Class, gender and religion influenced health care in early modern Spain and Latin America.
Diego Velázquez/The National Gallery
Early modern societies in Latin America and Spain saw a convergence of traditional medical knowledge and the professionalization of medicine. The resulting differences in access to care endure today.
One of the earliest depictions of flying witches is in a 15th-century text entitled “Le champion des dames,” or “The Defender of Ladies.”
Martin Le Franc/W. Schild. Die Maleficia der Hexenleut' via Wikimedia Commons
The iconic image of a witch on a broomstick has apocryphal origins. But whether they could actually fly didn’t stop Christian society from persecuting them.
Illustration of the devil pricking a woman with a pin and another of a girl vomiting pins from a history of witches.
Wellcome Collection
Pins were ubiquitous and swallowing them became associated with demonic posession and female “hysteria”.
People gather for Pagan sunrise celebrations in Ireland, on the morning of the winter solstice.
Brian Lawless/PA Images via Getty Images
Yule, celebrated by Wiccans and many other Pagans in the Northern Hemisphere on Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice, is a time for reflection.
Women accused of being witches burnt at the stake in Derenburg in 1555.
Wikimedia Commons
What do we mean when we talk about “witches”? And what imaginary world is conjured up by this historical figure turned mythical?
Three women executed as witches in Derneburg Germany in October 1555.
Everett Collection
Witchcraft is an enduring source of fascination but also prone to popular misconceptions.
A compound in Gambaga Witches Camp in the North East region of Ghana.
Wikimedia Commons
Victims of witchcraft accusations face alienation or exclusion from their communities.
The natural world is an important part of Pagan practice.
Louise OLIGNY/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Practitioners of Pagan religions no longer need to go into a forest to find an object for their altars. Commercialization means that sacred objects are available online.
Mystic Meg in a promotional image.
Victor Watts/Alamy Stock Photo
Critics of superstition have often painted openness to magical interpretations as weakness or moral failing.
Stories about witches are having a resurgence.
Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock
These new witches are rarely comparable to traditional dirty hags. The new witch is often beautiful, at once dark, gothic, ethereal and wild.
The medical school of Salerno as it appears in a miniature of Avicenna’s Canon. The image represents the legendary story of Robert, Duke of Normandy. Mortally wounded by an arrow, he was heroically saved by his wife who sucked out the poison as prescribed by the physicians of Salerno.
Wikipedia
During the Middle Ages, women were steadily excluded from both the practice and the study of medicine by an overwhelmingly male-dominated, institutional and hierarchical system.
Disney
In fairy tales there are real mothers and stepmothers and the latter are always evil.
Fear about women’s power was an essential part of ancient anxiety about witchcraft.
Vinicius Rafael / EyeEm via Getty Images
From ancient Greece to modern-day TikTok witchcraft, the world of witches has been a changing one.
Archival records don’t tell the whole story, but they can provide valuable information.
(Shutterstock)
A teenage domestic servant showed signs of possession, and a miller was accused of witchcraft. Considering records of these events helps clarify what we can and cannot know about the past.
Wanda’s rage fuels her actions in ‘Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’
(Shutterstock)
Visual references to mythological and popular culture figures of female anger abound in the latest Dr. Strange movie.
‘A Sorcerer Comes to a Peasant Wedding,’ a 19th-century painting by Russian artist Vassily Maximov.
Tretyakov Gallery/Wikimedia Commons
The idea of a ‘witch’ was usually female in Western Europe, but not so in Orthodox Russia – partly because of the period’s rigid social hierarchies.
Children celebrating Easter, with their Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs.
Sanja Radin/Collection E+ via Getty Images
A folklorist explains the prehistoric origins of the mythical Easter Bunny and why this longstanding cultural symbol keeps returning each spring.
A group of Scottish witches meet the Devil in a churchyard in a pen and ink drawing from the 17th century.
Wikipedia
It’s facile to claim that only the state, or even only elites, were responsible for executing witches – there is a potential witch-hunter in all of us.
WitchTok is the subculture of pagans who use TikTok to share spells, learn about mythology and connect with co-religionists.
(northeasternherb, showthe8thhouse, greenwitchmystics/TikTok)
Whether someone is scrolling mindlessly or actively conducting research, WitchTok connects witches to their practices and community.
For many witches, the internet offers a community and the opportunity to practice with like-minded people.
Pexels/mikhail nilov
Beyond the fairy tales, mythical stories and stereotypes, there are many ways to be a witch.