Burning Witches

It was not witches who burned.

It was women.

Women who were seen as;

Too beautiful,

Too outspoken,

Had too much water in the well (yes, seriously),

Who had a birthmark,

Women who were too skilled with herbal medicine,

Too loud,

Too quiet,

Too much red in their hair,

Women who had a strong nature connection,

Women who danced,

Women who sang,

or anything else, really.

Any woman was at risk of burning in the 1600’s. Sisters testified and turned on each other when their babies were held under ice.

Children were tortured to confess their experiences with “witches” by being fake executed in ovens.

Women were held under water and if they could float, they were guilty and executed. If they sank and drowned they were innocent.

Women were thrown off cliffs.

Women were put in deep holes in the ground.

Why do I write this?

Because knowing our history is important when we are building a new world.

When we are doing the healing work of our lineages and as women.

To give the women who were slaughtered a voice, to give them redress and a chance of peace.

It was not witches who burned.

It was women.

– Fia Forsström 

 Artist: Alexandre-Marie Colin:

The Three Witches From Macbeth

Witch Wife Pagan Goddess – Tammy Wampler, artist.  

It’s Halloween – also known as All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Eve, Samhain and Dia de Los Muertos. In the West, we celebrate mainly as a fun day to dress up and children to go trick-or-treating, collecting candies that will be eaten for weeks to come.

But this predominantly Christian holiday began as a way of incorporating pagan holidays such as the Celtic holiday of Samhain (pronounced Sa-ween) and the Latin American Dia De Los Muertos – The Day of The Dead – into the Christian holiday calendar. Both of these holidays were traditionally celebrated between the evening of October 31 and November 1.

All of these traditions believe that the souls of the departed, the world of the Gods, and other spirits are closer to this world than any other part of the year.  

The Celts also celebrated Samhain as an important harvest festival, but would dress as monsters or animals and left out offerings so that the Faerie would not kidnap them.  This tradition continued into the modern day as we dress as witches, vampires, skeletons and other “spooky” otherworldly creatures as a fun way to escape our ordinary reality for an evening. 

Speaking of the tradition in modern times, what is more synonymous with Halloween than a witch – especially if she is riding a broomstick?🧙‍♀️🧹

Did you know that the word Witch means “wise one”?  

Modern day “white witches” typically practice what is called a Wiccan religion. They often celebrate Samhain with bonfires, rituals and honoring the dead.  

But let’s talk about “witches” in history. Between 1450 and 1750, It is estimated that between 40,000 and 50,000 people were executed as witches, an estimated 90% of which were women – but written cases of women being targeted as witches go back as far as 331 BC, when 170 women were executed as witches in Rome in the context of an epidemic illness.

In the Judaean Second Temple period, Rabbi Simeon ben Shetach in the 1st century BCE is reported to have sentenced to death eighty women who had been charged with witchcraft on a single day in Ashkelon.  Eighty damned women. 😡

What kind of women were targeted as witches? Women who didn’t “fit in” to societal norms.  Women who were born with the unfortunate trait of being extraordinary in a time when male dominance was at a peak – and any female who broke out of the “mother/wife/prostitute role risked being labeled as a witch.  

This included willful, strong minded, intelligent women. Healers. Those gifted with “second sight“. Women who spoke their truth.  Women and girls with birthmarks.  Women who were more attractive than average were targeted out of jealousy or spite.  Or sometimes a woman could be targeted just because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If I had been born during that time period, the odds are good that I would have been labeled and likely burned as a witch, too. Can you relate?   

I have several prominent birthmarks.  I am a healer.  I am intelligent and like to figure things out.  I am outspoken in my belief systems.  I am considered attractive.  I have experienced what some would consider “psychic phenomena” since early childhood.  So yeah.  Basically, I’d be screwed.  Thank God I and other women who are a little “extra” are living in modern times, right?

But even now, many in civilized countries still hold beliefs systems that keep us backwards, and it is estimated that 36 or more countries still murder people for witchcraft today.  Between 1960 and 2000, about 40,000 people alleged of practicing witchcraft were murdered in Tanzania alone.  Between 2000 and 2016, more than 2500 were murdered as “witches”.  

But even here in the U.S., whether we are male or female, to be extraordinary, to be “other” or “more than” is often frowned upon, considered suspicious or targeted by trolls on the internet.  And every female knows that we still live in a male dominated society. 

Equality is closer than perhaps ever before in written history, but we still suppress strong women in subtle – or not so subtle – ways.  

It is estimated that one in five women have been raped in their lifetime. 90% of all forced sex acts are to females.

The average age of women in pornography is 14.

Read that again.⬆️⬆️

Women are still routinely turned down for employment positions in favor of men. 

Intelligent, strong willed women are still labeled as “bitches“ while men who lead organizations to success with a firm hand are revered.  

Women who are open to their sensuality and enjoyment of sex are considered “whores“ while men are congratulated for their sexual prowess.

There are a hundred other ways that I can name that we continue to suppress and denigrate women, to keep them “in their proper place”. 

 As I said, yes, things are changing, but through awareness, we can make those positive changes accelerate.  

If each of us chooses to spotlight our own particular brand of uniqueness and strengths, being extraordinary will become “new normal” as we all evolve to the fullest expression of ourselves.

Wouldn’t it be more fun to live in a world of wizards and witches, of magic and beauty then one of suppression, violence, jealousy, and hatred?

Today, beautiful, I hope you embrace your strong inner bitch. Oops, I mean witch.😋😉

I hope you choose to be a little less ordinary and embrace those things in yourself that make you feel “other”.

Just between us? Those are your gifts.  Those “weirdnesses” are where you just might discover your power and purpose.  

Much love and Happy Halloween!

• Terah