Mastrubation is a form of witchcraft. This provocative statement brings forward a controversial perspective on a commonly practiced sexual act. While many people view masturbation as a natural and harmless act, this viewpoint argues that it carries deeper implications and links it to the realms of witchcraft. At its core, witchcraft is often associated with the manipulation and channeling of supernatural forces for personal gain or pleasure. It is believed to involve harnessing and redirecting energy in order to manifest desires or create effects in the physical world. Similarly, proponents of this viewpoint argue that masturbation, particularly when paired with visualizations or the use of pornography, taps into this same concept.
Where do witches come from?
Images of alluring young witches and hideous hags have been around for centuries – but what do they mean? Alastair Sooke investigates.
Ask any Western child to draw a witch, and the chances are that he or she will come up with something familiar: most likely a hook-nosed hag wearing a pointy hat, riding a broomstick or stirring a cauldron. But where did this image come from? The answer is more arresting and complex than you might think, as I discovered last week when I visited Witches and Wicked Bodies, a new exhibition at the British Museum in London that explores the iconography of witchcraft.
Witches have a long and elaborate history. Their forerunners appear in the Bible, in the story of King Saul consulting the so-called Witch of Endor. They also crop up in the classical era in the form of winged harpies and screech-owl-like “strixes” – frightening flying creatures that fed on the flesh of babies.
Circe, the enchantress from Greek mythology, was a sort of witch, able to transform her enemies into swine. So was her niece Medea. The ancient world, then, was responsible for establishing a number of tropes that later centuries would come to associate with witches.
The Three Weird Sisters from Macbeth, 1785 (The Trustees of the British Museum)
Yet it wasn’t until the early Renaissance that our modern perception of the witch was truly formed. And one man of the period arguably did more than any other to define the way that we still imagine witches today: the German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer.
Double trouble
In a pair of hugely influential engravings, Dürer determined what would become the dual stereotype of a witch’s appearance. On the one hand, as in The Four Witches (1497), she could be young, nubile and lissom – her physical charms capable of enthralling men. On the other, as in Witch Riding Backwards on a Goat (c 1500), she could be old and hideous.
Durer's influential etchings portrayed witches as young and nubile or old crones (Albrecht Dürer)
The latter print presents a naked crone sitting on top of a horned goat, a symbol of the devil. She has withered, drooping dugs for breasts, her mouth is open as she shrieks spells and imprecations, and her wild, wind-blasted hair streams unnaturally in the direction of her travel (a sign of her magical powers). She is even clutching a broomstick. Here is the matriarch of the witches that we find in popular culture today.
For art historians, though, the interesting question is what provided Renaissance artists with the model for this appalling vision. One theory is that Dürer and his contemporaries were inspired by the personification of Envy as conceived by the Italian artist Andrea Mantegna (c 1431-1506) in his engraving Battle of the Sea Gods.
“Mantegna’s figure of Envy formed a kind of call for the Renaissance of the witch as a hideous old hag,” explains the artist and writer Deanna Petherbridge, who has co-curated the exhibition at the British Museum. “Envy was emaciated, her breasts were no longer good, which is why she was jealous of women, and she attacked babies and ate them. She often had snakes for hair.”
Another of Durer's etchings shows a witch riding backwards on a goat, with four putti (The Trustees of the British Museum)
A good example of this Envy-type of witch can be seen in an extraordinarily intense Italian print known as Lo Stregozzo (The Witch’s Procession) (c 1520). Here, a malevolent witch with open mouth, hair in turmoil and desiccated dugs clutches a steaming pot (or cauldron), and rides a fantastical, monstrous skeleton. Her right hand reaches for the head of a baby from the heap of infants at her feet.
This print was produced during the ‘golden age’ of witchcraft imagery: the tumultuous 16th and 17th centuries, when vicious witch trials convulsed Europe (the peak of the witch-hunts lasted from 1550 to 1630). “Across Europe, there was the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Thirty Years’ War, fantastic poverty and social change,” says Petherbridge. “Even King James in his text Daemonologie [1597] was asking: why was there such a proliferation of witches? Everybody assumed it was because the world had got so foul that it was coming to an end.”
As a result there was an outpouring of brutally misogynistic witchcraft imagery, with artists taking advantage of the invention of the printing press to disseminate material rapidly and widely. “Witchcraft is closely allied to the print revolution,” Petherbridge explains. Many of these prints, such as the powerful colour woodcut Witches’ Sabbath (1510) by Dürer’s pupil Hans Baldung Grien, can be seen in the British Museum’s exhibition.
By the 18th Century, though, witches were no longer considered a threat. Instead they were understood as the superstitious imaginings of peasants. Still, that didn’t stop great artists such as Goya from depicting them.
Los Caprichos is Goya’s collection of 80 etchings from 1799 that use witches as vehicles for satire (Goya)
Los Caprichos, Goya’s collection of 80 capricious (or whimsical) etchings from 1799, uses witches as well as goblins, demons and monsters as vehicles for satire. “Goya uses witchcraft metaphorically to point out the evils of society,” says Petherbridge. “His prints are actually about social things: greed, war, the corruption of the clergy.”
Broom with a view
Goya did not believe in the literal reality of witches, but his prints are still among the most potent images of witchcraft ever made. Plate 68 of Los Caprichos is especially memorable: a wizened hag teaches an attractive younger witch how to fly a broomstick. Both are naked, and the print was surely meant to be salacious: the Spanish ‘volar’ (to fly) is slang for having an orgasm.
Around the same time, there was a vogue among artists working in England for depicting theatrical scenes of witchcraft. The Swiss-born artist Henry Fuseli, for instance, made several versions of the famous moment when Macbeth meets the three witches for the first time on the heath.
By now, though, the art of witchcraft was in decline. It lacked the strange imaginative force that had animated the genre in earlier centuries. In the 19th Century, the Pre-Raphaelites and the Symbolists were both drawn to the figure of the witch, whom they recast as a femme fatale. But their sinister seductresses arguably belong more to the realm of sexual fantasy than high art.
The one constant throughout the history of the art of witchcraft is misogyny. As a woman, how does this make Petherbridge feel? “At the beginning when I was looking at these images, I was quite distressed because they are so ageist,” she says. “Of course, now I’ve stopped being shocked by them, and I think that they are saved by their excess, satire and invention. Artists were often drawn to these scenes because they offered drama. They were free to spread their wings and come up with all kinds of bizarre imagery. Yes, these scenes represent the demonisation of women. But often they are keenly linked to social critique. Witches are the scapegoats on which the evil of society is projected.”
Alastair Sooke is art critic of The Daily Telegraph
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BECOME THE WITCH YOU'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO BE! ~Craft a REAL, bespoke, and highly effective witchcraft practice that supports your life and goals ~Harness your own energy, the key to your magickal and personal power ~Work with the energies of the Earth and Cosmos, which add massive layers of power to your own ~Release uncertainty and become a confident, masterful magician and creator of original spells ~Clear blocks to your magick, happiness and success in life ~Discover a divination practice that will help you to navigate your life and Witchcraft practice ~Live in sync with the rhythms and energies of nature ~Practice your own personalized year of Sabbat celebrations (holidays!) -Live harmoniously with the Moon and 'her moods', and create your own soulful esbat (full moon) practice ~Connect with spirit and understand your path and your purpose ~Learn SO much about magick, what it really is, and more importantly. DO IT. and experience life-changing manifestations!
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Similarly, proponents of this viewpoint argue that masturbation, particularly when paired with visualizations or the use of pornography, taps into this same concept. The act of masturbation involves self-stimulation, a deliberate effort to derive pleasure through physical means. Like witchcraft, it could be seen as an attempt to manipulate and direct personal energy towards achieving personal gratification.
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Enchanted Incantations is perfect for Witches, Magicians, Poets and Writers with any level of writing experience who want to infuse the power of words through poetry into their spell incantations, ritual practices or even everyday writing projects.
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In this sense, it can be argued that masturbation aligns with the principles of witchcraft. Another parallel between masturbation and witchcraft lies in the focus on intention and visualization. Witchcraft often involves utilizing mental imagery and intention to support desired outcomes. Similarly, many individuals who engage in masturbation utilize visualization techniques or mental imagery to enhance their enjoyment. By visualizing explicit scenarios or fantasies, individuals seek to amplify their sexual experience. This deliberate act of shaping and directing the mind's focus during masturbation echoes the principles of witchcraft, which involve channeling energy through intention and visualization. Moreover, masturbation, like witchcraft, challenges traditional norms and beliefs. Throughout history, witchcraft has been associated with a sense of rebellion, defying societal expectations and embracing personal desires. Similarly, masturbation challenges cultural and religious ideologies that may advocate for sexual restraint and abstinence. As an act of self-indulgence and pleasure-seeking, masturbation can be seen as an act of rebellion against these repressive beliefs. In conclusion, the argument that masturbation is a form of witchcraft provides a thought-provoking perspective on a widely practiced sexual act. By drawing connections between the manipulation of personal energy, the use of intention and visualization, and the act of rebellion against societal norms, proponents of this viewpoint shed light on the deeper implications of masturbation. While the idea may be controversial and subject to individual interpretation, it encourages a reconsideration of the act beyond its surface-level understanding..
Reviews for "Breaking the Curse: How to Escape Masturbation's Witchcraft Grip"
1. Lisa - 1 star - This book was absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't believe that someone would actually write about masturbation being a form of witchcraft. It seemed like a desperate attempt to create controversy and gain attention. The author provided no scientific evidence or credible sources to support their claims, making it difficult to take anything they said seriously. This is nothing more than sensationalism and wild conspiracy theories, and I would not recommend wasting your time reading it.
2. Mark - 2 stars - While I appreciate the author's attempt to explore a topic that is often taboo, I found their arguments about masturbation being a form of witchcraft to be far-fetched and unsubstantiated. The book lacked sufficient research and relied heavily on personal beliefs and anecdotes. It felt like a stretch to connect the act of self-pleasure with sorcery and devilish practices. I was expecting a more thought-out and evidence-based discussion, but unfortunately, this book fell short of my expectations.
3. Sarah - 1 star - As someone who enjoys reading about different perspectives and viewpoints, I thought "Masturbation is a form of witchcraft" had the potential to offer an intriguing discussion. However, I was sorely disappointed. The author presented their ideas without any logical reasoning or persuasive arguments. It felt like a poorly researched rant instead of a scholarly examination. I would have appreciated more substantial evidence and a stronger foundation for the claims made in this book. Overall, it left me feeling frustrated and unsatisfied.