By Kayla Richardson

Contributor

“Men fear witches because they take their power from the Earth without poisoning the soil.” -Unknown

Most of us have at least some knowledge of the fact that there was a time in history where women were burned as witches. As for who these women actually were and why they were considered witches, we are often unsure.

Similar to feminists who have reclaimed the word ‘slut’ and participate in SlutWalk marches in protest of rape culture, or feminists who have reclaimed the word ‘cunt’ in order to redefine the language that is used to talk about our bodies as illustrated in a popular skit from the Vagina Monologues entitled “Reclaiming Cunt,” many feminists are learning about this piece of herstory and even reclaiming the word ‘witch.’

If we were all to create the image of a witch in our minds, we’d probably all come up with a similar image: an ugly woman with a mole on her nose, wiry hair, a pet black cat, a cauldron and a broom that she straddles and rides through the sky. We could all agree that she is evil and some of us might even imagine her as being overly sexual. She is certainly not what a woman should be.

This image that we create is not completely fictional, but is culturally and historically situated. During the witch hunts that took place in Europe and North America, spanning from the 1400s through the 1700s, women were accused of being witches and were tortured and killed on that behalf for a variety of reasons.

If a woman was particularly ugly or had any markings or blemishes (a mole on her nose), she could have been accused of being a witch. If a woman lived in isolation and had many pets (a black cat) she could have been accused of being a witch. If a woman was known for being rude or sarcastic (or laughed with a cackle), she could have been accused of being a witch. If she was committed to healing others in her community through herbal concoctions (here, we get the potions and the cauldrons) or any other healing techniques, she could have been accused of being a witch practicing dark magic. The list goes on, but it is clear that any woman who fell outside of expected female gender norms was considered a witch and was tortured and killed. These women were clearly a big threat.

From midwives to herbalists, many feminists today are transforming this piece of herstory and reclaiming the witchy lifestyle. Learning about our bodies and natural health, embracing female sexuality, taking up spiritual practices that are not patriarchal, defining ourselves based on our relationships with other women rather than our relationships with men, rejecting female beauty standards and caring for the Earth and its creatures are some of the many radical steps witchy feminists are taking to reclaim the witch life.

Simply digging through our repressed and hidden herstories to find our roots is a radical act, and as a witchy woman might say, what we find and what we do with this information might just be magical.