Witch Goddess Archetype

Wildness & Power for our Week Ahead

Happy Sunday, my friends! This week, for our week ahead guidance, we are going with a slightly different flavour. Instead of a reading, it is an archetype who will guide us this week ahead.

One of my favourite archetypes, one I argue is necessary for the survival of our species and the healing of planet.

May I present to you, dear readers: The Witch Goddess Archetype

Found in many, many cultures. The witch. The healer. The seer. The shapeshifter.

An archetype that has inspired, terrified, and helped many.

One that needs reclaiming.

Within EACH of us.

Who is the Witch Goddess?

There are many version of this goddess in various mythologies. We see Freyja, in Norse mythology. Associated with fertility, love, sexual pleasure, witchcraft, and war. It was Freyja who taught Seiðr (a form of witchcraft, some say with shamanic qualities) to Odin. Most people have heard of Valhalla, but have you heard of Fólkvangr? This is Freyja’s realm, where she receives half of those who fall in battle. The other half go to Odin in Valhalla. Tales of her throughout the Poetic Edda suggest her sexual nature, seeing her take lovers and there is even suggestion there are sexual exchanged with dwarves. Originally of the Vanir, a group of supernatural beings associated with earth and nature, Freyja is deeply connected to the earth and to fertility.

There’s Baba Yaga, witch hag goddess of the slavic tales. She lives deep in the forest in a hut that stands on chicken legs. She flies through the sky in her giant mortar and pestle. It’s said that she knows the medicinal and magickal properties of every plant there is. While women of that time would have covered or braided their hair, not Baba Yaga. It is loose, free flowing, wild, dancing with the wind. Unbound. Uncovered. Untamed.

And how could we discuss this without discussing Lilith, first wife of Adam? This goddess refused to lay beneath Adam during sex and insisted upon being treated as his equal, never his subordinate. Associated with fertility, birth, sexual power & freedom, and witchcraft, Lilith truly bows to no man. A wind goddess, Lilith is all of the elements. She is nature, the raw power of it, untamed and untameable.

Hekate, Medea, Cerridwen, Morgan le Fay, Circe. Myths are FULL of these goddesses who defy gender stereotypes. These stories that pre-date the takeover of Christianity show us that women have not always been thought of as weak, infantile, or virginal. We see them owning and enjoying their sexuality (want a sexy and powerful goddess? Look up Medh in Celtic mythology), we see them sometimes displaying more power than the men (Medea, witch goddess of Greek mythology, is truly responsible for obtaining the Golden Fleece, not Jason), and we see them defy unfair standards placed on them (hello again, Lilith).

What I have also noticed through studying and exploring these myths is that these figures are often demonized in some way once Christianity enters the scene, and they are often somehow set apart from society. True fringe dwellers, walkers between the worlds.

I remember exploring the translation of myths not only across languages, but across time. I would study the original myth of folktale and compare it to modern takes, which I often found in Disney films. While the differences were interesting, it was the similar trends that caught my attention.

For example, in the Little Mermaid, the villain is the Sea Witch. This is the same in both versions. What was also the same was that the Sea Witch lives apart from society (like the witch goddess archetype), has magickal powers, and is somewhat sexual. I was surprised to find in the Hans Christian Anderson that her breasts were referenced. She is discussed as having “spongy breasts,” and the way she eats is described in an almost sexual manner. In the Disney movie, we first meet Ursula when she emerges from a conch shell, which is a symbol sometimes known for representing the vagina. She has large breasts, moves about in a sensual manner, and appears as a kind of sexy seductress when she pretends to be human.

Another similarity: the protagonist, Ariel, is child-like and innocent. We see a sharp distinction between what is good for a woman and what is bad: good is tiny, innocent, naive. Bad is to be outside of society, sexual, and to have magickal power.

Magick is not bad in Disney movies, as we see it in many of them. But when a woman yields it, that is usually when it is portrayed as bad. And yet, when male figures use magick in Disney movies, they are good.

King Tritan: has magickal powers. Good guy. In the Sword and the Stone, Merlin is training Arthur in magick. Good guys. The bad guy in that story? An older (again, the vilification of age) woman who lives on the outskirts of town, named Madam Mim. In Rapunzel, Mother Gothel is an older woman who uses magick and is, guess what, the bad guy. Snow White? Step-mom: evil witch. Sleeping Beauty? Bad guy: Malificient, a woman who lives outside of society in the mountains.

There are exceptions, of course, seen in the Good Faeries of Sleeping Beauty and the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella.

Outside of Disney, we continue to see this trend. Take for example, the story of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Villain: an evil Queen. Aslan can perform a miracle, which one could argue is magick, but the witch is the bad guy.

Our witch goddesses have gotten a bad rap too.

In Medea’s story, it is originally an angry mob that kills her children, and then blames her for it. Then the story changes so that she kills her own children. True? Or is a woman that powerful and beautiful absolutely unacceptable and so she must be made into a monster?

Morgan le Fay? A priestess of Avalon, the island where King Arthur is taken to recover his wounds. From a healing priestess (sometimes a fairy) she morphs into an evil figure involved in betrayal and incest.

Lilith? From goddess of the wind and childbirth, to the Queen of Demons and somehow, a baby-killer.

What does this show us?

These stories are a part of our collective consciousness. We have grown up with them in some form or another. These stories go deep and far back. And what we see are a few important themes:

• Woman + magick generally equals villainy

• Good way to be a woman: young, innocent, petite, pretty. Bad way: older, sexual, powerful.

• Good woman are in society, following the rules.

• Bad woman exist outside of it, which is really to say they do not yield to societal mores and conventions. They do not follow the rules.

• Power makes women bad and crazy

• Being powerful will result in vilification or being demonized.

• Good women can be controlled

• Bad women are uncontrollable

So what scared people (ahem, systems that want to subdue women) about these witch goddesses?

One of the root issues, I believe, is that they are like nature, which means they cannot be tamed. And you cannot be tamed, you cannot be controlled. Humans LOVE the illusion of control, and fear the uncontrollable. As the Lord Commander says in the brilliant film Wolfwalkers, “what cannot be tamed must be destroyed.” (Lord Commander: English overlord involved in colonizing Ireland. Antagonist of the film, which explores Irish myths and the impacts of colonization on the people and the land).

You cannot control the wind. Try as humans might, nature is beyond our control.

I believe that the witch goddess archetype embodies both the power (each in their own way) of nature, as well as its untameable quality.

This is a power that, I believe, has terrified these groups that want women to be subservient and think that nature is just there to serve them.

It is a power and wildness that many have tried to suppress and control.

But I believe this archetype is singing to us, calling us, inviting us to let down our hair and go into the woods. To stop listening to all the narratives that try to tame & control us. The narratives of how our bodies should look in order to be worthy, how we should behave, what we should want, if we have children, how many, if we don’t, how quiet we are, how loud we are, how sexual we are, how frigid we are… judged for all of these to some degree. These are all cages, muting our connection to this power that doesn’t belong to anyone, but can live within each of us if we welcome it.

It is time to trust our intuition. Our inner wisdom. It’s time to listen to the soil, to take guidance from the wind, to open up to the waters. And it is time to stop fearing our power and to rejoice in it.

I feel that many people don’t like the word “power” because, in western culture anyways, there is a distinct undertone of “power-over.” So we don’t like this word because, for many magick makers, we do not seek to have power over others.

But that is not what power is.

Your power is your life-force energy. It is spirit living through you. It is your wit, your love, your ability to heal and make sacred changes. It is your intuition. This power, your power, does not control others. Rather, it uplifts and empowers others.

So, this week, I have some tips.

1. Is there a witch goddess who fascinates you? Look into them. Notice the various versions of their story. Then notice: who is telling the story? The narrator shapes the tale, and not all narrators are reliable.

2. What does power mean to you? How does this word taste, how does it make you feel, what is evoked as you sit with it?

3. Do you feel free? Where are your thoughts your own, and where are they fears and biases soaked through society?

4. Listen to the earth. Go outside, honour the spirits of the land, and ask for messages. Ask how you can be of service, ask what they would have you know. Listen to the wind. Sit by the water. Gaze into the fire, ask the coals and the flames and the smoke for messages. Listen. Listen. Learn to be still so you may hear. Maybe it will come in words. It is often more subtle, like feelings, visions, and knowings. Learn to open yourself up to this communication. You are not alone. We are not better than nature. By learning to live in harmony with nature, we will create more harmony in the world.

5. If you were truly authentic, free of the many judgements placed on us, what would you do? How would you dress? How would you live? Who would you be?

Alright my loves, thank you for reading! This is one of my favourite topics of study so I think you for being a part of this.

May you claim your power and use it with love, for the highest good of all.

Have a great week,

xo Jenny