Communicating Authentically

Lately, several articles have pondered the question of why witchcraft is on the rise, with varying degrees of condescension and derision (The Atlantic and The New York Times are just two examples). Thereby they answer their own question.

While no one asked, here’s my take:

• The patriarchal Abrahamic religions have failed women time and again by literally relegating them to being lesser than, and subject to, men. It worked for so long because it was socially acceptable for men to physically beat women into submission. But the world is changing, the notion of gender is becoming more fluid, and domestic abuse is not as easily overlooked, thank the goddess. 

• Most mainstream churches of the Abrahamic tradition also disregard humanity’s connection to nature or downplay the mysteries of the universe, choosing instead to focus on dogma and structure. That just doesn’t work for many of us anymore.

• The words “witch” and “witchcraft” have, throughout history, been used by male-centric belief systems as a means to control and punish women. They have also been applied to men and people whose gender identity/expression, sexual orientation or nature falls outside Levitical norms, but a disproportionate percentage of those accused of witchcraft throughout history have presented as women. Don’t think we haven’t noticed.

• The Salem witch trials, just one example of the Christian church’s obsession with evil, are used as the primary example of a “witch hunt,” primarily targeted women (78 percent). And yet, the most famous modern work about that event, The Crucible, was written by a man and featured a male protagonist. We all know Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a metaphor for McCarthyism and the oppression of alleged communism, and to that end, it should be celebrated. What I don’t understand is how it became the seminal work on an event that culminated a three-centuries-long campaign against women by the Church. 

• And yet, so many claiming they’re a victim of a “witch hunt” are oppressors, and are men. I guess oppressors always fear being treated the way they treat others.

Witchcraft is on the rise for the same reason that Salem is still associated with witches: because those oppressive belief systems still exist, and a whole lot of us are officially Sick. Of. That. Shit.

Witches are rising up, and we’re reclaiming the title with power. If you don’t like it, we don’t really care.

Sisters, we fly!

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