Tales of Witches

Tales of Witches and other Magical Women is English edition of my book Storie di Streghe e altre Donne Magiche.

A collection of tales about extraordinary Women; each story is inspired by a facet of witch history, lore, and mystery that has contributed to shaping the myth of witches; each story is preceded by a brief introduction that offers insight into the theme it explores: from witch persecution to witchcraft origin, from ancient knowledge to magical plants, pagan celebrations, various kind of witches, familiar and more.

Why Witches?

[...]

My curiosity began in childhood, when fairytales made me take the side of rebellious, strong, and sometimes dangerous women who had to fend for themselves, and for this were criticized and accused of being evil, while princesses always had someone to come to their rescue and to take care of them.

As I grew older, I started reading and understanding who these women really were. And I discovered many interesting, sad, frightening, and upsetting things.

First of all, there were two kinds of Witches: legendary ones and real ones. But while the former were made-up chimeras, projections of fear and fantasy from people who needed to give shape to what they couldn’t explain (and what was better than ugly, cruel hags?), the latter were flesh-and-blood women who had little to nothing to do with evil.

For sure there existed (and still exist) women who practiced dark magic or believed themselves emissaries of the Devil and behaved as such, but most—the vast majority—had only one thing in common: they were different. And since differences can be scary, especially when people don’t know how to handle or explain them, it’s easier to cloak them in the dark, ragged shroud of an evil Witch or the provocative clothing of a woman who’s too beautiful or too independent.

So, who were these Witches?

For the most part, they were marginalized, impoverished, mentally ill women. They were adulterers, or wives whose husbands wanted to be rid of, or brides who couldn’t bear children. Or thieves who stole just to survive. Or women who had killed the men who used them, beat them, or raped them. They were neighbors someone wanted revenge on, widows whose property others wanted to seize. They were victims of betrayal, and of the fear and torture that made people confess that their own daughter, or mother, or sister was a Witch.

Some were “businesswomen” who, like the (in)famous Catherine Deshayes de Montvoisin—known as La Voisin—provided love potions, poisons, necromancy, black masses, or abortions to the nobles who could afford to pay their exorbitant fee.

But Witches were also women of science and wisdom—healers, herbalists, midwives, tooth-pullers, and bonesetters. [...]

-- From Tales of Witches and other Magical Women

Has it piqued your curiosity? Than take a glimpse inside the book:

[If you don't see the preview, click here]

You can also see how the original italian edition is rated and reviewed:

[Read the reviews]

I I hope I have convinced you ^_^

You can find the book here.