October 20, 2025 ā¢ 14 mins
Step into the shadows and stories of the women who were once feared, silenced, and misunderstood...
In this episode of Into the Woods, we explore the rich, complex history of witches — from ancient healers and midwives to the archetype that patriarchy turned into a warning.
Discover where the symbols we know today — the witch’s hat, broomstick and cauldron — truly come from, and how gatherings in the woods became both a sanctuary and a rebellion. We’ll trace how the word “witch” evolved from one of reverence to one of fear, and why reclaiming it now is an act of feminine empowerment and spiritual remembrance.
Whether you’re a history lover, modern mystic or simply curious about the truth behind the myths, this episode will leave you feeling grounded, inspired, and ready to embrace your inner magic.
š¢šØATTENTIONš„ā: My signature courses are launching for the first time on December 2nd!:
The Art of Manifestation — learn how to align with what you truly desire
Your Cosmic Blueprint — uncover your numerology and the deeper design of your soul
Learn more at ā destination-found.com/coursesā
#historyofwitches #witchsymbolism #divinefeminine #witchtrials #witchcraftorigins #witcharchetype #modernwitches #spiritualempowerment #feminineintuition #intothewoodspodcast
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Welcome to the end of the Woods podcast.
I'm Rachel McGowan, and this is a space to come home to
yourself. Here we wander through the
cycles of nature, spirituality, and the quiet art of becoming.
Because growth isn't something we chase, it's something we
return to. Every episode is an invitation
(00:23):
to slow down, reconnect with your intuition, and explore the
magic woven through the ordinarymoments of life.
Whether we're talking about manifestation, numerology, or
the seasons of your soul, my hope is that you leave each
episode a little softer, a little more grounded, and deeply
(00:43):
reminded of who you are. So take a breath, feel your feet
on the earth, and step with me into the woods.
Hey everyone, before we dive in today's episode, I want to share
something really special that's coming soon.
On October 29th, my 2 signature courses, The Art of
(01:05):
Manifestation, Turning Vision into Reality, and Your Cosmic
Blueprint, Unlocking Numerology's Power are opening
for the first time. We will be walking through these
courses together with a weekly Zoom check in where you can ask
questions, share what's coming up for you, and stay accountable
(01:26):
in real time. If you've ever wondered why
manifestations feel effortless and others don't, or how your
personal numerology can reveal the timing and purpose behind
what you attract, these courses were made for you.
The Art of Manifestation is all about turning spiritual concepts
into grounded daily practices, rewiring your beliefs, working
(01:50):
with energy, and aligning with what you actually want, not what
you think you should. Your Cosmic Blueprint dives deep
into numerology, decoding your life path, your personal year,
and your energetic rhythm so youcan manifest in harmony with
your natural cycles instead of pushing against them.
(02:11):
The Art of Manifestation will bea seven week online course and
your Cosmic Blueprint will be a four week online course.
So ask yourself, Are you ready to finally understand your own
magic? To stop guessing and start Co
creating with intention to have a space each week where you feel
(02:32):
supported, seen and in alignment?
If that feels like a yes, head to my website,
destination-found.com or click the link in the show notes where
you will find more information about the courses and can sign
up when they go live on October 29th.
(02:53):
I can't wait to journey through this next season with you live
aligned and in your full becoming.
See you then. Welcome back my loves to another
episode of the Into the Woods podcast.
I'm Rachel McGowan, your host and guide on the self
development journey. If you are listening to this in
(03:13):
real time, we are about a week out from Halloween and given it
is spooky season, today's episode is one I've been wanting
to share for a while. It's about the witches, the
word, the myth, the symbols and the women behind it, and what
happens when something sacred becomes feared, and how we are
(03:38):
reclaiming it. The forest has always had a
language of its own. When we step behind the trees,
it's almost like the air thickens with memory.
Because once, long before the word which carried fear, it
meant wise. It was the woman who knew how to
mix herbs for healing, who couldread the weather, who knew when
(04:02):
to plant, when to harvest, when to rest.
She was the midwife, the healer,the intuitive.
She was respected until she wasn't.
In the Old World, long before Christianity swept across
Europe, spiritual life was woventhrough everything.
People lived by the seasons, prayed with the moon, and looked
(04:24):
to the women who understood nature's rhythm.
There were names for them in every culture.
Wise women, cunning folk, shamans, root workers across the
world. They weren't witches.
Not yet. That word hadn't been twisted
into an insult. But as organized religion
(04:44):
spread, the church sought to centralized power, and the idea
that ordinary women could speak to spirit, heal with plants, or
hold knowledge of cycles became threatening.
Bit by bit, witchcraft was rebranded.
No longer a spiritual practice, it became a sin, a crime, a
(05:05):
heresy. I want to pause here for a
moment, and I want you to imagine being that woman.
You've spent your life serving your village, birthing babies,
healing fevers, gathering herbs by moonlight, and suddenly they
call you a witch, not as honor, but accusation.
(05:25):
Your garden becomes evidence. Your independence becomes proof.
Your wisdom becomes danger. That is how power turns.
That is how a healer becomes a monster.
Now I want to talk about the symbols.
Because even the hat, the broom,the cauldron, they all have
roots older and deeper than the fear built around them.
(05:48):
The broom was a domestic tool, asymbol of both home and
liminality. Women used it in fertility
dances, sweeping out old energy before spring planting and
folklore. Witches were said to ride them
not because they flew, but because they transcended.
The broom became a metaphor, a bridge between the mundane and
(06:11):
the mystical. The pointed hat.
That iconic shape has many possible origins.
One theory ties it to the Judan Hut, a hat Jewish people were
forced to wear in medieval Europe, marking them as
outsiders. Others connected to the hats
worn by female Brewers. In the Middle Ages, women who
(06:31):
made ale brewsters wore tall, pointed hats and markets so they
could be seen. They sold their beer beside
cauldrons with Black Cats to chase mice from the grain.
When the church and Guild later pushed women out of brewing,
that imagery of a woman with a hat, cat and cauldron was
twisted into a warning. She wasn't a Brewer anymore, she
(06:54):
was a witch. The cauldron itself is one of
the oldest sacred symbols in mythology.
It's the womb, the vessel of creation.
Celtic goddesses like Kara Dwan carried a cauldron of
inspiration and rebirth. It wasn't about evil potions, it
was about transformation. In the broom, hat, cauldron, and
(07:16):
cat all became shorthand for female independence.
And in a world that feared that,those symbols became warnings.
Now the woods. The woods were both refuge and
accusation. They were where the wise women
gathered, where they foraged, healed, held rituals.
So when the witch trials began, stories of gathering in the
(07:39):
woods became fuel for hysteria because the forest, like the
witch, was something untamed, outside control, and anything
that couldn't be controlled was branded as dangerous.
Between the 1400s and 1700s, across Europe and the colonies,
an estimated 50,000 people, mostly women, were executed as
(08:02):
witches. That's not myth.
That's record. Hung.
Drowned, burned, crushed. Texts like the Malleus
Maleficorum, the Hammer of Witches written in 1487, taught
men how to identify, torture, and condemn women accused of
witchcraft. And here's the chilling part.
(08:23):
They didn't need proof. They just needed fear.
Often women were accused for things as simple as being
single, widowed, outspoken or childless.
They were midwives blamed when ababy died, herbalist blamed when
illness spread, or simply women with property that others
wanted. The witch hunts weren't about
(08:45):
magic. They were about control over
women's bodies, land and autonomy.
And the word witch became a weapon.
It became shorthand for woman who doesn't obey, woman who
won't conform, woman who's too much.
Even centuries later, you can hear echoes of that word, used
(09:06):
the same way when women in powerare called witches.
It's not because they're castingspells, it's because they're
powerful and someone is uncomfortable with that.
I want to sit with that truth, the word which became an
accusation for any woman who didn't fit the script.
And yet she persisted. She adapted.
(09:27):
She hid her practice or carried it quietly.
The witch survived. Fast forward to the 20th
century. A man Named Gerald Gardner
publishes Witchcraft Today in the 1950s, introducing modern
Wicca, a religion that drew on old folk traditions, ceremonial
magic and Goddess worship. For the first time in centuries
(09:50):
witchcraft began to re emerge not as a crime but as a craft.
Then the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s said yes,
which means powerful woman will take that back from their modern
witchcraft began to bloom. Kitchen witches, green witches,
solitary witches. Some work with the moon, others
(10:13):
with herbs, some with numerologyor astrology.
And yet, at the heart of it, it's the same thread that
existed all along. Connection to nature, to
intuition, to 1's own power. Symbols, once feared, became
sacred again. The broom became a symbol of
(10:33):
clearing energy, the cauldron A metaphor for transformation.
The hat a crown, the woods a sanctuary, not a crime scene.
And this, my loves, is reclamation.
So what does it mean to call yourself a witch today?
It means to honor the ancient, to remember those who were
(10:55):
silenced, and to live in harmonywith the cycles that still guide
us. It doesn't have to mean spells
or potions. It can mean mindfulness,
intuition, embodiment. Witchcraft today is the art of
remembering. Remembering who we were before
we were told to be afraid of ourselves.
It's worth pausing to notice howthat story, the demonization of
(11:19):
the witch, mirrors so many others.
Stories of marginalized people, of power stripped and stories
rewritten. That's what colonization and
patriarchy do. They take the symbols of freedom
and turn them into fear. But the symbols can be
reclaimed. They can be healed.
(11:39):
Now I want to weave it into something I love, numerology,
because even in the story of thewitch, the numbers tell their
own tale. The word witch in numerology
reduces to the number 99 represents completion, wisdom
and spiritual humanitarianism. The end of a cycle.
(12:00):
The teacher, the sage. So even in her letters the witch
carries wisdom. She closes the old to birth the
new. That, to me, is the true witch's
legacy. She isn't about darkness or
danger. She's about awakening.
She's the mirror we've all been told to look away from, but who
(12:21):
keeps calling us back home? So as you move through this
season, notice where you still hide your magic, where you still
silence your intuition, where you still make yourself smaller
so you won't be seen as too much.
Because that's the witch wound. And every time you honor
yourself, you heal it for you and for those before you.
(12:44):
You can reclaim her story in small ways, by speaking your
truth, by trusting your timing, by reconnecting with the earth,
your body, your knowing. Because that's where the real
magic lives. Not in wands or spells, but in
remembrance. If today's episode has stirred
something in you, take it as an invitation.
(13:07):
Maybe you light a candle tonightand simply whisper.
I remember. That's all it takes to stand
once more as the woman who was never lost, only forgotten.
The witch was never evil. She was never a monster.
She was a mirror, and for centuries, humanity couldn't
bear to look. But now we can.
(13:29):
And when we do, we see ourselves.
So wherever you are today, know this.
You are the descendant of women who refuse to be erased, and
their fire burns quietly in you.Thank you for sharing this time
with me, for listening, feeling,remembering.
If this episode resonated with you, please share it.
(13:52):
Let's keep telling their storiesbecause words have power in
which once a wound is becoming aword of wholeness again.
Trust your rhythm, tend your magic, and remember you were
never meant to be ordinary. You can find more reflections,
rituals and upcoming offerings on my website,
(14:16):
destination-found.com or on my Instagram at It's Rachel
McGowan. Until next time, keep trusting
your rhythm, keep listening inward, and I'll meet you again
in the woods.
Welcome to the end of the Woods podcast.
I'm Rachel McGowan, and this is a space to come home to
yourself. Here we wander through the
cycles of nature, spirituality, and the quiet art of becoming.
Because growth isn't something we chase, it's something we
return to. Every episode is an invitation
(00:23):
to slow down, reconnect with your intuition, and explore the
magic woven through the ordinarymoments of life.
Whether we're talking about manifestation, numerology, or
the seasons of your soul, my hope is that you leave each
episode a little softer, a little more grounded, and deeply
(00:43):
reminded of who you are. So take a breath, feel your feet
on the earth, and step with me into the woods.
Hey everyone, before we dive in today's episode, I want to share
something really special that's coming soon.
On October 29th, my 2 signature courses, The Art of
(01:05):
Manifestation, Turning Vision into Reality, and Your Cosmic
Blueprint, Unlocking Numerology's Power are opening
for the first time. We will be walking through these
courses together with a weekly Zoom check in where you can ask
questions, share what's coming up for you, and stay accountable
(01:26):
in real time. If you've ever wondered why
manifestations feel effortless and others don't, or how your
personal numerology can reveal the timing and purpose behind
what you attract, these courses were made for you.
The Art of Manifestation is all about turning spiritual concepts
into grounded daily practices, rewiring your beliefs, working
(01:50):
with energy, and aligning with what you actually want, not what
you think you should. Your Cosmic Blueprint dives deep
into numerology, decoding your life path, your personal year,
and your energetic rhythm so youcan manifest in harmony with
your natural cycles instead of pushing against them.
(02:11):
The Art of Manifestation will bea seven week online course and
your Cosmic Blueprint will be a four week online course.
So ask yourself, Are you ready to finally understand your own
magic? To stop guessing and start Co
creating with intention to have a space each week where you feel
(02:32):
supported, seen and in alignment?
If that feels like a yes, head to my website,
destination-found.com or click the link in the show notes where
you will find more information about the courses and can sign
up when they go live on October 29th.
(02:53):
I can't wait to journey through this next season with you live
aligned and in your full becoming.
See you then. Welcome back my loves to another
episode of the Into the Woods podcast.
I'm Rachel McGowan, your host and guide on the self
development journey. If you are listening to this in
(03:13):
real time, we are about a week out from Halloween and given it
is spooky season, today's episode is one I've been wanting
to share for a while. It's about the witches, the
word, the myth, the symbols and the women behind it, and what
happens when something sacred becomes feared, and how we are
(03:38):
reclaiming it. The forest has always had a
language of its own. When we step behind the trees,
it's almost like the air thickens with memory.
Because once, long before the word which carried fear, it
meant wise. It was the woman who knew how to
mix herbs for healing, who couldread the weather, who knew when
(04:02):
to plant, when to harvest, when to rest.
She was the midwife, the healer,the intuitive.
She was respected until she wasn't.
In the Old World, long before Christianity swept across
Europe, spiritual life was woventhrough everything.
People lived by the seasons, prayed with the moon, and looked
(04:24):
to the women who understood nature's rhythm.
There were names for them in every culture.
Wise women, cunning folk, shamans, root workers across the
world. They weren't witches.
Not yet. That word hadn't been twisted
into an insult. But as organized religion
(04:44):
spread, the church sought to centralized power, and the idea
that ordinary women could speak to spirit, heal with plants, or
hold knowledge of cycles became threatening.
Bit by bit, witchcraft was rebranded.
No longer a spiritual practice, it became a sin, a crime, a
(05:05):
heresy. I want to pause here for a
moment, and I want you to imagine being that woman.
You've spent your life serving your village, birthing babies,
healing fevers, gathering herbs by moonlight, and suddenly they
call you a witch, not as honor, but accusation.
(05:25):
Your garden becomes evidence. Your independence becomes proof.
Your wisdom becomes danger. That is how power turns.
That is how a healer becomes a monster.
Now I want to talk about the symbols.
Because even the hat, the broom,the cauldron, they all have
roots older and deeper than the fear built around them.
(05:48):
The broom was a domestic tool, asymbol of both home and
liminality. Women used it in fertility
dances, sweeping out old energy before spring planting and
folklore. Witches were said to ride them
not because they flew, but because they transcended.
The broom became a metaphor, a bridge between the mundane and
(06:11):
the mystical. The pointed hat.
That iconic shape has many possible origins.
One theory ties it to the Judan Hut, a hat Jewish people were
forced to wear in medieval Europe, marking them as
outsiders. Others connected to the hats
worn by female Brewers. In the Middle Ages, women who
(06:31):
made ale brewsters wore tall, pointed hats and markets so they
could be seen. They sold their beer beside
cauldrons with Black Cats to chase mice from the grain.
When the church and Guild later pushed women out of brewing,
that imagery of a woman with a hat, cat and cauldron was
twisted into a warning. She wasn't a Brewer anymore, she
(06:54):
was a witch. The cauldron itself is one of
the oldest sacred symbols in mythology.
It's the womb, the vessel of creation.
Celtic goddesses like Kara Dwan carried a cauldron of
inspiration and rebirth. It wasn't about evil potions, it
was about transformation. In the broom, hat, cauldron, and
(07:16):
cat all became shorthand for female independence.
And in a world that feared that,those symbols became warnings.
Now the woods. The woods were both refuge and
accusation. They were where the wise women
gathered, where they foraged, healed, held rituals.
So when the witch trials began, stories of gathering in the
(07:39):
woods became fuel for hysteria because the forest, like the
witch, was something untamed, outside control, and anything
that couldn't be controlled was branded as dangerous.
Between the 1400s and 1700s, across Europe and the colonies,
an estimated 50,000 people, mostly women, were executed as
(08:02):
witches. That's not myth.
That's record. Hung.
Drowned, burned, crushed. Texts like the Malleus
Maleficorum, the Hammer of Witches written in 1487, taught
men how to identify, torture, and condemn women accused of
witchcraft. And here's the chilling part.
(08:23):
They didn't need proof. They just needed fear.
Often women were accused for things as simple as being
single, widowed, outspoken or childless.
They were midwives blamed when ababy died, herbalist blamed when
illness spread, or simply women with property that others
wanted. The witch hunts weren't about
(08:45):
magic. They were about control over
women's bodies, land and autonomy.
And the word witch became a weapon.
It became shorthand for woman who doesn't obey, woman who
won't conform, woman who's too much.
Even centuries later, you can hear echoes of that word, used
(09:06):
the same way when women in powerare called witches.
It's not because they're castingspells, it's because they're
powerful and someone is uncomfortable with that.
I want to sit with that truth, the word which became an
accusation for any woman who didn't fit the script.
And yet she persisted. She adapted.
(09:27):
She hid her practice or carried it quietly.
The witch survived. Fast forward to the 20th
century. A man Named Gerald Gardner
publishes Witchcraft Today in the 1950s, introducing modern
Wicca, a religion that drew on old folk traditions, ceremonial
magic and Goddess worship. For the first time in centuries
(09:50):
witchcraft began to re emerge not as a crime but as a craft.
Then the feminist movement of the 1960s and 70s said yes,
which means powerful woman will take that back from their modern
witchcraft began to bloom. Kitchen witches, green witches,
solitary witches. Some work with the moon, others
(10:13):
with herbs, some with numerologyor astrology.
And yet, at the heart of it, it's the same thread that
existed all along. Connection to nature, to
intuition, to 1's own power. Symbols, once feared, became
sacred again. The broom became a symbol of
(10:33):
clearing energy, the cauldron A metaphor for transformation.
The hat a crown, the woods a sanctuary, not a crime scene.
And this, my loves, is reclamation.
So what does it mean to call yourself a witch today?
It means to honor the ancient, to remember those who were
(10:55):
silenced, and to live in harmonywith the cycles that still guide
us. It doesn't have to mean spells
or potions. It can mean mindfulness,
intuition, embodiment. Witchcraft today is the art of
remembering. Remembering who we were before
we were told to be afraid of ourselves.
It's worth pausing to notice howthat story, the demonization of
(11:19):
the witch, mirrors so many others.
Stories of marginalized people, of power stripped and stories
rewritten. That's what colonization and
patriarchy do. They take the symbols of freedom
and turn them into fear. But the symbols can be
reclaimed. They can be healed.
(11:39):
Now I want to weave it into something I love, numerology,
because even in the story of thewitch, the numbers tell their
own tale. The word witch in numerology
reduces to the number 99 represents completion, wisdom
and spiritual humanitarianism. The end of a cycle.
(12:00):
The teacher, the sage. So even in her letters the witch
carries wisdom. She closes the old to birth the
new. That, to me, is the true witch's
legacy. She isn't about darkness or
danger. She's about awakening.
She's the mirror we've all been told to look away from, but who
(12:21):
keeps calling us back home? So as you move through this
season, notice where you still hide your magic, where you still
silence your intuition, where you still make yourself smaller
so you won't be seen as too much.
Because that's the witch wound. And every time you honor
yourself, you heal it for you and for those before you.
(12:44):
You can reclaim her story in small ways, by speaking your
truth, by trusting your timing, by reconnecting with the earth,
your body, your knowing. Because that's where the real
magic lives. Not in wands or spells, but in
remembrance. If today's episode has stirred
something in you, take it as an invitation.
(13:07):
Maybe you light a candle tonightand simply whisper.
I remember. That's all it takes to stand
once more as the woman who was never lost, only forgotten.
The witch was never evil. She was never a monster.
She was a mirror, and for centuries, humanity couldn't
bear to look. But now we can.
(13:29):
And when we do, we see ourselves.
So wherever you are today, know this.
You are the descendant of women who refuse to be erased, and
their fire burns quietly in you.Thank you for sharing this time
with me, for listening, feeling,remembering.
If this episode resonated with you, please share it.
(13:52):
Let's keep telling their storiesbecause words have power in
which once a wound is becoming aword of wholeness again.
Trust your rhythm, tend your magic, and remember you were
never meant to be ordinary. You can find more reflections,
rituals and upcoming offerings on my website,
(14:16):
destination-found.com or on my Instagram at It's Rachel
McGowan. Until next time, keep trusting
your rhythm, keep listening inward, and I'll meet you again
in the woods.
Host
Rachael Magowan
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