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The Witch

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The Witch
 
Max Dashu
 
Spinner shaman
Weirding woman drawing out Fate,
Knotter of ties, name-giver.
Wisewoman, counselor, teacher.
Clear-seeing sibyl,
Crone who knows meanings,
Remembering essences.
Healer, herbalist, surgeon, midwife.
Priestess of Mysteries.
 
She of the Cauldron, she waving Wands.
She of the Flame, of the Standing Stones.
The woman whose words are powerful.
The woman whose glance has force.
The woman who petitions Fates.
 
Fata, fada, hada, feé.
The woman of Faérie
Who refused to accept
Three causeless blows.
The “Good Women Who Go By Night,”
Who give growth and fruits and babies,
Give life of all kinds.
Go on your Wild Ride,
The Tregenda of the Witches.
 
A witch who cures
A witch who gives birth charms
Who teaches herbs of contraception.
A witch whose garden grows well.
A witch who advises battered wives.
An enchantress who sings
With uncanny beauty.
A witch who prefers
The company of women,
Who is ancient but makes men tremble.
Whose purpose is dreaded by lords
And thus:
 
The woman burned, the woman drowned,
The woman branded and banished.
The woman tortured, the woman
Forced to perform the ordeal
The woman violated in public,
The woman cursed and cast out,
The woman whose existence is
Forbidden to be.
 
The witch alone
Witch aloof from marriage.
Witch of independent, productive work.
Girl who does not look down before men.
Mother who does not bow her head
To the priest. Proud blind woman.
Elder homeless, weather-maker.
Marketplace spinster selling charms.
Rural woman who visits sacred springs.
Dreamer in the forest, the faery country.
Do you truly fly.
 
© 1983 Max Dashu

 

Painting: Calling at the Pictish Stones, © 1983 Max Dashu

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Max Dashú is a founding mother of the Goddess resurgence who teaches global women's history and heritages through images. In 1970 she founded the Suppressed Histories Archives to recover the cultural treasures of women, and to research the history of domination. Her legendary slideshows and webcasts bring to light the women of power that have been hidden away, the ancient figurines, Goddess icons and spiritual philosophies, the female rebels. Drawing on a collection of over 30,000 images, she has presented hundreds of visual talks at universities, women's centers, bookstores, conferences, festivals, libraries, prisons, museums, schools, and temples. She also publishes a series of posters on female iconography, and her articles have been published in Goddesses in World Culture, among other anthologies and journals. Her paintings and prints re-envision spiritual worlds stricken from the cultural record. Her new double dvd Woman Shaman: the Ancients has just been released, following her acclaimed video Women's Power in Global Perspective. http://www.suppressedhistories.net

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