Have you ever felt a deep, almost ancestral fear that whispers, “Don’t stand out. Don’t speak up. Don’t be too much. My friend, this is the Witch Wound.
What is the Witch Wound?
The Witch Wound is a psychological and spiritual wound carried by women who have been taught that being visible is dangerous. In some cases, this fear is isolated to speaking about and recognizing our natural intuition and non-mainstream spiritual practices like astrology, tarot, Reiki, crystals, moon cycles, and more. In other cases, women (and yes, some men) feel a sense of being identified as “different” than the majority and therefore subject to being verbally shamed or attacked, and in our modern day, essentially canceled.
Where does this fear come from?
This fear stems from the undercurrent of narratives that carried over from the witch hunts of early modern Europe, when we know that anywhere from 45,000 to 60,000, a large majority of the falsely accused were women (approximately 75-80%), especially older, widowed, single or socially marginalized women, or those who practiced midwifery/ natural healing. Even having a birthmark or a beloved dog or cat could be twisted as a sign of being labeled a witch and could lead to death.
The witch hunts occurred in two waves: the first in the 15th and early 16th centuries, the second in the 17th century. Spanish historians discovered that Catalonia (northeastern Spain) was among the first regions in Europe to conduct witch hunts. It’s important to understand that
Then, as the witch hunts were waning in Europe, there was a brief outbreak of witch hysteria in the Americas known as the Salem Witch Trials, from February 1692 until their official end in May 1693.
It’s important to truly understand that the Witch Wound isn’t just in your head. It lives in our psyche as an ancestral wound that is carried down from generation to generation in a less obvious ways. It shows up in childhood when we are taught to “people-please” in order to or subconscious programming from our families, culture, institutions, or education.
How do you know you have the Witch Wound?
The Witch Wound can manifest as a tendency to please people, to silence yourself, or to be hyper-vigilant about how others perceive you.
It can also look like hiding aspects of yourself and your interests to avoid conflict with your community. For example, I’ve spoken to many Christian women over the years who literally hide their tarot card decks and astrology books when friends or family come over, who “wouldn’t understand” that they use these tools for personal reflection to grow in their faith in God.
Ultimately, you feel an inner tension between your authentic self and how you must present yourself in your community and society at large in order to feel safe.
Why is it important to heal this fear?
It’s important to start healing the witch wound because we’re ultimately dismantling pervasive and subconscious beliefs around our ability to step fully into our authenticity and feel powerful doing so. We do the inner work not just for ourselves but also so that we can eliminate the narrative from being spread to future generations.
In essence, it’s about creating freedom to be youself.
How to start healing the Witch Wound?
The first step to healing the witch wound is to understand the long-standing history and the fear of why we fear being labeled as different or other or being the center of attention for being seen as too much or not meeting the patriarchal societal standards. It’s not your imagination, this is a dark subconscious narrative that is deeply women into our modern day lives.
Second, know that isolating yourself is not helping. It’s imperative that you know that you’re not alone, and simply surrounding yourself with women who have reclaimed their own voice and power is essential. That could look like finding a mentor or joining a community of women with similar values. And btw, you may want to consider joining me and others for our monthly group coaching “Let’s Get Visible” via my “Ready To Be Seen” membership, where we explore visible, voice, and vibe. Here, you’ll find others like you who are doing the inner work to heal the Witch Wound and reclaim their power.
Third, it’s important to consider shadow work, as it’s a key aspect to building a foundation of self-confidence and deep self-worth. If you can lovingly own some of your “not so nice girl qualities,” or maybe things you feel ashamed of. Whatever we don’t own about ourselves, or what we learned wasn’t acceptable or safe, we project onto others by judging them or rejecting them. Our own personal qualities that we pushed into our “Shadow Self” – for fear of rejection, shame or harm – have a charge. This charge shows up as judgment, annoyance, jealousy, anger, inadequacy, etc. and is triggered within us when others portray these shadow qualities or threaten these qualities to come out of us. Our subconscious is projecting our own fear of these shadow qualities onto those exhibiting them. What we judge in others is a subconscious reaction to what we have denied in ourselves. Projection is the greatest gift and a beautiful indicator that shows us what we need to integrate into ourselves.
Finally, suppose you’re ready to go deeper. In that case, it might be time to explore High-Frequency Visibility Coaching is a bespoke 1:1 program designed to enhance your foundational inner confidence, so you feel safe being seen and heard. The beauty of this work is that we address the blind spots that self-coaching and self-help simply miss. This is more than just 12 weeks of emotional and strategic support; it is an upleveling of your self-concept and a dismantling of old narratives, like your Witch Wound. That means you’ll start seeing and experiencing more joy and freedom in just being yourself, and it creates the space for personal and career opportunities to expand. Get started by booking your free consult today.
About Nicole Hernandez:
I’m Nicole Hernandez, Top Clinical Hypnotist and Visibility Coach at the Four Seasons Hotel New York Downtown, and creator of the High-Frequency Success™ Method. My mission is to help you feel safe, confident, and fully expressed as you step into the spotlight.
This article was originally published on the Ready To Be Seen Substack.
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