Witches or Wise Women?

 

Socio-economic change or change in the human condition is considered to be progress.  Often it is realized that this is not the case for everyone.  I recently watched a very interesting lecture by Professor Teofilo Ruiz of UCLA (2007) on the topic of the Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe.  I was shocked to learn what Professor Ruiz had to say of the atrocities against women that took place in Europe during the witch hunt period in the late fifteenth to mid seventeenth centuries.  It wasn’t just the nature of how these women died that horrified me but also the underlying causes that led to such negative views of elderly women and ultimately large scale human devastation (Ruiz, 2007).  These women, often midwives and herbalists, once played a valuable role in their society but socio-economic changes caused religion and the state to look at these women with distrust and disdain, ultimately leading to a massacre of predominantly elderly women (Ruiz, 2007).

As an Anishinaabe woman I immediately asked the question “Why?” and “How could this happen?”  We must look at the larger picture of what was happening in Europe during the witch hunt period between the 1480’s to the 1660’s if we are to understand how they reached the point of such a large scale massacre of elderly women (Ruiz, 2007). outlines some key factors: 

·    At the start of this period there were three predominant ideologies: science, magic, and religion.  Secularization was happening and clearly defined boundaries of these ideologies began to emerge only towards the end of this period. 

·    Feudalism had declined and Mercantilism dominated Western Europe.

·    There was increased poverty and homelessness along with an increasing negative view of the poor and destitute.

·    Villages started to change with the peasants flocking to the cities from their villages.

·    The class system emerged, political entities commanded authority and there came an unholy alliance between politics and religion.

·    Christianity was splitting into two branches bringing on the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter Reformation.

To encapsulate what Ruiz was deomonstrating, we can see that there was a vast amount of change taking place and society was shifting.  Such change created unrest and fear in people which led to lashing out in anger and blame.  It is to be noted that during this time period there was a surplus of women, particularly elderly women and for some reason there was also a mistrust of the elderly (Ruiz, 2007). Often elderly women lived on the fringes of the villages and had to resort to begging in an attempt to make ends meet.  They came under the surveillance of the church and state and were deemed as unwanted.  These women faced a triple dose of racism: ageism, poverty and being a woman.  Their vulnerability made them an easy and clear target for people’s hatred (Ruiz, 2007).

Now to look at a key factor in the witch hunt craze; in 1484, Pope Innocent VII heard rumors of heresy in the mountains and sent two inquisitors, Heinrich Kramer and Jacobus Sprenger, to investigate (Ruiz, 2007).  According to Ruiz (2007), the villages in the mountains of Europe were remote and for the most part, untouched by Christianity.  They continued to practice paganism and anything not Christian was witchcraft. The result of the investigation was a report written in 1486 called The Malleus Maleficarum which detailed how to recognize a witch, how one becomes a witch, how to deal with a witch judiciously, and how to protect one’s self from witches (Ruiz, 2007).  Many of the pagan rituals were included in this book as signs of witch craft (Ruiz, 2007). claims that The Malleus Maleficarum is a misogynist piece produced largely in part because of a fear of women.  This book was instrumental in initiating the mass hysteria and the hunting and persecution of women who were accused of being witches.  There was now a handbook that the church and state were armed with (Ruiz, 2007).

Speaking from the viewpoint of an Anishinaabe woman, I was shocked and disgusted to learn how elderly women were treated during the height of the witch hunt period.  I learned from my relations that in Anishinaabe culture these Elderly women are in a highly regarded sacred life stage.  They carry knowledge that they pass down to our children.  Their role in our society is central. They were the healers and worked with the medicines much the way the European women herbologists did.  My Aunties taught me that in Anishinaabe society, our healers carried the title of Shkaakimikwe – an Ojibwe word that loosely translated means “strong earth woman”.  This title is in reference to the traditional gender role that women played within society.  They were the gatherers, and therefore knew the plants, leaves, roots and combinations of such best used for healing. The grandmothers who were healers also sat in the doorways to the Spirit World, sometimes referred to as doorkeepers (Anderson, 2012).  They helped to bring new life into the world (midwifery) as well as to comfort those who were leaving to return to the spirit world.  It is also believed that it is a grandmother who greets you when you return to the spirit world.  In Anishinaabe society Grandmothers are respected, listened to and revered.  They are the teachers, caregivers, visionaries and interpreters of dreams.  The atrocities that happened to women during the witch hunt in Early Modern Europe would be unthinkable in Anishinaabe society.

~  Lisa  ~

 

Anderson, K. (2012). Life stages and native women, memory, teachings, and story medicine. Winnipeg, Canada: University of Manitoba Press.

Ruiz, T. (Writer) (2007, February 28). The terror of history: The witch hunt in early modern europe, ucla. The Terror of History: The Witch Hunt in Early Modern Europe, UCLA. [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOQND4fVF_w

Rico, D. (Artist). (n.d.). Native american divine grandmother. [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Native-American-Divine-Grandmother-Posters_i5121755_.htm

Unknown. (Photographer). (n.d.). Witch hunt of early modern europe. [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.gendercide.org/case_witchhunts.html