Wicked Ways

As a five year old, I remember bonding with my new school friend as we made witchy brews.

Muddy, watery mixes of natural ingredients collected from her garden.

We giggled as we gathered, we schemed as we stirred, and we delighted in the freedom to make mess and play as our Mum’s talked.

There were crushed flower heads, petals and stems, unripe berries plucked from hanging tree branches, and handfuls of grass and tan bark thrown in.

We watched the array of ingredients float and bob around our bucket cauldron, cast spells, and conjured up enchanting outcomes. 

It was our own wild, intuitive witchy magic, created with our intuition, imagination and nature’s ingredients.

We were baby witches.

Not those frightening, crazy and evil ones portrayed in fairytales and stories out to harm innocent women and children.

Yet as we grew up, Hanzel & Gretel, Sleeping Beauty and Roald Dahl’s ‘Witches’ reinforced the message that witches were villains and dangerously unhinged

For me, always spooked by the opening scenes of the Wizard of Oz movie, even as an adult, I’d never had the desire to see the musical ‘Wicked’ when it broke records on Broadway and won it’s way into the hearts of musical lovers.

It was only 4 years ago, with it being the only option that might appeal to my tween daughter when planning a visit to New York in April 2020, that I considered watching it. 

As it turned out, we never saw it as our trip to the United States was cancelled days before our departure.

Finally, this past week, I took Mum and my kids to see the show as a Christmas present (pictured). 

I discovered Wicked was not about a wicked witch after all.

It’s actually an entertaining story featuring a ‘freakishly’ Green witch that boldly invites us to question our judgement of others, rethink our assessment of appearance, challenge our aspiration to be popular, and highlight the motivation of authorities that use suppression, manipulation and deception to maintain power. 

It challenges the witch archetype. 

It reminds us that the stories we’re told aren’t the truth and yet they help to form our beliefs.

Since watching it, I’ve been reflecting on my witchy beliefs, and I’m grateful to revisit my relationship with witchy stories. 

It’s time our association with witches is revised. 

And we reclaim what it means to be a witch. And wicked. 

Just as we did in the 90s when ‘wicked’ meant ‘cool’, ‘awesome’, ‘the best’.

So, what are some stories you could challenge? 

How could you reclaim, rewrite or reframe some words that have been commandeered as taboo, dangerous, or fearful in your life? 

What are some witchy ways you could embrace, explore or experience?