Picturing Witches
With the greatest of ease,
Losing their shoes on the way.
Are they birds from the trees?
Are they large, floating leaves?
Why do you stare?
Are they aircraft through clouds,
Where superheroes play?
By people who pray?
Are these questions a trap?
Do you need a good map,
Or even a flying trapeze?
Double trouble is never fair.
Double trouble is never good.
But why should you care
If there are witches in your neighbourhood?
A false assumption,
Beware and grieve.
There is much corruption.
What have you been assuming?
Your mind may be fuming
Or in a stupor
When men are described
While women receive a diatribe
For being brave.
How do you prefer to behave?
In picturing witches, what do you find?
Whose images influence you, and why?
What do those artists know about your mind?
What makes your imagination fly?
Where does it go and what does it leave behind?
Young women are accused
Of bewitching and disruption.
They have every right to feel confused
What is your wish, when a woman is called a crazy witch?
Enchantment and empowerment are both usually regarded as a woman's fault, regardless of age.
Why should she not enchant? Why should she not feel empowered?
How do you interpret an image and compare it with another and another and another?
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You may believe that Martin le Franc, Harrison Weir, William Holbrook Beard and David Teniers the Younger have nothing in common, apart from being male.
What do you know about the Malleus Maleficarum of the German Catholic Heinrich Kramer, first published in 1486?
What do you know about the Daemonologie of the Scottish Protestant king, James VI, first published 1597?
James,
of course, became monarch to the English, too, after Elizabeth I.
Perhaps he regarded her as a witch. She did, after all, order the death
of his mother.
But are the fantastical and delusional ideas of overly privileged persons, especially about demons and witches, mainly associated with fearmongering?
Is the purpose of opinionated imaginings by the powerful mainly intended to maintain their own dominance over various opponents?
Do they fear the hag because she is knowledgeable, wise, socially well-connected, independent, loved and trusted?
How do you interpret male-imagined scenes?
Where do you find authentically female ones?
And how do you ascertain the truth?
What is witchcraft, and who says so?
How do you decide which witch is which in terms of good intentions and evil ones?
How do you distinguish between a folk healer and a snake oil salesman?
How do you compare the interpretation of witches by Shakespeare and other male authors?
How do you compare witches with astrologers, alchemists and apothecaries?
What do you know about the wonderful witches of Australia?
Comparing one interpretation of witchcraft with another is often an interesting way to learn about human perceptions and prejudices.
How do you interpret words such as 'cauldron'?
How do you interpret symbols in the context of witchcraft and magic?
What do you know about European witchcraft in relation to Western esotericism and various forms of mysticism?
You are likely to be aware that you are currently reading a digital, 21st century grimoire, not an ancient text.
You will learn to picture history, science, government and influence with adequate accuracy.
You will discover why male practitioners of alchemy, litigation and quack medicine have often been regarded as relatively respectable professionals while female practitioners of health care, moral guidance and kindness have not.
When an old woman does likewise, she is associated with the devil.
Many older women carry the gifts of knowledge, of civility, of empathy, and of insight and compassion, whether they fly or not.
Which gifts do you carry, and for whose benefit, and why?
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