Sunday, November 25, 2018

The Origins of A Few Witch Icons

Researching magic stuff for NaNoWriMo. I've mentioned some of this before, but it's really neat stuff.

Witches float because the water is allegedly rejecting their satanic butts from baptism, making it impossible for them to be submerged.

Witches have boils and warts because the warts act as teats allowing their familiars to feed off of their blood.

Broomsticks, cauldrons, and pointy hats were all symbols of "alewives," women who brewed ale. It was one of the few respectable occupations that women were allowed to hold down on their own. Alewives, spinstresses, maybe nuns of course, although nuns live together and not alone, and charges of witchcraft tended to come against women who lived alone, such as alewives and spinstresses...

"Cunning folk" were "good" practitioners of folk magic whose job it was to guard against evil witch powers. That's something just so cool and we don't discuss it nearly enough, in the witch dialogues.

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