#ponichtera

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

Ink drawing on paper, 2026

42 / 29,7 cm

Details on my IG : @ponichtera.pawel

[nihti]

🕱🧀 𝕮𝖆𝖘𝖊𝖚𝖘 𝖁𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖓𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘 🧀🕱

Year 1622. Barbara Schmied was the first woman to be burned at the stake in the Duchy of Nysa. Accused of witchcraft by her dying husband and subjected to torture, she confessed during her trial to casting spells on cows and to poisoning her husband with old cheese.

Cheese, as a form of preserved food, represented one of the key symbols of domestic prosperity and the secure stability of the household. A witch allegedly tainting the cheese not only inflicted physical harm upon her husband, but also undermined the very foundations of communal life and family existence.

Such accusations were attempts to make sense of sudden illnesses or the deaths of animals and people in a world full of uncertainty, a world that lacked knowledge of natural causes.

[nihti]

🔥 𝖋𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖚𝖘 𝖘𝖆𝖌𝖆 🔥

Most noble, esteemed and industrious Masters of the Stove-makers’ Guild,

Much concerned for public order and the efficiency of our processes of execution, I hereby address this letter to you. The burden upon our courts has reached its utmost limits; the queues of the condemned have grown beyond measure and the storage space within the Wrocław Tower no longer suffices.

I therefore commission the construction of a second furnace installation of specifications equal to the one already in operation. I desire that this structure be solid, swiftly erected, and compliant with all standards of safety.

I trust that, with your craft’s diligence and precision, you shall produce a furnace eight feet high or taller, capable of accommodating twenty or more entries from the list of the condemned—thus increasing operational throughput and maximizing the return on investment for the Parish Community and the Holy Church.

It shall be my satisfaction to see this initiative advance with speed, optimizing both the time and wood devoted to the righteous administration of justice upon the servants of darkness, who seek to lead the god-fearing astray into damnation.

With expressions of respect, and in the dutiful service of public order, Johann Balthasar Liesch von Hornau Auxiliary Bishop of Wrocław

Historical Note: In 17th-century Nysa (then Neisse), a real execution furnace was built and used for the burning of those accused of witchcraft. The so-called witches’ furnace became infamous throughout Silesia as a symbol of the systematic persecution of alleged sorcerers, an apparatus of both faith and fear, constructed and maintained by local craftsmen under ecclesiastical authority.  Most victims were burned alive within its walls. Only some were granted what was considered an act of mercy: death by strangulation at the hands of the executioner before being put to the flames.

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Watercolor, ink and brush on paper + digital editing, 2025

[nihti]

⚝𖠊 Metamorphosis 𖠊⚝

In old folk beliefs witchcraft accusations often centered on milk, which was seen as a symbol of nourishment, prosperity and life. A witch transformed into a mouse or a rat not only stole food but also undermined the very foundations of a household’s and societal existence. Such allegations served to explain losses and poor harvests in a world where material stability was hard to secure. The spreading tide of fear toward older women, identified with the devil and inexplicable harmful deeds, made it easier to shift responsibility onto the outsider, the alleged servant of evil. Thus, the mouse or rat became a symbol of a hidden, predatory and dark side of the psyche, whose purpose was to steal lifegiving essence and to spread diabolical harm.

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W wierzeniach ludowych oskarżenia o czary często koncentrowały się na mleku, które stanowiło symbol pożywienia, dobrobytu i życia. Czarownica przemieniona w mysz lub szczura nie tylko okradała z pożywienia, lecz podważała fundamenty egzystencji całego gospodarstwa. Takie oskarżenia były sposobem na wytłumaczenie strat i nieurodzaju w świecie, w którym niełatwo o materialną stabilność. Nurt szerzącego się lęku przed starymi kobietami, utożsamianymi z diabłem i szkodliwymi działaniami o niewytłumaczalnej naturze, ułatwiał przerzucić odpowiedzialność na odmieńca, sługę zła. Mysz lub szczur stawały się symbolem ukrytej, drapieżnej i mrocznej strony psychiki, której celem była kradzież życiodajnej esencji i umożliwienie czynienia diabelskich szkód.

[nihti]

Bingo Malefica

What could a woman be accused of to be labeled as witch? Almost anything. Every peculiarity, odd habit or simple coincidence could become reason for accusation. Suspicion could arise from completely opposite traits, like having many children or none at all, whispering or shouting. Any deviation from the norm was enough for the community to find guilt wherever it wished to see it. Beneath it all lay unspoken tensions and social fears: the young woman was viewed as an object of desire, while the aging one became something enigmatic and threatening. The old woman, stripped of the sexual attraction associated with youth, provoked unease and fantasies of sexual danger. Witch trials thus often served as a way to eliminate whatever exceeded or defied the accepted idea of femininity.

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Za co można było oskarżyć kobietę o czary? W zasadzie o wszystko. Każda odmienność, dziwactwo czy zwykły przypadek stawały się pretekstem do zarzutów. Podejrzenia budziły zarówno cechy przeciwstawne np. posiadanie wielu dzieci albo ich brak, szeptanie lub krzyczenie. Wystarczyło odstępstwo od normy, by społeczność znalazła winę tam, gdzie chciała ją zobaczyć. W tle kryły się niewypowiadane napięcia i lęki społeczne: młoda kobieta była postrzegana jako obiekt pożądania, a starzejąca się jako coś niepojętego i groźnego. Stara kobieta, pozbawiona przymiotów pożądania seksualnego charakterystycznych dla młodości, budziła niepokój i fantazje o seksualnym zagrożeniu. Procesy czarownic bywały więc sposobem na pozbycie się tego, co wykracza poza wyobrażenie o przyjętych normach kobiecości.

[nihti]

☽◯☾ During my studies of archives and legends, I have found the perfect recipe for a witch’s ointment.

🦇🌘 Ointment of Nocturnal Flights 🌘🦇

Behold the recipe of foulness and abomination, offered in honor of the night. Take thou the root and leaf of black henbane, called Hyoscyamus niger, and grind them well in a mortar till their sap be runneth free. Sprinkle with the seed of poppy, Papaver somniferum, to cast the senses into slumber. Add the seeds of a deadly thorn-apple, which they name Datura stramonium, that the mind be plunged into the darkness and strange phantasms manifold to appear.

Let a single drop of living blood fall from the wing of a downy bat, for the nocturnal power. Gather wolfsbane, which men call Aconitum napellus, but do so gloved and mix it with spotted hemlock, known as Conium maculatum, that the heart may quake with dread and the body grown stiff and cold as death.

Seal your ears with beeswax not to be gravely disturbed by the mandrake which by a black hound must be torn from the ground. Grate it fine as horseradish and join it to the ointment, that the thoughts may take flight free. Add also swan’s grass or silverweed, called Potentilla anserina, for it brings women relief in their hidden pains.

Grind all together with the fat of a sacrilegious man until it grows black and slick. Rub the secret parts of the body, where the flesh most readily drinks in the potion. Whoever prepares and uses it shall behold devils, revels and frenzy dances. You shall fly by night and commit deeds of abomination under the moon.

Ink & brush on paper + digital edition

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🦇🌘 Maść nocnych lotów🌘🦇

Oto recepta plugastwa ku czci nocy. Weźmij korzeń i liść lulka czarnego, hyoscyamus niger zwany, dobrze utłuczcie w moździerzu, aż soki swoje upuści. Makiem, to jest Papaver somniferum, posyp dla uśpienia zmysłów, bielunia nasienie, którego zwą Datura stramonium, dodaj, aby umysł w mroki pogrążyć i widzenia dziwne mnogie przywiódł.

Kroplę żywej krwie ze skrzydła puchatego gacka spuść, dla nocnej mocy. Tojad, zowią Aconitum napellus, w rękawiczkach zrywać masz i ze szczwółem plamistym, Conium maculatum zwanym, dodaj, by serce lękiem napełniło się i ciało w zdrętwieniu umartwiło.

Wosk pszczeli w uszy dla zatkania wsadzić trzeba, a mandragorę, psem czarnem z ziemie wykopaną, jako chrzan utrzeć i do maści przyłączyć, by myśli lotne były. Łabędzia trawa, srebrnik czyli Potentilla anserina, też dołóż, albowiem niewiastom Tamże ulgę przynosi.

Wszystko z łojem świętokradcy ucieraj, aż czarne i tłuste się stanie. Smaruj miejsca sekretne, gdzie ciało snadnie soki w siębie pije. A kto tak czyni, ten diabły, libacje i tańce widzi, fruwa po nocy i plugastwa czynił będzie.