Hands up who enjoys a sneaky dose of Charmed when they’re on there own and there’s no-one around to laugh? I’m guilty as charged. But sitting at home, watching the charmed ones once again vanquish a demon that looks like a supermodel, I wonder how we got from witches being wart-ridden, big nosed, broomstick riding hags, to relatively normal young women, proud to be associated with magic and witchcraft…

Although they’re often portrayed as mystical creatures, witches have not been confined to the pages of a fairytale for eternity. On the contrary, you may not realise it, but a living, breathing, practicing witch could live next door to you. Or teach at your school. Or....well, you get the picture.

I first realised this when I interviewed Marie Bruce, a fully-fledged Witch and practicing Wiccan. “The people that stereotype tend to give me a wide berth. It’s quite sad really.”

Wicca is an age-old religion that is still practised all over the world. It was popularised by a man named Gerald Gardner in 1954, and he claimed that the Wiccan religion was a modern form of witchcraft. Since then, more and more people, like Marie, have become Wiccan, and turned to the art of casting spells, celebrating Midsummer and praying to a God and a Goddess. Dancing skyclad (naked, nude, starkers, au naturel....) is of course optional. Many Wiccans cast spells and perform rituals as part of the Wiccan calendar. They follow the rule “An ye harm none, do what ye will”, which is Olde English for “harm no-one”. Not exactly the actions of a stereotypical witch.

But as I was doing my research, I realised that the image of a large nosed, warty battleaxe most of us have, is slowly but surely getting on her broomstick and disappearing skyward, making way for a much more attractive portrayal. During our lifetime, the entertainment media has become very interested in the whole idea of witches and witchcraft as a way of showing women in a strong and independent light. You only have to tune into the total joy that is “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” to see that the concept of a young girl who can click her fingers and get anything she wants is very appealing. But is witchcraft really like that?

 

I talked to Marie Bruce, who not only practices Wicca, but has written several books she describes as “self help with a little magic” I asked her what she thought about the images the media puts out. “I see it on two levels. For entertainment value, I think it’s great fun, but it does lead people who are getting into paganism and Wicca down the wrong path. They think they can wave a magic wand and everything is done for them. Even in Wicca, life is just not like that. It takes a long time and a lot of hard work to get what we want.”

So, if witches aren’t cackling old crones, and they’re not perky young gals blasting supermodels/demons to smithereens, what are they? To find out the answer to this question, I asked Marie who was most likely to read her books. The answer I got was very surprising. “Usually the readership is female, but there are some men who like to read the books. I’ve had messages from girls of eight or nine, right up to ladies who are senior citizens.” Nine year old girls? Men?? I’d obviously not got my research right. But, I was now realising that there’s no such thing as a standard witch. Anyone with an interest, an open mind and a half decent cauldron is good to go. (Again the later is optional).

So, we’ve established that witches are just ordinary people living ordinary lives (apart from all the naked dancing), but if this is the case, where did the negative image of witches come from? Marie believes that this impression comes from a time when equal rights for women was unheard of. “Years ago, if women were considered to be powerful, that took things away from men. I think it was just men threatened by feminine power. There’s centuries of misconception out there.” There was also a lot of misunderstanding about women’s menstrual cycles, leading to the belief that when women went slightly crazy around that time of the month, there was some evil force at work on them. Which was a fair enough conclusion at the time considering hormones are still a mystery to this day.

When trawling through the internet, I found some very interesting ideas on who was to blame for giving witches an unfavourable stereotype. Centuries ago, when society as a whole didn’t have the scientific knowledge we have today, many things such as disease and death could be explained away using magic. Thanks to this, witches got a bad name and were seen to have dealings with the devil, causing many people to support witch hunts. Another popular theory was that women who were open about their sexuality were considered to be luring men in with potions and then using them as part of their rituals. Nice.

Of course, the main reason people were so negative towards practicing witches was that they were frightened of them. And that is in part why people are so quick to mock the Wiccan religion today – they don’t know enough about it and make assumptions based on the stereotype.

Hear my interview with Wiccan Marie bruce at www.radiowaves.co.uk/cube

I asked Marie whether she thought Wicca was taken seriously. “It’s getting better, but it’s going to be a long path. Most people are very interested, but some, when they find out about me being a witch, stereotype immediately and they can’t see past that.” So it’s a case of “ignorance is bliss” for some people. But as more and more of society are becoming interested in real witchcraft and not the glamorised media version, stereotypers are becoming a minority. Women all over the world are reclaiming the term “witch”, turning something that is associated with evil into something empowering and positive. For example, in 70s Italy, thousands of women took to the streets of Rome when a young girl was raped, chanting “Tremble! Tremble! Witches are back!”.

And even the media idea of bouncy, butt kicking girls holds some trace of feminine power. Why can’t girls be pretty AND smart? In the past, there have been plenty of male superheroes, but the female angle has been sparse to say the least. Nowadays, the sexy vampire image may not be to everyone’s taste, but the idea of a strong women who can look after herself is exactly the image many new-fashioned witches want to put across. Although not wholly impressed, Marie told me her thoughts on what she feels the media representation teach younger people: “They do teach that you need to be responsible for yourself and you should have a higher aspiration to do good for others. In that way, they are good role models.”

It seems being a modern day witch is about being a positive female figure, rather than the out dated image many of us still have. Marie agrees: “Women are considered to be powerful and strong individuals again. The media are so interested in us because of the idea of women who don’t follow the crowd but go against the grain. We do make our dreams come true”. When I started out writing my article, I must admit that I was a little sceptical. Being an atheist myself, I don’t believe in a God or a Goddess, but I do now think that Wicca teaches some crucial messages. Marie believes “In the society we live in, tolerance has never been more important, and Wicca teaches an importance of accepting all religions and all spiritualities. That’s such an important message these days” I can definitely raise my silver goblet in agreement to that.

Elise Tingle







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