Witchcraft is a global practice that has been woven into the fabric of many cultures throughout history. From the brujas of Latin America to the shamans of Indigenous Northern Asia, Africa, and the hedge witches of Europe, witchcraft has always been centered on its connection to nature and the spiritual world.
Traditionally when someone has practiced witchcraft, they've worked in harmony with the energy of the universe to heal, to create, and to transform. Witches are often women who aren't afraid to dive into what's uncomfortable, or to look at truths held in the shadows of the human psyche.
It's impossible to speak of all witches in one way because this is a word that encompasses so many different traditions the world over. However in many cases witches work with fresh and dried herbs, crystals, prayer, natural medicine, psychology, metaphysics, and oracular work to tend to human needs. They figure out how to align desired outcomes with the forces of the universe.
ARE YOU AFRAID OF WITCHES?
So why are people so afraid of witchcraft and witches? When people hear the word “witchcraft” it often stirs up images of wicked women, curses, or powers to be feared.
That has only been emphasized in more recent decades with movies like Anjelica Huston's The Witches, The Blair Witch Project, and tv shows like Salem continuing to perpetuate the narrative that witches are fundamentally evil.
The reason people believe that witches are evil is that they're inexplicably powerful. Part of their power comes from their earth wisdom, but the other part of their power comes from being unafraid to voice the heartfelt truths others may be afraid to look at or admit to. This has led to witches being seen as dangerous disruptors of the status quo.
In ancient times, witches were the healers, midwives, and spiritual guides of their communities. People who were at death's door would go to the witch for help. Sometimes those people would die. Sometimes they'd experience healing miracles.
In order to keep balance, the witch always exacted a price (maybe an animal to have as a food source for the winter, or some other need for doing her work).
The solutions witches came up with were often out of the ordinary, or nonsensical to mainstream minds, and a witch's wisdom was not limited or constrained by belief in one god or religion. People viewed this work as magic and couldn't understand it.
As they gained more power and trust in communities, this was intimidating to people holding power within the social hierarchy. Witches were a danger to religion and to patriarchal society.
Religious organizations often cast witches as evil, saying that if their power and knowledge didn't come through the church, then it should be looked at with fear and doubt. This was an easy way for churches to keep their parishioners from seeking answers outside of religion.
But the truth is, witchcraft is neither good nor evil; it’s rooted in wisdom. The word “witch” comes from the Old English wicca, meaning “wise one.” I think this is a telling reminder that witches ultimately call on wisdom earned through living, deep listening in the world around them, and through trust within.
Because we live in a society ruled by people who were afraid of this kind of wisdom, we've been taught not to trust it. People spin stories about dangerous witches and how evil they are, and unless we've been otherwise exposed, we grow up believing this to be true.
THE BURNING TIMES
Much of this fear traces back to centuries of suppression and control. In 1487, the infamous Malleus Maleficarum, a handbook on witch-hunting written by Heinrich Kramer, was endorsed by the Catholic Church and used to justify the brutal persecution of women throughout Europe.
It marked the beginning of the systematic demonization of witches, leading to countless deaths in the name of eradicating “evil.” This continued to swell in the early 1500s with the Spanish Inquisition persecuting women for heresy as witches.
I've tried to get exact numbers on how many women died, but the numbers remain elusive because there were focused executions happening in so many different countries all at once, and by different governing bodies. Sadly many of those tens of thousands who were not put to death, were terribly tortured instead.
Later, in 1692, this fear crossed the Atlantic and found even more expression during the Salem Witch Trials in colonial Massachusetts, where hysteria, driven by religious extremism, led to 200 people being accused, and the execution of 20 innocent people in the young colony.
Salem at the time had about 2,000 people in the general area, and only 500-700 people living in town. For perspective, that's smaller than my high school. Can you imagine living in a small town and having almost half of the residents accused and tortured for witchcraft, with death as a real option?
If you look at the timeline in western culture, we're talking about several hundred years of heightened focus on witch hunting, and the persecution of women who often were simply older, wiser, independent, and working with the wisdom of the earth.
Modern day witches often refer to this as "The Burning Times." Many sensitive people today, both men and women, may even have an intense fear of sharing their intuitive gifts because somewhere deep in their DNA they have been conditioned to fear being burned, drowned, or hanged if they use their light working gifts.
This can come up for energy healers whether or not they even identify as witches, because so many of us have these persecuted women in our ancestral lineages and DNA.
POWER OF THE WITCH
Witches have often been branded as threats, but the real threat is their ability to live outside the bounds of patriarchal control. Today, witchcraft is a concept and even a lifestyle that many are working to reclaim and it begins with trusting our own intuitions about the world.
As the modern day witch Starhawk reminds us: “In Witchcraft, each of us must reveal our own truth.”
The "craft" part of being a witch asks all of us to understand our relationship with nature, and to cultivate shared forms of power where we can all rise. I'm pleased to see that we are beginning to see more frequent tv shows in which witches can be seen as holding powerfully good intention, and that they aren't afraid to get their hands dirty to sort out the issues of humanity.
Witchcraft is about reclaiming our innate connection to the forces that shape our lives. It has nothing to do with evil; it has everything to do with empowerment, reflection, and deeper connection.
While some people may choose to understand these natural earth cycles and powers in order to manipulate or cause harm, there's no more of those people in witchcraft than you'd find in any other sector of life. It's not the witchcraft, it's the person who corrupts in those cases.
In general, Witches respect life, strive to protect the earth, and honor the power of the divine feminine.
Witchcraft is not evil. And it's not outside of us—it's our inner craft of how we approach life wisdom. We all carry a bit of that magic. Even if your witchcraft been buried under a lot of noise in life, trust me it’s just waiting to be uncovered.
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