Tutorial Session 2

This CoP tutorial ran through my essay outline and the practical work that I've created so far. 

Practical

I expressed my concerns about the etching process, and it was suggested to me that I really consider what I want to get out of the project. 

Do I want to get good at etching? Developing a completely new skill?

or

Do I want to get really really good at lino? Developing on an existing skill?

This is definitely something I'll consider and reflect on before making a decision.

Written

It was interesting to hear that I'd managed to hit on a key concept through my research. The information that I'd found about the witch as one of Jung's archetypes. 

It's funny that I didn't realise that this could be an important theory, and actually blogged it saying 'something that might not be that important but I found interesting'

I've been told to look further into this, along with Joseph Campbell.

This will then form an important part of my essay, looking at the representation of the with in relation to theories raised by Jung and Campbell.

To do for next tutorial:

Chapter 2 = Resolved as planned: 3000 words

Chapter 3 = Jung / Campbell / Fairytales. Bullet points.

Look into Jung & Campbell

Reflect on practical

Chaos Reigns

Chaos Reigns – Women as Witches in Contemporary Film and the Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

By Annette Schimmelpfennig, University of Cologne, Germany

1An obscure hut in sinister woods, secluded from the outside world, inhabited by an old and wicked, often deformed woman. The image of the witch is etched on the memory from childhood on, characterised by her portrayal in fairy tales and shaped by popular culture, especially contemporary film. Although of pre-Christian origin, and exploited during the peak of the witch-hunts from the late 15th to the middle of the 18th century, the belief in witches has barely forfeited its sometimes dubious popularity. While the commercialisation of other magical and monstrous creatures such as vampires, elves and werewolves follows the trend of Hollywood marketing experts and the development of youth culture, the witch appears to be a constant fictive companion in bed-, children’s and living rooms. Be it as animalistic grandmother-gone-bad in the Grimm’s Hansel and Gretel or as narcissistic queen in the form of Charlize Theron in Snow White and the Huntsman, the depiction of female witches [1] is versatile, as can be seen by comparing diverse cinematic witch characters with their literary ancestors by the Brothers Grimm.

 But it was not only men who were threatened by witches. It was common belief that witches engage in infanticide and cannibalism (cf. Levack 20), which not only changed but also perverted the idea of the woman as nurturing mother. The witch-hunts hence functioned as a necessary means to secure society’s “moral boundaries” (Ben-Yehuda 14). In times reigned by poor survival conditions, witches became scapegoats that were held responsible for moral decline and epidemics and led to the so-called witch craze.

Planning Essay

I've been going over and over things in my head and getting myself so confused about my essay. For some reason every time I start to try and break it down, I get totally mixed up. So I've tried to write it out to get the ideas onto a page and get it straight in my head.

My essay aims to explore the witch as a symbol. Looking into the archetypes of the witch and the typical connotations. Where did this come from? And has it changed over time? If so, how? And why? 

The witch used to stand for repression of women, the repression of matriarchal beliefs and paganism. 

The main archetypes portrayed in art and literature being the old hag and the beautiful temptress. Evil / bitterness and unholiness / sexuality. 

Where have the archetypes come from?

Anybody could have been a witch, so why do we have the perception of either old hags or young temptresses.

How has illustration constructed our PERCEPTIONS OF THE TRUTH

these women weren’t flying on broomsticks, having sex with the devil at sabbaths or shape shifting, but for various reasons the population was led to believe in this.

Now a days we have more of an understanding of the motives behind the witch hunts. but the symbol of the witch still survives. 

What does she embody, what does she symbolise and why does this live on through art and literature?

Main body 1

• Where did the witch come from? Historical background of the concept of the witch. 
• What were the social, political and cultural factors that altered people’s perceptions of the truth?
• Female roles within society before the witch craze phenomenon: Wise women, healers, counsellors etc.
• Pagan religions / societies: Celebrations of mother nature, ceremonies, rituals. 
• The spread of Christianity throughout Europe and the rejection of paganism
• The church using women as a scapegoat in order to discredit matriarchal societies or even the equality of male and female. Providing no alternative to the patriarchal christian faith.
• The witch was portrayed to be a symbol of EVIL. The role of the Devil changed and women accused as witches were condemned as worshippers of the Devil.
• “If sexuality was a sin, then woman was the greatest sinner of all” The witch as a symbol of sexuality. 
• Art and literature examples depicting temptress and hag? 2 examples? Appropriate for this section?
• “…false image of the witch as an old hag…Old women used to be revered because they [had] this ancient knowledge…” Why the hag??
• The persecution of witches is about the repression of women.

WHAT IS MY POINT

Witch hunts are the fault of the church. 

The perception of the hag and the temptress though - did these just come out of the forms of evil that these women were thought to represent? Or was it the art and literature at the time? 

Is the art that influenced the perceptions? Or the perceptions that influenced the art?

And then how do these archetypes still exist today? Examples. Have they changed? How?

Conclusion will either be that it has changed, or it hasn’t through examples of illustration / art / literature and how.

So following the historical explanation, I want to use folktale examples, plays and films, to show how the role of the witch exists, and how it's changed.

Jung's archetypes

Something that might not be that important but I found interesting was that 'the witch' even crops up in a list of Psychologist Jung's archetypes...

As well as the 4 main archetypes of The Shadow, The Anima, The Animus and The Self, Jung said that there are a large number of others. These are often linked to the main archetypes and may represent aspects of them...For example:

Story archetypes The hero: Rescuer, champion The maiden: Purity, desire The wise old man: Knowledge, guidance The magician: Mysterious, powerful The earth mother: Nature The witch or sorceress: Dangerous The trickster: Deceiving, hidden The witch or sorceress not standing for female power in a positive light but standing for something dangerous. Funnily though, the women who were typically accused of being witches and perceived as being dangerous - were the ones worshipping The Earth Mother, who stands for nature. Also interesting to see that there is an archetype for a Wise Old Man, representing knowledge and guidance, but no Wise Old Woman. Would she just fall into the category of a witch? http://changingminds.org/explanations/identity/jung_archetypes.htm

Witch archetype changing

Obviously written from the point of view of a modern day 'witch'. But the final paragraph about the archetype of the witch changing. No longer seen as purely evil, but also positive:

https://archetypicalwitchcraft.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/the-power-of-the-witch-archetype/

Where Three Roads Meet... (2016). The Power Of The Witch Archetype. [online] Available at: https://archetypicalwitchcraft.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/the-power-of-the-witch-archetype/ [Accessed 27 Oct. 2016].

Since the traditions of modern witchcraft came out of the broom closet, witchcraft has undergone a reinvention or a rebirth. Many modern witches shy away from the archetypical image of the witch, with her many symbols like broom, cauldron, pointy hat, black cat, toads and other nightly creatures, the famous familiar spirits, spells, hexes and curses, contact to the spirits of the dead, shape shifting into animals, the knowledge of herbs and poisons, the legendary flying ointment, meetings on crossroads and old cemeteries or the fly through the night on broomsticks or pitchforks.

Many modern witches claim that the stereotypical witch is only fantasy and that in truth witchcraft is and was different than this image.

Witchcraft evolved into a modern religion, which is a good thing. Modern witches gather on the seasonal festivals, celebrate the seasonal changes, belief in and honor the Great Goddess and the Horned God and some of these witches work positive magic- without harming or manipulating other people.

They use the the symbols of the ceremonial magic in their rites: the athame, the chalice, the wand and the pentacle. And their rituals are also influenced by the ceremonial magic in their structure.

But at the same time modern witchcraft has lost (for me personal) much of its  mystical side, a lot of the magic and its power.

The spells of many modern witches seem (to me personal) more like positive thinking with the help of some material supplies (like candles and herbs) and positive affirmations. And many modern witches don’t even belief in real magic, for them the magic, the rites and the spells are something psychological, through which them they are talking to their unconsciousness, through their spells they can work changes with their unconsciousness. This kind of magic is more a type of placebo effect sometimes.

But in the archetype of the witch, with all its many symbols, there you can find much truths about witchcraft. Our modern archetype of the witch has changed and evolved over time, the archetype of the evil witch is changing into something more positive and more ambivalent. For centuries the archetype of the witch was only seen as evil. Now in many movies, books and fantasy the witches can be supportive and good. They can be a guides for heroes, a helper in need AND someone who can also act against their enemies. And this ambivalent image of the witch is the original one. Even the most ancient witches of our culture Medea and Circe, could be helpers of the heroes, could heal and bless. But at the same time they could get a nightmare if you tried to work against them.

Historical Representations of the Witch

Shakespeare's 3 witches from Macbeth

1st Witch:

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

2nd Witch:

Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin'd.

3rd Witch

Harpier cries:—'tis time! 'tis time!

1st Witch:

Round about the cauldron go:

In the poisoned entrails throw.

Toad, that under cold stone

Days and nights has thirty-one

Sweated venom sleeping got,

Boil thou first in the charmed pot.

All:

Double,double toil and trouble;

Fire burn and cauldron bubble.......

The Three Witches from "Macbeth" (1827) by Alexandre-Marie Colin

Durer:

1500 - Albrecht Durer 

Witch Riding Backwards on a Goat - Engraving 

(Petherbridge, 2013. p.42)

Depicting a hideous old crone riding a goat and holding a broomstick. ‘The shrieking old hag rides backwards on the goat with her broom and spindle between her legs, her wild hair streaming out in her direction of travel. The goat is an embodiment of the Devil, and also a symbol of lust…Even Durer’s usual monogram is reversed. Witchcraft is understood to be the reversal of normal ethics and religious practices. Cupids that promote love are here related to an old hag whose sexuality belongs to the Devil, also a sign of perversity. Lines of rain and hailstones in the corner remind us that witches are committed to raising storms and spreading destruction.’

Durer 2:

1497 - Albrecht Durer

The Four Witches - Engraving

(Petherbridge, 2013. p.22)

‘This extremely famous and widely distributed print established a late Renaissance precedent for depicting witches as nude young women, whose very beauty and desirability can be a threat to men, especially when they congregate as a coven.’ Contrasting image to the example above. Demonstrates the two main stereotypes.

Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America

Berger, H. (2005). Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp.138 - 139.

Early Commodification and Commercialisation: Salem, "Witch City"

'A natural starting point for exploring the manifestations of witchcraft is Salem, Massachusetts, also known as "Witch City." In the early 1690s, long before Wicca became a viable religion in North America, over two hundred people were on trial for practising witchcraft, and twenty were executed.' 

'The Peabody Essex Museum showcases many of the original witch trial documents and renders an authentic and sobering version of the trials. At the same time, it displays a tremendous variety of "witch kitsch" in a hallway filled with posters, postcards and ceramic witch figurines complete with broomsticks, black cats and cauldrons. This historical record of Witchcraft's commercialisation dates from at least 1862. Leaving the Peabody, one immediately notices multiple store awnings featuring a black robed pointy-hatted witch with a black cat and the caption "Stop by for a Spell."'

'It appears that every establishment has witch-themed items for sale, including T-shirts, dresses and cloaks, jewellery, ceramics, dolls, dishes and pictures.'

'The highly commercial Salem Witch Museum offers and explanation of the colonial witch hysteria through its tape-recorded show. Its gift shop offers prospective buyers a huge variety of witch kitsch, including postcards, playing cards, tote bags, coffee mugs, stuffed animals, and flying witch dolls as well as serious books covering the witch trials. Modern-day Salem underscores the entrepreneurial beginnings of the commercialisation of Witchcraft in North America, as it profits from the deaths of people killed as witches over 300 years ago. In response to the town's extreme commodification, in 1992 the local Witch Defense League dedicated a memorial to those who were executed as witches.'

Witchcraft and Magic in Popular Film and Television: Pre-Wicca Influx

'The commodification of Witchcraft can be explored through its portrayal in popular culture mass media such as film, television dramas, fantasies, and news programs as well as books and the Internet. The world has witnessed tremendous changes in the representation Witchcraft and magic since it became a recognised religion in North America in the 1970s.'

Early Films

'Witches in film have often been portrayed either as ugly, bad and powerful women or as extremely beautiful and good women. A clear example of this occurs in the film The Wizard of Oz, based upon the book by Frank L. Baum, which...gained popularity in the 1950s... A pretty blonde witch, Glinda the Good Witch of the North, directs Dorothy to magic slippers that can help them, while the ugly Wicked Witch of the West tries to foil their efforts.'

'Throughout the movie, the good-bad dichotomy, characterised as white magic versus black magic, is played upon. It seems that the wicked witch is so powerful and devious she is sure to win...'

'The moral of the story is that good magic and believing in oneself can provide the strength needed for tough situations, and it can overcome negative forces, as portrayed by the wicked witch.'

By Tanice G Foltz

The book is edited by Helen A. Berger but contains contributions from a number of different writers. Helen A. Berger is a 'sociologist specialising in the study of contemporary Paganism and witchcraft, a new religion with venerates the female divine to the exclusion of, or in conjuncture with, the male divine.'
Other writing is by: Michael York / Wendy Griffin / Ysamur M Flores-Peña / Stuart A Wright / Tanice G Foltz

The Burning Times

Found this documentary about witchcraft and watched it, taking loads of notes of info and quotes etc.

It was really useful and interesting, although there were elements that could be criticised. It takes a feminist viewpoint, and some of the facts are questionable. It's possibly a bit outdated as it was made 26 years ago now.

For example:
One woman quotes that 9 million people were killed for witchcraft over a 300 year period. The actual figure isn't known but through my research I've read on many occasions that 9 million is considered a vast exaggeration. Wiki accepts that "An estimated total of 40,000 - 60,000 people were executed during the witch trials." The fact that she has stated this may support that it's a bit of a biased documentary

The documentary covers the ideas that women were considered healers, counsellors and leaders before the introduction of the patriarchal religion of the church into Europe. The view of women was changed and twisted, and our ideas of female power were manipulated.

"...One of the reasons why people fear the word 'witch' so much is that it brings up ideas about women's power...We have been propagandised really to fear women's power, to fear female power, to see it as something negative, something to be afraid of, something destructive, something evil." Starhawk, feminist author / witch (6:00)

"The understanding of 'witch'...as 'healer'...'the woman alone', 'the woman in nature', 'the woman at the edge of social change'... all those meanings that we can think of in regard to 'witch' are not the meanings that most people in our society look at. They see witches in terms of evil, they confuse 'witch' and 'satanist'..." Margo Adler, journalist / pagan priestess (4:14)

Pagan rituals / lack of 'belief':

"...When you think about Goddess religions and...pagan religions...most pagan peoples lived on a particular part of the land, they had ceremonies and traditions and Goddesses...and Gods...that were appropriate to them at a certain time. They made their rituals and their celebrations as things that were important because they were part of life experiences. They helped the crops grow, they helped the animals come in, they helped talk about the relationship of the moon and the stars and the planets, and they really didn't have a lot to do with 'belief'. They're based on action, experience, celebration, custom." Margo Adler (16:48)

'With the arrival of Christianity, 'belief' became a way of life. Everywhere in Europe, Churches were built over Pagan shrines and Goddesses were turned into Saints... It offered no divine Goddess to adore.'

"We can see that there were two kinds of religion...the religion of the elite, the formal Catholic church religion. And then there was the popular religion of the ordinary people...The Goddess religion, the nature religion, the religion of spirits." - Barbara Roberts, historian (20:05)

This was a direct challenge to the structures of authority.

In reference to Joan of Arc:

"By Joan's time the church was increasingly rigid. It was increasingly on the defensive and it got more and more doctrinaire; more and more concerned to quash descent, to quash difference. It was more and more threatened by it..." Barbara Roberts, historian (23:00)

It was a time of social upheaval. As trade expanded, landowners pressed for the confiscation of peasant land. People rebelled as they were driven off their farms and into cities and towns. Those who demanded reform were branded enemies of God'

- People weren't just being killed because of witchcraft accusations, but also because of accusations of heresy -

'Charges of witchcraft followed hot on the heels of peasant rebellions.
Repression increased. Anyone considered helpless, mysterious or abhorrent was victimised and punishments became public spectacles.'

'Many suffered, but women suffered most of all.'

"The mere fact that women are singled out particularly, says something about our society, about our culture, which to a large extent is misogynist. We get it even in the new testament in the writings of Saint Paul, that it is woman who introduces sin. It is woman who is the temptress. In a sense it is woman who is the cause of the fall." Irving Smith, historian (27:47)

Guilt and sin were now a part of every Christian's life. Sexuality was no longer a gift, but the route of all evil. And woman was the obstacle to man's holiness.
From every pulpit, celibate priests declared that the end of the world was at hand. The pious would go to heaven and the wicked would burn in hell.

The BLACK PLAGUE brought about 'the end of the world' that swept across Europe. The priests said it was 'God's punishment for sin'.

"...At the end of the 16th century... it would seem that the female population increased more rapidly than the male population...Possibly extensive war saw the decimation of male numbers. Some have argued that women were more immune to diseases that were rampant at the time, including the plague... You'd developed this kind of disproportion within the population. ...The importance of that in a patriarchal society is that women begin to outlive men. And not only that, women, because of their excessive numbers, do not find husbands. They don't marry, and become...independent. In a patriarchal society, this is very very difficult to come to grips with."

'By the 16th century, women's rights to inherit and own property diminished. Many women became dependent on charity. Those who held on to their property were objects of suspicion and envy.

At a time when life expectancy was 40 years, just being old was suspicious.

Widows, spinsters and beggars were most vulnerable to charges of witchcraft. They were easy scapegoats for communities plagued by war and disease.'

Institutions blaming witches:

"These were centuries of incredible strife, uncertainty, clash between Protestant and Catholic, and most important, a kind of groundswell of anti-clerical feeling. It strikes me that the witch craze is kind of an answer for institutions which feel threatened. In other words, if one could convince the lower classes that their difficulties arose from the fact that witches were present and were blighting the harvests, were causing barrenness in the marriage bed...it would sort of take the pressure off the establishment. It's not the state, it's not the pope, it's not the bishop who is the cause of your anguish. It's the cursed presence of the witches." - Irving Smith, historian (31:40)

THE HAG

'She flew through the night air on missions of destruction, and everything she touched turned to death and disease. She was a 'hag', the Devil's agent, the poisoner, the one with the 'evil eye'.'

"This false image of the witch as an old hag: first of all, the witches were not all old...It's certainly affected how we look at women today and it's used as a great putdown, that women are 'hags'. Hag used to mean 'sacred knowledge'.. Old women used to be revered because they did have this ancient knowledge and sacred knowledge and passed it on to others...It was wonderful to be an old woman." Thea Jensen, feminist writer / broadcaster (33:16)

WITCHES SABBATH / THE DEVIL

'There is evidence that women did meet in groups to participate in the old rituals and to exchange news. But as the witch persecutions reached their height, meetings like these became more and more dangerous.'

'Women who gathered at night were thought to be evil; an idea reinforced by the art and literature of the time' (34:20)

- Could link this point in with images. e.g. Shakespeare 3 witches in Macbeth over a cauldron.

Torture to extract confessions. '3rd Degree torture' usually resulted in confession if it didn't kill the victims.

'It took the church 200 years of terror and death to transform the image of Paganism into Devil worship. And folk-culture into heresy.

Ceremonies were disappearing, celebrations of the seasons etc.

'The Devil is afoot in the lands; conjured up in fields and forests. And his demons were led by women.'

'Wild horned God of the old religion was transformed into the Devil and women were said to be more susceptible to his charms. Women were irrational. They were driven by their passions.'

'If sexuality was a sin, then woman was the greatest sinner of all' (46:02)

"Because women were, by definition, sexual, women were also dangerous. And women could be in league with the Devil because after all, all of these dangerous and wicked and threatening and ungodly and unchurchly things must have come from the Devil. The Devil had by then got elevated to God's worthy opponent. There had been changes in church doctrine that made the Devil almost the other side of the coin of God." - Barbara Roberts, historian

"When a woman reportedly signed a contract with the Devil, it was generally finalised with some sexual act. The interesting thing is, that whereas witchcraft is found in areas stretching from Northern Italy all the way to Scandinavia, women who confessed to this (because we still have the trial records) generally indicate that sexual union with the Devil is a very very painful thing, it's never enjoyable. Apparently the Devil's member is icy and frigid. This caused a great deal of consternation. If there wasn't such a thing as witchcraft, home come all of these women respond in the same way?...These are very remote communities and villages. Why do women respond in the same way when they're interrogated? ...It isn't all that mysterious. The interrogators were all supplied with handbooks - the type of questions to pose." - Irving Smith

The most popular handbook was the Malleus Maleficarum. Mass distributed due to the printing press. Commissioned by Pope Innocent VIII, it singled out women as the primary source of witchcraft.

"The most nefarious book ever done on how to burn a witch was done by two dominicans...It's unbelievable. It's a pure study of repression and projection... It's a highly sexual book and it's all about the projection of man onto others. The fear of their own sexuality. The fear of the night. The fear of the dark. The fear of women... That book was extremely influential." 

Conclusive points:
- There are no memorials
- We don't remember those who have died
- Only the image of the witch as she lives on in fairy tales

Reflection:
This kind of summary of the history of the creation of the concept of the witch, the escalation toward the witch hunts, the manipulation of the depiction of women and of 'witches' could form a good first part of my essay main body.
This can then move forward to how we define a witch today, in contemporary examples and the examples of the depiction of witches.
The image that was created back in the medieval / early modern era .. How do we still portray that today? Has it changed? If not, why not?
What is the witch a symbol of? Why? Historically and now in our present day.
Repression? Or empowerment? Evil? Or counsel, support, cure?

Tutorial Session 1

Tutorial notes

Written Focus on written work
Be specific
Try to figure out question
Consider the main question: '...perceptions of the truth...'
Representations of the witch crafting people's perceptions of the truth?
Why is the witch an enduring character?
Contemporary?? Need a contemporary counterpart
Teen rebellion? Non conformity?

Why do we still have witches?
The way it is represented is a reflection of society?
Find specific examples that prove different points

Target Research

Commodifying the witch?
As a subculture?
Not about belief?

Chapter 2: Looking at historical explanations
The hag and the seductress

Chapter 3: Contemporary examples

Practical
Tools for engraving?
- Consider quality of line
- Test different lines and crosshatching
- Dot work for tone
- Build up line and tone, try to control this
- Improve etching by not using line at all
- Can scribble to create tone

Reflection

I got some really helpful feedback, but this CoP tutorial left me feeling really overwhelmed.
I felt as though I'd researched a fair amount but when I was answering questions my mind just kept going completely blank.
This made me realise that I wasn't confident with my subject which if I'm being totally honest, clearly means that I actually haven't researched enough in one specific area and been decisive enough at this stage.
I don't have a solid base of references, I've just been researching really widely, and I'm thinking too big
I need to keep it simple.

I've also realised that to do etching, I need to strengthen my drawing skills considerably, and learn more about mark making. I've never actually be taught cross hatching and didn't really know how to do it. I also haven't drawn anything realistic or tonal in a while. This is something I'd have to start doing.

On a positive note though it was useful to hear that the practical can totally branch off from the written work as long as it stems from the same research

For next tutorial:

Bullet point Main Body 1 - ending with mini conclusive statement about the concept of witchcraft and persecution of witches being the repression of women

Specify question

Films about witches / demons etc

I found a list of a bunch of movies to do with diabolism & pagan worship. Some are way older than others.. but I've added to it with more films that reference demons or witches:

The Magician 1926
The Black Cat 1934
Night of the Demon 1957
Black Sunday 1960
The City of the Dead 1960
Night of the Eagle 1961
Witchcraft 1964
The Devil Rides Out 1968
Rosemary's Baby 1968
Witchfinder General 1968
The Exorcist 1973
The Wicker Man 1973
The Omen 1976
Suspiria 1976
Inferno 1980
Demons 1985
Hellraiser 1987
The Craft 1996
The Devil's Advocate 1997
The Blair Witch Project 1999
End of Days 1999
Constantine 2005
The House of the Devil 2009
Drag Me to Hell 2009
The Conjuring 2013
The Witch 2015

This list is huge and it's not possible for me to watch them all. Plus some of them will probably be rubbish. But I'm aiming to select a few over the range of decades that could potentially show a development in the representation of the witches / demons / devil.

Practical - Etching

I spent the afternoon in the print room doing some dry point etching. I've never tried it before at all and after doing lino for so long it was difficult to think in reverse. i.e. relief print vs intaglio print. I picked an image I'd seen in the beginning of Haxan but sketched it out in my own way.

The process was pretty tricky (especially considering I hadn't removed the clear plastic film from the plate to begin with, whaaat an idiot. But anyway I hadn't done much so I'll breeze over that.) Trying to get smooth lines was difficult - I didn't want them to be perfect but I wanted to avoid an overly scratchy effect. When I pushed the tool through the plastic, some directions felt smooth, and some felt rough, so my line quality wasn't consistent. Although, looking at old woodcuts and considering the crude images of the old chapbooks - perfect lines weren't important. There was a particular kind of aesthetic that appears in a lot of Medieval / Early Modern imagery - rough lines, inaccurate proportions, with a focus being more on the message / concept of the illustration, rather than the quality.

(Of course, there are also some really beautiful, detailed works that required a great deal of craft and precision. Like Durer's Apocalypse series.. which I thought were etchings because of the level of detail and the suggested range of tones, but they're woodcuts:)

Durer, 1498

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/19.73.209/

Etchings on the other hand are usually really detailed, and capture form and light well. I wasn't under any illusion that I was going to achieve something like this though, so I stuck with the less detailed approach. 

It was hard to see the lines that I'd cut, unless I could get them to catch the light, so there were some areas that were far rougher than others. At a point, I felt like it looked as though a kid had etched this, but this project is about research and exploration. So my method is all about trial and error at this point, in order to learn about the process and develop my skills.

I attempted a bit of cross hatching, which wasn't brilliant. But I've learnt a fair bit about what can be achieved with the process. I tried out some areas of detail, along with simple line work and experimented with the tools as my prints went along.. although I didn't really know what I was doing with the roulette but wanted to see what effect it gave. I wasn't too impressed because I think I'd used it totally wrong.. Plus I got some feedback from Mike, who politely said he preferred the stark white background with the solid image. I think it was code for "you've wrecked it". But it's all experimentation.. 

I think I'll watch some YouTube videos on how to use the different tools for future reference.

The interesting thing about etching is that because it's easy to keep printing, then altering the image, then printing, then maybe carving some more.. I can see the development as I create more prints. There's a sense of sequence through the process. The prints that I made only really demonstrate me trying to get to grips with the method, but I imagine that I could make a whole series of prints that develop as they go on. 

Also, it would be interesting to see how the same image could look if I created it as a lino cut, considering my skill set is more developed in this area. 

I'm a bit concerned at the minute about my direction with my practical work though. My initial idea was to focus on the printmaking methods relevant to the Early Modern period in Europe, and to attempt to create illustrations reflecting the attitudes towards witchcraft at that time... 

Maybe now that it's been recommended that I have a contrasting contemporary element, I could also reflect this through more modern print methods? Or modern attitudes / depictions of witches and demons, illustrated through the historical print methods.

...Maybe I could almost tell a story about the development of the attitudes toward witches / demons etc through etchings that develop from the same plate .. Or that could be a terrible idea. But hey it's an idea.

I'm hoping that I'm being realistic in thinking that I could get good at etching over the course of the module... I have like 10 or so weeks to get bloody good. Maybe this is too ambitious, and I should focus on lino printing. 

I'm aiming to get into the print room again to try out more etching. Aims for next time:

- I'll ask about better ways to transfer images onto the plates, instead of a hard-to-see rough pencil sketch that I had today.

- I'll test different paper to see how it may change the aesthetic or appear more appropriate to my subject.

- I'll test smaller areas / images, and prepare illustrations before I go

- I'll experiment with line weight / tone / texture

I think I should try out etching a few more times and be brutally honest with myself in regards to whether I think it's a realistic option for my practical outcome. I know it's about research, exploration and experimentation, but I really want to produce something of quality that I'd be proud of....aka not the etchings from today.

Witches & Wicked Bodies / 'The Witch' Film

From the book Witches and Wicked Bodies 

By Deanna Petherbridge & The National Galleries of Scotland

From the chapter Hideous Hags & Seductive Sorceresses

Pg 21

'Over the centuries witches have been either depicted as hideous and emaciated old crones with long dugs and wild hair intertwined with writhing snakes, or as beautiful seductresses who 'bewitch' unwary men with their dangerous charms. 

Witch hags are identified with the emblematic image of Invidia (Envy) who stalks the earth eating her heart out with jealousy of the fortunate and vents her malevolence by causing storms, fires, and natural disasters and by raising tempests at sea. Witches are so envious of fertile and sexually attractive young mothers that they sour their milk, cause miscarriages, substitute changelings in the cradles and even cannibalise babies or use their body parts for making evil potions. They render men impotent and kill livestock. 

The myth of the beautiful sorceress who lures, seduces and casts spells upon innocent men was prevalent in the classical world and the Renaissance. Figures such as Circe, who enchanted Ulysses and turned his men into beasts, or the sorceresses Alcina and Armida, have inspired operas, poems, theatrical performances and artworks over the centuries. Like the cabbalistic Lilith whose 'dangerous' hair entwines men, and the biblical Eve who promotes primal sin, such evil women, the familiars of serpents, utilise their sexuality to ensnare men for malevolent purposes.'

To draw a parallel using a contemporary reference - I watched the movie The Witch last week, and both of these types of witches were featured. 

----- SPOILER ALERT by the way.. ----

The film centers around a puritan family who move away from their community and start a fresh life on their own farm. Pretty soon everything heads down hill as they're plagued by a witch who lives in the forest nearby. The film seems to be pretty accurate in reflecting the beliefs of the time, as well as the emphasis on faith and the repression of the Christian religion. 

The oldest daughter, Thomasin, was distrusted and targeted by her family as they blamed her for the supernatural goings on. Moments in the film stress that this was due to her gender, and the fact that she was growing into an attractive young woman. At the end of the film, she has lost faith in God and joins the side of the Devil.

The first encounter with the witch is as a rotten old hag that lived in the woods. She steals a newborn from a family, and later is seen cutting off the child's body parts, bashing them up with a pestle and mortar and smearing the mixture over her skin. She fits the typical description, with a hunched posture and long lank hair. 

A hare appears through the film too, on a few occasions. I interpreted that it was either a reference to the witch's familiar, or possibly the witch herself. It was thought that witches could shape shift, and with the appearance of the hare before something bad often happened, it could have referred to this. 

I found this from a website called Myth & Moor, written by Terri Windling - an artist and writer interested in myth, folklore, fairy tales and the ways they are using in contemporary arts.

"As Christianity took hold across Europe, hares and rabbits, so firmly associated with the Goddess, came to be seen in a less favorable light -- viewed suspiciously as the familiars of witches, or as witches themselves in animal form. Numerous folk tales tell of men led astray by hares who are really witches in disguise, or of old women revealed as witches when they are wounded in their animal shape. In one well-known story from Dartmoor, a mighty hunter named Bowerman disturbed a coven of witches practicing their rites, and so one young witch determined to take revenge upon the man. She shape-shifted into a hare, led Bowerman through a deadly bog, then turned the hunter and his hounds into piles of stones, which can still be seen today."

http://windling.typepad.com/blog/2014/12/the-folklore-of-rabbits-hares.html

(Refer back to this site to see if there are examples of the contemporary use.)

The second time the witch is seen in full detail is when she takes the form of a 'seductive sorceress', luring and kissing a young boy before he falls ill with a fatal mystery infection. Again, this is reflective of the traditional concepts of the witch in one of her forms. 

The devil appeared toward the end of the film, to seduce a young woman and convince her to sell her soul. The final scene showed a witches sabbath with a group of women, nude, floating or flying around a fire. The film ends on a dark note, but with a sense of liberation and acceptance, something previously unavailiable to Tomasin in the Puritan home.

"She became a witch in part because her beliefs were so fervent that in absence of one religious covenant, Tomasin immediately sought an alternative from the only kind of replacement she knew. And the culture that bred her to be meek, subservient, and imminently guilty due to her sex pushed her to be that what they feared most: feminine and dangerous. Thus our 21st century understanding of the medieval and early modern fears about witchcraft (strong women) greater informs this nightmarish fever dream taken from the most hideously perverse Puritan superstitions."

www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/the-witch/253108/explaining-the-witch-ending

CoP Second Lecture

Methodologies and Critical Analysis

Need to evidence in essay:
- Analysis and research
- Underlying logical, testable approach
- Be critical
- Know why I'm asking certain questions

Project needs a methodology
Define mine
How can I improve it?
How to evidence it?

Methodology: How am I researching?
Should be logical, systematic, structured and organised
Use the word:
M E T H O D O L O G Y
Evidence that I have reflected critically on various research methods and chosen the most appropriate ones

I need to be able to explain why I chose to research the way I did and explain why I argued something the way I did

Research
Questionnaires
Reading
Internet
Observation
Drawing
Reflective Diary
Scrapbook
Writing

Methodology: What tools I am employing and why

Be honest on blog about research

Understand the limitations of what I discover and try to achieve maximum validity of what that is

Thank about ways to think - put consideration into my methods
E.g. Blog my primary research which isn't questionnaires / interviews etc but is the practice, and the process of drawing, printmaking etc

My primary research will therefore be Qualitative, not Quantitive

What will I be able to discover with this? What can't I discover?
Highlight strengths and weaknesses of specific approaches
Use research question as a drive

Articulate my process
On my Blog and also in the introduction of my dissertation
This will be:
- Defending my methodological approach
- Talking through a breakdown of chapters

USE THE WORD METHODOLOGY
e.g. "The methodology is historical and feminist, and focuses on the writing of ....... because..."

Good to focus on one writer or source, and two or so books. This is a strong, precise approach.

Reference writers, theories, key texts and dates etc.


Critical Analysis

Choosing one method over another + evaluation
Be super critical
Looking at artists / designers etc is vital to the essay
Be critical with this too, not just text and quotes
Consider background, context, bias etc
Be just as critical of my own practice

Module demands synthesis
Need to involve my practice and be critical of this

Design decisions reflected against methodological process

Contextualise everything
E.g. book - who wrote it? when? political drive?
Everyone has a drive that colours their output

Being critical will help to develop the argument
Underpins dissertation
What do I want to say? What am I answering and how?
Have I got evidence?

T R I A N G U L A T I O N
Important
Pitting alternative theories against each other

Keep it SIMPLE

Key issues or questions

Logical progression

Loads of references and citations

Use a mix of small quotes / block quotes / paraphrasing

Secondary sources & historical, contextualise

Triangulate

All about evidence

Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages

I started watching Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages from 1922. I'm not sure though whether this is classed as contemporary... It isn't in terms of 1922 to now, but maybe in regards to 1922 vs 17th century ..?

The beginning of the film is like a short history lesson on some perceptions of witchcraft with a focus on the medieval period. I took some notes and started some rough sketches which I want to continue doing more as I watch more of the film.

The movie is split into chapters, which look into witches, black magic, satanism and the persecution of the witches in the Middle Ages.

I'm nowhere near finishing the film yet but I want to watch more of it.

At this point in time, I've been struggling with getting distracted by research. Instead of considering what it is that I want to look at, organising my method and structuring my research in a logical way, I keep looking at one thing and getting side tracked googling something else from that. Everything is branching off in different directions and over this past week I've had about 100 tabs open on my browser.

I started watching this film but yet again got distracted by something else. So my aim this next week is to keep going with my textual research - although I want to be more specific now in what I'm focusing on, but also to finish watching Haxan in order to get my practical work going a bit more. I think watching films is a good way to introduce me to the representations of witches and give me the inspiration to draw.

I'm getting too lost  / opening up too many doors.

Malleus Maleficarum

The Malleus Maleficarum usually translated as Hammer of Witches is the best known and the most important treatise on witchcraft. It was written by the Catholic clergyman Heinrich Krämer (under his Latinized name Henricus Institoris) and first published in the German city of Speyer in 1487. It endorses extermination of witches and for this purpose develops a detailed legal and theological theory that is misogynistic. It was a bestseller, second only to the Bible in terms of sales for almost 200 years.

Misogynistic:

Broedel (2003), p. 175: "Institoris and Sprenger's innovation was not their insistence that women were naturally prone to practice maleficium – in this they were simply following long-standing clerical traditions. Rather, it was their claim that harmful magic belonged exclusively to women that was new. If this assertion was granted, then the presence of maleficium indicated decisively the presence of a female witch. In the Malleus, the field of masculine magic is dramatically limited and male magicians are pointedly marginalized; magic is no longer seen as a range of practices, some of which might be more characteristic of men, some of women, and some equally prevalent among both sexes. Instead, it was the effects of magic that mattered most, and harmful magic, the magic most characteristic of witches, belonged to women. Men might be learned magicians, anomalous archer wizards, or witch-doctors and superstitiosi, but very seldom did they work the broad range of maleficium typical of witches."

Broedel, Hans Peter (2003). The Malleus Maleficarum and the Construction of Witchcraft: Theology and Popular Belief. Manchester University Press

Jump up

Pavlac (2009), p. 57: "Many historians also blame Krämer for encouraging witch hunters to target women more than men as witches. Even his spelling of "maleficarum," with an a in a feminine gender instead of the usual masculine-gender "maleficorum" with an o, seems to emphasize his hostility toward women. Krämer's misogynistic arguments list many reasons why women were more likely to be witches than men. They were less clever, vainer, and more sexually insatiable. While these were not new criticisms against women, Krämer helped to entrench them in strixological literature."

Pavlac, Brian (2009). Witch Hunts in the Western World: Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition through the Salem Trials: Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition through the Salem Trials. ABC-CLIO.

Jump up

Guiley (2008), p. 223: "Kramer in particular exhibited a virulent hatred toward women witches and advocated their extermination. The Malleus devotes an entire chapter to the sinful weakness of women, their lascivious nature, moral and intellectual inferiority and gullibility to guidance from deceiving spirits. In Kramer's view, women witches were out to harm all of Christendom.

• • Scholars have debated the reasons for Kramer's misogyny; he may have had a fear of the power of women mystics of his day, such as Catherine of Siena, who enjoyed the attentions of royalty as well as the church." 

Guiley, Rosemary (2008). The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca. Checkmark Books.

Brauner (2001), pp. 35-36: "Kramer and Sprenger present an array of observations from the Bible, the church fathers, and the poets and philosophers of antiquity to support their contention that women are by nature greedy, unintelligent, and governed by passions. They argue that the evil of women stems from their physical and mental imperfections, a notion derived from Aristotle's theory that matter, perfection, and spirituality are purely expressed in the male body alone, and that women are misbegotten males produced by defective sperm. Women speak the language of idiots, Aristotle contends; like slaves, they are incapable of governing themselves or developing into the 'zoon politicon'. Thomas Aquinas adapted these views to Christianity, arguing that because woman is less perfect than man, she is but an indirect image of God and an appendix to man. Citing such views, Kramer and Sprenger find that women are 'intellectually like children,' credulous and impressionable, and therefore easily fall prey to the devil. 'Since [women] are feebler both in mind and body,' the Malleus concludes, 'it is not surprising that they should come more [than men] under the spell of witchcraft.

Lack of intelligence prevents women not only from distinguishing good from evil, but from remembering the rules of behavior. Amoral and undisciplined, women are governed primarily by passion. 'And indeed,' Kramer and Sprenger declare, 'just as thorough the first defect in their intelligence women are more prone to abjure the faith; so through their second defect of inordinate affections and passions they search for, brood over, and inflict various vengeances, either by witchcraft, or by some other means.' [...] 'Wherefore it is no wonder that so great a number of witches exist in this sex,' concludes the Malleus."

Brauner, Sigrid (2001). Fearless Wives and Frightened Shrews: The Construction of the Witch in Early Modern Germany. University of Massachusetts Press. 

Britannica: 'By 1435–50, the number of prosecutions had begun to rise sharply, and toward the end of the 15th century, two events stimulated the hunts: Pope Innocent VIII's publication in 1484 of the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus ("Desiring with the Greatest Ardour") condemning witchcraft as Satanism, the worst of all possible heresies, and the publication in 1486 of Heinrich Krämer and Jacob Sprenger's Malleus maleficarum ("The Hammer of Witches"), a learned but cruelly misogynist book blaming witchcraft chiefly on women. Widely influential, it was reprinted numerous times."

Lewis, I. and Russell, J. (2016). witchcraft. [online] Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/witchcraft#ref414830 [Accessed 8 Oct. 2016].

http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/downloads/MalleusAcrobat.pdf

Monotheism v Polytheism

http://www.etymonline.com/columns/polytheism.htm

This is from a book titled 'Hindu Polytheism' by Alain Danielou from 1964, which sounds irrelevant, but when I've been reading around the Christianisation of Europe and the repression of pagan traditions, it fit in:

'Monotheism is always linked with a culture, a civilization. It is not through its forms but in spite of them that gifted individuals may reach spiritual attainment. We shall see that monotheism is the projection of the human individuality into the cosmic sphere, the shaping of 'god' to the image of man. Hence the monotheist commonly visualizes his 'god' as an anthropomorphic entity who shares his habits, patronizes his customs, and acts according to his ideals. Religion becomes a means of glorifying his culture or his race, or of expanding his influence. He is one of the elect who follows the 'Way of God' as if there could be a Way that did not lead to 'God.' We can see all monotheistic religions fighting to impose their god and destroy other gods as if God were not one as they claim. Monotheism is basically the absolute exaltation of the worshiper's own deity over all other aspects of the Divine, all other gods, who must be considered false and dangerous. The very notion of a false god is, however, an obvious fallacy. If there is an all-powerful, all-pervading divinity, how can there be a false god? How can we worship anything that is not Him? Whatever form we try to worship, the worship ultimately goes to Him who is everything.'

CoP3 Group Tutorial

Today's group tutorial was interesting and I got some really helpful feedback from it. Turns out Fred is an expert on my topic, and he summed the whole general question up in about 3 minutes flat. It was great.
I've got a lot of broad research now, although it was suggested that I look into the following:

- Patriarchy v matriarchal social structures.
- The way in which Christianity / monotheism shaped the concept of witches in order to influence a move away from matriarchal polytheistic social structures.
- The reappropriation of certain deities, or aspects of the images of certain deities, in a negative light in order to support the transition toward monotheism. E.g. Pan - Greek religion / mythology - God of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds etc. He has the legs and hind of a goat, which was later taken by Christianity and used in the depiction of Satan.

(Margaret Murray's name cropping up again)

My main issue was that my investigation so far is purely historical. I need a contemporary counterpart to the work in order to balance and draw comparisons.
- The depiction of the witch: folklore
- Depiction of witches, demons, the devil etc in contemporary television / films
Considering the images of witches in programmes like charmed, to the more current tv like American Horror Story: Coven. The image has moved away from the idea of an old hag to more attractive younger subjects.

The point of the practical side of my investigation is to experience more of printmaking and develop my skills in a way that I feel is relevant to the subject matter that I'm looking at. I'd talked about exploring other processes but today it was suggested that I could even just stick with lino cutting and aim to become really bloody good at it, trying to identify new techniques within that practice in order to make some really technically sound prints.

I spoke to Mike in the print room who suggested that instead of immediately jumping into etching, I start with dry point. This uses a plastic plate instead of metal and misses out the steps involving acid etc. That way I can get a feel for the methods and see the aesthetic of the outcomes without having to commit to a more complicated process just yet. He reckoned I could see how I go, then decide if I want to go on to test metal etching out.

The practical side will form my primary research - Talking to printmakers / learning through making / experiencing.

I'm feeling positive about CoP and am going to try to research more of these points, plus get some practical research started properly for the next tutorial I have.

Margaret Murray's witch-cult hypothesis

The witch-cult hypothesis is a discredited theory that the witch trials of the Early Modern period were an attempt to suppress a pre-Christian, pagan religion that had survived the Christianisation of Europe. 

According to its proponents, this witch-cult revolved around the worship of a Horned God of fertility whom the Christian persecutors referred to as the Devil, and whose members participated in nocturnal rites at the witches' Sabbath in which they venerated this deity.

The theory was pioneered by German scholars Karl Ernst Jarcke and Franz Josef Mone in the early nineteenth century, before being adopted by the French historian Jules Michelet, American feminist Matilda Joslyn Gage, and American folklorist Charles Leland later in that century. 

The hypothesis received its most prominent exposition when adopted by the British Egyptologist Margaret Murray, who presented her version of it in The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921), before further expounding it in books like The God of the Witches (1931) and in her contribution to the Encyclopædia Britannica. 

Although the "Murrayite theory" proved popular among sectors of academia and the general public in the early and mid twentieth century, it was never accepted by specialists in the Early Modern witch trials, who publicly discredited it through in-depth research conducted in the 1960s and 1970s.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-cult_hypothesis#The_Witch-Cult_in_Western_Europe:_1921