Witches... black hats and broomsticks, powers and potions

The pointy black hat with the wide rim, the broomstick and the black cat, the evil cackle and the moon in the background.

Or do you prefer the picture of the woman renowned for her supernatural powers, herbal knowledge and potions as the ancient Greeks and Romans did.

By now you have probably realised what I am trying so hard to tell you: there are so many different images of witches, witch one do you choose? What is a witch anyway? I could write pages of everyone's personal definition of the word witch but in my eyes a witch is a creature of fantasy and yet she differentiates from other such creatures in the sense that the others (unicorns, fairies, elves, etc.) are born naturally into their roles having physical features or temperaments that give them away as to who they really are. Whereas the importance that fantasy gave to the witch is not directly visible to us, for her main feature takes place and presence in her mind: the gift fantasy gave to her is of psychic and supernatural meaning, the ability to use her mind and acquired knowledge for either good or evil purposes. It would be sad to limit her widespread abilities by claiming that she were one way or the other. My conclusion: there are and always have been many different types of witches.

The actual word "witch" comes from the old English terms wicca, wicce and wiccian which mean to work sorcery or to bewitch.

The meaning of the word witch became brutally deformed (approximately around the 14th to the 17th century) as the church gained ever more power in Europe. No mercy was shown for anything or anyone who behaved "differently" or in any way not appreciated by the ever watchful eye of the Church. It is my belief that the women burnt as alleged witches, were a way for the Church to put up signposts demanding the people to beware. Frightening the simple folk with the eternal pit of fire and the occasional witch prosecution (which ended with them being burnt anyway) made it easier for the clergy to spread fear and their own power.

The following characteristics were the evidence of a supposed possessed person (a witch) in the 16th century, they...

• Cannot suppress the revulsion at holy items (for example the contact with holy water or blessed objects)
• Have abnormal bodily strength and show no apparent reaction to pain,
• Ability to predict future events (clairvoyance)
• Are supposed to have the ability to understand and speak languages of which they had no knowledge beforehand

To the author Roald Dahl, the witch takes up a most vile role: It is her passion, the essence of her being to get rid of the children in her territory.

"Real witches dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs."

Roald Dahl describes his witch further:

"A witch never gets caught. Don't forget that she has magic working in her fingers and devilry dancing in her blood. She can make stones jump about like frogs and she can make tongues of flame go flickering across the surface of the water. A witch always appears in the form of a woman but in actual fact, she is a totally different animal. She is a demon in human shape.

In the first place a real witch is certain always to be wearing gloves when you meet her, even in the summer because she does not have fingernails, instead she has thin curvy claws. Secondly, a real witch is always bald. Look for the nose holes, witches always have slightly larger nose holes because they have the most amazing powers of smell the cleaner you happen to be, the more smelly you are to a witch.

The black dot (pupil) in the eyes of a real witch will keep changing colour, and you will see fire and you will see ice dancing right in the very centre of the coloured dot. Real witches just have feet, no toes, just feet, and blue spit." (Source: "The Witches")

But as mankind's new love "science" ripened, evidence for such creatures rotted away and ceased to exist. The woman who could control natural forces with sheer power of mind, conjure spells and charms and invoke spirits at will was suddenly reduced to myth, fairy tale and even insanity, the size of a nut.

So, please remember to greet the strange old lady next door, should your paths decide to cross in the future.

If you would like to see more of my images of witches then please click on the "Image Gallery" link in the navbar.