Remembering Scotland's Witches
- Andrea Lawrie
- Oct 5
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 13
While planning this month's Full Moon Women's Circle, my thoughts have been on Samhain and ancestral healing (Samhain being the old Celtic festival celebrated between 31 October and 1 November that marks the end of harvest and the start of winter; when the veil between the living and the dead is said to be thin).
It was timely then that last night I went with two trusted friends to hear two inspiring women talk about Scotland’s witch trials, and it left me wondering ...
What might shift in the collective “witch wound” when we remember, name, and honour those who were once silenced, executed, and forgotten?
A Night With Dr. Claire Mitchell, KC & Dr. Zoe Venditozzi
At the Cowdray Hall in Aberdeen on 4th October 2026, Claire and Zoe shared the heart and soul of their Witches of Scotland campaign and their book How to Kill a Witch. But they’ve already achieved something extraordinary: in March 2022, after years of campaigning, the then First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, issued a formal apology to all the people accused and executed under Scotland’s Witchcraft Act which was passed by the Scottish Parliament during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1563. Claire and Zoe's work now pushes for full legal pardons and a national memorial.
Claire is a human-rights lawyer specialising in miscarriages of justice; Zoe is an English teacher and writer. Together, they’ve turned history and healing into action.
What Scotland Forgot
In the 16th and 17th centuries, Scotland’s population was about 900,000. During that time 4,000+ people (mostly women) were accused of witchcraft and around 2,500 were executed. In my own home town of Aberdeen, during the 'witch panic' of 1596–97, the city heard dozens of cases. During that year alone, Council records note 31 trials in Aberdeen, and historians estimate around two dozen people were executed across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire during that wave, yet many people have never heard about this part of our history.
By contrast, the famous Salem witch trials saw about 300 accused and 19 executed, yet Salem fills our cultural imagination whilst Scotland’s larger persecution sits in the shadows. Ironically, it was a Scotsman who helped export witch-hunting to Salem, drawing on King James VI and I’s ideas from his book Daemonologie.
Speaking Their Names
Claire and Zoe began their Witches of Scotland podcast in 2020 to speak the names of those accused; sometimes only a first name and a date remain. Their conversations with historians and activists reveal a very human reflection on justice. The podcast grew into their book How to Kill a Witch which they fought to keep accessible, culturally rooted and witty: dark Scottish humour they say is needed to survive such heavy history.
Belief, Then and Now
They read a passage from their book about 16th-century belief asking us to imagine what it would have been like to believe in God and the Devil as vivid realities that could inhabit people, and use them as their instruments; and that belief in magic, superstition, and other world beings, was woven through daily life as a way of protecting people from the devil. In a precarious world, believing in magic offered a sense of control, but the reality was that if something bad happened, it meant that someone had to be to blame.
This notion isn't entirely lost on me, as my own mum kept old superstitions alive in many ways - she would throw salt over her shoulder while saying 'get behind me Satan' to keep the devil away; and leave hair from our hairbrushes in the garden for the fairies as it was said to bring good luck and fortune. Quiet, ancient gestures of offerings to the unseen continue to this day.
Midwives, healers, scapegoats
As a Scottish woman, a midwife, and a complementary practitioner, this history lands close in other ways. Many of those accused were healers and midwives, people tending births with herbs and skill. When misfortune struck a mother or baby, suspicion could fall on the very hands trying to help. Records show a notable number of healers, and a smaller but significant number of midwives, were named in Scotland’s witch trials and punished not for malice but for doing the best they could in dangerous times.
What impact has this had on us today? Some call it the “witch wound”: a cultural imprint of fear around women’s knowledge, visibility and authority. It can show up as self-doubt, hiding our skills, being scapegoated, mistrusting our intuition, or deferring to power even when our knowing is sound. I like to think that remembrance can contribute in some way to collective healing. Remembering these women restores lineage, lifts shame and can strengthen kinder connections between us, including between modern medicine and traditional knowledge. To remember them is to return what was taken.
Why it matters — especially now
Claire and Zoe reminded us that witch hunts flourish in times of fear and upheaval: plague, grief, scarcity often come with a desperate need to blame someone when things go wrong: “If we kill the witch, the cow will give milk again; my loved one will heal ... and so on.” They highlighted the fact that that impulse to scapegoat has sadly never disappeared. Around the world today, people, most often women and girls, are still accused of witchcraft and subjected to violence, banishment, and even death. The UN reports that thousands are harmed or killed each year under witchcraft allegations, from parts of Africa and Asia and in pockets of Europe. Even in the UK, the word “witch” is still used as a weapon to shame or silence.
At the same time, we're currently seeing that women’s hard-won rights remain fragile. Across the globe, we’re seeing rollbacks on reproductive rights, surging misogyny and violence against women and girls, and online spaces where suspicion can quickly turn to rage. Social media can ignite the same old patterns: fear, blame, division and persecution, only now, faster than ever - at digital speed.
Claire and Zoe’s invitation is clear: We invite you to become what the so called witches were labelled - a "quarrelsome dame". Don't be afraid to speak, to question and hold power to account.
A Full Moon intention
Tonight, at our Full Moon Women's Circle we will be weaving in the themes of Samhain and ancestral healing as we remember those who have come before us. It's not lost on me that at one time, we would have been accused of witch craft just for gathering in circle with other women. Tonight, I'll mention the so-called witches, and as I do, I wonder:
What might shift in the collective "witch wound" when we honour their lives? What if we set the intention to guard against group think, think for ourselves and refuse to be silenced? What might change when care, connection, courage and intuition are welcomed back into the village?
Perhaps the energy will loosen around old fear. Perhaps something long-suppressed begins to breathe again. I hope so.
Small ways to honour and heal
Small acts of honouring won't undo the past, but could push back against silence and scapegoating, and keep love and connection alive where fear once thrived, this full moon, why not:
Light a candle. Speak the name of an accused woman, or simply say, “For the unnamed.” (The University of Edinburgh’s Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database holds all the Scottish accused's names, places and dates).
Explore the Witches of Scotland campaign and podcast.
Read Claire and Zoe's story in their book How to Kill a Witch
Notice scapegoating and group think. Name it and challenge it.
Keep gentle rituals alive: make simple prayers or offerings of love and healing.
Support the campaign with Witches’ Tartan. It’s sold out right now (thanks to huge demand), but check back soon.
Witches of Scotland Tartan
Gentle close
I left the Cowdray Hall last night feeling humbled and grateful for Claire and Zoe's work and with the realisation that remembrance can be both activism and healing. Tonight, I’ll carry that into the circle, honouring the women and men, the midwives and healers - and our ancestors who came before us, to tend the thread of care that many of them passed on, still woven through our lives today.
I’m also beyond grateful to have shared the evening with two long-trusted friends whose strength and resilience have inspired me over the years. Sitting in this space of remembering last night with them felt somehow part of the collective healing ...
Something I do not take for granted.
Shamanic Practitioner • Teacher • Reiki Master • Guide
Weaving science and compassion with ancient wisdom.
Further reading:
Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi, How to Kill a Witch
University of Edinburgh - Survey of Scottish Witchcraft
Julian Goodare (ed.), Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters
Barbara Ehrenreich & Deirdre English, Witches, Midwives, & Nurses: A History of Women Healers
Stacy Schiff, The Witches: Salem, 1692
Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives - witchcraft trial records
UN reports on contemporary witchcraft accusations and related harm
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