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History Witch: Uncovering Magical Antiquity

Want to know about real magic from history? This is the place. Here we explore primary texts and historical accounts from the past.

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Witches Do Not Bend*

Posted by on in Studies Blogs
Witches Do Not Bend*

Allow me a moment's irritation that this persistent misinformation continues to get shared. The 'witch' of witch hazel or witch elm is *not* that witch. This is the Proto-IndoEuropean root *weik

b2ap3_thumbnail_Screen-Shot-2019-05-03-at-11.16.56.png

Witch as in us witches, is a completely different strand:

b2ap3_thumbnail_Screen-Shot-2019-05-03-at-11.18.48.png

You don't even need the Oxford English Dictionary; there is a rather good Online Etymological Dictionary. The word witch in English has nothing to do with bending. Isn't it much more wonderful to "be lively, thrive"? I certainly think so. Let us become awake to the truth!

*Witches can bend and may bend especially if they take up yoga.

[Image (a fave!) Henry Meynell Rheam's The Sorceress (1898)]

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K. A. Laity is an all-purpose writer, medievalist, journalist, Fulbrighter, social media maven for Broad Universe, and author of ROOK CHANT: COLLECTED WRITINGS ON WITCHCRAFT & PAGANISM, DREAM BOOK, UNQUIET DREAMS, OWL STRETCHING, CHASTITY FLAME, PELZMANTEL, UNIKIRJA, and many more stories, essays, plays and short humour. Find out more at www.kalaity.com and find her on Facebook or Twitter.
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