Words to unearth the invisible inheritance that still silences our power, and call back the wild, wise woman within.

“Every strong woman is a witch and she is always hunted.” - Missing Witches

The Witch Wound isn’t just some poetic metaphor.

It’s a very real, deeply embedded fear-memory that lives in the bones of powerful women across generations. It's the echo of persecution, exile, and betrayal… the unspoken code passed through our bloodlines whispering:

"It’s not safe to be fully seen."

This wound runs deep. If you're a woman walking the mystical path, chances are it’s running your life in ways you don’t even realize.

Do you:

• ever fear repercussions (even if there are none and that fear makes no sense) when life would have you be seen and take up space?

• hide yourself, your gifts and magical practices?

• feel shame, fear and guilt about your spiritual beliefs?

• worry about being seen as sinful, evil, crazy, dangerous or weird?

• experience imposter syndrome or feeling like you're unworthy or a fraud?

• have a tendency to people-please?

• silence yourself out of fear of speaking up or upsetting others?

• worry about how others perceive you?

• have a strong desire for personal growth, courage, and compassion?

• hold yourself back from expressing your creativity?

• fear being successful?

• feel afraid of having too much money, being too beautiful?

• feel an intense fear around groups of women?

What is a Witch?

In popular culture, a witch is a hag, an old woman wearing black living in a small cottage in the forest who scares children. This perception of witches reflect our modern culture's (read "patriarchy's") attitude towards and fear of independent, and spiritually empowered women.

While there are countless lineages, traditions and philosophies of Witchcraft, what they have in common is a connection to nature, an affinity for the mysterious, and the feminine.

The word "witch" comes from the Old English word "wicca". Wicca is a word used by Pagans, and was actually originally referring to a male sorcerer. Paganism is the word we use for the indigenous spiritual beliefs and practices in Europe, that have been mostly exterminated by Christianity. Paganism is not one thing, rather it is a term used to group together many different nature-based spiritual or religious belief systems. What they have in common is a shared reverence for nature, and the many forms of Spirit.

Today, the word Wicca has been adopted to a neo-pagan and new age religion, that was created in the 1940s by a man named Gerald Gardner.

I made this table to show you the overlaps and differences between the terms we use, so that we are on the same page as to what we mean when we use them:

Another word that we have used to refer to people with indigenous spiritual beliefs is "heathen", which is the oldest term (dating back to before 900 A.D.). "Heath" refers to uncultivated land, and is another word, like Pagan that was used by the converted Christians to refer, in a derogatory way, to those who were "uncultured".

I believe one of the reasons why "Shamanism" has become a more popular word for us to use all around the world to describe indigenous and experiential spiritual beliefs is because it is one of the only words we have that is not derogatory and created by religious folk to describe those who are unwilling to conform to their system.

It is my opinion that words like "Witch", "Shaman", "Healer" "Energy Worker" are interchangeable, and speak of a woman (or man) who works as a intermediary between Spirit and their community, which can take many forms. It is ourselves that choose which of these words we resonate most with. Do you agree?

Are You a Witch?

Not the caricature witch riding broomsticks to Blue Hill to dance with the devil on easter nights kind - the real kind.
The kind that remembers.
The kind who feels the pull of the moon in her womb, who speaks with trees, sings to the stars, and prays barefoot in the dirt and just knows "stuff".

Here’s what I mean when I say “Witch” (and yes, you get to add your own definition too. The more the merrier. Would love to read yours in the comments):

A Witch is a woman who dares to reclaim her birthright of magic and mystery.
She listens to her inner knowing louder than any outer noise.
She communes with the unseen.
She lives in rhythm with nature, trusts the language of her dreams,
and creates from a place that logic can’t touch.

She is a weaver, a healer, a shapeshifter.
She sees through lies.
She feels everything.
She loves deeply, wildly, and often alone.

She’s the one who holds space for others
even when no one ever held it for her.

She’s intuitive, creative, fierce, and soft.
She’s been silenced, shamed, and burned before but she’s back.
You’re back.

Finally.

The "Witch Wound"

I was first introduced to the concept of the Witch Wound in 2018 by Lisa Lister at a Women's Empowerment Yoga retreat where I was teaching Yoga and Breath-work (I really recommend her book Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic).

Her work resonated a lot with me, and then I ended up having an incredibly raw and painful experience of the Witch Wound first-hand at the retreat. It cut me to the bone, and opened up something deep inside, that hurt so much it was beyond me. Like an initiation of sorts, memories from before, not this lifetime, not this body, flooded into my system and for a few days, I was lost into a spiritual madness, despair, agony and sacred rage at what was done to us. Not just to the women who were called witches, but what we lost as a humanity through these heinous acts, that still affect us all.

The Witch Wound is a spiritual wound carried by women as a result of the Traumas inflicted by patriarchy. It refers to the generational trauma caused by the witch trials, which started in the 15th century and went on for 300 years. Over 13 million women who did not conform to the Christian (patriarchal) ideals of submissive womanhood were brutally tortured, and murdered in Europe and North America, often in front of a brainwashed mob. While it is "not all men", it has always been the men wielding the torches while many others watched, stood by idly, or hid. Not all men, but where were our defenders?

It was a dangerous time to be a woman. Women turned against each other, reporting and accusing each other to keep themselves safe. This fractured the connections that women had held to each other and to the feminine powers, and created the Witch Wound, as a deeply internalized distrust and fear of non-conformity.

Women like us were exterminated. It was a misogynistic 'gendercide'.

Many other cultures have also vilified women, our intuitive relationship with nature and innate healing powers. We have been persecuted all over the world for being evil in the name of patriarchal authority, who devalue and steal our power and influence in our societies. Although burning women at the stake has ceased in many parts of the world, rituals of torture against women still persist, such as female circumcision, honor killings, and systematic rape. The collective vibration of fear held just for being a woman is something most of us feel, even if we are fortunate enough to be from cultures where such acts are less common. Across the world, even in the most 'developed' and equal nations, the statistics of women and young girls being SA-d or harassed is so high, with so much going unreported, it feels like a woman who's never been affected by this is about as rare as a purple unicorn wearing noise-cancelling headphones. They might exist, but I don't know if I ever met one.

The patriarchy is a binary hierarchy system that devalues women and children, and gives unreasonable preference to certain groups of men. It is upheld by men and women, who believe this is the way things 'should be'.

In many ways, it is still dangerous to be a woman. In some places, our sisters are still treated as second-class citizens and domestic slaves.

The effects are that we live smaller, hidden lives. It shows up as negative feelings (hostility, fear, comparison, feeling threatened, competitiveness and envy) against other women. We have internalized patriarchy and become misogynists ourselves (misogyny = dislike, contempt or prejudice against women).

It also shows up as negative feelings towards ourselves and our bodies. We have been taught our value is in what we look like, and so we judge ourselves and each other based on the most superficial parts of us. It keeps us addicted to buying more, and these days so many women willingly go for invasive surgical procedures that costs significant amounts of money to look right on the outside. Never mind how we feel inside.

Our modern world has been shaped around the dark legacy of persecution, control, sexual objectification and dismissal of women. Once you see it, cannot be unseen.

Does this resonate with you? Have you had your own experiences of the witch wound? Do you see it in your culture and society? In your family? Do you feel it in your body? Where and when does this come up for you?

Healing the Hurt of our Ancestors

There aren't enough studies on the Witch Wound itself but there are many studies that show the intergenerational effects of trauma. Do you remember the study of the mice who were shocked every time they were exposed to cherry blossoms? Their offspring for generations held the deep fear associated with the smell of cherry blossoms.

Behavioral epigenetics show that traumatic experiences in our past (and that of our ancestors) leave molecular scars in our DNA. These scars influence our behaviors, memories, and physical health. The trauma of our past affect us. Some of the fears and resistance you deal with is not your own, it is part of the collective generational fear resulting from the traumas of our past. Our entire society was rewritten, forcing women to conform to lifestyles and systems of governance that are directly opposed to our nature.

"Like silt deposited on the cogs of a finely tuned machine after the seawater of a tsunami recedes, our experiences, and those of our forebears, are never gone, even if they have been forgotten. They become a part of us, a molecular residue holding fast to our genetic scaffolding. The DNA remains the same, but psychological and behavioral tendencies are inherited. You might have inherited not just your grandmother's knobby knees, but also her predisposition toward depression caused by the neglect she suffered as a newborn."

- Dan Hurley

The War on Women

It is undeniable that the patriarchy has gone to incredible lengths to destroy women. It is in our media and our social programming to be 'small, weak, and scared'. They have tried to domesticate us, taming our wild spirits, selling us as slaves to our husbands, bind and gag us (one of countless examples are corsets that destroy our bodies), vilifying those who refuse to conform to the ideals of submissive women and the self-less mother.

Women were thrown out of spirituality and religion as misogynistic men stole our wisdom stories and rewrote history to favor themselves. Goddesses were relegated to lesser roles, demonized, or absorbed into male-dominated pantheons. Stories of female power and agency were either diminished or reinterpreted to serve male narratives. Sophia (meaning 'Wisdom') the wife of God is missing from the bible and Mary Magdalene was portrayed as a prostitute. Colonialism exiled indigenous women from leadership of their tribes. Women's connection to the earth were demonized in favor of men's prowess at making money and war.

Our great-great-great grandmothers fought bravely to give us the rights we have today. It was the world-wars that provided the need for women to join the work-force. Before that, we were not allowed to go to school, own property, have bank accounts or vote. This is still true in many parts of the world.

While we can say that we have come far, and our generation have a lot more freedom than that of our mothers, the war against women is still going. We see this in the pollution and disregard for nature, "foods", "medicine" and synthetics like plastics that disrupt our sacred hormonal systems and cause infertility, and an increasingly stressful culture that objectifies women and turn us into one-dimensional tropes, such as sex objects, single mothers and crazy cat-ladies.

Reclaiming our Power

What would the world look like if women reclaimed their power? All our current systems would have to change, from our education to our governance, environmental policies and calendar. A world in which the rhythm of women's bodies are given space, means we would not work 40 hour work weeks, pregnancy and giving birth are sacred rites, so is our moon time, and our definitions of family and community would alter.

Whatever you believe, whatever your spiritual practice, however you choose to call yourself, you are here to play a part. That part is as certain as the fact that this spiritual war is still happening. You are free to choose how to show up to it, how you will play your part in her-story, this new world we are co-creating.

What we all share is that we are here, at a time when the feminine is rising. I see her rise like what we call 'weeds'; breaking through the cement, disrupting the straight-lines and oppressive systems.

They might have killed many of our wisest and wildest ancestors, but their spirits live on in us. When we do not conform to the acceptable normative orders of these patriarchal systems we are labeled "witch", "bitch", "too sensitive", "empath", "neurodivergent", "autistic", "ADHD", "disordered", "hysterical", "schizophrenic" and the list goes on.

There is a spiritual war going on, all around you. The hurt you feel, the shame, the fear and the rage inside you doesn't belong to you alone. Part of waking up out of the narrative they have programmed into you is recognizing that your hurt is all around you, it is the legacy of the tyranny that now calls itself capitalism.

You were not born free. You were born chained through your soul and in your DNA, your body and womb hold the hurt of your grandmothers. The religious dogmas separate us from our natural instincts and personal connection with the divine, the political system is breaking up and dividing our families.

HEALING THE WITCH WOUND

I don’t pretend to have all the answers. No one does.
But I do know this: we cannot keep shrinking, apologizing, or waiting to be chosen.
The time of the silenced, shamed, and dismembered feminine is over.
And the healing?
It starts with us.

Here’s a living list - a spell, a prayer, a path - to begin.
Take what resonates. Add your own. Share it with your soul sisters.

🜂 Know this: the fear you feel is ancient.
It doesn’t all belong to you.
It’s the echo of women who were burned, betrayed, silenced, and erased, and it lives in your bones not to punish you, but to be transmuted through you.

🜁 Be the wild woman only you can be.
Your version of the Feminine is sacred even if it doesn’t fit the mold.
Especially if it doesn’t.

🜃 Be unapologetically, soul-nakedly you.
You don’t owe palatability to patriarchy.

🜄 Reclaim the words that once condemned us: Witch. Wild. Weird. Wise.

⚚ Create rituals that feel real.
They don’t need Latin, Sanskrit lineage, or perfection - just your presence.

🜁 Listen to your inner voice. She is older than time.

⚘ Talk to the trees. Bless your food. Dance your prayers.

♁ Remember: your power is not performance but presence.

🜂 Claim your gifts like they're your birthright - because they are.

⚧ Let pleasure be holy. Let abundance be your baseline.

⚘ Love your body like she’s the altar, the temple, the oracle. Because she is.

⚚ Invest in your wholeness. Your healing heals the hive.

🜃 Hold the hurting. Offer your medicine. Pass the torch.

🜁 Speak up, even if your voice shakes. Especially then.

⚘ Take up space like it’s your sacred duty. Because it is.

⚚ Build your altar, your temple, your sanctuary - within and without.

⚘ Gather with women who remember. Who feel like home and fire.

♁ Be a holy disruption. A walking spell. A soft revolution.

🌿 Return to the Earth. Let her remind you. Let her rewild you.

🐾 Live close to animals, to plants, to silence.

🌕 Feed yourself food that feeds your frequency.

🜂 Connect with other witches. We were never meant to do this alone.

NOTHING TAME WAS EVER MADE THAT WAY BY ITS OWN CHOICE. REMEMBER.

Now you.
What are you doing to heal the Witch Wound?

👇 Share your rituals, your remembrances, your sacred roar in the comments.

And if you’re walking this path and longing for a guide, someone who’s walked through the fire, been burned, and now tends flames for others - I’m here.
Not as a guru, but as a spiritual mentor who gets it.
Who knows the pain and the power of this path.

DM me to explore working together. Let’s awaken the witch within. I'm all in.