#on witches

[thestargazerlily]

still wants to politely & properly warn you -- this is armaggedon

the witch doesn't burn in this one by amanda lovelace // history of man by maisie peters // helen of troy by evelyn de morgan // maisie via instagram // elena di troia by gaston bussière // the mermaid's voice returns in this one by amanda lovelace // coming of age by maisie peters // maisie via apple music // the witch doesn't burn in this one by amanda lovelace // there it goes by maisie peters // the mermaid's voice returns in this one by amanda lovelace // coming of age by maisie peters // the witch doesn't burn in this one by amanda lovelace // history of man by maisie peters // she must be mad by charly cox // not another rockstar by maisie peters // therapy by maisie petera

[nyktipolos]

[...] Yet all women, even those who were never accused, felt the effects of the witch-hunts. The public staging of the tortures, a powerful source of terror and collective discipline, induced all women to be discreet, docile and submissive -- not to make any waves. What's more, one way or another, they were compelled to assume the conviction that they were the incarnation of evil; they were forcibly persuaded of their own guilt and fundamental wickedness.

Chollet, Mona. Introduction to In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial, trans. by Sophie R. Lewis. St. Martin's Press, 2022.

[gorgonapologist]

The witch is one of the most universally charged archetypes across cultures and history — as an imagined spiritual threat, as a symbol of feminine disobedience, as an institution that exists outside structures of state power, as a historical nexus of fear and violence, as a demographic of real people with real practices and beliefs who have influenced the development of our shared modern world. The witch is revisited constantly in stories, folklore, movies, political discourse — sometimes she’s frightening, sometimes she’s compassionate; always she’s powerful.

Season of the Witch: 40 Books on Witches, Witchcraft and Wonder

[gorgonapologist]

“Witches are women whose embodiment of femininity in some way transgresses society’s accepted boundaries—they are too old, too powerful, too sexually aggressive, too vain, too undesirable.”

Jess Bergman, A Literary History of Witches

[nyktipolos]

Glamour, grammar, and grimoire all share the same root. The inquisitors imagined in one testimonial after another that they saw the transformation from person to demon before their eyes, even as they clung more fiercely to the illusion they held about themselves, that they were not the ones conjuring such nightmares. [...]

Nuernberger, Kathryn. "Titiba and the Invention of the Unknown". The Witch of Eye: Essays. Sarabande Books, 2021.

[gorgonapologist]

Witchcraft [...] is best understood as a metaphor for female power and men's fear of it. It is a last resort for women who feel that they are powerless, the only way in which they can assert control over their surroundings. Even imaginary control is preferable to no control at all.

Ruth Franklin, Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life

[gorgonapologist]

[…] the figure of the witch is inextricably linked to our anxieties and aspirations regarding female power.

The 13 Fiercest Feminist Witches in Modern Literature, Pam Grossman