleanly onto these traditions. Using ๐งโโ๏ธ to represent them risks flattening complex spiritual systems into a European archetype.
In Japan, the witch (้ญๅฅณ, majo) is a beloved figure in anime and manga. Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), Little Witch Academia, and the magical girl genre (Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura) present witches as aspirational characters for young girls. ๐งโโ๏ธ aligns well with this positive, playful witch tradition.
In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, accusations of witchcraft remain a serious human rights issue, with real consequences including violence and ostracism. The emoji's lighthearted framing doesn't acknowledge this reality.
WitchTok is a TikTok community (#WitchTok, 69 billion views) centered on modern witchcraft: tarot readings, crystal work, herbalism, moon rituals, and spell casting. The movement grew massively during COVID lockdowns. ๐งโโ๏ธ is its primary emoji.
Real in the sense that modern witchcraft practitioners genuinely create and share them. An emoji spell is a sequence of emojis shared on social media as a digital incantation. Engagement (likes, shares) is said to power the spell. The practice was first documented in 2015.
Popularity ranking
Often confused with
The male counterpart. ๐งโโ๏ธ (Man Mage) reads as wizard; ๐งโโ๏ธ (Woman Mage) reads as witch or sorceress. Same magical role, different gender archetype.
The male counterpart. ๐งโโ๏ธ (Man Mage) reads as wizard; ๐งโโ๏ธ (Woman Mage) reads as witch or sorceress. Same magical role, different gender archetype.
๐งโโ๏ธ (Woman Elf) is another fantasy character from the same Emoji 5.0 batch. Elves are nature-magical; mages are arcane-magical. In gaming terms, different character classes.
๐งโโ๏ธ (Woman Elf) is another fantasy character from the same Emoji 5.0 batch. Elves are nature-magical; mages are arcane-magical. In gaming terms, different character classes.
Both are fantasy characters from the same Emoji 5.0 batch. ๐งโโ๏ธ (Woman Mage) is a spellcaster โ witch, sorceress, wizard. ๐งโโ๏ธ (Woman Elf) is a nature-magical being with pointed ears. In gaming terms, different character classes.
Do's and don'ts
- โDon't use ๐งโโ๏ธ mockingly toward people who practice spiritual traditions like Wicca or neo-paganism
- โDon't use to accuse someone of being manipulative or deceptive ("she's such a ๐งโโ๏ธ" as an insult)
No. While it surges in October, ๐งโโ๏ธ is used year-round for gaming, fantasy fandom, WitchTok content, spiritual practice, and metaphorical magic. It's one of the most versatile emojis in the set.
Caption ideas
Aesthetic sets
Fun facts
- โขThe #WitchTok hashtag has 69 billion views on TikTok, driven primarily by women and LGBTQ+ creators sharing tarot, crystal work, and moon rituals.
- โขEmoji spells are a real modern witchcraft practice. Sequences of emojis are shared on social media as digital incantations, with engagement (likes, shares) said to power the spell.
- โขWITCH (Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) was a real feminist activist group formed in 1968 that reclaimed the witch archetype as a symbol of female resistance and power.
- โขEmoji 5.0 (2017) released seven fantasy characters simultaneously: mage, elf, vampire, zombie, fairy, genie, and merperson. It was the first time Unicode added an entire fictional genre in one batch.
Common misinterpretations
- โขSome people use ๐งโโ๏ธ thinking it's specifically a Halloween witch. It's a year-round mage/witch emoji used for fantasy, gaming, spirituality, and metaphorical "magic." Halloween is just one of its contexts.
- โขThe emoji can be misread as negative ("wicked witch") in contexts where it's meant as empowerment or identity. WitchTok practitioners use it positively; people unfamiliar with the community might read it differently.
In pop culture
- โขWitchTok reached 69 billion views on TikTok, making it one of the platform's biggest spiritual communities. The movement blends tarot, crystals, herbalism, and spell work, with ๐งโโ๏ธ as its default emoji identity.
- โขEmoji spells are a genuine practice in modern digital witchcraft, first documented in 2015 on Tumblr and Vice. Practitioners create sequences of emojis as digital incantations, shared on social media to "cast" them. ๐งโโ๏ธ is a core component.
- โขHermione Granger from Harry Potter is the most culturally dominant example of a young woman mage in modern fiction. The series has sold over 600 million copies worldwide, and Hermione's character specifically drove a generation of girls toward the "clever witch" archetype.
- โขThe Wizard class is the most popular spellcaster in Dungeons & Dragons, which has over 50 million players. The 2023 film Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves brought the mage archetype to mainstream cinema.
Trivia
For developers
- โขZWJ sequence: + + + . Falls back to ๐ง + โ๏ธ on unsupported systems.
- โขShortcodes: on Slack and GitHub. Some platforms accept or .
- โขSupports Fitzpatrick skin tones after the base character (), before the ZWJ.
- โขPart of the Emoji 5.0 fantasy batch. If your app has a fantasy or gaming category, group this with ๐ง, ๐ง, ๐ง, ๐ง, ๐ง, and ๐ง.
Added to Emoji 5.0 in 2017 as part of Unicode 10.0. It was released alongside six other fantasy characters: elf, vampire, zombie, fairy, genie, and merperson. All seven were the first fictional characters in the emoji set.
Emoji 5.0 (2017) added seven fantasy characters simultaneously (mage, elf, vampire, zombie, fairy, genie, merperson) because fantasy literature, gaming, and pop culture had long demanded fictional characters in the emoji set. Before 2017, emoji was almost entirely literal.
See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.
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