Witch Archetype
October is her favorite time of the year.
I could have chosen to craft angels or fairies or something else, but most of my work are witches. Why?
When I started crafting witches I didn’t have the answer to this. Just because… The image of a witch was alluring, calling me. Not an evil witch who turns men into toads and puts pins in dolls to harm. Another kind of witch. I made the first few and soon I realized I’m already on a path of crafting witches. That’s also when I saw people getting suspicious around me and showing faces of disgust when I said I make witch dolls. It definitely didn't boost my confidence. But there were people online who bought my witches from the very beginning, from the very first witches I made, encouraged me and requested more. There were people who asked for custom made creations and told me what a witch means to them and what they want to see in their witches. They have helped me to understand the essence of a witch and meaning of a witch doll at home. Seeing how much my witch dolls are loved and how these witches find homes around the world, opened a whole new world for me. All of this together set me on the path of exploring what a witch is today. After all, these days witches and more and more people who identify and represent themselves as witches are coming out of their broom closets and speaking about their practices, and that makes my search for the answers around witches and witchyness much easier.
Why all this love for witches? Short answer: because witch is a powerful archetype, that holds immense encouraging, invigorating, liberating power. This archetype, just like witches of the world today, inspires me.
Freedom loving alchemist - that’s a witch.
In psychoanalysis witch is one of the main female archetypes - primordial mental image inherited from the earliest human ancestors and present in the collective unconscious. Those archetypes are present throughout mythology and folk tales of people around the world, and they are the same everywhere. A powerful archetype is a trickster or jester - like Loki in Norse mythology, fox or coyote in folk tales. Artist is another well known archetype, hero, lover, explorer, magician, sage - just say the name and everyone will have a mental image in the mind immediately, even if that person has never met or never had anything to do with anyone clearly representing these archetypes.
Witch stands somewhere between an outlaw, wizard/magician and sage archetypes. The sage archetype is more about collecting knowledge and seeking the truth - mentor, couch, advisor. Wizard - seen more as related to alchemy, mysticism, transformation. All of them with the ability to alter the perception of reality.
In folklore and mythology those characters that are called witches often live at the edge or outside the borders of community. They are often loners found in forests, caves and other lonely places, where they live by their own rules that sometimes might seem peculiar and odd to those looking at the life of a witch from the outside. Those witches see the world differently, they do different things than others, they have different views, they know what the regular members of the society don't know, and those regulars who are lost or daring enough, come to witches for help and advice. But witch isn't obligated to help everyone. She is not a Mother Teresa. For example, Baba Yaga from Russian folk tales - she judges people and gives what they deserve, and that's not always what they come for. She is kind of like karma impersonated, and that's definitely something to fear, especially by those who's intentions aren't always good and their hands are dirty. Witch is an outsider with special kind of knowledge and skills that regular people don't possess, she lives by the rules that are unknown by others, but she won't show or reveal her secrets to everyone, and that's another aspect of this archetype that makes a witch someone to fear. She also doesn't give a sh** about what others think about her, and that's another trait that gives this character power. She is the embodiment of Mother Nature and all different aspects of her powers in action.
Mortar and pestle - beloved tools of a witch.
In our ancestral societies witches were healers, seen as wise, intuitive and connected to nature. Powerful and independent. But there is a dark image of a witch from the medieval times that seems still thriving in the minds of people - ugly, evil witch, disgusting creature. What exactly she does, nobody knows, but most likely eats children, boils in her cauldron eye of newt, brews poisons, puts evil spells on everyone on her way, steals milk from cows, steals husbands, makes household animals sick... The main thing is - she is ugly, not pleasant to look at, and that definitely makes her evil. The inquisition and witch trials of medieval times have put a strong image of this evil witch in human consciousness. What we have forgotten is that during those dark ages there were people who earned good money by torturing and executing witches. We forget that torturing and killing some people publicly was used as a tool to keep others under control by sowing fear into them and keeping those fears alive. We also forget that most of those women and men who died in witch trials were innocent souls who confessed in the wrongdoing just to end the torture that lasted for days and weeks, not because they actually had been in contact with the Devil or put evil spells on their envious neighbors. Many people were accused and executed simply because someone didn't like them. You could get accused for being smarter or doing better than your neighbor. You could get accused just because someone doesn't understand or can't comprehend your way of life. And some of them were let free after cruel torture - their bodies remained damaged and deformed forever, giving witch the look of a monstrous creature that's still with us in our minds today. We rarely speak of witch hunters, their torturers and killers as evil force, but the evil witch is still in the minds alive, and witch is still someone to fear. A few centuries, you know... This nightmare of witch trials ended on 16th century after humiliating, torturing, burning and drowning plenty of innocent people. It's past, but the mark left still hasn't faded. While to some people witch today is just a fairy-tale character, mostly the "bad guy" of the story, for others witch is still someone to fear.
“As above, so below, as within, so without, as the universe, so the soul…” ― a quote associated with Hermes Trismegistus, a popular law of the modern witch.
A few modern day definitions state that witch is
1) a woman who is thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones. Popularly depicted as wearing a black cloak and pointed hat and flying on a broomstick,
2) an ugly and unpleasant woman,
3) especially charming and alluring woman,
4) a follower or practitioner of Wicca or of modern witchcraft.
All of these definitions clearly show what a witch is in the collective mind. But today a witch is a lot more. She is a rebel, healer, creator, and not just "she".
A modern witch is often a student of the night’s sky and far away stars.
It's 21st century and modern witchcraft is thriving, despite the fact that there are still many who fear anything that carries the name witch. Modern witch isn't always the outsider. She or he isn't also the ugly "bad boy" of the story like Snow White. Modern witch is something else.
She is daring, Earth loving, potions brewing, tea drinking, manifesting, searching and sharing her practices to dissolve the stigma. Independence, confidence, self-sufficiency, freedom of speech and freedom of choice are some of her values. But besides those, she/he is also the seeker of light within, the explorer of ancient wisdom and keeper of traditions. She/he often keeps altar at home to honor pagan deities and mythical creatures - values and properties they represent. Modern witch often is the student of esotericism and the occult. She/he is often a fighter and the voice for the less fortunate or discriminated ones. She/he is the one healing his/her own traumas, strengthening one's own mind, unlearning false beliefs and looking for the way out of oppressive social systems and discriminating unwritten laws. She/he stares at the Moon and knows what phase the Moon is in at the moment. They might dance naked under the full Moon, burn bonfires, and celebrate and enjoy themselves a bit more than a modern man stuck in the hamster wheel of glorified busyness and money-earning journey. Modern witch loves Halloween and calls it Samhain, and not just that. She/he celebrates the Sun and solstices, and might live by the pagan wheel of the year. She/he might or might not have a cat, read Tarot cards, cast spells, pray, meditate, chant affirmations, practice different forms of divination, talk to Mother Nature and walk barefoot. She/he might or might not live in a hut alone, have a family, thrive in a hippie community or in the jungle of the city. She/he is a farmer, nurse, teacher, artist, office worker, merchant, gardener, tour guide, lawyer, doctor, accountant, professor... you name any occupation and the modern witch can be that. She/he might or might not collect crystals, shells, feathers, books, odd bottles, empty jars or anything else. She/he might talk to the dead and look for the signs on her way. She/he might have a spirit animal, spirit guide, familiar or plant ally. She/he might have a personal Book of Shadows or Grimoire, a diary, notebook of spells and recipes. She/he might be into symbolism, know runes, read tea leaves, stare into crystal ball, know names and powers of ancient gods and goddesses. She/he might have a coven or practice alone. She/he might or might not cast circles, wear pentagrams and decorate their homes with seasonal paraphernalia. She/he might love being alone in the woods, wildcrafting, learning, collecting, buying and using all kinds of herbs. She/he might or might not have a wand, a broom, a cloak, a witch’s hat or flower crown. She/he doesn't necessarily posses supernatural skills, on the contrary - she/he is reclaiming their natural power rooted in knowledge, learning the laws of nature and oneself, exploring the power within. After all she/he might have plenty of fun playing with the witch archetype and different faces of the image of a witch. Secrets? Yes, she has those.
