10/21/2026
🧙🏻Ever wonder where the term “Witch” came from?
In Old English, the word was Wicca for a man, and Wicche for a woman. These words come from the Proto-Germanic root wikkjaz or wikkon, which meant “one who practices sorcery or divination.”
The earliest known written record of the term appears in the laws of King Alfred the Great, around 890 CE in England. In Old English it was written as:
“Se wicca & se wicce” — the male witch and the female witch.
Back then, wicca and wicce simply meant “one who works magic” - someone who could bend or shape reality combining their intention with herbs, charms, and the unseen forces of nature.
But as Christianity spread through Europe, the old ways were branded as dangerous. The Church sought to replace local spiritual traditions with its own authority — and so, the wise men and women became a threat.
By the 11th to 13th centuries, theologians began teaching that magic wasn’t just superstition — it was demonic.
Healers, midwives, diviners… those who once served their villages now stood accused of serving Satan.
Then came the Inquisition and the witch hunts.
The Malleus Maleficarum (“Hammer of Witches,” 1486) declared that witches were mostly women, inherently sinful, and in league with the Devil.
This book, backed by the Church, fueled centuries of persecution. Thousands were tortured and burned (men too)— not because they were evil, but because they carried the old wisdom of the of the Earth.
Yet the word witch survived.
And now, many are reclaiming it — as a symbol of remembrance.
To be a Witch is to remember the ways our ancestors listened to the land, spoke to the unseen, and lived in harmony with the great web of life.
It is to reclaim what was once feared: the power to heal, to know, to create, to connect.
✨ Women who are reclaiming- we are the daughters of the ones they could not burn. ✨
We’ll dive deep into the herstory of the Witch and the psychological impact it has had on all women throughout time during our Reclaim the Witch journey this Friday. Four spots remain! https://www.sistermoontemple.com/events
