Episode Details

Every October, witches pop up everywhere with pointy hats, broomsticks, and black cats. It’s fun on the surface, but beneath all that playfulness lies a deeper story.

A Centuries-Old Fear

For many intuitive, spiritual, creative women, the word witch still stirs something ancient. It can be a mix of fascination and fear.

If you’ve ever dimmed your light, held your tongue, or second-guessed your intuition, so you wouldn’t stand out too much, you may be feeling the effects of the Witch Wound.

I never thought I had this. But after a recent healing session with my friend and Holy Fire Reiki practitioner Cindy Bain, I discovered layers of subconscious fear I hadn’t known were there.. She found fears quietly shaping how safe I felt being fully visible in my magic.

So let’s talk about what the Witch Wound really is, where it comes from, and how we can finally heal it.

Origin of the Word “Witch”

The word witch comes from the Old English wicce (female) and wicca (male), first used around 890 CE. It originally meant a person who worked with the unseen world. It was the name for someone skilled in herbs, healing, divination, and nature’s cycles. There was nothing dark or sinister about it.

But as Christianity spread across Europe, suspicion of independent spiritual practices grew. Healing, astrology, and herbalism were once honored skills of wise women. But, they became dangerous.

By the 16th century, “witch” took on a fearful meaning, and what followed were centuries of persecution, mistrust, and pain.

Before she became the outcast, the witch was the wise woman. She was a midwife, healer, and community guide whose wisdom came from nature and Spirit, not the church.

As patriarchal systems tightened control, the wise woman’s independence became defiance and her intuition became a threat.

However, she never quite disappeared. Instead, she went underground, hiding in stories, in the land, and, I believe, in our DNA.

Past Life Trauma

I’ve seen echoes of those times in my own soul history. In one lifetime, I was a herbalist living at the edge of a village. People avoided me unless they needed my help. I was lonely, but I always served when requested.

During a healing meditation in this lifetime, I saw that woman. She was cloaked, hidden, and separate. The woman leading the session suggested I let the cloak fall. When I did, I felt an energetic ripple travel through time, releasing emotions from all the lives that followed.

In another life, I was a wealthy woman in 1400s Italy, practicing ritual magic with a group of people. When soldiers