Identifying as a witch as a feminist statement

I have some female-centric tarot decks and they are getting a LOT more use at the moment.

All the references to Terry Pratchett just reminded me that there's a feminist analysis of 'Lords and Ladies' in the most recent edition of The Radical Notion - well worth a look if you're interested.

@TeiTetua absolutely! I attended a talk on the Pendle ‘witches’ and they were the poorest of the poor, absolutely reviled and desperate people.

I often think of that talk when I see the television shows where we are invited to laugh at the less fortunate and be grateful we are not the object of derision.

I think a typical accused witch was a poor widow who lived in a derelict cottage at the end of the village, all alone except for a half-starved cat. She'd be on the edge of insanity from malnutrition and loneliness, and the children would come and taunt her and throw stones, and she'd shout at them. Then if one of the children got ill and died, as children so often did then, of course she'd be blamed.

You don't need a coven. Solitary practice is by far the most common. You don't have to identify with, or as, anything (and males can be witches too).

There are all manner of different forms. The serious herbalists are only one form of (green) witch. There are some who don't touch tarot or any form of divination. Some invoke deities, others see themselves as entirely secular. Almost all revere nature, and some believe the universe is a higher power with an energy anyone can learn to channel. But unlike the monotheistic, patriarchal religions, there will be no one telling you what to do. The idea is that you find your own path.

I would like to identify as Granny Weatherwax but I think I'm more realistically Agnes without the voice....

If you wanna do it! I get frustrated by the transwomen getting into it, like not yours to explore mate, but I have my own conflicted feelings I';; share if thats ok.

When I was younger, like 9 up to my late teens, I was interested in witchcraft quite sincerely as a form of spirituality and neopaganism. I would still say I am into that sort of pagan/ritual spirituality but having read more about 'real' witches and knowing that they were either very smart herbalists etc (which I am not) or just normal women being horrifyingly persecuted (or sometimes not' normal' maybe with illnesses that made them seem 'scary' back in the olden days) I feel weird about claiming to be any sort of witch.
I'm not following the footsteps of powerful women with secret knowledge and a distinct faith, I would be helping to obscure the awful historical reality.

but idk I know my take is a bit left field and maybe 'oversensitive', and if its about finding power in yourself as woman, go for it!

If you practice witchcraft then you are a witch
If you don't you aren't you choose whatever occupation you do have.

@alkanet I know what you mean about moon bathing. I like to have a moon bath on a new moon, it is very comforting to me. I like the idea of washing away on old month and preparing for the new.

Also a huge Pratchett witch fan- Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg would have had none of this bollocks.

viva bilbo thank you for the heads up on the podcast. I’ve been listening today - really interesting. And a little shout out to TP’s witches too.

Google 'Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell'.

@Giggorata very glad to hear it.

I lost touch with my coven a few years ago, and would hope that sense would prevail. However they were also quite high profile within the community so would no doubt have been targeted.

It is interesting to me that women started to be persecuted as witches at the same time as medicine began to be established as a profession in Scotland. A lot of them were midwives, who were taking business away from the male medics.

I identify as a Viper.

Ruth Barrett is a Dianic leader and edited Female Erasure: What You Need to Know about Gender Politics' War on Women

My coven doesn't hold with TWAW.

A lot of "witches" who were accused were bipolar, had mental health issues, alcoholics etc, rather than those who practiced witchcraft

However if you go further back there is some proof that the original shamans were female e.g. in the paleothithic era, theres a really interesting book about this called when the drummers were women, all around the frame drum through history and how historically it was a womans instrument. Theres also some interesting stuff about how the womens poistion in historical tribes is being reconsidered now they are not only studied by an inherently sexist bunch of people as has previously been the case.

Sorry not exactly witchcraft related but there is an element of reclaiming a power that was lost/stolen from us

Witches, at least in England were hanged, not burned.

There is a lot of romanticised revision goes on with this. Some were extremely unpleasant people you would not want to cross and who terrorised local communities. Some were also men.

The Pendle witches were involved in extortion, demanding money with menaces, threatening to destroy crops and provisions, which could result in starvation, and probably serious child abuse

Did any witches identify as witches? I thought it was an identity imposed on them, before they were hung, burned etc

Precisely! Do away with the identity labelling, and just explore what moves you.

I think I’m going to investigate it more, there are definitely some appealing elements. I love the Discworld witches and I often think Terry Pratchett’s female characters are very interesting from a feminist point of view.

My ramblings quite often take me past a witch's grave - there are often a few flowers on it and someone has planted bulbs around it.

How do we go about finding these dianic covens in the UK? Is there a website? I noticed that the book by Z Budapest is currently out of print.

Ugh Magrat!