From:	"Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@*******.MANKATO.MSUS.EDU>
Subject:	Witches some more
Date:	Sun, 3 Oct 1993 16:18:42 -0500

First, let me strongly state that I did not propose this with the
intention of offending any Wiccans or anything like that (you all know me
better than that). What I am interested in is defining the 'witch' in
accordance with the mythological and legend setting, completly
side-stepping any religious references (holy wars are not good for the net).

Second, witches are not inherently bad or evil. Glinda (from the Wizard
of Oz) was a good witch. The commercialized holloween witch is nothing
more than glitter. What I'm talking about is a magic user that, instead
of using direct astral magic, uses the magic in herbs and animal parts
and rocks to combine them together into a magical spell. There are
SEVERAL fantasy books that define a witch in this fasion (Ursula Le
Guin's Earthsea books, for example).

So get the image of the wart-nosed hag standing cackling over a cast-iron
pot out of your mind.

{[> Robert A. Hayden ____ <[} Question Authority
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