Goodmorning starchild

🖤💜Master Post💜🖤

A handy resource guide of 100+ witches from across history, literature, mythology, and pop culture. Not all of these women would have identified as such, but many were persecuted and marginalized in the name thereof. This is not complete, nor comprehensive. I will be adding to it as I continue the project, as there are many, many witches I have yet to include. 

📜Witches from History📜

Hypatia (350/370- 415)

Joan of Arc (1412-1431)

Mother Shipton (1488-1561)

Agnes Waterhouse (1503-1566)

Agnes Sampson (1591)

Alse Young (1600-1647)

Tituba

Catherine Deshayes (1640-1680)

🗄Historical Compilations🗄 

In Memoriam 

Red Haired Witches

📖Witches from Modern History📖

Occultists🔮

Pamela Coleman Smith

Dion Fortune

Helena Blavatsky

Marie Laveau*

Mothers of Modern Witchcraft/Wicca🕯 

Doreen Valiente

Monique Wilson

Maxine Sanders

Edith Woodford-Grimes

Janet Farrar

Eleanor Bone

Margaret Murray

Vivianne Crowley

Old Dorothy Clutterbuck

Lois Bourne

Patricia Crowther

Sybil Leek

American Witches and Pagan Elders🌿

Margot Adler

Starhawk

Selena Fox

Silver RavenWolf

Zsuzsanna Budapest

Laurie Cabot

Jeane Dixon

Stevie Nicks

W.I.T.C.H.*

🎥Witches from Film/Literature📚

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

Eglantine Price

Bell, Book, and Candle

Gillian Holroyd

The Witches of Eastwick

Alexandra Medford, Jane Spofford, Sukie Ridgemont 

Witches from Oz

Glinda

Mombi

Wicked Witch of the West

Witches from Narnia

Jadis, The White Witch

Witches from Harry Potter

Minverva McGonnogal

Bellatrix Lestrange

Hermione Granger*

Animated Disney Witches

Ursula 

Maleficent 

Madam Mim

Grimhilde (The Evil Queen)

Practical Magic

Sally and Gillian Owens

Frances and Bridget Owens

The Addams Family

Grandmama Addams

Hocus Pocus

The Sanderson Sisters: Winifred, Mary, Sarah

Wicker Man

Miss Rose

Witches

Grand High Witch

Rosemary’s Baby

Minnie Castavet

The Craft 

Nancy Downs/Fairuza Balk

Rachel True

The VVITCH

Thomasin* 

Miyazaki Witches

Kiki

Yubaba and Zeniba*

Pirates of the Caribbean

Tia Dalma 

Macbeth

The Weird Sisters/Three Witches*

📺Witches from Television📺

Bewitched

Samantha Stephens

Endora

Aunt Clara

Sabrina The Teenage Witch

Sabrina Spellman

Hilda and Zelda Spellman

Game of Thrones

Melisandre

The Magicians

Julia Wicker, Margo Hanson, Alice Quinn, Kady Orloff-Diaz

Penny Dreadful 

Vanessa Ives

Joan Clayton

Charmed 

The Halliwell Sisters: Phoebe, Prue, Piper, and Paige.

Cartoons 

Witch Hazel (Donald Duck)

Witch Hazel (Looney Tunes)

Halloweentown 

Agatha Cromwell

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 

Willow Rosenberg

American Horror Story: Coven 

Miss Robichaux’s Academy*

🏺Witches from Mythology/Folklore🏺

Biblical

The Witch of Endor

Lilith

Greek 

Cassandra

Calypso

Circe

Medea

The Graeae/ The Moirai

Hecate

British Folklore

Jenny Greenteeth/Nelly Longarms/ Peg Powler

Black Annis

Allison Gross

Arthurian Legend 

Morgan le Fay

Nimue: The Lady of the Lake

Italian Folklore 

Aradia

La Befana

Celtic Mythology

Ceridwen

Slavic Folklore

Baba Yaga

American Folklore

The Bell Witch

📝Witches from Children’s Books📝 

Room on the Broom

Witch

Strega Nona

Strega Nona

Mother Goose

Mother Goose

📰Witches from Comic Series📰

Wendy the Good Little Witch

Wendy

X-Men/Avengers

Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff)

*denotes I was unable to complete their original post. I will be returning to these and adding a full analysis.

This list stems from my original project that I did for the 100 days before Halloween 2018. The nature of the project I discuss in my 1st post, which happened to be The Witch of Endor. I will be adding dozens other witches I did not get to in the initial 100 over time, and plan on producing a second series for male witches. Stay Tuned!

On the horizon

Bonnie Bennett (Vampire Diaries)

Witch of the Waste (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Mary Poppins

Gifts by Maia Kobabe @redgoldsparks

Full text: I was born with body parts I don’t want or need. I wish I could give them away to someone who’d use them. Or return them to the soil. Or give them to a mother to feed her young. No one is required to accept every gift that they receive. 

In fantasy as well as history, people would communicate through the written word. Letters have been one of history's greatest resources and one of the most dangerous pieces of evidence to possess.

Writing the Letter

When writing a letter, nobility and royalty would have trusted scribes and secretaries to write the letter for them. It was considered a show of faith and honour to have writing from royalty's own hand. Poorer writers would write the letters themselves. A scribe would need:

A quill: A sharpened feather of a large bird, which if made correctly would not need sharpening very often, would be used upon parchment or papyrus.

A stylus: A wooden pen-like writing utensil meant for writing upon wax tablets.

Wax Tablet: A pair of wax tablets bound together like notebook. The stylus was used to write upon the wax. It was very popular in Ancient times as it could be used, the wax writing rubbed out.

Parchment: Parchment is made the skins of animals such as a sheep, thinned and prepared for writing on. Vellum is similar to parchment only it is higher quality and made from the skin of young sheep or cows.

Papyrus: Papyrus is a thick paper made from the eponymous plant. Papyrus would be found growing in hotter climates and is good paper to write on because it is durable.

Ink: Ink was applied using the quill. Historical inks were made of natural dyes, some involving soot, graphic, bones or dyes from fruits such as berries.

Sand: Sand would be used to dry the ink, the scribe scattering it upon the wet ink.

Wax: The wax would be used to seal letters in order to prove it has not been tampered with or the bottom of a document to prove it was witnessed by the signatory(s). Wax seals were like a stamp of approval. To cow the nobility, King Richard II had every noble put their seal to a piece of blank parchment. He could write something treasonous or even approval for a loan to the crown and it would be legal.

Seal/Signet Ring: The seal or signet ring would be pushed into the soft wax while it was not set, to prove it was from that person and not tempered with. The royal seal was as good as a royal signature and was as treasured and guarded as the crown itself.

Signature: The signing of the document or letter was always done by the monarch's hand. They would sign by their first name only, sometimes adding R at the end (Rex/Regina meaning Latin for a ruler). Ex. Henry R or Catherine R.

Keeping the Contents Private

The most important thing about letters is keeping the content private. To many people have been sent to the gallows and prison because their private letters have been found, Katherine Howard and Mary, Queen of Scots for an example.

Delivering letters in disguise: In places where they open letters, such as prisons or palaces like Versailles, sometimes we must resort to smuggling letters in and out to keep them secrets. Servants can be used though they can be searched. Hollow bungs in barrels can also be used as Mary, Queen of Scots did as barrels go in and out of palaces and buildings.

Codes: Letters can be encoded to protect the contents. Each party would have a copy of the key. The codes can be broken but at first glance it can be believed to be harmless. Abbreviations and numbers might be used.

Destroying letters: Letters in mediaeval times were often burnt to protect the receiver and sender. If the letter was found it would be catastrophic for them and could lead to their deaths. Letters were often burned.

Tampering with Letters

On the other hand, your characters might need to intercept a letter which might reveal a secret or save a life. The letter might be intercepted on the way to the way to the receiver. Versailles was infamous for opening the post of the courtiers and reading the contents. By stopping the letter from getting to the destination, you may prevent somebody from being forewarned or someone committing treason. Ps. A hot knife can be used to pry wax from the parchment so you can open it. You can replace it via an application of hot wax at the back or even apply the wax seal on another letter and frame somebody for something else. Or you can send the letter on to them and ensure they are caught with it.

Delivery

Letters have been going about for years, long before there was such a thing as a postal service. Letters were often delivered by:

Riders: The messengers would carry the letter in a special tube slung about their neck. They would ride to their assigned destination, waiting for a reply if instructed. Riders are effective but there is an added risk of the riders being intercepted or betraying the message. Riders would have had to switch horses along the way and carry a weapon to defend themselves.

Messenger Birds: Game Of Thrones has made E-Ravens famous and Harry Potter had Owl Post and most people reckon it is a fantasy element. However, many civilizations in history used a form of birds to carry messages. Pigeons have a homing ability and return to their homes wherever they are place. The birds were shipped to their destination where the message would bound to the bird. The bird is then released (Release the Pigeons!) and it returns to its home bringing the message back with it. Pigeons are cheap to care for and are a quick way to get letters to a destination. However, birds can be shot down or eaten by predators.

the witcher appreciation week: day three • favourite relationship