Despite all the developments in science and technology, the witch character continues to fascinate. Every now and then a new book pops up to explain the updating of one of our civilization’s most enduring archetypes. The witch classic. A work by Jules Michelet on medieval superstitions (1862), up to the defense of the witches. The legacy of the witch hunt and why women are still on trial [En defensa de las brujas. El legado de la caza de brujas y el por qué las mujeres siguen siendo juzgadas]Critical and literary works proliferate, with Mona Chollet, published in 2018, illustrating the characteristics and possibilities of the subject.
The most recent example is The Book of Witches, a collection of stories from universal literature run by Pakistani writer Shahrukh Husain (Karachi, 1950), who admitted that he had been fascinated by the character since childhood. The book is divided into eight chapters, each dedicated to various characterizations of the witch throughout history and cultures: witches as seductive women, old and wise, witches and their view of love, those who transform themselves and others. good or bad people, environmental witches (guardians of the seasons and nature), as well as witches who eat children. A section devoted to the tools that characterize them, such as cauldrons, brooms, or potions, and their famous demonic gatherings, could not be missing.
Husain’s introduction and the stories in The Book of Witches also show how history has changed and expanded the different notion of women: guilty, indomitable, independent or self-determined. There are stories from Indian, Jewish, Arab, Chinese, Japanese, Siberian, African-American folklore, and various European oral traditions.
The exhibition therefore records the evolution of the witch, from magicians mentioned in the Bible and Greco-Roman demigods, to sorcerers some good, some harmful, and witches created by the Inquisition itself. As it appears in the famous review Malleus maleficarum, these witches are already allies of the devil. [El martillo de las brujas]The interrogators’ bible, written by Dominican priests Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer in 1486. Witches take on a less tragic and demonic role than in the literature of the late 18th century, until they adapt to the characters in the 20th century. kinder than children’s stories anyway, and of course the powerful and complex magic of Harry Potter.
The witch is a changing character, subject to the tastes and political and religious considerations of different times, and has a real and influential impact on our social life, even though we seem to be studying it only as a cultural or literary theme. and for some women it can be dangerous: no more bonfires but other types of death, and for the perpetrators there are prisons, torture and exclusion or social abuse, depending on the location.
This is why Hüseyin says that he could never answer when asked to describe the witch. However, the Manifesto of the group WITCH, which means witch and corresponds to the initials of the International Female Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, has emerged. [Conspiración Terrorista Internacional de las Mujeres desde el Infierno]Established in New York in 1968, it’s clear: if you’re a woman and dare to look inside yourself, if you dare to be free and rebellious and build your own utopias, there’s no doubt you’re a witch.