The History of Witchcraft & The Patriarchy Workshop

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Witchcraft has always been a feminist issue. In this workshop, we’ll explore how the image of the witch was shaped by fear, control, and power – often representing women who resisted expectations around obedience, domesticity, and motherhood. These “failures” weren’t just punished by men, but often policed by other women. And yet, the witch endured: feared, silenced, but strangely free – deeply connected to the wild world she was meant to tame.

We’ll trace her re-emergence in the occult revival of the 19th century, where women like Helena Blavatsky, Augusta Gregory, and Pamela Colman Smith helped rewrite spiritual narratives on their own terms. Today’s modern witch draws from this lineage – a collage of rebellion, mysticism, and autonomy. This workshop is a chance to understand the witch not just as myth, but as a living symbol of resistance.

Workshop Highlights:

• Explore how the witch became a symbol of resistance to patriarchy
• Understand the link between witchcraft, femininity, and nature
• Discover women’s influence on the 19th-century occult revival
• Reflect on how today’s witches are reshaping spiritual identity

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About your host:

Diane Purkiss is Professor of English at the University of Oxford, and a fellow of Keble College. She has published works on witchcraft, fairies, and also on the English Civil War, the occasion of England's biggest witchhunt. She has been in more than a dozen television documentaries; she even has an IMDb entry and a Wikipedia page.She has spoken to general audiences at numerous literary festivals and to many local history societies.

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