In Defence of Witches – Audio Download

Description

This is an audio download made on request by those who could not attend the in person or online events. It will be instantly available after purchase in m4a format which can be played on most common devices.

The download has two parts, the introduction – a general overview of the subject matter, and the story ‘Life in Fearful Times’. They can be listened to in any order, or in isolation, but it is suggested to listen to the introduction first.

When did the witch hunts end?

When the last woman was executed for witchcraft in the 1700s?

When the last woman was tried and convicted of witchcraft in 1944?

When a 17^th century jurist, notorious for sentencing women to death for witchcraft, was quoted as evidence in a trial that captivated the world in 2022 (and many more besides)?

Or have they not ended but shape-shifted to assimilate into modern culture?

The irony that the witch hunts cast an insidious and enduring spell over society, one that still influences how women are treated in law, medicine, politics, sport, and daily life cannot be denied.

Ideas first cultivated in the 17^th century still pervade our culture to this very day, from the designs of the clothing women wear, to the hard won legal rights they are starting to see dwindle in the age of supposed equality in the western world.

As time moves on, how far have we really moved on from the days of the witch hunts?

We may not be burning, hanging, and drowning, but just because our methods have changed, it does not mean that the driving forces behind those acts has disappeared; they have merely changed form and now effect more ‘witches’ than ever before.

This is a scary story. Not because it is full of green-faced women who consort with the devil, but because the real ‘devil’ is alive and well and still whispering in our ears through politics, social media, the news, and centuries of internalised culture.

Take a walk through history from 17^th century Salem to your doorstep this present day, and discover how the witch hunts are not a memory of distant history, but a part of daily life. The story, a fictional vehicle created to deliver facts about historic and modern day influential figures and political turmoil, invokes the fear of the witch trials by highlighting how events of today echo the horrors of history.

This audio file contains adult themes and is not suitable for children.