While I am drafting my historical novel in progress, and am reading all kind of things about witches, I have often stressed the point that my witch once was a normal person and was only seen as suspicious when Dystopia hit.
Normal in the case of a young woman living in Europe in the 17th century means most likely having been a daughter, a sister and a wife to someone. Maybe a friend as well, but those kind of relationships not dedicated to an obvious cause were rare. It most likely also means having been pregnant several times and having lost most if not all of her babies. It means sleeping with her husband every few days, except when she is menstruating, and going to church every Sunday.
But was she just this normal person? A person that almost never did anything out of the ordinary?
Or would it be more interesting to explore someone who was a little bit different, and sadly had to live through a time that could not deal with it at all?
And I am thinking of something minor, like being a little bit too emotional. And no, this is not forcing a personal issue into this writing project which does not belong here.
In „Malleus maleficarum“ women were described as more likely to fall for witchcraft, and this was because their bodies were known to hold more fluids than male ones, and therefore react more sensitive to the movement of the stars and give in to physical affects more easily.
So, you‘re daughter, sister, wife is either too happy or terrifyingly sad and wanting too much sex because the stars are pulling her inner ocean.
It made me wonder, how much emotion was actually allowed to have back in her time.
How would a world that identified this as suspicious for witchcraft, react to a mother mourning a child longer than usual? What would a flashback into a traumatizing memory appear as?
What would the world have made out of my witch for sometimes being close to tears, and for looking ill at church on Sundays, or having a brilliant idea in the middle of the night?
What, if she admitted to be afraid of another attempt to bear a child?
Afraid of something that most people around her had accepted as necessary?
I think my witch allows herself to have thoughts that other people would ignore, and to have her soul explore the borders of this world.
Maybe, she had once asked not to have another baby, because she pain was unbearable to her
Maybe, she felt the existence of her uterus as a constant pain.
At this point, I think that what made her a witch were these thoughts that she gave into and that did not belong into the world back then, and also terrified the world around her, once Dystopia arrived.
Do they belong into this world today?
I am not sure, but I have not been burned, yet.
Mistress witch writes 