when witches convert
paintings and thoughts on the impact of christendom on land-based spiritual practices in northern europe
When witches convert to christianity its a dangerous and violent thing. I mean they weren’t exactly going to lay down and die willingly. They had their ceremonial fires, sacred stones, their dances and songs. If you wanted the sacrifices and loyalty of the wise peasant folk, you had to offer up something pretty supernatural.
Of course that wasn’t a problem. The friars had the marriage of heaven and earth in their hot-off-the-guttenburg-press back pocket! The now mass published, biblia. The wonders of their god-child and his magical abilities were now here for all. He could heal the sick, raise the dead, turn water into wine. There was never a god-child like him. Many were convinced and couldn’t resist this good news. Maybe they could be healed and saved. They just needed to confess their sins… whatever those were.
Adopting the god-child and his mother(s) wasn’t too difficult. These wisdom witches had welcomed many god-children before. They were deeply acquainted with the power of the mother and her marriage to heaven. Quite familiar actually. For they had many dances and songs of this marriage intertwined into their celebrations. Spring was around the corner! They were about to gather around this very thing! Here they had survived the long, harsh winter. The ground was thawing and time was coming for seeding.
Custom was to bring the people together. Celebrate the return of the sun. The plough was anointed, the earth blessed by Freya and the seeds, which had been held and ceremonially cleansed all winter long were ready for planting. The plough would go into the soft, dark earth and become a living symbol of this cosmic marriage.
This was a time of mating and intercourse. The orgies and erotic dances I imagine were wild and wonderful and yet what a fearful sight for the popes and his followers. How would they gain loyalty and rulership over the lands while whole peasant villages were off in the woods making merry with each other? This was not acceptable to a new god of order and obedience.
And so the wisdom witches became the targets of each friar and lord. Ploughs, spindles, stone hedges, springs, wells, forests and hills were all under the christendom’s watchful eye. The spirits who once came and went among the villages now became quieter and softer. Dances were fewer. Feasts were smaller. Rest and merrymaking was cut shorter each passing year.
Before all the wisdom witches were burned or killed, they hid their stories and teachings underground. They buried them in the graves and inscribed them on their children’s hearts. They created pseudonyms and playful rhymes to remind the generations to come that their old ways were still alive and would never be destroyed. We call them mother goose nursery rhymes and fairy tales. But we wise ones know better. They are so much more than that.
But shhhh. The burning continues today, as if no time has passed. And so we will walk in disguise, we will go underground as we always have done. Be brave my young ones.
A note about the artwork: These are very rough sketches in a playful, innocent style. not meant to be anatomically specific in any way. These thoughts are very rough guesses as to the movement of land-based spiritual practices going under-ground because of the violence and oppression of christendom in these northern european lands during the middle ages and beyond.