It Takes A Village: VNV Wednesday – You Might Be A Witch

The Village News & Views October 25, 2017
Wednesday Get Over the Hump Free for All

Greetings, Village Meese. It’s Day 279 of the Resistance and time for another Get Over the Hump post and discussion thread.

In one week it will be November first, and we will be sadly out of the season of Halloween. I pondered what to use as my thought object for today’s post and decided I could not miss the chance to draw your attention to yet one other thing associated with Halloween. Sometimes considered a monster, predominantly characterized as evil, yet perhaps the single most enduring image and standard Halloween costume for little girls, older girls and women of all ages… no, not a princess.

You already know I am talking about the original Nasty Woman. The Witch.

I will not attempt to explore the archetype, idea and character of The Witch in any satisfying way, but merely to evoke her in your imagination, and let that magical process do most of the rest of the work.

After all, Imagination is the bedrock component of spellwork and witchcraft, along with secrecy, and intent.

Although witches have been slightly rehabilitated and a serious attempt has been made to reclaim The Witch in the name of feminine empowerment, after centuries of relentless effort on the part of those who present her as a monster, this image cannot be undone in a mere few decades. It is possible that it will not be undone until such time as women are no longer considered chiefly objects, servants, and of less worth than their male counterparts by none but a pathetic minority. However that time is not yet nigh.

Until women are seen by the majority of people as full human beings, The Witch will be a convenient image of ugliness, evil, the feminine become threatening, poisonous and castrating.

At the same time, for the same duration, however, The Witch will be the original figure of feminine Resistance. Independent, powerful, wise, and a channel for the forces of the natural world.

The Witch takes a pot for cooking and it becomes a cauldron for the mixing of remedies, and spells. The Witch takes a broom, the emblem of servitude, and with it, she flies.

So this Halloween season, take a moment of thought for The Witch. You might know one. You might be one. In fact, in the present climate it’s quite possible you may someday soon find that you need one.

And now for your regularly scheduled randomness.

WTFJH Yesterday – Day 278: Alert the daycare staff.

Rolereboot.org – In Solidarity With Witches: How Powerful Women Are Still Persecuted

Huffingtonpost.com – How ‘Nasty Woman’ Became A Viral Call For Solidarity

13 SIGNS YOU’RE A WITCH.

Twitterverse…

 

Puerto Rico

 

Cleansing Ritual

https://twitter.com/joebloggs8040/status/922651900662644737

Turn the sound on…

https://twitter.com/joebloggs8040/status/917201266165600257

 

Familiars

https://twitter.com/kittentoday/status/922942669659176965

https://twitter.com/cutemergency/status/922596524231741440

https://twitter.com/joebloggs8040/status/921127657223458816

That’s it for me, enjoy some beverage, chat with your friends and fellow Resistors and just take a moment to enjoy some part of your day.

Thank you for your patience. Love and peace, Village! Enjoy your Wednesday gathering.

We are #StrongerTogether

We are #TheResistance and #WePersist

#BlessedBe!

 

About MomentaryGrace 41 Articles
I voted for the Democrat in every election since 1976. I appreciate honesty, kindness and courage. I loathe cruelty and indifference. I am Discordian. I mean you no harm. But if you are cruel, or indifferent, I may point and laugh. #stillwithher.

6 Comments

  1. {{{MomentaryGrace}}} – Thanks for the double duty. as always. And the interesting post. as always. :)

    I’ve never been sure whether or not to call myself a witch, but I know a number of witches. Some of them even call themselves that. Just to stop a certain amount of negative reactions some prefer to use the Wicca spelling (that would have been pronounced “wee-cha” or “witch” at an early time and different location according to a friend whose women have been in the Craft for multiple generations).

    Whatever I feel like calling it, I’m a solo practitioner. That’s limiting when raising Power is needed. When I’ve managed to “make contact” I channel Energy fairly efficiently for necessities – makes for nice W00Ts on the needs list. Needs I seem to be able to get covered, desires not so much. I know the blockage is within myself but I haven’t managed to remove it yet. Still working on it. Blessed Be. and moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • You are definitely a witch, or whatever name suits you. :) When others are listening, V and I just say “woo-woo”, like, “she’s woo-woo”, or “that’s pretty woo-woo” meaning something in the realms of power and intent is going on.

      Whatever people call it, it is going on all the time. Sometimes for good, often for ill – religious zealotry is an obvious working of evil intent and harnessing the wills of those who can be swayed by negative emotions of fear and hate for a purpose.

      I’ve been a practicing witch for about 30 years. I tend to be fairly lazy about it most of the time but it is something that has given me comfort and a way of overcoming my own sense of powerlessness for a long time.

      I’m solitary, or maybe binary ;) because I just don’t remain comfortable in a group for more than 5 minutes. :) I’ve studied, but for the most part I just make it up as I go.

      • My son also refers to it as “woo-woo” – :) I’ve done some studying and some listening (as well as Listening) to others both new and old to the Craft – but yeah, solitary. Although I’ve felt Power very strongly inside churches, usually when nobody else was there, I also feel it strongly listening to water or looking at mountains. And music, of course.

        I channel Energy but I’m not very good at it. As in there are many blocks and narrow points that restrict the flow more than I like. It does need to to be channeled – a barn-sized mass of fog may have the same amount of water as an 8-oz glass but it does you no good if you need to drink it. It also needs to be channeled to not overwhelm – the water Harvey brought would have been very useful spread over the western states to put out the fires, dumped on top of Houston all at once was not so good. That said, there must be enough sent to the intended person/place to do the intended job, be that health/healing or covering the rent or whatever – and I’m not managing that. sigh. But I will persist.

        moar {{{HUGS}}} and always Healing Energy.

  2. Thanks for this MG, here and at the Orange.

    Reading about witches brought to mind a book I was reading (not finished) up until when I started working on campaign stuff in 2016. I really need to pick it up again; it’s The Case for God by Karen Armstrong. (https://www.amazon.com/Case-God-Karen-Armstrong/dp/0307389804) One of the things she does in the book is describe the historical views of “God” starting in Paleolithic times and moving forward. It’s fascinating on many levels (she makes it quite clear that each builds upon the past, so, for example, the Christian understanding of God is fully dependent upon past traditions; she also argues that there is one God with many names, a viewpoint that is anathema to fundamental Christians.) Early in the book, she makes clear that the earliest understanding of god was based on the Divine Feminine and that patriarchy has stripped that away in most Western traditions. It’s why someone like me, raised in the Christian tradition, has no problem with Wicca or the concept of witches…as far as I’m concerned, the centering of the Great Mother is foundational to an authentic understanding of the Divine. Of course, it’s also why someone like me is an uneasy fit with my church, but somehow I make it work for me. I’ll just never be the poster-child-of choice for those who define Christianity within narrow confines of rules and thou-shall-nots.

  3. Hey, Meese, and thanks, MG, for double dutying it again. I totally forgot about moose until bfitz commented in 🍊. It’s just been one of those days. Between exercise and searching the tubes for stories for my diary, I completely lost my train of thought this morning.

    I’ve called bfitz an old soul for some time. I’ve was often told I was born old. My grandma never said she was a witch, but she sure was into dreams and healing herbs. I never recalled her ever attending a traditional church. She believed that those with the gift of seeing into the future pass that gift on to others. She said my dad had it and so did I. I haven’t delved into that much (too busy working) but have experienced many instances where I knew what was going to happen before it did.

    Now it’s time for lunch and then off to the gym.

  4. Good morning all, and thank you for this post, Momentary! I wish I hadn’t missed it yesterday. Mornings are my busiest time so I miss a lot of good posts.

    What an interesting remark you made—a cooking pot becomes a cauldron for spells and healing mixtures, a symbol of servitude, the broom, becomes the vehicle for flying. Never thought of it that way, but I’m charmed!

    In my own case, I declared myself a Witch when I read Starhawk’s The Spiral Dance. The most transformative experiences of my life have been at Witch Camp, years ago. Through Facebook I’m still in touch with some of the Witches I met there.

    There are women I admire, like Carol Christ, who abandoned the outward trappings of the Craft years ago and now practice mostly alone. I’ve led circles through the years but have pretty much shut that down too. It’s just too hard to get together with like-minded women who live long distances from each other.

    I’ve never felt myself to have any particular powers. I know someone who does, though. Yikes, she blew my mind earlier in the year, when I hired her to do massages.

    Nowadays my priestessing work consists of mentoring younger women—not necessarily on the Goddess path, just groping toward balance—and writing about those who do follow the Goddess path. I love writing fiction!

    Hope everyone is getting through the rest of the week without incident and looking forward to the weekend. Samhain approaches…

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