How Healing The Witch Wound Will Heal You + The Feminine
For me, the witch wound has always presented itself in my inability to vocalize my truth. Whether talking one-on-one with a friend I’ve known for years or giving a presentation on a grand stage to hundreds of people I’ve never met, I struggle. My throat starts to close, my voice shakes, I tremble and gasp for air, and eventually sound like I’m crying. It has been this way since I can remember, and no matter how many times I tried to push through the fear and force myself into public speaking, it never got any easier or better. I always wondered why until I realized that it was a witch wound.
Even if you don’t identify with the witch archetype or consciously practice magic, the witch wound runs deep within every woman on Earth today. And if we don’t heal our personal wounds, we will continue to pass the collective witch wound on to our daughters and disconnect them from their power and the feminine.
What is the witch wound?
The term “witch wound,” also known as a visibility wound, originates from the persecution witches faced during the witch hunts and trials. As many as 13 million women were tortured, raped, executed, and burned at the stake in what is described as a “gendercide.”
Before this time, witches were not seen as evil, old, haggard women. They were deeply honored and respected members of their communities trained in midwifery, earth-based rituals, and herbal medicine. They carried the torch for the divine feminine. But for Patriarchy, i.e., the Church, to rise, all threats had to be disarmed. Women, particularly strong, independent, wise women, were the biggest threat of all. Even if we’re born into Western, seemingly “empowered” families and times, we still feel this patriarchal hold on us as women, coupled with the burden of the work left to do.
Although witches are no longer being hunted on this same scale today, this war is far from over. Misogyny and sexism are still rife, as is the abuse and oppression of girls and women. And this will continue until the feminine rises so prominently that she awakens the masculine to his distortion.
You may have been one of these women in a parallel life, or one of your human ancestors or soul family may have been a persecuted witch. But even if neither of these circumstances apply to you, the witch wound is ever-present in all women today. It is often steeped in our childhood experiences and traumas and ingrained in the messages we receive from parents, teachers, and systems.
Often, it’s a subconscious wound that we are unaware of. But at its very core, it is collective trauma (in the body and soul) rooted in the fear of our power as women, the magic and gifts we carry, and the feminine. This can manifest in many ways, which we’ll explore more in the next section. And it passes from mother to daughter, keeping us bound by grief, shame, and fear.
How can the witch wound affect you?
Here are some of the ways the witch wound can present itself in your life:
- Lack of self-trust
- Disconnection from your intuition
- Fear of using your voice
- Fear of being seen and taking up space
- Struggling to speak up and presence your truth
- Guilt, shame, and doubt around your magical powers and gifts
- Hiding your spiritual beliefs, gifts, and magic from others
- Having so much to share but not knowing how or where to begin
- Feeling ready to uncloak yourself, but no one wants to hear it
- Staying silent out of fear of judgment and repercussions
- Being hyper-vigilant about how others perceive you
- Trying to blend and fit in at the cost of your true identity
- Holding yourself back and playing small in your sacred work
- People pleasing and lack of boundaries
- Believing that you cannot be spiritually and financially abundant
- Fear of being harmed if you succeed
- Mistrust of other women
The importance of healing the witch wound
If we don’t heal our personal witch wounds, we will live a small life plagued by guilt, shame, and fear. We won’t utilize the gifts we have been given and won’t align with our soul purpose and destiny. Ultimately, this is every human being’s task—to figure out their purpose and to courageously walk this path, even when we don’t have the full roadmap.
When you heal your witch wound, you will reconnect with your sacred power, the divine feminine, and your true soul essence. And the more you heal, the more confident and liberated you will feel, the more light you can hold, and the more connected you will be to your inner wisdom, which will serve as a much-needed guide through the dark.
When we hide our gifts, we rob ourselves and the world of this light and radiance. And this light doesn’t just have the power to heal a single person; it has the power to heal the entire collective. You might think that you’re just one insignificant person, and it doesn’t really matter if you stay in hiding or not, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. There is a war on Earth between the light and dark. And it will take all of us holding the full magnitude of our light and emanating this loving, healing frequency to win the battle.
How to heal the witch wound
#1. Discover your specific wound
The first step to healing the witch wound is to take some time to uncover your specific wound because there are different flavors. Delving into your subconscious is one of the best ways to do this. You can meditate, do shadow work, breath work, dream analysis, journal, and more. Journaling on some of the consistent fears present throughout your life is one of the simplest tools to discover your witch wound.
#2. What limiting beliefs are you holding onto?
Once you’re clearer on your fears, you can start to uncover the beliefs that drive those fears. For example, if your fear is around speaking your truth, the underlying belief may be that you will be judged by friends, colleagues, or strangers for speaking your truth and, therefore, be in danger.
What beliefs are tied to your deepest fears?
Are they your beliefs, or did you inherit them from someone else?
Do these beliefs serve and support you, or do they limit and disempower you?
Are you willing to release these beliefs and claim new ones?
#3. Work with a healer & therapist
Healing your witch wound alone can be challenging, especially if you’re unsure where to start. I recommend seeking out your own healers and experimenting with different forms of therapy that you gravitate towards. Energy work can be incredibly healing, but it’s not a substitute for therapy, so don’t discount this.
Many witch wounds are held in the throat chakra area, so healing that focuses on this area can be effective, particularly if your wound is around speaking your truth/using your voice. Working with a sound healer, chanting, or repeating mantras could unlock something deep within you.
If your wound is around trusting other women, joining a women’s circle facilitated by someone you trust can help you rebuild this trust. You will experience the feeling of being seen, held, and supported without judgment, fear, or ostracisation. There are so many amazing teachers and different types of circles you can join, from in-person retreats to online gatherings. Let your intuition guide you as to what you need most.
#4. Connect with your intuition
This is a huge subject, which is why I dedicated an entire article to it. Soul guidance comes to us in many ways, whether knowing in the body, a vision, a message, a dream, or a feeling. Think about how you’ve successfully received guidance in the past. In what form did you receive it? This will show you the flavor of your psychic gifts.
So many of us are disconnected from our intuition because we’re encouraged to lead from the mind and with logic above all else. But the heart is always meant to lead. And the more we ignore these whispers, the more we will struggle to trust ourselves.
Journaling, working with tarot and oracle cards, meditating, being in nature, and engaging in specific energy practices can all help you connect more deeply to your inner wisdom. The more connected you are to Self and Source, the harder it will be for your witch wound to stick around.
#5. Get comfortable with being disliked
If you have ever tried in the past to please everybody, you’ll know that it never works out. Someone is always unhappy, and that’s not necessarily bad, especially when it comes to your sacred work. If you try to people-please, you will dilute your true soul essence, offer something out of alignment with you, and then your soul-aligned clients will struggle to find you because what you’re emanating won’t be a match for them.
The thing about being visible and putting yourself out there is that there will always be someone who dislikes what you say and do or believe in. We have no control over how anybody else thinks, feels, or perceives us. So, why waste precious energy worrying about it?
#6. Lean into your magic
Reclaiming your magic is integral to healing the witch wound. Each of us carries a unique set of gifts, talents, and frequencies that the world needs.
So, whatever you feel instinctively drawn to, follow it. Whether it’s books, coaches, courses, healers, teachers, places, cultures, colors, clothes, spellwork, rituals, crystals, paths of yoga, the path of the Priestess, etc. This is your intuition guiding you toward your magic and purpose. Don’t question or overthink it. Lean in. Every step you take will unlock a new piece of the puzzle and help you become more of who you already are on the soul level.
#7. Speak your truth
This doesn’t mean you share anything and everything publicly on social media for the world to see. It’s about discernment. Knowing when and what to share and when not to. This comes back to trusting your intuition and allowing it to guide you.
Start small and at home. If you tend to people-please with family and friends, set some new boundaries. The next time someone asks you to help them with something or go out for coffee and it’s a full-body NO, honor that and politely decline. If someone asks your opinion about something, and you do have an opinion, can you find the courage to share it? If you’re in a meeting at work and you disagree with a strategy or decision, dare to voice it.
#8. Live & lead authentically
Healing the witch wound, personally and collectively, is about being in integrity with ourselves and living authentically. It means accepting and honoring who we are, claiming our purpose, and creating a life that supports our soul mission.
There will always be objections and judgment when we remove the cloak we’ve worn for years and step out of the box society tries to keep us in. But this is how we reconnect with and reclaim our power and the sacred gifts of the feminine. This is how we heal ourselves and the planet. This is how we move past our fears, unchain ourselves, and rise.