Do you feel unsafe to speak your truth or be your authentic self? Do you make yourself smaller and hide your power and magical self and gifts? Do you doubt your own intuition and tune down your emotions so others won’t feel threatened? Are you a mystic at heart, though you don’t dare tell anyone?

If so, you may carry the ancient burden of the witch wound, the collective trauma of all the women, men, and children who were innocently tortured, burned at the stake, beheaded, drowned, or hanged for their magic, independence, and free-thinking spiritual beliefs. Through many centuries, healers, midwives, wise women and men, those who were gifted and spiritually awake, diviners, teachers, those who were too outspoken, too magical, too old, too rich, too beautiful, too poor, too ugly, or too wise and knowing to be tolerated by patriarchal, capitalist, and religiously conservative society, were persecuted for simply being themselves. Many perished, and if they survived, they carried the memory of persecution in their minds and bodies. This ancestral fear of persecution and dimming of inner light may have been passed down from generation to generation.

And here you are, a writer or creative, and you are aware that something is holding you back, that you don’t feel totally safe to be deeply seen and known, which affects your creative powers. In this two-hour workshop, we’ll discuss the witch wound and go through a series of rituals and enchantments to reunite you with your lost authentic self. We’ll create sacred space to empower your voice to be heard and your being to be seen so you can write and create from this deeper, more magical place where your heart and soul are at home.

You may carry the age-old spiritual trauma known as the Witch Wound.

What Is the Witch Wound?

The Witch Wound is an inherited, collective trauma that is rooted in the dark history of the Burning Times, and that manifests as a fear of being seen, speaking up, and stepping into your full magic and power.

During the Burning Times, tens of thousands [if not hundreds of thousands] of innocent women and men were imprisoned, tortured, and executed in the most inhuman and brutal of ways: burning, beheading, drowning, hanging.

Those accused who escaped execution were exiled from their communities, stripped of their status, and pushed out of their vocations.

Some of these victims were healers, midwives, wise women and men, and diviners who served their communities; others were simply people who were too outspoken, too old, too rich, too poor, too beautiful, or too ugly.

All of them were victims of patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism, and religious tyranny.

Our ancestors who survived these dark times carried the memory of these events not just in their minds, but also in their bodies.

Their fear, their shame, their grief, their survival instincts have been passed down through the ages, and now live on in our blood and bones.

This is the legacy of the Witch Wound. It exists on both a soul level and a DNA level. Yet it also exists on a societal and cultural level.

Even today, the toxic binds of patriarchy, capitalism, imperialism, and religious tyranny restrict self-expression. These oppressive systems dictate which lifestyles,

professions, hobbies, interests, bodies, clothes, and hairstyles are “acceptable” and “worthy,” and which are not.

They favor those in power and attempt to shame those who fall into the category of “The Other.”

Witches, of course, have always been the ultimate Other.

Witches — those who claim their Earth-given birthrights of spirituality and magic, and who use their power to create change in their inner and outer worlds — have never been the ones we should fear.

It has always been the men wielding the torches. It is time for witches to stop hiding their magic and reclaim their power.

From Good Reads:

“A rare achievement that discusses the witch wound with historical depth and also offers practical invitations to heal the wound on a personal and collective level.”—Danielle Dulsky, author of  The Holy Wild You were born to live a magical life. Deep within your soul, you know this; it is why you picked up this book. But there is another reason why you now hold this book in your because some part of you feels it is unsafe to fully embrace the magic that exists within and around you. This part of you carries an age-old wound—one that keeps you from claiming your magic, owning your power, and shining fearlessly in your truth . This is the “witch wound.” Healing the witch wound is not about going back in time or dwelling on the atrocities of the past—quite the opposite. This work is about taking steps now to reclaim your power, live a more magical life, and embody your most authentic self. This book will lead you through a diverse range of practices, including spell work, rituals, meditations, and journal prompts to help you uncover and work through feelings of reticence, uncertainty, and fear. Some practices may not resonate for you, while others may be deeply impactful. Take what works, adapt and customize where you can, and leave the rest. This is your journey.

“WITCHES” by Fleassy Malay

In the past, they burned us
Because they thought we were witches.
Because we knew what to do with herbs outside of the kitchen.
Because we knew how to dance, and seduce, and pray.
Because we moved with the cycles of the moon.

The Witch

By Elizabeth Willis

A witch can charm milk from an ax handle.

A witch bewitches a man's shoe.

A witch sleeps naked.

"Witch ointment" on the back will allow you to fly through the air.

 A witch carries the four of clubs in her sleeve.

A witch may be sickened at the scent of roasting meat.

A witch will neither sink nor swim.

When crushed, a witch's bones will make a fine glue.

A witch will pretend not to be looking at her own image in a window.

A witch will gaze wistfully at the glitter of a clear night.

A witch may take the form of a cat in order to sneak into a good man's

chamber.

A witch's breasts will be pointed rather than round, as discovered in

the trials of the 1950s.

A powerful witch may cause a storm at sea.

With a glance, she will make rancid the fresh butter of her righteous

neighbor.

Even our fastest dogs cannot catch a witch-hare.

A witch has been known to cry out while her husband places inside her

the image of a child.

A witch may be burned for tying knots in a marriage bed.

A witch may produce no child for years at a time.

A witch may speak a foreign language to no one in particular.

She may appear to frown when she believes she is smiling.

If her husband dies unexpectedly, she may refuse to marry his brother.

A witch has been known to weep at the sight of her own child.

She may appear to be acting in a silent film whose placards are

missing

In Hollywood the sky is made of tin.

A witch makes her world of air, then fire, then the planets. Of

cardboard, then ink, then a compass.

A witch desires to walk rather than be carried or pushed in a cart.

When walking a witch will turn suddenly and pretend to look at

something very small.

The happiness of an entire house maybe ruined by witch hair

touching a metal cross.

The devil does not speak to a witch. He only moves his tongue.

An executioner may find the body of a witch insensitive to an iron spike.

An unrepentant witch may be converted with a little lead in the eye.

Enchanting witchpowder may be hidden in a girl's hair.

When a witch is hungry, she can make a soup by stirring water with

her hand.

I have heard of a poor woman changing herself into a pigeon.

At times a witch will seem to struggle against an unknown force

stronger than herself.

She will know things she has not seen with her eyes. She will have

opinions about distant cities.

A witch may cry out sharply at the sight of a known criminal dying of

thirst.

She finds it difficult to overcome the sadness of the last war.

A nightmare is witchwork.

The witch elm is sometimes referred to as "all heart." As in, "she was

thrown into a common chest of witch elm."

When a witch desires something that is not hers, she will slip it into her glove.

An overwhelming power compels her to take something from a rich

man's shelf.

I have personally known a nervous young woman who often walked in

her sleep.

Isn't there something witchlike about a sleepwalker who wanders

through the house with matches?

The skin of a real witch makes a delicate binding for a book of common prayer.

When all the witches in your town have been set on fire, their smoke

will fill your mouth. It will teach you new words. It will tell you what

you've done.

Elizabeth Willis, "The Witch" from Address. Copyright © 2011 by Elizabeth Willis. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.

Source: Address (Wesleyan University Press, 2011)

All other art work is from Unsplash or attributed in the credits.

"A growing body of research suggests that trauma (like from childhood abuse, family violence, or food insecurity, among many other things) can be passed from one generation to the next.

"Here’s how: Trauma can leave a chemical mark on a person’s genes, which can then be passed down to future generations. This mark doesn’t cause a genetic mutation, but it does alter the mechanism by which the gene is expressed. This alteration is not genetic, but epigenetic."

"One of the most well-researched examples of ancestral trauma is regarding Holocaust survivors and their families. Aside from the Holocaust, other major historical events that have been studied and shown to result in intergenerational trauma include The Holodomor (or “great famine”) in Ukraine and The Civil War."

You may carry the age-old spiritual trauma known as the Witch Wound.

“...People who supported their communities with help from spirit and the earth were labeled as evil witches and burned. They were banned from and even killed for supporting their communities and being supported by their communities. No wonder I and others like me have struggled to find their way into being a valued part of community through sharing our gifts to support others.” - from "The Witch Wound: What It Is & How to Heal" at the end of this Padlet (see resource section)

Exercise 2 (10 min):

Now that you know a bit more about the witch wound, what personal associations do you have with the term? Think about your family history, a personal connection or (childhood) fascination with witch stories or history, images from dreams, visions, books you have read on the topic, games you played as a child, synchronicities you have experienced, practice of anything relating to Wicca (white or positive magic), your natural connection to nature or inclination to make up rituals, your feeling that something is missing in how you are "supposed" to show up in the world (and how do you really want to show up?), unexplainable affinities with the subject, or other connections you may have. What does the witch wound mean to you personally? Explore in freewriting.

If you have none, keep making associations with the earlier question: What parts of you do you not show and why? What is it about those parts of yourself that make you want to hide them? Is there a part of you that is a bit magical, that can manifest things you want, that knows things you cannot possibly know, that is bigger than just your small self? Tell us about it!

By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials. Though the Massachusetts General Court later annulled guilty verdicts against accused witches and granted indemnities to their families, bitterness lingered in the community, and the painful legacy of the Salem witch trials would endure for centuries.

The reasons for persecution were many, and not necessarily any practice of paganism or Wicca or witchcraft in any form, nor even that the people concerned were healers. Sometimes those persecuted were simply too outspoken, too beautiful, too plain, too magical, too transformational or radical, in someone's way, too unusual or different, too empowered, or simply an easy scapegoat for community wrath, a collective shadow, or collective guilt.

Persecutions simply had to do with fear of the "other," fear of illness or attack or any breaks with existing orders and safeties, and more. Othering is at the root of the persecution of individuals for witchcraft.

Some general history about witches from History.com

Witches were perceived as evil beings by early Christians in Europe, inspiring the iconic Halloween figure.

Images of witches have appeared in various forms throughout history—from evil, wart-nosed women huddling over a cauldron of boiling liquid to hag-faced, cackling beings riding through the sky on brooms wearing pointy hats. In pop culture, the witch has been portrayed as a benevolent, nose-twitching suburban housewife; an awkward teenager learning to control her powers and a trio of charmed sisters battling the forces of evil. The real history of witches, however, is dark and, often for the witches, deadly.

The Origin of Witches

Early witches were people who practiced witchcraft, using magic spells and calling upon spirits for help or to bring about change. Most witches were thought to be pagans doing the Devil’s work. Many, however, were simply natural healers or so-called “wise women” whose choice of profession was misunderstood.

It’s unclear exactly when witches came on the historical scene, but one of the earliest records of a witch is in the Bible in the book of 1 Samuel, thought be written between 931 B.C. and 721 B.C. It tells the story of when King Saul sought the Witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuel’s spirit to help him defeat the Philistine army.

The witch roused Samuel, who then prophesied the death of Saul and his sons. The next day, according to the Bible, Saul’s sons died in battle, and Saul committed suicide.

Other Old Testament verses condemn witches, such as the oft-cited Exodus 22:18, which says, “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Additional Biblical passages caution against divination, chanting or using witches to contact the dead.

'Malleus Maleficarum'

Witch hysteria really took hold in Europe during the mid-1400s, when many accused witches confessed, often under torture, to a variety of wicked behaviors. Within a century, witch hunts were common and most of the accused were executed by burning at the stake or hanging. Single women, widows and other women on the margins of society were especially targeted.

Between the years 1500 and 1660, up to 80,000 suspected witches were put to death in Europe. Around 80 percent of them were women thought to be in cahoots with the Devil and filled with lust. Germany had the highest witchcraft execution rate, while Ireland had the lowest.

The publication of “Malleus Maleficarum”—written by two well-respected German Dominicans in 1486—likely spurred witch mania to go viral. The book, usually translated as “The Hammer of Witches,” was essentially a guide on how to identify, hunt and interrogate witches.

"Malleus Maleficarum" labeled witchcraft as heresy, and quickly became the authority for Protestants and Catholics trying to flush out witches living among them. For more than 100 years, the book sold more copies of any other book in Europe except the Bible.

[...]

Are Witches Real?

One of the most famous witches in Virginia’s history is Grace Sherwood, whose neighbors alleged she killed their pigs and hexed their cotton. Other accusations followed and Sherwood was brought to trial in 1706.

The court decided to use a controversial water test to determine her guilt or innocence. Sherwood’s arms and legs were bound and she was thrown into a body of water. It was thought if she sank, she was innocent; if she floated, she was guilty. Sherwood didn’t sink and was convicted of being a witch. She wasn’t killed but put in prison and for eight years.

A satirical article (supposedly written by Benjamin Franklin) about a witch trial in New Jersey was published in 1730 in the Pennsylvania Gazette. It brought to light the ridiculousness of some witchcraft accusations. It wasn’t long before witch mania died down in the New World and laws were passed to help protect people from being wrongly accused and convicted.

Book of Shadows

Modern-day witches of the Western World still struggle to shake their historical stereotype. Most practice Wicca, an official religion in the United States and Canada.

Wiccans avoid evil and the appearance of evil at all costs. Their motto is to “harm none,” and they strive to live a peaceful, tolerant and balanced life in tune with nature and humanity.

Many modern-day witches still perform witchcraft, but there’s seldom anything sinister about it. Their spells and incantations are often derived from their Book of Shadows, a 20th-century collection of wisdom and witchcraft, and can be compared to the act of prayer in other religions. A modern-day witchcraft potion is more likely to be an herbal remedy for the flu instead of a hex to harm someone.

Today’s witchcraft spells are usually used to stop someone from doing evil or harming themselves. Ironically, while it’s probable some historical witches used witchcraft for evil purposes, many may have embraced it for healing or protection against the immorality they were accused of.

But witches—whether actual or accused—still face persecution and death. Several men and women suspected of using witchcraft have been beaten and killed in Papua New Guinea since 2010, including a young mother who was burned alive. Similar episodes of violence against people accused of being witches have occurred in Africa, South America, the Middle East and in immigrant communities in Europe and the United States.

Sources

About Wicca. The Celtic Connection.
Case Study: The European Witch Hunts, c. 1450-1750 and Witch Hunts Today. Gendercide Watch.
The Salem Witch Trials. Oxford Research Encyclopedias.
Witchcraft: Creation of the “evil other.” Susan Moulton, Sonoma State University.
Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia. Encyclopedia of Virginia.
Witchcraft: The Beginnings. University of Chicago.
Witches and Witchcraft: The First Person Executed in the Colonies. State of Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Library Services.
Demonology: The Malleus Maleficarum—Proliferating Witch Hysteria. Mount Holyoke College.
The Persecution of Witches, 21st-Century Style. The New York Times.
Women and Witches: Patterns of Analysis. The University of Chicago Press.

You can read more about witch trials in the early modern period here on Wikipedia. Estimates of the scope of the victims differ widely.

Add in: How do you relate to the earth and nature? And to intuition, feeling, spirituality?

What gifts do you have for your community? Make a list or jot down your ideas. It can be as raw and/or unformed as it feels inside, just begin somewhere.

Holding safe space for your gifts and your authentic true voice and calling is revolutionary and is breaking centuries of persecution we carry with us in our bones.

Also reflect on your relationship to the earth and nature, intuition, feeling, and spirituality.

Observe your own fears honestly and as objectively as you can. Are they true and real? Examine them carefully. Are they a realistic assessment? Why or why not? Jot down a brief reflection on your own fears. Try to look at them with the most expansive and objective perspective you can muster.

Make a list of rituals you love that you can do to remind yourself of your own power and gifts and magic on a regular basis - these can be small things, or bigger things: simple tea ceremonies, burning a candle now and then, making an altar or shrine, writing down your dreams and posting them in a prominent place, journaling often about your thoughts on these topics, regular reflections about how much room you are making for yourself and your gifts, and more.

Connect to Community & Ancestors

If this is something that helps you, you can also ask for help from beyond you: from dear friends and family, from nature, or from spirit guides and helpers you are connected to - whether for you spirit guides means love, the divine, one spirit guide, many guides, your higher self, or anything else.

Journal about your Dreams and Gifts

It can be very helpful to journal and ask something beyond yourself for insights, clarity, next steps and support with bringing the energy of this giving and receiving into form. Having a clear intention is the first step! What do you want to manifest and be, and what steps do you want to take to create your dreams and bring your gifts to the world?

Reconnect to Nature

Also highly recommended: Take walks and spend time in nature. Our Knowing the Unknowable panelists all recommended this as a way to connect to intuition. You can also make up rituals to reconnect to the natural world, which holds so much power for us. Sit against a tree and meditate or watch the world and listen to your breath. Let the power of the tree come into your body. Watch the moon at night, or a field full of fireflies. Become nature outside of you. Breathe nature into your body. Build little shrines to your creativity and connection to nature, then let nature disintegrate them. Draw poetry in sand. Watch the stars and run with them through the expanse of universe. Ponder the rain.

Meditate & Reflect

Choose a practice of meditation that you feel at home with that connects you to a more transcendental part of yourself that is larger than your ego, a deep peace within, and/or a space beyond the treadmill of thoughts that our minds can often be. Where is your inner sanctuary of peace? What is your way to reach it? Is it Transcendental Meditation (the technique we practice at MIU), breath work, mindfulness, yoga, or something else? Turning inward and getting quiet enough to listen to yourself may be the first ritual part of your day to reconnect you to your inner center and self-trust and your visions and dreams and gifts.

Make a list of your own ideas for rituals you can do outside or in your home to reconnect yourself to your higher self, the divine feminine, the earth, nature, your community, and especially your own gifts and dreams.

Here some affirmation ideas you can play with, if you like affirmations:

I am connected to myself and my own truth and power.

It is safe for me to speak my truth and offer my gifts.

I am supported to offer my gifts and share my truth with the world.

I am worthy of receiving gifts in exchange for offering my gifts to the world.

I am powerful and I speak my truth.

I embody my magic self in the world.

Other people honor and support my magic and my gifts.

I put my gifts and my truth in service of good for the healing of mankind and our world.

Now feel free to write your own!

Caveat: What this Workshop Is Not

Please understand that some emotions can come up when you process or write about anything personal. Please note that the facilitator is not a therapist. If you are in need of some professional support to help you with experiences that come up in this workshop, we recommend you seek help of a licensed psychologist or counselor in your community! Students, we can help you set up professional support during the semester. Just reach out to me at npassi@miu.edu and I'll help you set it up.

What This Workshop Is: A Safe, Generative Space

This class is purely a generative space, not a master class, and the aim is to process, write, say the unsayable, and heal - not to workshop, critique, or revise. It's also not a space to debate what the witch wound is or isn't or to mull over the history of witch hunts beyond a brief introduction. The concept of the witch wound can mean different things to different people. Critical words have no place in this inner process space, so let's leave them at the door. We welcome reflections of each writer's work (favorite lines, likes, loves).

This class Padlet includes the following:

1. Class description.

2. A series of prompts and reflections to take you on a journey of inner discovery. The prompts are numbered 1 - 9 with reflections in between.

3. A ritual and possible affirmations to help you reconnect to your gifts and your self-trust in your own voice and abilities.

4. A series of resources, such as a documentary and historical information, about witches and witch hunts and trials, plus a working definition of the witch wound.

5. Information on generational trauma and how it is stored in the body.

6. Some literary resources on witch wounds and possible recommendations for further reading.

Welcome to our festival space! I am so happy you joined us!

Here you can read about colonial witch hunts in South America.

Here you can read about colonial witch hunts in Modern Africa and early Modern Europe.

The history of witch craft in Africa.

Here you can read about Witchcraft and the Colonization of Algonquian and Iroquois Cultures (JStor) if you log in.

The story of Tituba, an indigenous survivor of the Salem Witch trials.

On a personal level, I was struck by the honesty required and epiphanies generated. It's not a matter of dishonesty to oneself, but a matter of the busy day to day narrative drowning out the quiet "Why?"s of oneself.

As I delve into research on leadership and peak performing teams, Passi's skill in unfolding individual potential and creating learning communities is becoming less opaque as more elements of those crafts become more visible and no less magical. Kegan and Lahey's research suggests that there are distinct developmental stages of adult development, including the Socialized Mind, Self-Authoring Mind, and Self-Transforming Mind. Workshops like Healing the Witch Wound seem to target development of these stages of complexity, arguably the most valuable education for the 21st century.

-M. B. (course participant)

Nynke's workshop gave me so much material to expand on. This is the most I've written so far in a session since the beginning of the festival. There is so much, to use a word Nynke often uses, whimsy, but also heartbreak and profound spirituality and also thoughts of lifetimes I may not remember but feel. Or at least the feeling of the collective humanity throughout time. Thank you, Nynke. Your ability to create space and curiosity with twists and turns is what being a teacher is all about. 

-B.L (course participant)

Mothering Each Other: Healing the Witch Wound opened a rich vein of healing, of connection and coherence for me, there is a new dimension of healing for both me and the ancestors and I can't really think of a sweeter side quest than this. A lot has begun to shift since this workshop, continuing to think on the topics we covered and exploring some we didn't. I always feel like when we take that step on the path, the universe reaches out in invitation.

-A.R. (course participant)

Nynke's workshop drew things out of me that I had forgotten. The prompts affected me more in a personal sense than a writing sense, they struck at things I have buried (we all have these things of course). And therein lies one of Nynke's (many) magical abilities. As a creative process one of the things we are often encouraged to do is become more ourselves. There's this part of facing our grief and wounds, here the witch wound, that is a critical piece of it. Nynke is so good at drawing this out of us and guiding and bringing these little delicate things that are also delicacies in their own way, into the light.

-T.R. (course participant)

Nynke, your workshop on Healing the Witch Wound was really thought provoking.  I loved all the exercises.

-S.S. (course participant)

This was such an amazing gathering of souls willing to share such painful corners of our shared reality. Truly a support group. With Nynke at the helm it reminded me so much of the classes I had with her in my undergrad. Really sweet and heartwarming.

-C.V. (course participant)

Mothering Each Other Home: Healing the Witch Wound, by Nynke Passi, was entirely healing and in service to connection with our true selves, whole selves, each self.

The feeling in the room was palpable. Felt thrice, times each participant, squared, and then multiplied.

Ancestor was present there. Here.

I review the writing exercise. Do them all over again. The model, the inquiry Nynke has for us is a fully engaged inquiry for the self, in relation with an ugliness - a grotesque past - of pain, injury, harm, carnage, and forgetting. A banishing. What part of myself have I banished, so in order to have done so before anyone else could banish me. My ness. The ripening. the courage. the strength. the insight. the direct revelation from goddess. The is-ness

The writing exercises showed me to myself. As if they were a magic portal into a realm where all facades were pealed away, and all that was left, was me, and ancestor - auntie, mum, gramma, sister, fems, brothers.

I see the part that went into hiding. has sought refuge in the woods, to never return to society. She has felt a sense of safety there for sometime. Yet, is learning that the only way she will truly be safe - is to come out.

-E.J.B. (course participant)

Ishtar, Diana, Astarte, Isis were all called virgin, which did not refer to sexual chastity, but sexual independence. And all great culture heroes of the past, mythic or historic, were said to be born of virgin mothers: Marduk, Gilgamesh, Buddha, Osiris, Dionysus, Genghis Khan, Jesus—they were all affirmed as sons of the Great Mother, of the Original One, their worldly power deriving from her. When the Hebrews used the word, and in the original Aramaic, it meant “maiden” or “young woman,” with no connotations of sexual chastity.

But later Christian translators could not conceive of the “Virgin Mary” as a woman of independent sexuality, needless to say; they distorted the meaning into sexually pure, chaste, never touched. When Joan of Arc, with her witch coven associations, was called La Pucelle—“the Maiden,” “the Virgin”—the word retained some of its original Pagan sense of a strong and independent woman."

- The Great Cosmic Mother, Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor -