Paolo Portone :
“Witch to whom?” The origin of a modern myth with many faces. To say "witch" (the signifier) is already to betray its meaning, at least the one assigned to it in Italy by scholars (historians and anthropologists), namely that of a healer, sorceress, and enchantress, in an evidently negative connotation. Paraphrasing de Saussure, if her image is immediately recognizable even in different historical contexts, what she represents (the content) is the "culturally elaborated" product of the subject who becomes aware of her, conditioned by their emotional and cognitive structures, the beliefs of the community to which they belong, and which shapes their conceptual worldview. Undoubtedly, the term "witch" has recently taken on a new meaning, becoming a symbol/slogan for the demands of the feminist movement (“Tremble, tremble, the witches are back!”), and more recently, especially in the Anglosphere, a synonym for one of the main currents of "neopagan" spirituality (better known as Wicca), representing a form of religiosity freed from Abrahamic monotheisms (legacies of patriarchy), an expression of free sexuality and an ecological sensibility. However, compared to the other possible meanings that can be attributed to this figure (for example, in the Abruzzese folklore studied by Cesare Bermani, that of a woman marked by a "bad fate," living on the margins of society, who, by virtue of her proximity to the male, serves as a safeguard for the community against existential risks), it is undeniable that her tenacious survival in our collective imagination remains inextricably linked to her origin: the witch hunts, and thus to an inherently negative concept, that of the quintessence of female evil, fully expressed in the fantasies concocted by preachers, inquisitors, and demonologists as a (flying and shapeshifting) worshipper of Satan.
2025-08-14 20:45:59