Waking the Witch: An Interview with Pam Grossman

I'm really excited today for this interview with Pam Grossman, who is the author of the book Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power. She's also the host of The Witch Wave Podcast - which if you are not familiar with, go over right now and check it out. You will not be disappointed.   Her writing has appeared in places like the New York Times, time.com, and HuffPost. Pretty much everywhere you can imagine. So I am so excited for this interview with Pam Grossman. Pam, thank you so much for being here with us today. Pam Grossman: Thank you so much for having me. It's so nice to be here.   Ashley: As many of you listening know, I actually own a new age shop called Mimosa Books and Gifts in Madison, Wisconsin. We're always looking for great new books to carry in our store. Not long ago, when I came across Waking the Witch and read the description, I immediately fell in love. I really wanted to have this book on the shelves for our customers. Lo and behold, when I was checking my calendar for podcast guests, guess who was here... none other but Pam. It was divine timing. I'm thrilled to carry your book in the shop. The staff were drooling over it when we got it! Could you tell us a little bit about what this book is all about? Why did you write it? What is the story behind it? Disclosure: The link here is an affiliate link, meaning I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Yay! Pam: Absolutely! Well, first of all, thank you so much for carrying it in your shop. I am such a proponent of small businesses and indie shops. So, of course, order the book wherever you can get it, but if you can go to a shop like that one, please do. Waking the Witch has the subtitle 'Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power.' I chose those words with a lot of intention because, to me, the archetype of the witch is one that is inherently related to our feelings about feminine power. I should clarify - people of all genders can be witches, and this book is for people of all genders. However it really does trace the history of how witches and women became interlinked. For most of human history, witches were associated with evil and malevolence. Starting around the 14th and 15th centuries, they were associated with the devil himself. And yet, today we have a much more positive association of witches with women and with people of all genders. I really wanted to celebrate the positive aspects of witches, which I think need to be celebrated more. It's really exciting to see that witches are more popular than ever now and are being celebrated. I also wanted to really trace the history of them and explore the ways in which we, by which I mean society, depicts witches. Often, this is a reflection of how that given society or those given people feel about female power. Spoiler alert - now that feminism is growing (and we still have a long way to go), people have a more positive association with complex, dynamic, powerful women. And guess what? Our witches are more positive now. That's kind of the thesis statement of the book. But it really is fun and it touches on the history and pop culture and some of my own story as to how I started identifying as a witch. My book is a real amalgamation of a lot of things, but all surrounding that idea of power, femininity, and magic. Ashley: I love this because it doesn't just focus on one thing. I think so many of the books in this area are so focused on just ritual, or just magic, or just that this or that. The thing is that this is so deeply ingrained into all parts of our culture. You can't separate magic or ritual or art or creativity out from any of the other things. They all blend together and the lines kind of blur. I love that you've just looked at this concept, an archetype of this energy and you're taking it to a place where it can be really profoundly thought about and talked about in a way that I think is pretty illuminating.