Victoria McTavish (fine art 602)
Ancient knowledge systems accepted that all sentient life was connected, and that in this vast web of time all acts create a consequence. This was seen in the phenomenal world of the physical reality as well as the psychic/unseen world to which everyone is a part.
The psychic imbalance created when one energetic principle dominates and controls another is an effect that has not gone away.
The internalised pain that the feminine principle has borne continues to this day unabated. Shame of the body and its natural functions, self-doubt and an overall disempowerment can be traced back to the witch trials.
Witches, witch-hunting and women
The witch hunt was a war against women. The sexual sadism by torture to which accused women were subjected reveals a misogyny that has no parallel in history. From every perspective the witch hunt was a turning point, one from which the psyche has not recovered and for which there has been no recompense or acknowledgement.
Even today this chapter in woman's story is often reduced to folklore and remains the most understudied phenomena in European history.
As collectively we come to terms with the impact of dominant systems upon our planet, we might go back to the very roots of the wound inflicted on the feminine. The body of work here is my homage and acknowledgement to that wound.
The web - archetypally - is governed by the fates. The triple goddess in her three phases: the spinner, the weaver and the cutter. It is these primordial feminine aspects whom are said to govern all eternal/natural laws as well as cosmic truth, divine justice, and retribution.
The systematic genocide of women has created a complete imbalance on the planet. This sustained campaign of terror destroyed the foundations of women's power and knowledge. It paved the way for a new patriarchal order where women's bodies, their labour and sexuality, were firmly placed under the control of the state.
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No fair trial
An accused woman was never given a fair trial. Confessions were extracted through torture. The atrocities she was subjected to meant that once accused she was guilty. She would, from her own resources, have to pay for rope, wood for burning, and her time spent in prison. Following her execution, her lands, possessions and home would be siezed. The churchmen and men of the law would have a great feast. Greed and power made witch-hunting a very profitable business.
The legalised sadism of the clergy and men of state enforced daughters to testify against their own mothers. Daughters were then forced to watch their mother's execution.
Trial by water / Ordeal of cold water
Otherwise known as "swimming the witch", a common practice by which if a woman floated she was found guilty then burned at the stake. If drowned, she was innocent (on the theory that water rejected a witch).
The blood mysteries
The rites governed by wise women were passed from mother to daughter through the blood lines. Hence women were persecuted and seen as objects of fear under the new patriarchal faith and their blood lines erased as a matter of social cleansing.
Menstrual blood contains the vital essence that connects every woman to a formidable shamanic tradition. It symbolises the source of their mystical and creative powers.
Resolution and rebalancing
The spine is the conduit or channel for the life force. Ravens are often associated with witches. With their black feathers they are symbolic of the void. In shamanic cultures the void was the entrance to hidden systems of knowledge. It could only be entered by an initiate devoted to spirit, one who could see deep into space and time to the timeless reality of love and truth beyond material existence.
The rebalancing of the masculine and the feminine within the individual psyche constitutes a restoration, a healing, of all the elements, of which we are not a separate part, but implicit and responsible for.
Textile details
These examples show the details and techniques used on the hanging garments and the witches' ladders.
