REVIEW: A Portrait of the Witch – Taschen’s New Art History of Witchcraft
To most people, the word ‘witch’ conjures images of old crones with pointy hats flying into the moonlight on broomsticks. Outsiders in league with malevolent forces, they cast spells on those who wrong them. Our current perceptions of witches and witchcraft are still largely shaped by the propaganda cooked up by King James I in the 1590s, memorialised by Shakespeare in the witches of Macbeth.
With ‘Witchcraft,’ a new coffee table tome published by Taschen, co-editors Jessica Hundley and Pam Grossman have gone a long way towards changing this perception. From the origins of the word ‘witch’ to the practices of witches today, they chart the history of witchcraft across the world through over 400 artworks, as well as essays and interviews with historians, artists and modern practitioners.
Witches have captured the imagination of artists and creatives throughout the ages, and it continues to be the season of the witch with films such as Robert Eggers’ Puritan horror ‘The Witch’ (2016) and the more light-hearted Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix.
Circe – The First Witch?
Long before King James came along, one of the earliest instances of a witch-like figure in literature is the Greek goddess Circe, an enchantress said to ‘know many drugs and charms.’ Some believe that Circe inspired the biblical figure Lilith. In Homer’s Odyssey, she turns Odysseus’s crew into a herd of swine with a magical potion. She advises Odysseus (who is immune to her charms after eating a special herb) that he must visit the Underworld to gain knowledge about how to appease the gods, and gives him the means to communicate with the dead.
“There is a rock where two roaring rivers join the Acheron, Cocytus, which is a tributary of the Styx, and Pyriphlegethon. Draw near then, as I bid you, hero, and dig a trench two feet square, then pour a libation all around to the dead, first of milk and honey, then of sweet wine, thirdly of water, sprinkled with white barley meal. Then pray devoutly to the powerless ghosts of the departed, swearing that when you reach Ithaca you will sacrifice a barren heifer in your palace, the best of the herd, and will heap the altar with rich spoils, and offer a ram, apart, to Teiresias, the finest jet-black ram in the flock.
“And when you have petitioned the glorious host of the dead, with prayers, sacrifice a ram and a black ewe, holding their heads towards Erebus, while you look behind towards the running streams. Then the hosts of the dead will appear. Call then to your comrades, and tell them to flay and burn the sheep killed by the pitiless bronze, with prayers to the divinities, to mighty Hades and dread Persephone. You yourself must draw your sharp sword and sit there, preventing the powerless ghosts from drawing near to the blood, till you have questioned Teiresias. Soon the seer will come, you leader of men, and give you your course, and the distances, so you can return home over the teeming waters.”
Circe’s instructions for communicating with the dead – Homer’s Odyssey
Pagan Rituals & Demonic Propaganda
Pagan belief in spells and sorcery persisted throughout Europe (and the rest of the world) until Christianity began to take hold. These practices were largely harmless but became vilified by the Church. Missionaries who travelled through communities would gather local stories and transcribe them into tools of propaganda. One example of such a publication is the Malleus Maleficarum, written by Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer, and Daemonologie by King James himself.
By linking pagans to the devil, they could instil fear into the people and ensure they converted to Christianity by offering them protection from eternal hellfire. With James I, a particularly superstitious monarch on the throne, witch hunts took hold and thousands of so-called witches were burned across Europe truly creating hell on Earth. This persecution is believed to be intensified by the Reformation, as Catholics and Puritans fought for supremacy.
Whether it was stillbirth, drought, crop failure, floods – the witch was a monster created for both sides to blame their misfortunes on. Magic and witchcraft had been twisted and made demonic – but mainly when linked with women. Royal courts often had male astrologers, mages, alchemists engaged in all manner of questionable activity by order of the king. In those times, it wasn’t just a gender pay gap but a double standard with deadly consequences.
Reclaiming Witchcraft
So if the concept of the witch as we know it was largely a boogey-woman dreamt up by the patriarchal Church, what is witchcraft really and how do today’s witches define themselves? Alongside the historical basis, this is what Hundley and Grossman explore. In many ways the spirit of the witch seems to be about reclaiming power and agency, whoever you are. While various people have tried to develop a more coherent framework (such as the Wicca movement) – in opposition to organised religion, it means different things to different people. It can be rebellion, defiance, strength, spirituality, community, oneness with nature, activism. (See member of the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, W.I.T.C.H, below.)
Yoko Ono, quoted in the book, perhaps says it best…
“I think that all women are witches, in the sense that a witch is a magical being. And a wizard, which is a male version of a witch, is kind of revered, and people respect wizards. But a witch, my god, we have to burn them. It’s the male chauvinistic society that we’re living in for the longest time, 3,000 years or whatever. And so I just wanted to point out the fact that men and women are magical beings. We are very blessed that way, so I’m just bringing that out. Don’t be scared of witches, because we are good witches, and you should appreciate our magical power.”
From the publisher:
Witchcraft, the Library of Esoterica
Initiating readers in the fascinating and complex history of witchcraft, from the goddess mythologies of ancient cultures to the contemporary embrace of the craft by modern artists and activists, this expansive tome conjures up a breathtaking overview of an age-old tradition. Rooted in legend, folklore, and myth, the archetype of the witch has evolved from the tales of Odysseus and Circe, the Celtic seductress Cerridwen, and the myth of Hecate, fierce ruler of the moonlit night. In Witchcraft we survey her many incarnations since, as she shape-shifts through the centuries, alternately transforming into mother, nymph, and crone—seductress and destroyer.
Edited by Jessica Hundley, and co-edited by author, scholar, and practitioner Pam Grossman, this enthralling visual chronicle is the first of its kind, a deep dive into the complex symbologies behind witchcraft traditions, as explored through the history of art itself. The witch has played muse to great artists throughout time, from the dark seductions of Francisco José de Goya and Albrecht Dürer to the elegant paean to the magickal feminine as re-imagined by the Surrealist circle of Remedios Varo, Leonora Carrington, and Leonor Fini. The witch has spellbound through folktales and dramatic literature as well, from the poison apples of The Brothers Grimm, to the Weird Sisters gathered at their black cauldron in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, to L. Frank Baum’s iconic Wicked Witch of the West, cackling over the fate of Dorothy.
Throughout this entrancing visual voyage, we’ll also bear witness to the witch as she endures persecution and evolves into empowerment, a contemporary symbol of bold defiance and potent nonconformity. Featuring enlightening essays by modern practitioners like Kristen J. Sollée and Judika Illes, as well interviews with authors and scholars such as Madeline Miller and Juliet Diaz, Witchcraft includes a vast range of cultural traditions that embrace magick as spiritual exploration and creative catharsis.
Jessica Hundley is an author, filmmaker and journalist. She has written for the likes of Vogue, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times, and has authored books on artists including Dennis Hopper, David Lynch, and Gram Parsons. Hundley often explores the counterculture in her work, with a focus on metaphysics, psychedelia, and magic.
Pam Grossman is a writer, curator, and teacher of magickal practice and history. She is the host of the podcast The Witch Wave, and the author of Waking the Witch. Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power. Her work has been featured in such outlets as The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Artforum.
