Tale about the Mistress

Why do I write this blog in the name of the Mistress? Why do I call her that? Since now and then we get approached by people having their very own ideas about it in mind, I thought this deserves to be a blog post in its own.

One answer to why I decided to write under this name was that at the time I started this blog, I was reading the „Hollows“-Series by Kim Harrison and in one of the most sensual scenes ever it came up. Since I love to read to explore intense emotions, I kind of wanted to preserve that one. Seriously, I sat in my rocking chair in my dark room in vanilla scented candle light and all I could think was: „I want to keep this thought. Let‘s escalate with it!“

But that is not all there is to this name. Since I write historical fiction, there also is a historical aspect of this. Or, an aspect that from a more historical point of view becomes interesting, maybe.
So, who was the Mistress?

This title was directed to the wife of the owner of a bigger household, no question, but linguistically connected to the title can also be another kind of person. The Mistress was a lover outside of marriage, and that during a time where every part of life appeared much more functional than today. In my witching research, I have not yet gotten deep into understanding the economic and social changes that occurred between the 15th and 17th century in Europe, and I cannot wait to finally have the time to do so, but what I could grasp so far was that family business changed a lot compared to before. The value a marriage as well as possible offspring could have was not of the same kind as in medieval times of knights and adventures. It became more calculable. Before I lose myself to deep into something I have yet to understand, here is the point that matters for the Mistress:

She is the love that existed outside all of this. „The Mistress taught him his manners“, was a proverb in some parts of Germany and the Netherlands at the time.

So, this Mistress was a sparkle of romance in a very functional time. She was a connection outside of family business and someone to love without having the pressure to have a perfectly functioning uterus within. This was a very privileged position. As a Mistress, she had the right to remind the Master of the household coming home from brutal years of the 30-years-war of his once good behavior, and she got to have sex without being married. If you think of the maid, for example, this meant a lot at the time. Maids were often suspected as witches and were constantly believed to be sex addicted. In fact, there were general warnings over sex addicted young girls swarming the cities and bringing bad luck (not kidding …).
The Mistress was in a better position than them, and also, from some perspective, than the wife, since she had no pressure to bear healthy children on mass.

As I have described so often, my witch was once a wife and a daughter, but she survived all of this, and as long as she is still alive, something has to wait for her, right?
Writing together under the name of the Mistress is a promise to always provide the sparkle of something special and to love outside of rules. This means no monogamous thought prison for us as well as no expectations to a lover about their physical features but just the person they might be.

We chose this name for a deeper meaning. It has not much to do with the Mistress tying you up and spanking your boredom away (although I think if you‘re the right one, she might let you do it to her). Being the Mistress means to love outside of any rules or boundaries and to be loved as an authentic self.
This does not necessarily make her the tough one some like to request in her.
This makes vulnerable.

Mistress witch writes about this.

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Please note that this still a very personal interpretation of things and that, as mentioned previously, I have only just started to understand these aspects of life in the 17th century. I will work it out more detailed on the way and write a few more posts on this, I think!