Across much of the world, history is written without regard for either the plight or the rights of women. We – that is, my husband and I – want to help change that.
This website throws light on a tiny piece of English history where over 300 women were murdered a just one two-year period. They were killed at the hands of those who had replaced the love expounded by their own religion with hate, intolerance and violent disregard for human life.
Most of the women killed were innocent of any crime, yet their persecution and punishment were sanctioned by both State and Church. Under a law introduced in 1604, individuals could be accused, tried and put to death for “witchcraft”, by which they meant devil worship. There is a direct line from this 1604 law to the massacres in England and those in Salem.
That brings us to the second reason for having this website: the promotion of Wicca, a modern form of Paganism that places at its core a spiritual communion with nature and the natural world.
Practitioners of Wicca are referred to as “witches” but they are, on the whole, not Satanists (despite what the TV shows would have you believe). Call Wiccans “white witches” if you will.
Wicca is not a religion; it has no church, no central authority, no sacred text. Indeed, you are more likely to find tea, a vast quantity of crystals, a thriving plant collection and a dog or cat or two in a Wiccan household.
Wiccans do believe in an ultimate Deity, but not of a male God exclusively. For Wiccans, God/Goddess/All That IS is probably a better way to expresses the duality and transcendent Oneness of the natural world.
That being said, there is a definite focus in Wicca on the female aspect of the Deistic entity, as in “Goddess Moon” and “Mother Nature”. Perhaps this is a counterbalance to life in a misogynistic society? Regardless of the reason, that we here at manningtreewitches.com believe, at a personal level, that Wicca, with its emphasis on the feminine, is an ideal spiritual path for the empowerment of women.
At the very least, we feel that the lives of all those hundreds of women would not be in vain if it led, ultimately, to a flourishing of the Divine Feminine, expressed so eloquently in a new, modern version of witchcraft that emphasises peace, nature and nurture.
Blessed be!
Sarah, Hedgewitch and Manningtree native.