Once
upon a time a woman was walking along a path gathering herbs. She hummed as she
went about her work and at one point stood tall to stretch her back. The sun
was out and she pushed the hood of her cloak back and for a moment paused and
lifted her face to the warmth.
Unbeknownst
to her, she was being watched. The man, the local priest, stood on an upper
path. When she stretched her back, he felt a twinge of arousal. When she pushed
her hood back, the twinge increased. When she lifted her face to the warmth of
the sun, his arousal grew stronger. It was then he knew she was a witch, sent
by the devil to lure him into sin.
Spoiler alert: This blog was first posted in October 2018. It was one of my best read posts and is still, unfortunately, relevant today. And as you read on, please consider inserting "other" as in people of color, people of a different religious/spiritual faith, people who are "not us." That is something that has not changed - blaming someone else for what we do not have or what we have done instead of looking at our role, our responsibility in this life.
During The Burning Times (15th – 17th
centuries) this scenario and others were played out to the point where in some
villages virtually every woman including infants, toddlers, children and adults
were hung or burned at the stake or in some other manner, murdered. In many
cases these women were the Wise Women, the healers, mid-wives or women who
owned their own property and were not subservient to men.
What’s important to note is that these women did nothing
wrong or bad. In many cases they adhered to many of the “old ways.” They
planted and harvested herbs according to pagan traditions. They followed the
seasons honoring the turning of the wheel of life.
And to be fair, while I’ve watched the Canadian
documentary The Burning Times, I’ve also done some additional research albeit on Google. There were areas in Europe
where mostly men were accused and in some cases mostly children. There were
also areas where there were virtually no cases of a “witch hunt.” While there
are many theories about “who” and “why,” the skeptics and naysayers minimize or
attempt to turn us away from what was lost.
Paty Jager’s Monday post talks about what happened to the
Nez Perce who lost their spirituality when forced onto reservations and forced
to accept Christianity.
And along the same lines, the collective “We” lost the
old traditions. We lost human potential. We lost artists, healers, oral
histories and thus wisdom.
While there are disputes that millions were “burned
at the stake” even conservative estimates range from 50,000 to 200,000 victims over
the centuries. Considering these victims had families, friends and neighbors,
it is accurate to say that millions were affected by these witch hunts.
Can you imagine what it was like for the woman gathering
herbs to return to her home, to be seized and accused of being a witch sent to
seduce the local priest? What could she have ever said that would have been
believed? And for those situations where the woman would have been raped?
Again, she was sent by Satan to lure the man to sin. What would her defense
have been? Who would have believed her?
And centuries later we are still paying a price. Women
who speak up often become the target of ridicule, of suspicion, of hate. How
dare she say anything about her past.
As a woman who graduated from high school in 1959, I can
attest to the routine sexual harassment that most of us endured at that time. At
a time when there was no such thing as sexual harassment. A boy who grabbed a
girl’s breast was “just being a boy.” In my 5th grade health class,
I was taught that it was My Responsibility if a boy “got out of line.” If that
happened, I had done something wrong. If that was what I was taught, why would
I have spoken up?
As a single mother who worked in a male dominated profession
(law enforcement in the 1960’s), I know the price I paid to get along with and
be accepted by my colleagues. The sexual innuendos, at times spoken to see if
I’d squirm. The pats on my butt, the “accidental” brush against my breasts.
Could I take it? Did I have rent to pay, food to purchase for my son and me?
As a woman who worked fifty years in social services with
populations that spanned from nursery to nursing homes, I know the toll sexual and
physical abuse, sexual and physical harassment and domestic violence takes on
women and men. Part of our homeless problem is because women and men do not
feel safe in shelters or adult care homes, or even in an apartment building
(there are elevators and stairwells and they know from personal experience what
horrors can happen when trapped there).
But most of all from all these experiences I know the
price we all pay when women in particular are targeted, blamed and not
believed.
I am not talking about any one case or situation
currently highlighting the news. I am talking about acknowledging that for
centuries we have blamed women for some men’s sexual arousal, sexual fantasies
and their need for domination, control and power.
We are at a crossroads once again where what we lost in
The Burning Times can be found in present time. The question is: Do We Want To?
To find your own answer, I encourage you to watch the
Canadian documentary The Burning Times
and also to read the book When God Was A
Woman by Merlin Stone. Educate yourself. Question what you’ve been told,
been taught.
Ask yourself “Is it true?” “How do I know this to be
true?” “What are my personal experiences?”
Yes, there are somethings we take on faith, but our
history? Something we can check out ourselves?
We owe it to our grandmothers,
mothers, sisters, daughters, granddaughters and in my case, great granddaughter
to do the work, to do the research, to know the truth of our herstory.
You can find all of
my books at your favorite e-book vendor. Be sure to ask your local library if
you’d prefer to read my books through that resource. Check out my website to see where you can purchase a print book.
Judith Ashley
is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors
spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from
relationship to romance.
You can find
Judith’s books at all major e-retailers, some books stores and libraries.
© 2018 Judith Ashley
