Had the ancestral chains of grannies and mamas passing along their knowledge to their youngest generations not been broken, I would have trained as a hedge witch from birth. I only realized that this very morning.
Don’t worry, I’ll explain in just a sec what a hedge witch was and how they’re coming back.
Before anyone gets yonder knickers in a knot – no, I’m not saying my granny was a Wiccan or that she wanted to cast spells. All cultures had chains of ancestral earth knowledge kept by women and the vast majority of them weren’t Wiccan.
Whether or not you call these women witches, herbalists or just extremely adept housekeepers – they’re needed at this time to help restore health to our very sick communities.
My granny always showed all the signs of wanting to be a full-blown hedge witch, I just didn’t realize it until now. It helps me understand better why I was born into this particular family. I now realize how much she taught me that’s so foundational to my life that I don’t realize most people don’t have this knowledge.
Maybe your granny or mom are too, and this will help you plug a missing piece of your connection to your heritage.
Here are the signs your granny was a Hedge-Witch-in-Waiting:
She always dreamt of living in a little village with a house at the edge of the woods.
She had a little garden she wished could’ve been bigger, but she never had the land.
She cooked up a storm and was known by all the neighbors for it.
She didn’t have recipes for her best dishes. She knew them all by heart.
She knew all the best farmers in the area and would call them when their crop was just about to get ripe so she could buy a bushel or a peck of strawberries, apples, tomatoes, etc.
She scouted for the abandoned lots with thickets of blackberries, plum, and crabapple trees to glean free harvests.
She canned seasonal fruit and vegetables to have delcious preservative-free, plastic-free, hormone-disruptor-free nutrition all year round.
She for the most part didn’t trust modern medicine any further than she could throw it, but knew which conditions warranted a trip to the doctor or dentist.
She relied on good food to keep her healthy and barely needed any prescriptions until the day she died.
My granny took only a baby aspirin and high-blood pressure pill and lived independently until she passed at 87 years old. These are the things she did accomplish given her resources, but there was SO much more depth and power available if she been connected to the fullness of her ancestral knowledge.
What did hedge witches do 100 years ago?
Hedge witches, also known as green witches or wise women, were traditional healers and folk magicians who lived in close connection with nature. They were often found in rural areas, where they used their knowledge of herbs, plants, and animals to heal the sick and protect their communities.
Hedge witches were known for their deep knowledge of the natural world, and they often foraged in the forest to find herbs, plants, and other ingredients for their potions, remedies, and rituals. They would venture into the woods with a basket in hand, their senses attuned to the sights, sounds, and smells of the forest. They knew which plants to harvest and how to prepare them, and they were careful to respect the delicate balance of the ecosystem.
Hedge witches believed that the forest was a sacred place, and they approached it with reverence and respect. They would often ask permission from the spirits of the forest before foraging, and they would leave offerings of gratitude for the gifts they received.
The forest was a source of sustenance, healing, and wisdom for hedge witches. They relied on it for their physical needs, but they also found spiritual nourishment within its depths. The forest was a place of mystery and magic, and hedge witches were able to tap into its power through their connection with the natural world.
My granny and I, however, never did get that house at the edge of the woods. There was no forest for her to forage in. The neighbors never came to her for her potions because she hadn’t been trained to make them. She was never regarded with the profound respect that was given to the witches of centuries before – well, before they were demonized and burned, and then later chased out of business by the men of modern medicine.
*The term hedge witch comes from Celtic culture, which is part of my heritage. Whatever ancestry you have, you will find women with deep knowledge of their land. Their wisdom is so worth digging into and can be a beautiful pathway to remembering yourself.
If you’re curious to know more about the European traditions, here’s an interview with the author of several books on the subject, Arin Murphy Hiscock.
YouTube and Amazon are a wealth of information if you search for [your country of origin or ethnicity] + “traditional medicine” or “herbalism.” Women from all over the world are bringing these traditions back. Here are only a few:
Don’t be afraid to watch videos in languages you don’t speak. You can turn on subtitles and the auto-translation feature, which works plenty good enough to get the gist.
Today’s missive from Diana is about not apologing for things it’s inappropriate to apologize for.
For more on the role of women as keepers of sacred knowledge, I highly recommend Brian Muraresku's The Immortality Key.