Weyward

by Emilia Hart

We never thought of ourselves as witches, my mother and I. For this was a word invented by men, a word that brings power to those who speak it, not those it describes. A word that builds gallows and pyres, turns breathing women into corpses.

Perhaps one day, she said, there would be a safer time. When women could walk the earth, shining bright with power, and yet live.

The connections between and among women are the most feared, the most problematic, and the most potentially transforming force on the planet. —Adrienne Rich