Witches Feminism and the Fall of the West

The archetype of the witch is burnt deep into the European psyche recurring again and again in folklore and fairytales. But is she merely the stuff of fantasy? Roald Dahl warned that witches dont always don black hats and ride on broom sticks. They dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. . . . That is why they are so hard to catch. In Witches Feminism and the Fall of the West Edward Dutton examines the history of witches and witch-hunting in light of evolutionary psychology. Throughout the centuries witches were ostracized across Europe and often condemned and executed for sorcery and harming children. They generally adhered to a type: witches were low-status anti-social and childless and their very presence was viewed as poisonous to the community. Dutton demonstrates that witches did in their way represent a maladaptive mentality and behavior which undermined Europes patriarchal system. When times got tough-that is when Europe got poorer or colder-the witches were persecuted with a vengeance. Today the evolutionary situation has been turned on its head. The intense selection pressures of the past have been overcome by the Industrial Revolution and its technological marvels. Modern witches survive and thrive in the postmodern West still possessed by the motivations and dispositions of their sisters of yore. Sorcery (nihilism and self-hatred) is no longer taboo but has become a high-status ideology. Roald Dahl was all-too correct. Witches do exist and they mean to do us harm.