Girl Power: witches? The Legacy of the Witches

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Persecuted for centuries, witches have always been talked about. Subversive symbols of feminists in the 1970s, they showed the way to freedom, that of respect for nature, and defended a different relationship to the body and to sexuality. Often healers or midwives, they knew how to free themselves from the rules imposed by men to fully live their femininity and help other oppressed women. If they were given supernatural powers, it was because they were capable of using the richness of nature, of handling energies and of transmitting among themselves the fruit of their experiences.

In her very pretty book Soul of a Witch or the Magic of the Feminine, published by Harmonie Solar, Odile Chabrillac invites us to explore the strange and invisible world of these women with singular destinies and to learn some of their rituals to transform our lives.

©Anne Suze, alias Nouchka

Etymologically, the word "witch" means "spell-teller". Their sulphurous reputation comes mainly from their mastery of plants which could sometimes be remedies and sometimes be poisons. Witches have always fought for women to rise up against male domination and self-censorship. They have also worked to make women listen to their femininity, their intuitions and their feelings. Between the 5th and 18th centuries, more than half a million women were sentenced to death for having made a pact with the devil. As early as 1487, the treatise Malleus Maleficarum, also called the "witches' hammer", provided a theological and legal framework to condemn them. At a time when humanitarian and natural disasters were multiple, these powerful and influential, and therefore dangerous, women were the perfect scapegoats. They embodied both a threat to the religious and the patriarchal system in general, but also to the medical profession, essentially male, because they had an empirical knowledge of medicine.

Meditation, concentration, visualization

The Book of Shadows, a collection of magical texts, offers a thousand ways to appropriate energies, plants, herbs, metals and stones. In addition, witches freely disposed of their sexuality, knew contraceptive techniques and sometimes practiced abortion. In the 1960s, under the influence of Starhawk, a feminist alterglobalist practicing Wicca, the myth of white witches reappeared. Wicca is a religious movement born at the beginning of the 20th century based on the ancient pagan religion which is based on shamanism, druidism, Greco-Roman, Slavic, Celtic and Nordic mythologies. Since then, in most Western countries, there are small groups of women who come together to fast, meditate, dance, sing, use and share their knowledge in all humility and make common requests. Their meetings are based on openness, the quest for wisdom, the development of powers and the improvement of one's relationship to the body. Through rigorous learning and an unwavering belief in magic, they would manage to perform extraordinary acts through a mixture of meditation, concentration and visualization.

The roots of feminism

Libertarian and feminist, witches have always wanted to regain power from men, become agents of change and emerge from the status of victim. The world of magic is a matriarchal system that extols femininity, fertility, nature, and the Earth. Since the origin of mankind, the fact that women menstruate has been a proof of their weakness and their passive character. Men needing women to reproduce, women quickly became a necessary resource that had to be shared. There is nothing like denigration and deprivation of liberty to achieve this… This is what the anthropologist Françoise Héritier calls the archaic dominant model. Even today, the inequalities between men and women persist and it is still difficult to admit that a woman can be brilliant, autonomous and lovable at the same time. The archetype of the powerful, and therefore dangerous, witch lives on in the corporate world today. For political scientist Sophie Heine, the fairness of a society is assessed by its ability to guarantee freedom to all the individuals who compose it and by a state of non-domination. Witches were banished because they did not allow men enough to interfere in their life choices.

©Anne Suze, alias Nouchka

Lilith, the first witch?

In Jewish tradition, Lilith was Adam's first wife, a demon of love, sexuality and death. Created by God from the same land as Adam, Lilith considered herself his equal and refused to put herself under him when making love. The ensuing quarrel caused Lilith to leave the Garden of Eden for a cave near the Red Sea. To punish her, God ordered to kill one hundred of her children every day. Three angels went looking for him to change his mind, in vain. Faced with this refusal, the angels negotiated a pact: they gave him the right to kill all male children until they were circumcised and all female children until they were twenty days old. In return, she had to spare the children who wore amulets with the names of the three angels. Since then, Lilith has been the symbol of the fight against male oppression. Lilith was known to fly through the night with her hair in the wind. Wouldn't she be finally at the origin of the myth of the witch? In any case, it is found in different mythologies, Sumerian and Babylonian in particular.

The basics of witchcraft according to Odile Chabrillac

have faith in magic

According to Odile Chabrillac, "true magic is a spiritual art whose objective is to unite spirit with matter, thanks to the energy of love, so that matter ends up giving life to the power of 'mind ". You have to harmonize your vibrations with those of the cosmos to experience pure and intense joy. Energy practices such as qi gong, yoga or tai chi use the energy beams that surround us. For witches, the time of the moons, which are often those of their periods, is the period when they are most receptive. These few full moon days would boost visions, dreams and intuitions. In magic, menstrual blood is considered a concentrate of feminine power. It is used in certain rituals to obtain what one wishes, to delimit a territory of influence and to make the man of one's choice mad with love.

Reveal your nudity and live a fulfilling sexuality

For witches, nudity is an asset to accepting oneself as one is without artifice and with all its imperfections. After a few days of getting used to it, it allows women to regain all their energy and power. It reminds us that we are vulnerable, but also that our body is a source of pleasure. According to studies, group naturism provides psychological benefits and self-esteem. But if witches were so hunted down in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, it was above all because they were sexually liberated. The State then punished abortion with the death penalty, while it had decriminalized rape for the poorest individuals. Carnal pleasures were considered to be sinful. According to the Malleus Maleficarum, witches had insatiable vaginas. The Puritans were above all opposed to the pagan rites of the countryside, such as trial engagement, which allowed peasants to cohabit for a year before formalizing their union. The Sabbath (or sacrilegious feast) actually took the form of popular gatherings that sometimes ended in sexual outbursts. To avoid the evil trance, the Catholic reform of the Council of Trent had banned round dances such as the sardana. In reality, witchcraft trials mainly punished women denounced by their husbands for being unfaithful. It was not until the 1970s and the advent of the pill that the fairer sex could finally lead a chosen sexuality openly.

©Anne Suze, alias Nouchka

Cooperate with mother nature

The world of witchcraft bets on cooperation between nature and humans. Witches believe that all elements of nature have energy. This makes the forest the ideal place to meditate, take a step back and develop one's gifts. Shinrin-yoku or forest bathing, used in Japan as preventive medicine, has been particularly popular with witches since the dawn of time. At the same time, witches have always cultivated their garden and practiced permaculture. The essential principle is to position medicinal plants and food plants in the best possible way to design harmonious installations that save labor and energy. The witch is above all a maker of remedies, potions, elixirs and essential oils to maintain good health or restore harmony. Each preparation responds to very strict rules: time of picking, prayers, special offerings, dietary or sexual restrictions. Even today, a quarter of the drugs prescribed in the world are made from plant substances and more than 80% of the population of the planet still uses plant derivatives for treatment...

Follow your intuition and observe synchronicities

The word “intuition” comes from the Latin intueri which can be translated as “to look within or to contemplate”. When the soul functions in spontaneous mode, we speak of intuition. Researchers distinguish several types of extrasensory perception: information received from another person (telepathy), information received about the future (precognition for emotions and premonitions for emotions and feelings), information received from the past (retrocognition). By connecting as often as possible to your emotions, you strengthen your power of intuition. It is the information available in the unconscious that is processed at lightning speed. Witches believe in intuition, but also in synchronicity, which Odile Chabrillac defines as the occurrence of a happy coincidence, the simultaneous occurrence of at least two events which do not present causal links, but whose association takes on a meaning for the person who perceives it. It opens us to other dimensions as if life wanted to tell us something, as if there were a dialogue between the visible and invisible world, as if we had a sixth sense to reconnect with the meaning of life.

Alternate loneliness and sorority

Knowing how to step back, get out of dependence on others and leave the space of representation allows you to connect with yourself on all levels (corporal, emotional, affective, cognitive, fantasy and spiritual). As the author of Soul of a Witch says, you have to go to inner territory to regain your power and your power. The witches, however, functioned in sorority with other women having the same affinities and similar experiences to emancipate themselves, work together and create a feminine alchemy. The Sabbaths allowed them to unite in the face of a hostile world, to support each other, to learn from each other and to feel treated as equals. They felt like they were working for a greater common interest.

The Sabbath BA-BA

Magic rituals always begin with a fast or detox, meditation and visualization to connect to the earth. Then, the participants free themselves from the pressures of everyday life by moving through music. A sacred circle is then defined to invoke the four elements: air, earth, water, fire.

Then, everyone formulates their request aloud, by writing or drawing it. Then everyone present raises the power through breathing, trance, dance, music and song. They will then focus their energy on a specific image, action, symbol or act. When the latter seems to have reached its peak, comes the moment to return the power to the Earth with his hands and his body. Before parting, the witches drink and eat together to enjoy this precious moment, express their gratitude, then reopen the circle to return to an ordinary space-time.

6 rituals to put a little magic in your life

From the book Soul of a witch or the magic of the feminine.

1. Purify yourself. You have to get rid of your bad habits and learn to protect yourself from the negative energies and emotions of those around you. It is important to detox regularly. All witchcraft rites begin with a few hours or days of detox, baths and fumigations. Start by eliminating harmful foods such as meat, alcohol, sweets and industrial products. Ditch your screens to pamper yourself at a spa, rest, or practice yoga or meditation. The ideal is to do two purification cures a year: one in the spring and the other in the fall. In case of a hard blow, make yourself an untreated coarse salt scrub to get rid of your negative emotions. You can also place bowls of salts in every room of your house, burn sage leaves or rosemary sprigs. Finally, learn to breathe through your belly by visualizing a connection with the Earth for a few minutes daily.

1. Go green. Treat yourself to a bath of vitamin G (Green) by going for a walk in the forest or gardening for a few minutes a day. All it takes is a few plants on a balcony to reap the first benefits. It is no coincidence that human beings have been growing flowers for over 5,000 years. If you want to practice white magic, you can also invest in herbs to make infusions, relaxing baths or make ointments (a fatty substance made from vegetable fat, powdered plants and essential oils), essential oils or incense.

1. Vibrate! The vibratory rate is your energy indicator. By increasing it, you will increase your ability to achieve your goals. A good vibratory rate rhymes with intuition, luck and sequences of happy coincidences. Negative information conveyed by the media, the abuse of screens, addictive products, electromagnetic waves and pollution lower it. Conversely, meditation, dancing, singing, yoga, massages, conscious breathing and walking in nature have the power to increase it. Any relaxing activities you enjoy can also be energy boosters. Also learn to let go by expressing your repressed emotions through writing, singing or painting. And, don't forget to express your gratitude and pamper your living space by tidying it up, cleaning it up and decorating it with plants...

1. Trust yourself. Self-confidence often depends on the emotional bond that one has maintained with his parents, on education, but also on happy or unhappy experiences in the past. To restore your self-confidence, you must regain a sense of inner security. Try new experiences by setting easily achievable goals and learn to savor your successes.

1. Develop your intuition. Intuition is an impromptu instant of clairvoyance coming from your unconscious. According to psychologist Richard Wiseman, the lucky ones all believe in their karma and trust their intuition. To boost it, it is enough to relax regularly by practicing meditation or trance and to question yourself honestly about your needs, your objectives and your entourage. You also have to learn to distinguish facts from interpretations based on your desires and emotions.

1. Create new rituals. Rituals are gestures carrying an intention of change. We become what we used to do. There are rituals that punctuate daily life and there are celebratory rituals. The more people the rituals bring together, the greater the benefits are generally important because they are the cement of the community. Rituals mark the great moments of life in a stable way and are essential to the construction of individuals. To keep all their flavor, they must be modernized and updated over time. To establish a new ritual, you have to visualize it with your five senses and focus on the benefits associated with it.

8 beloved plants of witches

©Anne Suze, alias Nouchka

hawthorn

It was used by healers to bring calm, refocusing and fertility. In herbal tea from fresh flowers, it helps to fight against anxiety; in a bouquet, it brings peace to your home.

Ginger

It would bring luck, vitality and would be a libido booster. It would be enough to hold a piece of ginger while making a wish, to visualize your dream and to throw the root in a stream for it to come true. Consumed in herbal tea, ginger has antiemetic properties.

great nettle

You throw it into the fire to counter a curse or you hold a branch in your hand to protect yourself from ghosts. It can also be consumed in soup, juice or herbal tea to purify oneself.

The mistletoe

Favorite plant of the druids, it protected them against bad luck. It is burned or worn to ward off disease.

Holly

In the Middle Ages it was thought to ward off lightning, poison and evil spirits. It was made into infusions to sprinkle newborn babies.

periwinkle

Nicknamed "witches' violet", its picking must be done mainly on the first, ninth, eleventh or thirteenth moon night. We make a bouquet of it and place it above our door to protect the hearth and the bonds of the heart in general.

The Rose

We take baths with rose water to make a love charm work. Drinking rosebud tea before going to bed would open the way to prophetic dreams. To know his future companion, three leaves are assigned the name of a suitor. The leaf that remains green the longest designates the lucky winner.

Mandrake

A powerful aphrodisiac, the mandrake would also have the reputation of treating sterility and bringing luck in legal and financial terms. At another time, it was thought that it could make invisible, serve as a spell or constitute a talisman against witchcraft. It is still found today in esoteric shops in the form of incense to invoke spirits.

TOO#32