Popular (pop) culture has turned witches into something to be scared of, evil and scary. However, the earliest known witches refer to the wise women in the village. They knew how to read the weather, the winds, the animals, how to use herbs to heal. Do you realise what kind of power that was? The very power to heal, foresee, and foretell. When more people, who could not afford doctors and lawyers started going to these village wise woman aka witches for help, the rich and the powerful got apprehensive about these witches. They could not bear to have someone more powerful than them. Knowledge and wisdom is power for sure. And that too, at the hands of women. That was the time they started criminalising everything witchy and thus the witch trials started. Till date, many reincarnated witches hold the pain, suffering, and fear they underwent during those times. Although their gifts are natural, they are scared to own it or show it. It’s a deep wound, often called a witch wound, that ails them in every lifetime. Witchcraft, like all other things, has two sides. It depends on the intention (very important always) as to how and why witchcraft is being used. The same craft can be used to heal and to curse. Both are extremely potent. This is what makes protection rituals so much more important.