She has emerged again, from the depths of history, women of today carry her name with pride instead of shame: The Witch. In the past she was something to be feared and few, if any, women would choose to be called Witch. She was a source of fear for both the accused and the accuser. As we know, thousands of women perished in the fires of the witch trials. Just as these wounds are about to heal, and maybe in an effort to heal them, women choose to call themselves witches in the name of feminism and connection with nature. In a similar way as people accused of being Queer started wearing the label with pride, women of today choose to wear the label Witch.

But it isn’t just about healing the past or taking back power, it is also a way of highlighting current events like femicide, violation of indigenous and natures rights. Like the norse Norns, the witch stands with one foot in the past, one in the present and one in the future. Her spells and magic are not just about healing wounds of the past, but also about highlighting current crimes against life and sowing the seeds of a balanced future.

The witch can be seen to stand for diversity and cycles, with sustainability at its core. In spring, new life is born, in summer it thrives and brings forth fruit, in autumn it lays down and dies and becomes the soil where the new life of the coming spring takes its form from. In winter it rests. The seeds of the coming year lie underground, stratifying in the cold, making plans for the future, hibernating, but still keeping the momentum.

The modern capitalist view of the world is one of constant spring and summer. We manipulate the earth, the plants, animals and ourselves into constant production, impowering life itself. A linear world view can only end in one way, by dropping straight into the abyss. In order to stop the race towards the abyss, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves what we really need? Do we need more stuff made out of plastic pollution? Do we need to eat meat everyday, meat from cows that we’ve bred for maximum quantities of milk and meat, not the health or life quality of the cow itself? Do we need to go on holiday to the other side of the world in order to relax and “just be”? Or can we find what we are searching for nearby, within ourselves and in our immediate surroundings? Can we find it in smiling at a stranger, resting against a tree or watching clouds slowly travel across the sky? The Witch can help us begin our cyclic journey.