Witches Gather

Fun Facts

Throughout my readings and research during this course it has made me wonder what sort of weird, different facts about witches are out there? I have gained so much knowledge about the world of Wicca that before I had no clue even where to begin that now I am digging deeper to see what else I can uncover and add to be never ending knowledge of witches.

There are so many different facts and myths about witches that we could go on about this forever so I am just going to talk about some of them. Fun fact number one is that most witches are vegetarians and they use herbs, incenses, candles, oils and so on to cast their spells. One thing that has needed some clarification over the years is that they never sacrifice animals or humans. The five points on the pentagram are earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. Witches do not believe in Satan and they worship two main gods, Lord and Lady. Back in the 17^th Century in Sweden if you acted different or even looked different you were considered to be a witch no matter what. Another cool fact I found is that a few witches out there practice Christianity and they call it “Xtianity” or “Christian Witches”. Witches in Europe, Africa, and Asia are believed to employ animals as assistants, known as familiars.

Another website that I found called Mental Floss gives us a bunch of weird facts about witches. Most witches were not burned at the stake, in fact all that were found guilty were hung. No one that was found guilty of witchcraft was ever executed by burning in the American colonies. Witch hunts didn’t specifically target women they targeted both males and females. During the Trier Witch Trails in Germany that lasted from 1581 to 1593 a total of 368 people were executed and many of them happened to be leading male figures of the cities and surrounding villages. Most people hear the word witch and automatically think of an evil witch. There are actually good witches! Yes good witches they are known as white magic and are more of a folk healer than anything else. You could be convicted of witchcraft without any solid evidence. During the Salem Witch Trials most of the legally recognized evidence used against those accused was “spectral evidence” or “witch’s marks”.

One weird fact that really catch my attention is that we have no clue where the word “witch” even came from. The word witch is of indeterminate origin and the closest origin is the Old English word wicce, which means female sorceress. Here’s a funny fact witches probably didn’t wear pointy hats at all. Early 1700s the image was co-opted by artists who immortalized the image in painting of the old hag into the witches hat that we have come to know so well today. Witches feeling of flying on a broomstick in a weird way is accurate but not in a way that you would think. The rituals that they performed, which were in the nude, called for the participants to rub an herbal ointment containing the mandrake on their foreheads, wrists, hands, and feet as well as on a staff that they would “ride”. The friction of the ointment-coated staff on the witch’s female parts would absorb the ointment into their system and cause a floating sensation. This sensation is the description of them flying on a broomstick. So in a way the broomstick is accurate but in a weird way!

From the Angel Fire website and the Mental Floss website I have gained more knowledge about witches. The facts that I have come across are defiantly different and show a whole different part of witches. It gave me more history about how it started and what occurred during the infamous Salem Witch Trials and also what happened over sees. We all see witches as being identical to what Hollywood portrays them as but in reality it isn’t accurate at all and they have so much depth then we could ever imagine. The world of Witch’s and witchcraft always has something new to teach you!