Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 7: Season of the Witch

Tomorrow is October 1st.

Which in my books means that it's the start of Halloween. Yep, that's right. Halloween is basically an entire month. If Christmas can be a month and a half long (or longer if you go by the radio stations), then Halloween should have an entire month all on it's own!

Haunted houses, corn mazes, creepy decorations (or as I like to think...new house decor), and pumpkin spice flavored everything. Don't try to tell me you guys don't like reading about pumpkin spice and everything nice. My first post to reach over 100 hits was Welcome to Pumpkin Overload and it was all thanks to you awesome readers.

I feel honored that one of my most popular blog posts is about how much I love pumpkin flavored everything.

I love Halloween. I'm not a huge fan of scary things (even if I do write horror), but I love the dark atmosphere. It's a different kind of beautiful.

Plus it's the default season for all things witches!

If my mom ever dressed up for Halloween it was usually as a witch. She'd set up a cauldron with a fog machine inside on the front stoop of our house to pass out candy. It was a lot of fun watching little kids slowly approach our house, uncertain if a real witch lived there or not.

My mom isn't a witch, but for all of the real witches out there. Halloween is also the witch's New Year or start or their yearly cycle. Called Samhain (pronounced SOW-een), it's supposed to be a solemn and sacred day for witches. For some it's a day to remember those who have passed on, for others it's a day to try and contact the spirit world.

Though Samhain is one of the more well known holidays for witches and Wicca, there are actually quite a few spread out over the year. Last week, I wished everyone a happy Mabon, which is the celebration of the Autumn/Fall Equinox. It's also the last holiday in the Wicca or Witch's Year. There are a total of 8 holidays which correspond to the seasons.

Image originally from this site here.

They are:

• Samhain - which I already discussed above as the magickal new year. above
• Yule - or the celebration of the Winter Solstice or the festival of lights. Some people may have heard of a Yule Log or gone to a Yule celebration (my university held a Yule Log ceremony every year) which is when a log is passed around for everyone to touch, then it is light up and you can toss a sprig of holly on the fire to burn your troubles or bad luck away. Another way to celebrate Yule is to light candles after sunset.
• Imbolc - this holiday is typically celebrated at the beginning of February. It is a fertility holiday and represents the promise that spring is soon to arrive and with it the start of the growing season. 
• Ostara - the Spring Equinox. This is the official start of the growing season. From what I've read, decorating eggs (much like Christians do for Easter) is customary.
• Beltane - also known as May Day. It's the second fertility holiday. It is a celebration of spring time nature and is meant to honor the Earth. May Day is a none witch version of the same celebration. I've been to May Day celebrations in Pennsylvania and they are a ton of fun.
• Midsummer - or the celebration of the Summer Solstice. It's the longest day of the year and a period of plenty. Midsummer is associated with Earth spirits like elves and fairies. It is also considered a great time for love spells and magick.
• Lughnassadh or Lammas - is the start of the harvest season (specifically the harvest of grains) and is celebrated around the start of August.
• Mabon -  finally we come back to Mabon or the Autumn/Fall Equinox. From this point until the Winter Solstice, the days grow shorter and the harvest festival. It's a time for balance and giving thanks.

It just goes to show that October and Halloween aren't the only times to be a witch. Witches practice magick the whole year long. They also don't have to celebrate any of these holidays if they want to. The 8 holidays I mentioned above are very much based in the Wicca tradition and religion.

A witch doesn't have to celebrate a holiday or season if they don't want to.

These holidays are also very much based on the seasonal rotation of the northern hemisphere. I'm not as familiar with how witches in the southern hemisphere practice, but if I understand correctly, it's not too different from how witches in the northern hemisphere do. Information on these holidays can be found all over the Internet, but I used The Modern Guide to Witchcraft: Your Complete Guide to Witches, Covens & Spells by Skye Alexander as my reference.

So this October season, remember that for some people (especially witches) this season is very important and sacred. In fact Halloween or All Hallows Eve is just before two important Christian Holidays which also honors the day: All Saints Day and All Souls Day. It isn't just about dressing up in costumes and scaring each other silly. It's about remembering those we loved and lost over the years. It's about the ending of a cycle and the promise of rebirth.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 6: Today's Witches

Fall has finally arrived!

The equinox was yesterday in the northern hemisphere (Saturday September 22nd for those of you not reading this post on the day it was published), so now we get to fully celebrate all things fall. In my case, a month and a half long Halloween binge!

Yesterday also marked the Sabbat known as Mabon or The Second Harvest Celebration for many of today's Witch and Pagan communities. A Sabbat is essentially a modern Pagan and/or Witch's holy day or holiday. Depending on which tradition a Pagan or Witch follows, the practitioner might celebrate all of some of these holidays.

Picture from: this site

Today I'm not going to go over the Sabbats (I'm saving that for another post). Instead, I want to write about how Witches continue to practice into the modern age and the many different types of Witches out there.

Here's an important fact about the Witch community: anyone can be a witch.

There's no specific gender, identity, or religious requirements. Witches can be men, women or non-binary people. You can be religious, spiritual, secular, or even atheist to practice Witchcraft. There are solitary practitioners or a Witch can find a coven to join.

What binds Witches together?

Witches are bound by their practice of magick (the type of magick spelled with a "k"). From what I have come to understand, Witches draw power from the world around them as well as from within themselves. They have a preference for and connection with nature, but some don't mind using technology with their spell work. Some invoke gods, goddesses, angels, or spirits in their craft, but it isn't necessary.

One of the more well known practitioners of magick and witchcraft today are Wiccans. People who follow the Wicca faith also incorporate magick into their religious rituals. Most of my research on witchcraft, spell casting, and magickal rituals has been from Wicca sources. They have their own traditions and holidays such as the Sabbats I mentioned earlier in this post. There are also different sects or paths of Wicca a person can follow (click here for more on the different types of Wicca).

But you don't have to be a follower of Wicca to become a Witch.

Wicca happens to be one of the more well known religions that coincides with witchcraft. However, some Witches prefer a more spiritual or secular path to their practice. I hear it can ruffle feathers, especially if the person or group of people are misappropriating other cultures (please don't do this if you are curious about practicing witchcraft). However, there do seem to be some merits to striking it out on your own if organized religion isn't for the practitioner.

Personally, my curiosity has lead me to a lot of books about witchcraft, Wicca, and magick. I tend to prefer the solitary and connection with nature aspects of the practice. There's a lot of meditation and good philosophy involved with my spiritual empowerment.

One stand-out aspect of many modern Witch's paths involves the Rule of Three. The Rule of Three is basically the philosophy that whatever energy is put out into the world will be reflected back three times fold. It's meant as a reminder to use magick for good or positive things rather than curses or hexes. Putting something negative into the world such as a curse or a hex on another person could result in three times the amount of negative things happening to the caster.

I like this type kind of philosophy. It's a reminder to do good things in life.

Other than the Wicca, there are several other types of witches. I have a few listed below:

• The Eclectic Witch - combines different magickal traditions and witchcraft styles into their own practice. Their practice is the most likely to change over time.
• Hereditary Witch - much like Sally and Jillian Owens from the movie Practical Magic, these are practitioners who pass their knowledge down from generation to generation. They often practice as a family and have their own unique traditions. 
• Hedge Witch - these witches often work in the natural and spiritual world.
• Kitchen Witch - a witch that mainly practices in their kitchen. Their spell work is often incorporated into their cooking. They likely have an herb or vegetable garden which they cultivate their own ingredients from.
• Green Witch - these witches heavily relay on the natural world around them.They're often most in tune with the seasons and try to work their spells and rituals outside as much as possible.
• Cosmic Witches - these witches prefer working with astrology and astronomy into their spell work. Most of their rituals incorporate the moon and planets.

There are more types of witches that I haven't listed. Witchcraft and magick are as varied and unique as the many cultures that have influenced them. 

Credit for this picture goes to this site.

I do ask that if you are interested in looking into more research or spells, that you don't appropriate another culture. Just because someone on the Internet says it's okay to do something doesn't mean that it is. Some practices and traditions are sacred and should be treated as such. Further more, some plants are on the endangered or threatened species list and shouldn't be used.

If you are curious about learning more on witchcraft, check out published books and/or ask real witches about their practice. Though you can start on the Internet, take everything you read there with a grain of salt.

Blessed be!

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 5: Teen Witch Craze

I recently started watching the Netflix show Worst Witch. It’s about preteen girls learning how to become witches at a magical boarding school. Within the first episode there are magical potions, flying on broom sticks, and a battle between a good witch and a bad witch. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the show.

This isn’t the first incarnation of Worst Witch. Originally a book series, Worst Witch has had a total of four TV iterations (one being a spin off) with the fist being the 1985 TV movie. It’s clear that the story of Mildred Hubble is popular and has resonated with a lot of people.

Worst Witch is just one example of the trope that a young child discovers they have magical powers and must now learn how to control them all while avoiding evil witches and wizards. Harry Potter is another well known example of this trope.

However, it isn’t the only story line out there featuring witches. Tales of sisterhood and coming of age are also popular tropes to show up in Witch related media. At least the witch related media aimed at young women and children tend to have these story lines. Harry Potter is the odd one out as it is generally considered for all people.

That’s not to say that men and boys can’t like women driven story lines, especially of the magical variety. These stories just aren’t targeted to them the same way they are targeted to women. The 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s saw a lot of witch media hit the big and small screen that was almost explicitly for young women.

In 1989, the movie Teen Witch hit theaters. It was trying to capitalize on the genre of teen flicks with a supernatural or paranormal undertone that became popular with the release of Teen Wolf in 1985. The same year that Teen Witch hit theaters, Studio Ghibli released the animated movie Kiki's Delivery Service in Japan. Kiki's Delivery Service also featured a young witch teenage witch (Kiki is 13 in the movie) trying to make her way in the world. The Craft and Sabrina the Teenage Witch both became cultural icons in 1996 and were quickly followed by the movie Practical Magic (1998) and the TV series Charmed (1998 - 2006).

The look so cool and powerful!

Disney Channel took notice of the rising popularity in witches, especially for young girls, to create several made for TV movies including: The Halloweentown series and the Twitches movies.

It would be silly of me to not include the rise in popularity of Harry Potter in the 1990s that has lasted all the way to today. We now have two popular movie franchises, an official play, multiple unofficial plays, and more books than my bookshelf at home can hold. More importantly, we have the characters of Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, and Tonks who were pivotal in shaping the confidence of many young girls looking for literary role models.

Of course we still had the movies and TV shows featuring evil witches. Hocus Pocus (1993) is still one of the most iconic Halloween movies for kids who grew up in the 90s. The Witches of Eastwick (1987) had an all star cast with plenty of nasty shenanigans and still ended with the ladies taking on the big bad guy in a show of sisterhood. Then there’s the 1990 adaptation of Roald Dahl’s book The Witches which gave young me many a nightmare. At least the movie ends a lot happier than the book where the children are stuck as mice instead being turned back into children by a nice witch.

My point is that there has been a lot more media in the past 4 decades featuring witches in a positive light than a negative one. Sure we had the Bewitched series from 1964 to 1972 which I think helped spring board the “good witch” stories we eventually got. However, the horror industry of that era continuously used the “bad witch” trope in their sploitation movies (most of which are hilariously bad).

Now “bad witch” movies aren’t the norm.

Occasionally we’ll see a Blair Witch (1999 and 2016) or The Witch: A New England Folktale (2015), but these types of scary movies are now few and far between. Most Witch media now is fun, happy, and how to be a good witch. Witches are seen as teachers of empowerment instead of a people to be feared.

Is it any wonder that some girls went through a witch phase in middle or high school? Having magical powers isn’t just about solving your problems or getting revenge against the mean girl at school. In fact, the petty, mean, or dangerous spells usually resulted in an important lesson on not misusing magic and the consequences of selfish acts. Magic in these shows is about finding a sense of self empowerment and feeling good about your own abilities. At least that’s what I got out of the books, movies, and TV shows I consumed.

It’s also why I love idea of being a witch.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Until next week!

Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 4: Women Witches

 "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable." - Malleus Maleficarum

What is the first image that comes to mind when you picture a Witch? Or more specifically, who comes to mind?

For most the answer is a woman dressed all in black with a pointed hat. She might be old and oddly disfigured or young and beautiful with a voluptuous figure. Maybe she's pouring ingredients into a cauldron or flying on a broomstick. She might even have a black cat skulking around somewhere.

The stereotypical witch from western culture is nearly always a woman.

I swear this woman turned me into a newt.

That doesn't mean that men or non-binary people can't be witches. Some of you might have pictured Harry Potter or Merlin, except that they usually have the moniker of wizard attached to them.

To be fair, the words wizard and witch are often used to signify a magic practitioner's gender. However, they don't necessarily mean the same thing. Depending on the magical system, a wizard's magic might be very different than a witch's magic while at the same time keeping the gender barrier (such as in Sir Terry Pratchett's Disc World series). In other cases men and women can be either a wizard or a witch depending on how they use/acquire their magical ability. Other words that are known to be used interchangeably (with some regards to gender) are: sorceress, sorcerer, warlock (unpopular because it also means oath-breaker), enchanter, enchantress, and mage. You can find more information on magical title by clicking here.

Please note that a magician is typically someone who does magic tricks such as slight of hand, illusions, or misdirection. The title magician is rarely used to mean a practitioner or magic/magick.

For the purposes of this blog post, I'll be using the term witch to refer to people accused during the witch trials that plagued Europe and North America between the 1400 and 1700s.

Historically, witches could be either male or female, but let's be honest with ourselves. Most people accused and executed for witchcraft were women. According to the sources I could find, women made up between 75-85% of the people accused of witchcraft during the height of the North American and European witch hunts. A few accounts have even suggested that there wouldn't be a single woman left in a village once a witch hunt was concluded - having all been burned at the stake (sadly I can't find the source of this one).

In 1922, a Swedish-Danish man, Benjamin Christensen, created a silent dramatized documentary called Haxan. In his 7 part series of shorts, it shows the history of witchcraft as he researched it. Most of it is on how women were portrayed and accused of being witches. The seventh part fast-forwards to modern times (well 1920s modern times) about how institutionalizing women for mental problems (like hysteria) is similar to the witch trials of old. That last part feels incredibly insulting for many reasons, but the rest of it is pretty interesting to watch if only for the silly shenanigans that happen when you decide to join the devil (lots of debauchery and orgies apparently).

If you're interested the nearly 2 hour movie is in the public domain and you can watch it with English subtitles on YouTube. If you don't feel like sitting through a silent movie for 2 hours, there's a fabulously hillarious silent review that's only 15 minutes by Kyle from the YouTube show Brows Held High which you can watch here.

I think the guy in the center wants my soul guys!!!

Though the gender bias towards women witches wasn't the case in all countries where hunts occurred. Historians have noted that men were more often accused in Iceland, Finland, Estonia and Russia. (Here's where I found a lot of this information.)

However, this doesn't stop the fact that women were disproportionately affected by witch hunts (and by affected I mean tortured and then murdered). Women with property, but no husband, women who were healers and midwives, women who were poor or handicapped or just had a general displeasing disposition were prime targets to have accusations thrown at them.

Some might attribute this bias as part of the Madonna and Whore complex. It divides women into two categories. The first being the virtuous pure woman who can do no wrong like The Holy Mother Mary. The second being the vile sinful temptress who will bring down mankind a la Eve. Either a woman knows her place in society or she's evil and going to bring about the ruin of civilization. There is no in-between. 

One famous example is Bridget Bishop from the Salem Witch Trials. She was a widow and had inherited the ownership of a tavern and apple orchard (which stood in front of Salem prison) upon her husband's death. Now women in colonial America didn't really own anything. Any property she might possess was immediately transferred to her husband upon marriage. As Mrs. Bishop refused to find herself a new husband and liked to dress in a manor that was considered scandalous for the time, she was often met with disapproval from her Puritan neighbors (the anti-fun that they were).

It really didn't help that she had a lovely apple orchard worth a pretty penny that stood right in front of Salem prison (did I already mention that?).

Bridget Bishop wasn't the first person in Salem to be accused of witchcraft, but she was the first person executed. In fact, her trial and sentencing were all sped up just so the powers-that-be could confiscate and properly redistribute her land all the faster. There was some talk that they hurried her trial along so that they could expand the prison (it was overflowing with people accused of witchcraft), but that expansion never happened.

Taken one step further, many of the things witches could be accused of were often considered more famine in nature. Altering one's appearance - known as putting on a glamour - to appear more attractive and enchant someone with their "new" beauty into a relationship. Today women are still more likely than men to wear makeup and be accused of misleading a man when she's not as attractive without it. Potion making can resemble cooking (again more associated with women's work than men's) and are used for enchanting, healing, or poisoning. Interestingly enough, poisoning was considered a women's preferred method of murder for centuries (Agatha Christie novels are full of this stereotype).

Oh, and don't forget women's right to control their bodies, especially when it comes to reproduction. It's a "controversial" fight well into modern times. The Malleus Maleficarum makes several references to witches preventing conception and causing abortions. Who would be most interested in this knowledge? Women. Who would most likely know the folklore and practice around it? Women.

Women stood a lot to lose from an accusation of being a witch. How could they protect themselves from having the finger pointed at them?

They accused their neighbors first.

Something that tends to get glossed over in the history books is that women were just as likely as men to accuse someone of witchcraft. In fact women accused of witchcraft had to be looked over by other women for signs of the "devil's mark" (imperfections on the skin such as a birth mark or scar), it wasn't proper for a man to do it. Women could even be the most vocal against an accused person, especially if there was a known rivalry between the two.

She's a witch! And she's a witch! THEY'RE ALL WITCHES!

Remember how I keep bringing up Salem? Well the trials began because of two young girls. It isn't clear exactly why they started accusing people of witchcraft (likely to stay out of trouble from some misdeed), but eventually these two girls expanded to include more and more of their friends and neighbors. Certainly they were egged on by the power-that-be, but it was young women and girls who primarily targeted other women.

Things clearly haven't changed much over the centuries. Women seem to always be pitted against each other for one reason or another.

So how did we go from evil witch to beloved fixture of the fall season, popular book heroine, and nose twitching TV icon? Furthermore, where do modern practicing witches fit into all of this?

Yeah, that's right, witches still exist and they don't need anyone's approval but their own.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.