Wise Women
Nonfiction by Ella Barnard
Plant Medicines by Cas Ward
The women have been tried and convicted, awaiting a fate they do not deserve. They have taken on a label that has killed before, a symptom of the mass hysteria spreading around the small Puritan town stead. These women have gone against God Himself, allowed the Devil into their bodies and consorted with him. She is a witch, the others whisper amongst themselves. Their eyes are locked on the newly presented, on a girl no less than twenty, from across the small room that has been repurposed into their courthouse. These words from wicked tongues have not only affected women, but still they are hated more; accused the most often, killed the most. There will be no true justice for this woman, nor the ones who have come before her. They will continue to be the victims of the deep-set hatred of women that lingers within her society, ingrained within the fabric of Salem so tightly that she will die because of it. Hatred for women bleeds through this small town, flowing so easily down the citizen’s throats that even they have begun turning against each other again and again, until the witches have been othered, killed, eliminated.
On the last day of seventh grade, my best friend Emma comes over to my house for a sleepover. Despite spending the academic year at different schools, our shared birthday has bound us together from the first day we met in second grade. We sit in my small bedroom, Emma counting the seconds as I read aloud a kiss from a book, timing it and giggling at the length. Neither of us have been kissed before, a moment we both dream of and romanticize. That leads us to speaking about our crushes from that year; Marco for her as he had been for almost two years, and George for me, a boy a grade older who also played the bass. “What if we made them fall in love with us?” she asks me, grinning. “We can do a spell; witchcraft, you know?”
It is an easy move downstairs to the family computer, my clumsy fingers typing love spells into the search engine and clicking excitedly on the first result. Printing the incantation out, I take her outside to pluck the blush petals off a flower from the garden as directed by the spell. We scamper to the neighbour’s hill opposite my house to gather more, these ones a dark red. Emma and I link hands after we have found enough, creating a small circle, and beginning. Our voices are whisked away by the wind as we read the instructions, hoping our words will turn into magic and will turn into the love we dreamed of.
Love spell for ever-lasting romance. For best results, perform this under a full moon while wearing the pearls your mother inherited from her mother, and so on.
Step one: Run your hands through a basin of fresh water. Remind yourself of your first home, deep inside a woman with the same magic as you. This is a magic that only women have, the power to create life and carry it.
Step two: Remember where you come from: from a long line of women who suffered more than you can ever imagine. Can you picture your mother, the things she gave up having for you, the dreams she sacrificed and put to the wayside? What about her mother, and the mother before her? Remember that and hold onto it. Never let it go. It is important.
Step three: Tell yourself that the love you have for your mother you must now give to yourself. The ever-lasting romance comes from yourself, with the joy of falling in love with your femininity. It is hard to see the magic you have, but it is there.
Step four: Remember all women are witches, but not all witches are women.
Ella Barnard (she/her) is a student in Humber Polytechnic's Bachelor of Creative and Professional Writing Program. She has been writing for sun since she had access to a computer, creating flash fiction and plays for her and her siblings to perform for their parents. She decided to go to writing school after a bad day at work and is now writing almost every day. Her work ranges from fantasy, contemporary fiction, and creative non-fiction. Barnard hopes to be a librarian one day, where she will be in her happy place—surrounded by books.