Wed 28 Jul 2021 - 8:20 by Jexxston
Witches and other creatures.
Superstition paints a very dark picture of witches, they are described as old, bent, unattractive, bow-legged, stringy haired practitioners of dark magic, always accompanied by their ever faithful and equally dastardly familiar. It was believed that a witch was unable to shed tears unless succumbing to the pain of torture, whereby the witch would cry and at this point it was said they lost their powers. Severe punishments for practicing witches were imposed from the seventh century and in the twelfth century the death penalty was brought in.
A much darker picture has been painted of female witches whereby male witches are always described more creatively. This old-fashioned image of a witch couldn’t be further from the truth, there are many creative, talented, beautiful, caring witches in the world who are healers, magicians, teachers, writers, dancers, singers, astrologers, numerologists, astronomers, chemists, scientists and the list goes on. There was a time when chemists, physicists and astronomers were believed to be witches. Many of the well-known classical witches such as Circ and Canidia, were beautiful and powerful, treating their craft with great reverence. Witchcraft is more widespread today than you can possibly imagine, it cuts through barriers of creed and culture. Among the seemingly everyday people, going about their day to day lives, there are witches and witchcraft is still one of the most misunderstood arts.
Ingredients the ancient witches used are still used today, and witches like their ancient counterparts, incorporate astrology and numerology in their practice, this is often an integral part of spell casting. There are two types of herbs and plants used by witches, one is of a healing nature the other of the noxious variety. Those using the former where considered “white witches” they used herbs for healing, and they removed curses from animals and people, they also used special chants and dances to make crops grow and prepared love potions for those who wanted someone to fall in love with them. Those using the latter were considered “dark witches,” these witches were the malevolent ones, they cursed people and laid spells upon animals. A true witch has the ability to cast spells and most witches cast the benevolent type of spells, it is a small proportion of witches who practice malevolent spell casting.
Witchcraft flourishes today just as it did in the Middle Ages, and many groups carry on the ancient ceremonies and beliefs. The wise man and the wise woman are still revered, and they are expected to care for and protect animals and people. Most witches today can be looked upon as benevolent and a mixture of counselor, healer and spell caster. Witchcraft is still surrounded in mystery and feared by some, but witches are generally nurturers who want to practice their craft creatively, with a “do no harm” motto.
The witch’s familiar is a creature in tune with nature and one of the witch’s closest relationships, it is rare to find a witch who doesn’t have a familiar. These supernatural pets have extraordinary powers of their own and any animal can be a familiar, although cats are the first animal to come to mind when familiars are mentioned. In the nineteenth century a farmer sought legal advice, and wanted compensation because he believed a local witch had sent her familiar to bewitch him.
Witches believe that one of their most powerful plants is mistletoe and no witch would be without this, it is held above all other plants and herbs, another popular and well-used plant is laurel which was prized by the Romans and the Greeks, it was believed to bring good health. Elder was credited with the power to conjure devils. Witch hazel and honeysuckle protect cattle from having spells cast upon them. The Normans considered the elm tree to be the tree of justice and historically it is believed that violets will keep witches at bay. Italians find oranges and lemons to be very useful in spell casting, the orange is associated with the Sun and the lemon is associated with the Moon. The goddess Diana (Queen of the Witches) used vervain to keep evil away, and those who are superstitious still use it today. It was believed witches flew with Diana and that Diana had the ability to turn herself into a cat, she also kept a dog by her side at all times. Transmutation was an ability many witches were believed to have. The goddess Diana called the goddess Aradia to her side and bestowed upon her special powers, the first of which was to grant lovers desires, so when a witch prepares a love potion she calls upon Aradia to enhance the spell.