A tool of the marginalised

The broomstick flyer, the sex demon, the fortune teller, the green-skinned villain, the friendly ‘white’ witch, the baby killer. The multitude of popular representations make it difficult to understand what a ‘Witch’ truly is. History seems to have forgotten that most of these mystified caricatures were invented stories by the Church and Patriarchy of the 16th Century. I want to paint a different picture, and show how Witchcraft is, and has long been, a tool of the marginalised.

Witchcraft in its many forms and names has been a source of empowerment for the individual and community over time. Before the trials of the 16th century and surrounding, Witches were core members of the community, healing villagers with many treatments still found in drugs today, practising midwifery or creating wind knots for superstitious sailors. However, the mania of the patriarchal crackdown of the European Witch Trials, and spreading into their colonies, marginalised Witchcraft and turned the act into one of defiance. Women of status, intellect, queerness or any other quality which did not adhere to their supposed subordinance and devotion to man were deemed witches and put on trial. One could argue these women were all witches with the modern feminist definition, but this label once celebratory became tainted and demonized by the Church and patriarchy. Over 40,000 were estimated to have been killed during this time, perhaps history books should name this more blatantly as a time of institutional killings of women, rather than the more palatable and tale-like ‘Witch trial’.

Witchcraft did not die out; it became a tool and source of empowerment for the marginalised. Healers still ran their practices for those in the community unable to afford people legally practising medicine. Hexes and curses offered a way to process traumas and an accessible avenue for seeking justice for the dispossessed and colonized. Potions were developed to poison husbands, famously Catherine Deshayes or ‘La Voisin’ made a fortune selling such substances, which almost led to the murder of King Louis XIV.

Fast forward a few hundred years, first-wave feminism paid arbitrage to witchcraft, with Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton explaining that the witch hunts targeted the most brilliant in society in her 1899 book ‘The Woman’s Bible’ and signing of the ‘Declaration of Sentiments’ (1848) at Seneca falls on a table normally used for seances. Matilda Joslyn Gate was the first known suffragist to reclaim the word ‘Witch’ and argued that the demonizing of witchcraft was a way of the church and state oppressing powerful women in her feminist manifesto ‘Women, Church and State’ (1893).

This is by no means a full account or history of the ways in which Witchcraft has been a tool of the marginalised, but an exemplar to give context to today. In a world of pandemic and periods of isolation, we have had the time to develop a sense of self, which for some has led to spiritual awakenings or understandings. This was the case for Wednesday, an American witch living in Paris, who described the coronavirus pandemic as, “this perfect little pocket of time where I could explore and experiment with lots of different things, but also there was a lot of emotional upheaval and I needed tools to manage that” (2021). Alike to past generations, Witchcraft has offered an avenue of self-empowerment at a time where it’s difficult to feel any control, spells and rituals offer hope, and the focus and meditative state needed for their enactment is a powerful act of mindfulness.

In addition, Modern – or fourth-wave – feminism has reclaimed the ‘witch’ as a symbol of women’s empowerment and social liberation. Feminist group ‘W.I.T.C.H’ made headlines, thousands of witches cast a mass hex on Donald Trump and ‘Witch-Tok’ has over 21billion views at the time of writing. Why? Well, editor of the witchcraft magazine ‘Sabat’, Elizabeth Krohn, stated that “surges line up with periods in which women feel politically disenfranchised”. In today’s world set ablaze with sexual violence towards women, the appointment of the likes of Trump or French Minister Darmanin, the spread of the #MeToo movement, findings of systematic misogyny in police forces and rises of spikings, it’s certainly not unusual for women to be searching for new avenues of empowerment and community.

What is unusual, however, is the combination of the Occult and modern-day capitalism. This is not to shit on individual witches making money by selling potions on Etsy, or becoming ‘witch influencers’, Witches have always used their craft as a tool of financial empowerment, what we see now is just the modern form of that. But the commodification of spirituality by capitalist conglomerates, that is what’s concerning. An array of occult objects can be found on Amazon, Urban Outfitters sell smudge sticks, and tarot decks can be found in almost every gift shop you pass. Sephora released perhaps the most famous example of spirituality for mass consumption with its $42 Pinrose Witch Kit, containing a tarot deck, perfume ‘potions’, rose quartz and white sage. However, after facing viral backlash, this was thankfully discontinued.

This commodification of new age spirituality is an act of cultural theft, appropriation, and goes against the core values Witchcraft stands for and has fought for. The patriarchy is entwined with capitalism, and once again we can see it marginalise witches by mass-producing and stealing their livelihood and earnings. The undercutting of prices of occult items made possible through mass production pushes the community out of their business, it’s the same story as the 1600s laws against witchcraft, only now with a pretence of spiritual celebration. The means of production are also at odds with the values of witchcraft: conglomerates are expanding the climate crisis; cheap ‘healing crystals’ are sourced through exploitative and child labour; and indigenous groups have long been calling out the damages of over-harvesting and whitewashing the history of sage.

The media seems to be jumping on board too, with reboots of the likes of ‘Sabrina the teenage witch’ and ‘Charmed’. Obviously, this is painting a much more positive outlook on the ‘witch’ in pop culture than previous representations of the elderly, evil, and monstrous, however, it is still mystifying the very real experiences of modern-day witches. Additionally, it whitewashes the violence of the treatment of those labelled a witch historically, and more shockingly, still in present day

So, upon the realisation that the commodified and pop culture stereotype is far from the reality of spirituality, what does it mean to be a modern witch? Welcome to the start of a multimedia project where I will be exploring just that, through the voices of individual witches and the spiritually-inclined living in Paris today.