Witches

  Many female archetypes associated with strength in the Western tradition have a static, enduring valence. Munificent figures Ma’at, the Moirai, and Bona Dea evoke thoughts of generosity. Warriors Artemis and the Furies conjure images of fighters for justice. Portents of misfortune, Medusa and the Harpies provoke fears of destruction and doom. Yet some formidable women undergo a metamorphosis of valence. Hecate, once compassionate and skilled in herbalism, became a chthonic goddess. Circe, merely mortal, shifts back and forth between good and evil. Sometimes respected, magical healers with knowledge of and a close connection to nature, sometimes harbingers of diabolical evil who gained abilities in black magic following the infamous flight to the sabbath where they signed a pact with Satan, this taxonomy of wise, potent women of ever-shifting valence is known as the witch. Bibliography   Hesiod. Theogony. Edited by Martin L. West. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966. Kate Hodges a...