The women we think of as witches were edge-dwellers: haunters of moonlit crossroads, inhabitants of the margins of community. They were keepers of the ‘old ways’ – natural animists who saw plants and animals not just as allies, but as kin. They were healers and medicine women, shapeshifters and storykeepers. They were dancers, diviners and dreamers; they were visionaries, consorting with the Otherworld. They were the ‘fairy witches’, the cunning folk, the wise women. They were the guardians of women’s mysteries.
In this four part online workshop, you will delve deeply into the many facets of the witch in the history, myth and folklore of Europe, and in contemporary culture. Sharon works with story, myth, and poetry to plunder the depths of your imagination.
From the henwife to Baba Yaga, from Granny Weatherwax to the Witches of Eastwick, she will work with these questions, and more:
- What does it mean to claim the Witch archetype, and to reimagine the old ways for today?
- What is the Shadow side of the witch, and how do we reclaim her power without espousing it?
- What are ‘women’s mysteries’?
- What are the gifts of the feminine in our native European traditions?
- How has the legacy of the witch trials damaged us?
- How do we acknowledge, transform and heal this deepest of archetypal soundings?
- What do we mean by magic, and enchantment?
- How do we strip these words of their negative connotations of control and manipulation?
