Narrative therapists coach their clients to look for a new and more positive story embedded in a client’s “old” and often pathologically riddled story. It’s there, they say. It’s all a matter of where you place your focus. 

This applies to our personal stories. It also applies to a culture’s story. And baby, that new story is bubbling up regardless of what the news says.

The Dragons Are Here

I recently discovered When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill. Billed as a feminist tale, it tells the story of a time in the 1950s when women were transformed into dragons with superpowers. I had to smile. 

(Unbeknownst to most people, the dragon is “the serpent on legs,” noted feminist author Barbara Mor in The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth, and represents the feminine.) 

 “The dragons are here,” said the bookstore clerk, an enlightened Gen Z woman, as I perused Barnhill’s book. “The witches are coming next,” she said matter-of-factly. She is the future, I thought, as we talked.

And it’s brighter than the politicians and naysayers would have us believe. Granted, that future may not come for a bit, and its emergence may be bloody (all births are), but trends are hinting at a new story. 

The Witches Are Coming 

The pandemic boded well for witches. In fact, the psychic services industry had a boost during the pandemic, according to IBIS World, an international market research firm. But then, all you have to do is scan current publications to know that. 

Marie Clare’s 2021 article, “The Sacred Boom,” shows the rise in psychic businesses. Bust Magazine proudly proclaims that the witch is here, and “….[s]he is unapologetically old. No Botox or facelift for her. She gives three spits on the ground in regards to your patriarchal standards of beauty.” 

“Witches are everywhere,” a new neighbor informed me as I admired her “Witch’s Garden,” as the sign proclaimed. “They are your mothers, your aunts and your grandmothers.” Her confidence was unshakeable. “Sure, we do spells, but we also march in protest. It’s the witch’s way.” 

The Story IS Changing

Today, the word “witch” is being reclaimed, noted Lindsey West, pop culture opinion writer for the New York Times, in her essay collection, The Witches Are Coming. 

I picked up Lindsey’s book because I loved the title, loved her bold writing and matter-of-fact candor about what is. Yes, she writes, women are coming after men, just as men have come after women for centuries. So what? Get ready. Don’t play nice.

“We have to be the witches they always said we are,” writes West, “and counter their magic with our own.” 

M. Carolyn Miller, MA, designs narrative- and game-based learning. She also writes and speaks about the power of story in our lives and world. www.cultureshape.com