How your view of witches is completely fucked up. There, I said it.
As you all know I’m a big believer in manifestation and the power of the mind.
I believe crystals hold certain powers, and I’m obsessed with things like astrology and the supernatural.
What you may not know is that I’m very possibly a “natural witch.”
Technically a “slider” (have been since I was a kid)
***This is not something I chose or practiced***- And I didn't even know the name of it until a few years ago when a friend of mine told me because his mother was one- But it does mean I’d be a very good natural witch if I chose to be.
I believe I have manifested many things in my life, and I’m never worried because I know the universe has me- maybe that’s due to the power within me.
I trust doors will open for me, and every time they do.
Quantum physics or witchcraft?
I guess it depends on what you believe. I’m not really sure, but I’m not fighting it anymore.
Actually lately I’ve been delving more into it, I’m curious to learn more about why I’m so open to certain things, and feel so powerful most of the time.
The more I learn, the more I’m proud to be a slider, and the more I’m confused and angered about the history of misogynistic abuse brought upon women.
The history of witchcraft is complex, detrimental, and interesting.
The cold feminist truth is that accusation of witchcraft has been used to control and silence women in almost all societies and in many centuries;
And that is a big part of the history here.
But the actual history of witches is even more interesting.And believe me, the evil doesn't lay where you think...
In the beginning, a witch wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Actually the word Witch actually is derived from the word “Wicca” meaning “The Wise Ones.”
They were thought to be descendants of goddesses, gifted, and connected to the divine.
Healers, mystics, and powerful priestesses.
In fact, it was rare to find a king without a witch on his council.
Usually where they sought advise, a witch was often considered one of their most trusted advisors.
They were powerful and revered and feared (but in a respectful way)
In the Middle East, ancient civilizations not only worshipped powerful female deities, but it was often women who practiced the holiest of rituals.
The Greek sorceress Circe, the daughter of a sun god and ocean nymph, had the power to change people into animals- and was renowned for her knowledge of drugs and herbs.
Circe had her own menagerie of animals, lions, bears and wolves, who behaved as if they were domesticated animals; and was also said to have power to hide the sun and moon as she willed.
Circe by Wright Barker 1864
In legend, she turned her unreturned love interest into a hideous sea creature, her jilted lover into a woodpecker, and when Odysseus invaded her island she changed all his men into pigs. (a feminist? I think yes)
What’s interesting is that they were so clearly understood to be mainly positive figures in their societies. (Unless you were on their bad side)
So how did we get from that- to such a harsh polarized space of the witch being feared, vilified, and persecuted??
2 words.
Christianity And Misogyny.
The 16th and 17th centuries are where things took a turn.
The figure of the witch went from a beautiful powerful woman regarded with respect and fear, to being portrayed as an old ugly hag who is terrifying and evil and satanic.
The black plague came and decimated Europe by killing one in three people, and with it came great fear. And with fear, as we know, comes mass stupidity.
As far as the church was concerned, all healing could ONLY be done strictly by God and through men in the church.
Eyeroll. So healers and even herbalists began to be accused of heresy, being anti-Christian and eventually many were accused of devil worship.
How were these “witches” hunted down?
Well that’s the saddest part- men just created all these absurd rules of things to look for in a witch, which meant mainly it was just an attack on (mostly) women with no actual valid reason… (not much has changed right?) :
Anyone that was unmarried, a midwife, an outcast, homeopathic healer, a strong minded person, someone with a pet- or “familiar” was easily targeted.
(The witch’s familiar was usually a small animal. Familiars are a really persistent theme with witches even today, especially cats.)
This stereotype runs deep in popular culture. But the cat as a witch’s familiar isn’t just an invention of Hollywood; it has historical precedent in the witch trials.
And as it turns out, there are a number of documented examples of how cats were used as evidence against the accused. (Welp, guess I'd be toast lol #ProudCatMom)
Events such as illness, stillbirth or miscarriage were often blamed on witchcraft. Even if someone was upset at you and named you as one, that was often enough.
The ‘Malleus Maleficarum’, or ‘The Hammer of Witches’, was a treatise that promoted the execution of witches based on theological theories of demonology.
Written by Heinrich Kramer, it was published in Germany in 1497 (At this point is was the second most popular text second to the Bible.)
This particular book was also the first to associate a specific gender with witchcraft.
“Witches” were hunted, tortured, questioned endlessly - and then burned at the stake or hanged.
The accused were stripped and searched, humiliated and tortured. Any “suspicious” wart, mole, or birthmark could be enough to receive a death sentence.
Even the INCREDIBLE woman heroine of France Joan of Arc was tried for witchcraft and then burned at the stake.
Joan of Arc by Peter Paul Rubens, 1620
Even after leading many triumphs for her country, they turned their back on her while she was captured and persecuted by England. Charged with heresy, fraud, sorcery, and cross dressing. They even forced her to wear a dress when she was burned alive- because she was famously known for being more comfortable in menswear. (Apparently that was heresy)
Sounds like to me if you were a strong independant woman you were easily accused of witchcraft. Eyeroll again.
The horrifying Iron Maiden
The intense torture to get a confession would always lead to naming of others that they “practice witchcraft with”.
This lead to a chain of constant persecution and killing of mostly innocent women.
It’s absurd and infuriating this could happen… and if you think witches are terrifying what do you call thousands of women being slain with no grounds.
The Church required a "confession" for execution, but would use instruments such as thumb and leg screws, head clamps, and the iron maiden to generate the “truth” they needed to justify the murders.
That is terrifying.
The infamous events in Salem led to nearly 200 people being accused, 27 of whom were found guilty. Nineteen were killed. The trials only ended because the accused started pointing fingers at high ranking members of society.
But these trials were widespread- and even worse in Europe. Germany and France were by far the most detrimental.
Thousands were put to death at the stake In Germany, an estimated 40,000 “witches” were murdered.
There were towns in Germany where there were no women left at all…
At beginning of the 18th century, an estimated 60,000 people in Europe had been killed as witches.
Even though the trials have long ended, the idea of maintaining religious control over the general population through scare tactics and persecution of women is far from over.
Remnants of this mentality still linger today, with people hiding bigotry behind their religion constantly.
And you know what? It just makes me want to fight harder- knowing that if I were alive in the 16th-17th century I most definitely would have been burned at the stake.
After understanding the true history of witches; being thought to be one of them may actually be a really nice compliment.
After all the true meaning of Wicca, which is named after an Anglo Saxon term for “craft of the wise,” recalls ancient practices that used herbs and other natural elements to promote healing, harmony, love, and wisdom, all following the tenet of “harm none.”
So here I am, to tell you- do not be afraid of witches. Be afraid of the undeserved power of ignorant men in mobs.
And it's true now as it was true back then- that strong women scare weak men.
But the world needs your truth more than it needs your submission.
xoxo, wishing you a magical October,
-Vox the Fox
Comments