How has the world dealt with witches?
With unwanted individuals, having become the center of hysteria in the face of danger? How were they identified and proven guilty?
First of all, you accuse a witch in public, where they cannot easily escape. Make sure that there are witnesses, so that the witch cannot win anyone over, afterwards.
Then, point out the abnormality of that person, and make it known to anyone watching. Make it seen, and make it believed.
After that, imprison them. Choose a dark and lonesome dungeon for this, and make sure that the witch has no means to call for help in form of any demon, or other evil force.
Do not forget to cut off their long hair, for it holds magical powers.
It is very important to make the witch confess. Whether aware of anything or not at all, does not matter. Retrieve any information possible. Most importantly, the names of other witches, for they never come alone.
Inflict pain on them, and do not stop before hearing both the confession and the wanted names. Suggest names of individuals most likely, if you have to. Because, who knows the face of evil better than the silent observer?
Was the witch really guilty of anything, you ask?
Let that be decided after they perished within the flames and their suffering successfully ended the hunger of a hard winter, the plague, or whatever else misery you were facing.
I wish I’d told you all my stories.
I want to tell you all my storiesIt’s not that they would changeIt’s just that I would likeTo see themFormA new expressionOn your face I need to tell you all my storiesI am not sureIf they makeSenseThe way I thoughtThey do. I will tell you all my storiesThey frighten meI’m sure you won’t endureI see…
Dealing with darkness in writing
This spring afternoon is glowing pink and tastes like strong tea. It feels much too familiar, and I begin to open up.I feel far away from myself as I start to talk, to babble on about my novel. About all the things I’ve been reading about in the past 5 years. About the 17th century,…
Radical witching novel rewrites at 4 AM!
I wore the same night dress my witch used to wear to get drunk on my windowsill, when I suddenly had an idea at 4 AM. Great ideas always happen at 4 AM, remember? This one however, kept me awake for at least a week, debating it back and forth. At some point my witch…
Mistress witch writes 
Well, there’s one criteria for an accusatin of witchcraft that seems to be missing. What does an accused witch have that someone else wants? In the Salem witch trials often the accused witch had property which was hers. Maybe a heritage, maybe a Dowry (yes they did that) not managed by a Patriarch. Many post 30 years war European witch hunts followed that property seizure pattern. So what do witches have today?
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I have studied court files from the Holy German Empire (germany, some parts of the Netherlands, Austria, Germany), and although economic factors often play a role in starting a witching hysteria, the people suffering in the trial are mostly the ill, disabled, and often the poor who have no one speaking for them. This is different in other regions, even between the parts north or south of the albs the dynamics differ a lot. I have newer post that are more scientifically written. There I am more clear about that. This is prose inspired by Malleus Maleficarum and its metaphysical and ontological statements.
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