In this post I cover the etymology of the word Witch, briefly go over the Salem Witch Trials, and discuss the historical impact as it relates to today's landscape for alternative practitioners. I invite the readers to reconsider their own subjective ideology regarding what 'witches' really are... Please note this blog is a 'closed caption' companion to my podcast "Esoteric Edutainment with Esteria" for Season 1 Episode 1.
Regardless of your culture - the word WITCH is likely to be 'emotionally charged'
Hi and welcome to the first blog post of Esteria's Esoterics! Please note that this particular blog is the "Closed Caption" version of my first Podcast episode to make it more accessible to those prefer to consume their content in written format! This particular topic was originally discussed in a LIVE Twitter Spaces on June 2 2022, as a part of my biweekly WitchyBits Coven nights. (Which is tied to my NFT project WitchyBits!) and how now been memorialized both in this blog post as well as the podcast for all to enjoy -- The information here is mostly half historical and half informed opinion, therefore ever green no matter when you stumble onto it!
If you'd rather listen to the PODCAST itself, it is available below!
... Let's get to it!
If you haven't met me yet, I am Esteria. A 34 year old registered nurse and AS WELL AS an eclectic and witchy energy healer by night. I started my crypto journey in April 2021, and quickly fell down the rabbit hole of NFTs. The WitchyBits NFT project was born on Opensea by July 2021. This project consists of 1/1 nostalgic pixelated images that focus on lightheartedly providing bite-sized knowledge on mindset, manifestation and magic. My goal in Web3 is to educate, entertain and heal through academic and esoteric knowledge I’ve gathered and then melding 'woo-woo' and science to create long lasting and impactful change through positivity, gratitude and mindset magic.
Etymology of the word witch is actually difficult to trace and highly contested.
Middle English had a non binary word “wicche” which was often used to refer to an old woman… And it was was often replaced by the words warlock or wizard when speaking about men. The MODERN spelling of wiTch did not come into being until the 16th century.
In reality - There is no widely accepted historical definition for the word WITCH and what exactly that would entail. For example Wicca practitioners call themselves Witches - However, the word had been attributed to MANY different people across regions and cultures who have an ethos that lacks specific institutional structure such as a church and has a larger emphasis on ritual (usually related to a person’s age, rites of passage, seasonal changes or natural weather events) and focus on direct spiritual experiences than rather than belief. Many times they do develop practices that revolve around deities, god, energies - or whatever you’d like to call them. Which for the record is why many people call themselves PRACTITIONERS instead of BELIEVERS! Many of these societies had respected elders that also acted as healers for their tribes or communities who has generational wisdom and often dedicated their lives to that honorable role.
Sometime around the mid-1400s, ‘Witch Hysteria” really popped off. Some ‘well respected’ German a-holes wrote a little book called the Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of the Witches) in 1486 which was a “ID hunt and kill” witch guide. Apparently, that was a niche they really felt needed more exploration. Since the book labeled any type of PAGAN Spiritual paths from a variety of different religions and cultures (that PRE-DATED Christianity) as HERESEY & WITCHCRAFT… Protestants and Catholics were super pumped about it. Many people came together to take it upon themselves to hunt down their own witches. Think of the POKEMON GO era from a few years ago - like that but with witches. LOL
In fact, for over 100 years it was the most sold book in Europe, second only to…. You guessed it the Bible.
To provide a historical example perpetuating the negative connotation of the word:
Sadly, Single women, widows and other women on the margins of society were often targeted. Between the years 1500 and 1660, around 80 THOUSAND people had been persecuted, hung, burned at stakes or otherwise throughout Europe. AND a whooping estimated 80% of these people were women. The majority of them, as i already mentioned , were also poor - which has heavy classist implications. (Because DUH - who tf is surprised here) This was a wide attack on many members of the community that were considers healers, performers of incantations and divinations to help others, and the reverberations of that persecution and extermination of alternative spiritual views and their access to ancestral and culturally meaningful healing perpetrated by CHISTIANIZATION extend to THIS DAY.(Now we are NOT dogging Christianity - But it is important to be aware of historical facts, and not shy away from discussing them!)
We won’t go into Salem’s Witch Trials, there is enough information about that out there for you to find.
However interesting side story. In VIRGINIA in 1706 a woman by the name of Grace Sherwood was accursed of being a witch and they decided to do a little ‘litmus paper test’…. They threw her with her limbs bound into a lake. If she was able to float without swimming she was GUILTY….. because I guess people forgot about this little thing called LUNGS that are literal built in floatation devices. And if she sank, she was innocent…. But like also dead. So oh well- I guess as long as they could sleep safe at night knowing the witch thing wasn’t an issue. Win some lose some. The woman of course FLOATED, but they didn’t kill her. Just threw her in jail for 8 years. Which I guess is cool of them.
So according to MERRIAM WEBSTER :WITCH: (NOUN)
If fact since we’re on the topic of WORDS …. and their definitions…Have you ever taken notice that there are so many words that tend to have magical inclinaitons?
IE 1 - A woman can be “bewitching” in her power to lure men.IE 2 - A “glamourous”, woman was one associateed with stylish women, but originally referred to the occult and a spell that made the viewer see an object or person differently to its actual appearance.IE 3 - An enchanting woman can be deemed as unnaturally charming attractive of otherwise captivating …. but the middle english definition was ‘to put under a spell or delude’
JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Cultural stereotypes of witches as old, ugly, and childless situate the witch as the antithesis of everything a desirable woman should be. . . Why is this and how has it played out in recent history?
According to Silvia Federici in her book ‘Caliban and the Witch’ , the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism was actually facilitated by the European and American Witch Trails (which we just discussed) …. This transition consistently devalued and made invisible many of the laborious efforts that typically fall under the scope of women - parenting and child rearing, taking care of our families, elders and communities…. the nurturing of our humanity in a wider sense. This went hand in hand with the degradation of the work of HEALERS in our communities. As mentioned before - healing knowledge that had been passed on from generation to generation was destroyed, vilified and punished.We have been socialized to degrade the notion that healing is possible and we are seeded from a young age to DOUBT of gut feelings, the intuition that comes from a deeply rooted soul and the wisdom that exists in our DNA. Just like the body has been shown to carry trauma, it took can carry gits - but we’ve been taught to ignore them and often also ridicule those who have become in touch with them. . .
The systems in power - especially in the hypercapitalistic society many of us are living in today DO NOT, and CANNOT thrive on a population that becomes spiritually liberated.. The opposite is true - the vested interest lies instead in having a populous that must simply accept conditions that make them unwell - Constantly questioning, constantly in fear, constantly in a state of ‘not enough’ness and disconnection from their spirits and bodies. HEALING YOURSELF is a political act of rebellion.
Similar to how the gay and lesbian community has “reclaimed” the once pejorative term “queer”,
SIDEBAR: HAPPY PRIDE MONTH (Shout out to our LGBTQ community i love you all dearly)- Women in this case have begun to show how they can also take back the word “witch” and transform the qualities it connotes into positive traits.
Now a days - Many people who identify with the word WITCH have their own definitions for what that particular word means to them. If you ask 100 people - you’ll likely get 100 answers. with a few similar threads that can be seen over and over again through out. Some of those threads include: ‘Spiritual but not religious’ - In tune with energy, including the one running through my own body - Highly intuitive or empathic - Those who have gifts that allow them to tap into a spiritual realm …. etc. The secret is : WE ALL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THESE THINGS. So really - anyone in this room could be a ‘witch’ …
As many of you - I’m a person that believes in the power of words - Their power to define who we are, what we do, how we think and how we live our lives everyday. So with that I leave you with the following quote (which unfortunately I don’t have a source for -
“At any given time, I might use the word witch to signify my spiritual beliefs, my supernatural interests or my role as an unapologetically complex, dynamic female in a world that prefers its women to be smiling and still.”
- PAM GROSSMAN author of “Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power”
https://time.com/5597693/real-women-witches/
https://theconversation.com/witches-both-mad-and-bad-a-loaded-word-with-an-ugly-history-52804
https://www.silive.com/westshore/2017/06/lawsuit_belief_in_wicca_pagan.html
https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2021/september/wicca-berger-conversation.html