Nearly every culture across the modern world recognises the concept of a witch. Though variations occur, more often than not the witch represents something dark and sinister; something to be fared. Compared to the innocent maiden, clothed in white, the witch is old, ugly, bent double before a cauldron as she brews trouble and strife for unsuspeating victims. The witch is the dark side femininity, an unhinged, evil presence with great power at her disposal. The witch is a women who cannot be controlled.
This image has not always been common: it is one, like the witch's potion itself, that has been brewed and tempered over years of mythology, religion and persecution. The earliest versions of witches couldn't be more different from this sinister image — witches were healers and bastions of society. In early Middle Eastern societies, for example, female deities were worshipped, and the holiest of rituals surrounding them were performed by women trained for that purpose. These early examples of witches were known as wise women and were seen as crucial to society. They would stand beside kings, armies would come to them for sacred rituals, and expectant mothers relied onspectre of evil and misdeeds that we recognise today?
