Witches Unite
Women: The Famous Witch Cult
We don’t hunt a witch anymore because today, we call them women.
If you ask someone what they think of when they hear the word witch, most people will come up with a similar image: old, ugly, haggard, broomstick-laden, crooked nose, and above all, a female.
Have you ever noticed how even in modern times, the label of a witch can be used to demean and stereotype women who don’t conform to the traditional norms?
When was the last time you ever heard a woman being called out as a witch? Well, if you are a woman, chances are at least once in your lifetime. The irony of this tragedy is that women were far more likely to be accused of witchcraft by fellow women.
That’s how witch-hunting came into existence.
This is not to mean that men didn’t view women as far more likely to be witches. They did — but these women were only passive victims of men.
This is totally fine cause I’ll show you how many times women have been written out of history because men have always been scared of them.
In my personal experience, I was once been called a witch. Which at this moment is a total slay but Boy, Oh boy!
I was crushed when my ex-partner referred to me as a witch cause he claimed that our meetings to resolve conflicts somehow had a hypnotic effect on him, making him want to reconcile after every argument.
Don’t get me started on the level of anxiety I was putting up with after every fight thinking his next lines would be “I am breaking up with you.” and I was correct.
Who is a witch?
Witches have long personified society’s fear of assertive women.
Women who stand up for themselves.
Women who challenge the status quo.
Women who are correct.
Women who stand up for injustice.
Women who can heal, and sometimes settle conflicts *me*
Look at this snippet from Google:
They were believed to join in with the Devil, and meet with him at night-time sabbaths, pledge homage, engage in lurid sex, kill children, and maim pregnant women. They were also believed to make men impotent — in some cases by actually stealing their genitals.
In India, when a couple encounters challenges with infertility, regardless of the underlying cause or the individual involved, it isn’t uncommon for women to be labeled “dayan” or witch.
Shakespeare presented witches in Macbeth when the representation of a witch was bordered on hysteria. They were known to cause death and disaster.
Some might argue, men too have been subjected to the tyranny of being witch-hunted.
Yes. True enough.
But 90% of the time, women were more likely to be accused of witchcraft than men.
Misogynistic history
So, when did a woman enter the scene?
The answer to this is entrenched social deep misogynistic history that has ever existed, but everything just boils down to women’s temperament.
Heinrich Kramer describes how women were chiefly addicted to evil superstitions. Her greed, her slippery tongue, and her feeble body were all responsible for giving in to the Devil’s influence.
Shakespeare’s portrayal of the witches in Macbeth is directly towards the unsettled temperament of the women. He portrays one of them being insulted by a sailor’s wife who refuses to give some of the chestnuts that she is eating and later takes revenge by punishing the woman’s husband by poisoning him.
Seriously? Nevermind.
Powerful women like Joan of Arc, Cleopatra, and Anne Boleyn were all accused of witchcraft.
Women who were trialed and underwent witchhunts were often single, widowed, immigrants, midwives, and village healers — people who truly had wisdom to share.
This idea of witchcraft and everything that aligned with it was further cemented by a German churchman and inquisitor Heinrich Kramer who wrote a step-by-step guide for conducting torture, seeking witches, and painting women as “women who abjured the faith”. It became the standard medieval text on witchcraft. Second only to the Bible, it became the best-selling book for over a century — undergoing multiple editions.
Finally
We now have two different types of witches: one who is persecuted for crimes they didn’t commit and the one who fights for self-empowerment.
Beware
Going back to the man who called me a witch: If we women can heal you, then by extension can cause harm too.
© Sonika Prasad, 2023.
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