Thread Witch

A side blog to keep all my witchy posts in one place for easy reference. Mostly hedgewitchery, tarot, fiber craft and herbalism. Theprettiestboy is my main.

[jstor]

In her book Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature, Justyna Sempruch analyses contemporary representations of t

A post from @asksecularwitch inspired us to do a quick search on JSTOR about witches, and we discovered Fantasies of Gender and the Witch in Feminist Theory and Literature, an open access book by Justyna Sempruch.

Through a critical re-reading of feminist texts, Sempruch develops a new concept of the witch, one that challenges traditional gender-biased theories linking it either to a malevolent "hag" on the margins of culture or to unrestrained "feminine" sexual desire.

Image: "We Are The Daughters Of The Witches You Didn't Burn," from St Lawrence University's Street Art Graphics collection on JSTOR.

[breelandwalker]

hi Bree! I am currently doing research on modern paganism as a whole, and have come across a few passages about how some practitioners claim to follow an 'old' or 'the old and true' religion. I know Margot Adler mentions this briefly in "Drawing Down The Moon" (page 77) - but I'm wondering if you've seen any other sources on this? I want to learn more about the origins of this 'old and true' religion, but none of my regular resources are turning up anything of substance.

-gasps in Witchstorian- Is it time? I think it's time. Excuse me while I put on my very best hat.

Today, we're going to have a chat about MARGARET FUCKING MURRAY and her thoroughly discredited theories about a Great White Western Witch-Cult. (I have plans to do a wholeass podcast episode on this nonsense in the coming year, so consider this a warm-up. I should also note that debunking claims of an Ancient Unified Religion of Witchcraft is part of how I first earned my stripes as a fledgling Witchstorian. So this be my wheelhouse and I welcome ye to it.)

In her 1921 book, The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, Murray put forth the theory that the ceremonies and rituals detailed in witch trial documents were actually descriptions of practices utilized by a matriarchal pagan fertility cult whose adherents had survived in secret following the Christianization of the British Isles. She pointed to a number of historical personages accused of and/or executed for witchcraft as members of this alleged "Old Religion," presented the idea of "flying on broomsticks" as a ritual activity involving a leaping dance with brooms held between women's thighs (the handles being smeared with a hallucinogenic salve), and claimed that the "Horned God of the witches" was later twisted into modern artistic depictions of Satan as a method of quite literally demonizing these supposed pagan ways. Furthermore, according to Murray, the cult had survived into the present day in the form of a certain secret groups in rural areas of Britain. (It should be noted that while Murray did not invent this theory, she was its' biggest and arguably most legitimizing proponent in her day.)

If any of this is sounding familiar, you get a cookie.

Gerald Gardner was a big fan of these theories and further bolstered the claims when he touted the New Forest coven as a surviving group from the "Old Religion." He incorporated many of Murray's claims into the early framework of his own myth-building. If you read Witchcraft Today (1954), you'll see a lot of Murray's work repeated as a framework for Gardner's own theories on contemporary witchcraft practices, which later became the basis for Wicca.

The issue here is that Murray was working with both a flawed premise and a really terrible use of source material. Repeatedly, she cited superstition, prosecutorial arguments, and confessions from accused witches from 16th-17th century trial records as fact, completely ignoring that none of this had any physical evidence attached to it and that confessions were often made under torture or the threat thereof. She also cited a lack of evidence as alleged evidence of a coverup by the Church and the Crown, or the cult itself covering its' tracks. Even her contemporaries viewed her work as fringe theory and it's largely because she was invited to write the Encyclopedia Britannica article on Witchcraft and the later use of her theories in the creation of Wicca that she's taken seriously by anybody at all.

While Murray's claims are thoroughly discredited, almost literally laughed out of academia during her own lifetime, certain sectors of the modern witchcraft and pagan communities still cling to this idea of a secret surviving pre-Christian goddess cult. I can fully understand why this is tempting, given the romantic notion of clandestine meetings and bonfire dances out in the woods, as well as the need of some modern witches to feel connected to some form of borrowed martyrdom as a mirror for their own feelings of disenfranchisement. No serious scholar of the early modern period or the history of witch trials during that time considers Murray's work credible and modern historians are prone to cringing whenever her name is mentioned.

So yeah, if you see a work on modern paganism or witchcraft referring to "the Old Ways" or "the Old Religion," that's very likely what it's talking about. Margot Adler and Ronald Hutton, both noted and credible authors writing about the modern witchcraft movement, mention Murray's witch-cult hypothesis in their books....but mostly only to say what a crock of shit it was.

For further reading, I recommend Jacqueline Simpson's 1994 article, "Margaret Murray: Who Believed Her And Why?," Ronald Hutton's "Triumph of the Moon," and the Wikipedia article on the witch-cult hypothesis (purely for a condensed version of how the theory came to be and how it has affected modern thought).

I'll leave you with this quote from A New History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics and Pagans (Russell and Brooks), regarding Murray's work:

"That this 'old religion' persisted secretly, without leaving any evidence, is, of course, possible, just as it is possible that below the surface of the moon lie extensive deposits of Stilton cheese. Anything is possible. But it is nonsense to assert the existence of something for which no evidence exists. The Murrayites ask us to swallow a most peculiar sandwich: a large piece of the wrong evidence between two thick slices of no evidence at all."

[oldsunshineysoulwitch]

The question bouncing around my brain now is "how does this intersect with actual prechristian folk beliefs that have been preserved around the world?"

I have in mind here posts I've seen discussing how some central and south american traditions have survived persecution or been assimilated into local christian beliefs. There's a distinct difference between those folk beliefs and the idea of the "old religion" of the british isles, yet there are also similarities are there not?

I don't know enough about either topic to make any actual commentary, but my brain is certainly bouncing the question around.

[breelandwalker]

I'm glad you asked! The short answer is, "It's not relevant in this case."

Murray's claims rested entirely, per her own citation, on 16th and 17th century witch trial records from England, and those claims were that the accusations made by prosecutors and village gossips were accurate representations of the alleged activities of a supposedly real secret pagan witch cult.

You know, instead of accusations borne of fear and superstition and propaganda being leveled at innocent people, many of whom were tortured or executed as a result, which is and was the viewpoint of the rest of academia regarding European witch trials.

Whether Murray's claims are similar to other pre-Christian traditions still existing in the world is irrelevant because her work does not cite evidence from anywhere but England and a few briefly-mentioned examples from mainland Europe. Furthermore, a similarity of folk belief between two or more rural agrarian populations separated by several thousand miles and centuries of time is more reflective of a beautiful similarity of human experience with regard to the natural world and the annual harvest cycle than it is evidence of some grand unified underground pagan cult.

Are there pre-Christian traditions that still exist in the world today? Yes.

Are there elements of pre-Christian traditions extant within modern Christianity? Yes.

Is their existence proof of Murray's claims? No.

Sycretism and cultural blending have been happening for centuries all over the world. It is not unique to Europe or Christianity, and while remnants of previous traditions may be preserved in this way, it does not mean that the entire tradition survives intact and unchanged. The myth of the "unbroken line" of witches passing down a secret matriarchal pagan tradition from pre-Christian antiquity to the present day is exactly that - a myth.

(And if I may step onto my soapbox for a moment, we are not the descendants of the witches they failed to burn because there were no witches involved in the witch trials to begin with. Witch trials, historically speaking, are almost never about actual witches. The victims of these trials would NEVER have independently identified themselves as witches as we understand the term today, and the fact that members of the witchcraft community continue to try and cite them as martyrs to some great secret pagan cause irritates me to no end.)

[moons-of-firdaws]

It's also important to note that many of the victims of the witch trails belonged to already persecuted and marginalized groups, and were often romani or jewish women.

[breelandwalker]

This is indeed true for most European witch trials occurring between 1500 and 1700. Jews, Muslims, foreigners, social others, and the poor and disenfranchised were frequent targets of the European witch hunts more or less across the board. (It's rather depressing how little this has changed, really.)

It's worth noting that a lot of witch trials happened during the Reformation and thus it follows that many accusations of witchcraft appear alongside accusations of heresy, the definition of which varies depending on whether Catholics or Protestants were the state power in the area at the time.

But nearly every time there was some official documentation detailing likely suspects for witchcraft or demonolatry, you'll see Jews at the top of the list, regardless of who else they were looking for. (I discussed the history of European witch trials and who they targeted in Ep 20 of Hex Positive, if anyone is interested.)

[breelandwalker]

Friendly reminder to my anxious animist witches that while the tools and accoutrements of your craft may have an energetic signature that resonates with your intuition, and while you might personify them in your own perception, they are not sentient and they are not angry with you.

If you are experiencing feelings of guilt or anxiety connected to your pendulum, cards, wand, etc, that's coming from your own worry or an imagined sense of inadequacy, not animosity from the items themselves. If you feel like your tools aren't working properly, it's because there's some internal or external factor affecting your ability to focus, not because the objects are somehow refusing to work.

Please know that you are always enough and that your tools are extensions of yourself, rather than independently intelligent entities that might randomly decide to thwart you. If something doesn't work, it does not mean that you suck and everything is against you. It just means try again later. 💜

[practice-is-praxis]

[cryptotheism]

For all our talk of education and antiracism, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that this magic shit should be fun and enjoyable for everyone involved. Make some candles, chant a bit. It's fun. You should have fun. It should enrich your life.

[sroloc--elbisivni]

[grabs your shirt] listen. listen to me. the practical is holy. the everyday is sacred. the simple act of surviving is divine. do you get it? sanctity begins at home, in the hands that build and the lives we live and the deaths we die and the worms that eat our bodies. if making something by hand is not worthy of veneration then nothing is.

[natalieironside]

I don't really do the witchblr thing anymore but you should all know that my girlfriend wrote a book and it's coming out in November. I say this to bring people's attention to the fact & also to brag about how my girlfriend is smart and cool and I love her a whole lot

[tattooed-fairy-bread]

I want to read this

[natalieironside]

Oh it's gonna be great

[natalieironside]

O shit it's up for pre-order now

Create a spiritual connection to your gender and incorporate it into your personal practice. While exploring gender from a sacred perspective, Ariana Serpentine introduces you to trans and nonbinary figures from Pagan pantheons as well as spirits and deities that can help you achieve self-actualization.

With suggestions for making devotion more inclusive, Sacred Gender provides new ways to understand the gods and invites you talk to your ancestors through the stars. Learn how to manifest your desires with sigil magic and identify gender-affirming names, pronouns, clothes, and accessories with the smile test. Filled with thought-provoking journal prompts and reflection exercises, this book encourages you to see parts of yourself that may have been obscured and liberate your spirituality from the gender binary.

That's my girlfriend! I am dating her and she kissed me in real life

[traegorn]

Predators. They're predators.

[traegorn]

@thecoloredcanvas wrote

So a couple of things

1. Witch is a gender neutral term

2. Not really sure how anyone practicing witchcraft at home is suddenly a "predator"

3. Not a man.

All that aside, you respond to a video criticizing someone literally targeting vulnerable people to take advantage of them, and your reaction is "the person doing the criticizing is just as bad because of the gender identity I assume they are?"

Like seriously, what the fuck.

[libraford]

Trae: hey, there's a pervasive problem in my community of people conflating neurodivergent coping mechanisms as magical powers and using that conflation as a means to create an insular community which if gone unchecked can turn into an abusive situation where people can get hurt.

This rando: Ah, but I can see by your video that you are not what I consider female and therefore YOU are the abuser! Checkermate!

Seriously. Even setting aside the fact that Trae is not a man (the big genderqueer flag is visible in every frame, but I guess not everyone is familiar with that flag). There is so much wrong with the mindset that witches have to be female (and implied here as gender-conforming cis female) but also... just to touch...

Women can be predators. Women can be abusers. Women are fully capable of manipulating people for personal gain, whether that be for money or for something even worse. Women are not exempt from criticism of their actions.

I swear to every god. If you think women can't be predatory then you have never had a friend from high school guilt you into a mlm scheme.

[witchthreads]

this kind of recruitment tactic is rampant in witchcraft circles and everyone should be aware of it. a few years ago i narrowly escaped a cult that recruited this way, and it was only by sheer luck that they fell apart before they sucked me in. 

[normal-horoscopes]

If there was some rune that could ward away mental illness, I would dedicate my life to finding that rune. If there was a crystal for every chronic illness, I would be a geologist.

The most insidious part about the alternative medicine end of new-age magic is how it makes the Practicioner blame themselves. Every scitzoeffective episode is proof that they "didn't make their wards correctly" or "forgot to cleanse the crystals." It leaves genuinely ill people sick and afraid and ashamed.

It's hard, I think, to tell people that their mundane problems require mundane solutions. Magic is like music, it is ephemeral and strange and wonderful, but music can't heal broken bones.

[upthewitchypunx]

“Traditional witchcraft is regional witchcraft, it is not and never has been a standardised practice and long may this continue to be the case. The day witchcraft loses regional variation is the day traditional witchcraft ceases to exist”

— Gemma Gary, Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways (via windvexer)

[traegorn]

Follow me on Tiktok for more of this kind of stuff

[skaldish]

In case anyone hasn't told you today...

✨Don't use TikTok to learn about Paganism.✨

[normal-horoscopes]

do you actually believe in tarot?

Y'ALLS INCESSANT BINARY THINKING WILL BE THE DEATH OF ME

[normal-horoscopes]

I THINK THE HUMAN MINDS ABILITY TO FIND PATTERNS IN CHAOS IS ITSELF MAGIC

[normal-horoscopes]

[lazywitchling]

Witchcraft challenge: Design a spell using the paint chip samples from the hardware store.

[ei-len]

spell to expose homophobes:

Get paint chips in rainbow colors. Arrange appropriately in public view. Wait.

[lavenderlundi]

How come whenever black people say that Hoodoo is closed to nonblack witches the FIRST THING white witches say is “Well then only white witches can practice Celtic/Hellenistic paganism (or any other OPEN European religion/spiritual practice).

Like it just shows how uneducated y’all are. Honestly. Celtic and Hellenistic paganism are OPEN practices. There is no requirements to join. Hoodoo was made by SLAVES, SLAVEESSSSS! Made by African slaves FOR African slaves and their descendants to help protect themselves. Why, as a white witch, would you want to use the spirits of slaves and black ancestors to do work for you??? Like why???

[blackwitchspace]

Oop

[ophelia-avalon]

Book review: Folk Witchcraft

Over the weekend, I read Roger J. Horne’s Folk Witchcraft. I enjoyed it, but I wish I had read the afterword first, which gave some important context to the book. In it, Horne explains what motivated him to write the book. He calls out racism, sexism, homophobia, sexual coercion, and cultural appropriation in modern witchcraft practices and advocates for going back to the roots. By drawing inspiration from folklore, and by connecting to the spirits of the land, animals, plants and our own, “we sever ourselves from the machinery of new age commodification and form a personalized, firmly rooted craft practice that is both ancient and modern” (p.192).

Keep reading

[servantofthefates]

Learn the Most Accurate and Important Tarot Spread There Is

Anyone serious about tarot needs to master the Celtic Cross. Here is why as well as how.

Why It is Superior

There are a myriad tarot spreads. You can make your own, or use none. Just pull as many cards as you like and read them as you want. As with food and fashion, we each have a preference. But there are reasons the Celtic Cross deserves so much reverence.

1) It respects you and your question.

The Celtic Cross is not designed to give rushed, biting and abrupt answers. It recognizes that your question is important to you. So it takes the time to explore every detail of your situation before giving you advice and a prediction.

2) It kindly proves itself to you.

Fortunetelling involves powers beyond the natural. Powers that only a few can truly harness. To minimize the trickiness of the business, the Celtic Cross states what you already know: your past, hopes, fears, pains, secrets, goals. If it accurately describes these things, you can trust its promise of what tomorrow will bring.

3) It allows for great interaction.

When interpreting a spread, it is crucial to look at how the cards are connecting. Is the Page of Cups offering his chalice to The Magician? Is the Knight of Swords on his way to attack the King of Wands? The way the Celtic Cross is laid out lets many interactions come about.

How to Perform It

It has dozens of variations. Each reader has a fancied version. Below is what my elders taught me. I use it faithfully.

1) The Hierophant (reversed) – The Present

What is happening at the moment?

2) Three of Wands – The Problem

What needs to be remedied?

3) Two of Pentacles – The Past

What led you to where you are?

4) Seven of Pentacles – The Near Future

What happens next?

5) Seven of Swords – The Conscious Goal

What does your mind want?

6) Four of Wands – The Buried Truth

What lies in your subconscious?

7) Eight of Swords – The Advice

What will the Fates have you do?

8) Six of Swords – The Environment

Where are you in the broad view?

9) King of Pentacles – The Hope or Fear

What does your soul crave or dread?

10) Queen of Wands, Nine of Wands, The Sun – The Ultimate Outcome

What does the future hold, after all is said and done?

11) The World – The Underworld

What lies beneath that can help or hinder?

How to Interpret It

STEP 1: Read the cards in the above order, one by one.

Then read the Ultimate Outcome cards as one: The Queen of Wands is reprimanding the man in the Nine of Wands. But he is supported by The Sun. All will be well for the querent in the end.

STEP 2: Compare the Near Future with the Ultimate Outcome.

The man in the Seven of Pentacles has put life on pause, anxiously awaiting what is next. Then it comes: first, it will be bad (Nine of Wands), then he will be glad (The Sun).

STEP 3: Compare the Buried Truth with the Hope or Fear.

If it is a positive card, it is the hope. Otherwise, it is the fear.

The two positions are aligned. A buried need for stability (Four of Wands) and a desire to be solid and steady (King of Pentacles). The querent is clear about his wishes.

STEP 4: Compare the Conscious Goal with the Ultimate Outcome.

It all happens as hoped for. The querent wishes to get away with something (Seven of Swords). And after a bit of scuffle (Nine of Wands), he does (The Sun).

STEP 5: Compare the Advice with the Ultimate Outcome.

The querent needs to stop acting the victim (Eight of Swords). Once he moves forward, he will face the punishment he fears, yes (Queen of Wands and Nine of Wands). But it will all work out (The Sun). No rainbow without rain.

STEP 6: Close the reading.

For this, you have ten more things to do. All the best to you.