Today’s Question by Aart Hilal

by Paulo Coelho on September 16, 2008

Your definition of the modern witches is “To me, a witch is a woman who is capable of letting her intuition guide her actions, one who communes with her environment, who isn’t afraid of facing challenges.” Please explain us about the prejudice that modern witches face in modern society and your opinion toward them.

In today’s society (as was the case in the past) there is a tremendous amount of energy spent on trying to make people conform: to established behavior, to established religions, namely, to a certain type of thought. This uniformity is very tricky because it comes through a certain «political correctness» that stifles people’s spontaneity.

Women who rebels against this sort of general “inertia” were called in the past witches and the stigma still strive nowadays. Actually these rebellious women pay a price, doing things in a way that probably will not make a lot of sense to others but that are vital to them. Athena is very bold and she takes a risk – as anyone who stays true to oneself does.

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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }

marie-christine September 7, 2010 at 11:16 pm

I seem to have read it somewhere on the blog that ‘witch’ means “wise”.

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Heart May 25, 2009 at 7:40 am

To accuse a woman with special gifts of being a witch was and is a crime towards humanity. It is about as horrible as saying that someone is the devil. Of all the things I have been falsely accused of, I believe to be called a witch would be the must insulting anyone could call you.

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me September 18, 2008 at 1:16 am

unbelievable..Paulo, sometimes it s like you re inside my mind..

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Kristen September 17, 2008 at 7:54 pm

Only society has made “witch” a dirty word. Even the American Heritage dictionary defines a witch not only as “A woman believed to practice sorcery,” but also as “An ugly, frightening woman usually old, hag.” Although it may be a challenging life, the life of a witch can be more fruitful and rewarding then any other. I am sorry, but being in tune with life of all forms of life and utilizing nature’s resources is in no way ugly to me. Those who are afraid are those who are ignorant to their true potential. Conformity is only beneficial to those who control the actions and thoughts of the conformists. Unfortunately, those with all the influence are the most capable of evil. What is more evil and unnatural then preventing someone from living the life they were born to live?

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austere September 17, 2008 at 1:07 pm

And the cost?

Because action and reaction are always equal and opposite?

Yet.

Knowing this, still she acts.

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Ingmire September 17, 2008 at 12:48 pm

Witch is a woman who celebrates Gaia and the natual elements She spends time exploring,understanding and accepting herstory. Living in the universe intuitive,curious,honest and deeply spiritual.
Embracing compassion and fending off evil.
Accepting the cyclic nature of good and evil and seeking to balance lifes realities.

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SMITA September 17, 2008 at 8:56 am

In India, witch is a word with negative connotation (dayan in local language) Even today many women are burnt and insulted publicly accusing witchcraft.

Secondly, its very difficult to follow the intutions. recognising intution is even more difficult. Everytime I follow mine, I am called mad and impractical and exxentric. Only reason I give is at least I am not hurting anyone, not stealing and not lying. To be true to one’s self is most difficult task.

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Heart September 17, 2008 at 2:47 am

To accuse a woman with special gifts of being a witch was and is a crime towards humanity. It is about as horrible as saying that someone is the devil. Of all the things I have been falsely accused of, I believe to be called a witch would be the must insulting anyone could call you.

Reply

Tania September 16, 2008 at 11:43 pm

I think a modern witch/woman – is someone who is not afraid to speak her truth ..she follows her intuition ,she is caring ,kindly for others .I also think she has a flair of mystery /magic too ,while understanding the processes of life ,death and rebirth .And she has powers -light and is connected to both heaven and earth ..my thoughts ..:-)
Blessings Tania

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Alexandra September 16, 2008 at 10:41 pm

Sometimes one hardly can believe what things were happening during e.g.Salem witch trial.Unbelivable things in order to make people confess or repent things they have not done.Now,facing society is sometimes same,because people are attached at certain patterns,rituals,and if one woman dare not behaving like the majority,she will find hard times.I agree on being near to nature,being aware of our environment,taking risks,loving our family and fighting for a dream.What a witch!Congratulations.

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Mandarawa September 16, 2008 at 4:02 pm

There is so many situations in my life when I need to make some decision and I feel very confused because other people have different opinion about it or I am simply not sure what my opinion is. I start to look for ultimate answers and it is such a mistake. I don’t know how many times I haven’t listened to my own intuition and later on I regretted it. The main reason I haven’t listened was fear of making mistake and lack of confidence in my own abilities to make right decisions. But it doesn’t mean that I should never listen to others because I need to have respect for others but I feel like I need more confidence in my own ability to find the right answers and more courage to make mistakes.
I would imagine that a real witch, I would prefer to call her heroine, has real confidence in her self and if there are people criticizing her for what she is doing she would not take it seriously because her confidence would not let her. Therefore I think that for a real heroine the others opinion of her is not that important. Unless they want to burn her on a stake she doesn’t have real problem :-)
I would like to believe that to become such heroine you need to develop other qualities in your mind like selflessness and love for others. I would think that if you do things in a certain way just because you are full of yourself and don’t have respect for others you are very far from becoming a real heroine.
By the way I just wanted to say thank you to Paulo for creating this lovely space for sharing our thoughts with others and for the postcards – I love them!

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Balbina September 16, 2008 at 2:08 pm

I agree completely. But conformity is also a huge limitation for men, btw. So I guess, everybody who wants to be free has to become what you call a “witch” or a “sorcerer”. Below is what Abraham says about conformity and which fits very well to what you are saying:

“Everyone doesn’t have to be the same. Most say, “Well, it’s so much easier if we’re all the same.” And we say, it is not easier when you’re all the same; conformity is the thing that thwarts you most. That massive wanting to get you to conform—to all think the same way and want the same things—is what is causing the revolt that is happening within you. You are determined to be freedom-seekers in a Mass Consciousness society that is determined to make you the same.”

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