Witches in the air for Halloween

Pictures of Terry Pratchett's witches marked the occasion of Halloween 2019. 

This year's All Hallows' Eve is a very suitable time of year for a little more light witch material. 

Witches Abroad, which has been mentioned in connection with snakes, is one of the funniest of the Witches of Lancre series. This quotation is typical:

“On nights such as this, witches are abroad. Well, not actually abroad. They don't like the food and you can't trust the water and the shamans always hog the deckchairs.”

However, when duty calls the three witches take to the air for some long journeys involving 'foreign parts':

This special edition of Equal Rites reminds me of a poem:

This evocative little poem by Walter de la Mare makes the witches seem like a colony of swarming bats:

The Ride-by-Nights

Up on their brooms the Witches stream,
Crooked and black in the crescent's gleam,
One foot high, and one foot low,
Bearded, cloaked, and cowled, they go.
'Neath Charlie's Wane they twitter and tweet,
And away they swarm 'neath the Dragon's feet,
With a whoop and a flutter they swing and sway,
And surge pell-mell down the Milky Way.
Between the legs of the glittering Chair
They hover and squeak in the empty air.
Then round they swoop past the glimmering Lion
To where Sirius barks behind huge Orion;
Up, then, and over to wheel amain
Under the silver, and home again.

Witches’ pictures for Halloween

Today is Halloween, a time when witches are abroad.

It is a good time to remember Terry Pratchett, who made a great contribution, both entertaining and informational, to witch lore. There are many quotations from his works on here, and there are still more to come.

Here we have a memorable quotation from Wintersmith:

More magic and witch wisdom from Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett’s comic fantasy novels about the Discworld are a gold mine when it comes to definitions of and ideas about magic and witches.

The points he makes and the warnings he gives have a much wider application than just to his imaginary world and characters. 

What he says is not always what some people expect or want to hear, but it is all worth considering and putting to the test. 

Material from his books has appeared in several articles, and I have found a few more wise words to quote. 

Using magic
Miss Tick gives more lessons to the young witch Tiffany Aching:

“’But can’t you use a keeping-warm spell?’ said Tiffany.

‘I could. But a witch doesn’t do that sort of thing. Once you use magic to keep yourself warm, then you’ll start using it for other things.’

‘But isn’t that what a witch is supposed to--‘ Tiffany began.

‘Once you learn about magic, I mean really learn about magic, learn everything you can learn about magic, then you’ve got the most important lesson still to learn,’ said Miss Tick.

‘What’s that?’

‘Not to use it. Witches don’t use magic unless they really have to. It’s hard work and difficult to control. We do other things.’”

This is not an easy lesson to learn. It may not at first make sense; it may not be acceptable. Despite that, a wise person will take it to heart. The senior witches in Terry Pratchett’s books know what they are talking about.

More about Terry Pratchett and the attributes of witches

Some of the main characters in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books are witches.

From time to time he slips serious statements about them into his amusing stories. I sometimes wonder where he got his ideas about witches and witchcraft from.

There is a little more to add to the article about a good definition of a witch; the new material is based on more quotations from Terry Pratchett’s books.

What a witch really is may not match what many people think a witch is; some of the attributes may be unexpected, but they are the sign of the real thing.

Witches are different

The idea that there is more than one type of human being comes from many independent sources.

Defence Against the Dark Arts Part II: Terry Pratchett’s books

I have found that Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books brighten the atmosphere: they are ideal for driving away black moods and dispersing the dark clouds of depression. 

I particularly like the books that feature his three main witch characters, Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg and Magrat Garlick. The three witches in Macbeth were the inspiration for these ladies. He said that three is a natural number for witches. It is just a coincidence that when I was at school, someone likened me and my two sisters to the three witches in Macbeth!

Not only do these books entertain, amuse and raise one’s spirits, they also contain material that seems to me to be relevant to some topics on this blog. I have already made a connection between the effects that Terry Pratchett’s illusion-creating elves have on humans and the effects that some glamorous energy vampires have on their victims.

Some of what Pratchett says about magic and how it attracts undesirable entities could apply to unconscious or psychological black magic and how it attracts – or is even caused by - forces that sabotage the lives of the practitioners. 

Energy vampires in books: Terry Pratchett and J.K. Rowling

There are many articles about energy vampires (meaning the human kind, not electrical appliances on standby) to be found online. Some have nothing new or original to add to existing knowledge in either the material itself or the presentation and interpretation: they just repeat the basics. 

Some articles are written by people who are trying to sell something: they consist of snippets surrounded by advertisements. 

Many such articles are superficial, positioned at the level of pop psychology; others are all generalisations with nothing coming from personal experiences. Many books on the subject are not much better.

Some of this information may be suitable for people who want an introduction to the subject, or to learn how to deal with a difficult colleague at the office or a negative, self-pitying mother who won’t get off the phone, but some of us want something deeper and more substantial, something that takes metaphysical factors and the very worst examples into account.

In this connection, I have found two examples of fictional energy vampires that resonate very strongly with me. They come from the works of Terry Pratchett and J. K. Rowling.