Society and Witchcraft

Most people grew up to believe Witchcraft equals Satanism and are afraid of anything remotely associated with the “W” word. The inquisition has laid such a powerful foundation of fear and misinformation that the few single voices peeping up every once in a while were easily drowned out among all the church choirs. Don’t get me wrong, nothing wrong with churches or choirs. It’s the INSTITUTION that would make some oil companies go green with envy when it comes to business practices. It all started for one very simple reason: Competition.

If the priest in charge did not make enough brownie points in the form of coin, he would soon find himself in some little village surrounded by swamp things. The only sources of income was by way of donation from parishioners (usually to obtain forgiveness for some sin or other the church had invented in the first place), and by the fees charged for health care. Back then, available doctors were priests, at least for the masses. The personal house-medico kept by royalty and rich merchants would rather see the riffraff die then lift a finger.

Witchcraft, for all practical purposes, was to the church what the small corner store was to a chain of department stores. A severe sore in the backside (no pun intended). Established for some 25.000 years, known for quality and results (after all, the general mode of treatment from medieval doctors worked somewhere along the lines of, ‘gee, this doesn’t look so good, lets get the leeches’ - Who wouldn’t rather drink some nice herbal tea?). Last, but not least, the village healer’s services could be obtained for the fee of, say, a juicy chicken as opposed to hard coin (or send Frank over to chop a load of wood) AND was only due when the cure worked. Must be the earliest known buy now, pay later.

Well, the church loathed competition, wanted the monopoly, and had the manpower to launch the biggest (*) attack known in history when their idea did not catch on fast enough. (* Counts vary from 250.000 to 9.000.000 victims, and since each convicted Witch lost all property to the church, it was extremely unhealthy to own a nice patch of land. It is said that many more deaths were not recorded for that reason, and taking disappearances during the burning times into account, one source even estimates 31.000.000 people. As the holocaust stands with a total of 11.000.000 victims, we have the doubtful honor to claim first or at least a close second. Please note, this is not considering the Native American slaughter, which is out of my field, and whose nations died for the very same reason. They had something others with more firepower wanted).

They weren’t particularly fond of independent women either. I won’t get into that. Not much has changed until today, except it is a little harder to tie up your bothersome neighbors and throw them into the next convenient lake, so the pressure might be applied by way of the company you work for, social work services to “save” your children, and other routes.

The old stories are still told : (stage whisper voice) Dancing with the devil, NEKKID for crying out loud, evil spell casting, speaking to ANIMALS, and don’t forget what they do with BABIES!!!! As an aside, it would also have been helpful if the God of hunting had chosen to drop the horns, since it is very easy to be mistaken for someone else who dresses the part, even if that someone popped up several millennia later. As it is, the tale continues, and still for the exact same reason. Money.

How much money will you make telling the truth? How many about sweet ladies going about their business, and how many people would go pay to see them? Do they WANT to tell what a pentagram really is? HELL (this time, pun intended) no! It makes for so much better special effects to have them dripping blood red of yet another movie screen. The Stephen Kings of this world are not done milking the golden cow (Are THEY collecting bad Karma points or what?). Nor does Mother Church care to loose any more children to Mother Nature. And just how do you keep children from growing up and seeing for themselves? You lock them up and scare the living daylights out of them, that’s how.

But just like the little store that survived here and there, there were always pagans just too stubborn to go away. And in that aspect, we ARE dangerous! We are contagious in our quite serenity and glowing happiness. The masses are floating, disconnected, and lonely. As more and more people feel empty eating canned food and rather go back to where the old keep can tell just which garden the beans came from, or how long ago his mother picked the berries, so has an armada of Witches as powerful as each sunrise stood up proudly, one by one, and declared NOT to be afraid. Not to be ruled, and not to be ridiculed any longer. For each one who stands up, three more gain the courage to begin in silence. For each one studying secretly, two others will be born with the option to choose. As small a stone might be thrown in the water, the ripples can never be stopped.

When I declared as a girl upon a visit to Berlin that I would live to see the wall fall, people laughed. But I knew. A decade later, the wall was gone without a trace. Much as they tried, they could not stop the masses from tearing it down once the first stone had fallen, and my joyous laughter rang more powerful than theirs ever was. Believe me, the first stone in our wall of silence is balancing ever so precariously, and when it is time for gravity to follow the law of nature once again, there will be no trace left of THAT wall either.

In Germany, where herbal healing has never been eliminated or forgotten and recipes are still passed down from Grandmother to Granddaughter, ‘Witchcraft’ is embedded in the very soil. To compare the differences is interesting, to say the least. On the mundane level, Beltaine fires are like Independence Day fireworks. They are EVERYwhere. May 1st is a national holiday. Not that the majority remembers what the maypole represents, but if there are more than 3 houses together, they’ll have one. In areas of famous Witch meeting places (Black Forest comes to mind) people go costumed, and Witch puppets are sold (and bought) for luck charms at outrageous prices, complete with broom and all.

While the big brother (United States) is quite aware of the shift (back) in time and has responded to the ‘new’ awareness with herb farms at every corner, the very practice of USING them is then frowned upon. Seeds and plants are available, but under constant danger to become illegal (yeah, tell it to Momma!).

Little Germany has no such nurseries but it is perfectly normal to see people strolling the woods wildcrafting. Every child knows of Dandelion salad, Nettle tea, or Plantain poultice. If it was good enough for Grandma, it’s good enough for us! Considering our climate variety is quite limited. Try to get the plants or seeds my American sisters consider common, and you are fit to be tied (just don’t ask where my medical garden came from, okay? Comfrey, Stevia, and Echinacea are among my most prized possessions). Even vitamins cannot be bought over the counter. Herbs and all their trappings are labeled medicine and thus by law subjected to lab tests, have to meet government defined consistency and chemical content levels, and sale is authorized through approved apothecaries ONLY. The quality is of the highest you’ll ever find, with minimum shelf storage time.

Then take the attitude of our medical profession, for starters. The majority of our doctors refuse to give you ‘the chemical hammer’ unless your eyeballs are afloat in natural remedies, and you’re near dropping. What I can’t order through the apothecary, herbwise, doesn’t exist. If you’re into herbal healing, you’re MAINstream. There isn’t the tiniest village without a holistic healer (government approved and registered, of course. Several years of official schooling I am told). Not a supermarket without an organic food section, however small. Not a town without their weekly farmers market, rain or shine. Heck, it’s not Witchcraft, it’s a way of LIFE (don’t tell them I said that!)

The main difference I see from my American friends is that I don’t have to be afraid of being out of the closet. From what I’ve seen, most remote areas in the States are still way stuck in the dark ages. Here, my pendant brings curious questions, my answers a shrug, a smile, and a short comment like ‘oh, well, yes, my grandmother did that too, I think… I got this wart, would you know….??’

I lack the companionship of a circle group, or coven. That isn’t the way around here. But then, I ‘got’ Momma. But I am free to pursue my practices, to grow and collect what I wish, an it harm none.

Green Blessings to All.

© Sorceress SummerWind