Kate Hodges - Warriors, Witches, Women

MYTHOLOGYS FIERCEST FEMALES

Kate Hodges

ILLUSTRATED BY HARRIET LEE-MERRION

Sometimes, the past can help us make sense of the now. Reading through the stories of the goddesses, witches and mythological creatures featured in Warriors, Witches, Women, I was struck by how present these women still are today. Sometimes their names are used as weapons women in politics are called Medusa, women who speak their mind harpies or women who wear make-up become Jezebels. Entire groups are demonised. Women who have the power to heal, to care for others, who have skills in astronomy and herbalism or live on the fringes of society, have all been derided as witches by those who would like to see their power and knowledge neutralised.

Women associated with strength Artemis, Innana, Kl, Morrgan and Mami Wata are fierce influences, whose characters are so strong they endure down the years. So much so, these women are still referenced across popular culture featuring in plays, TV shows, films, comic books and music videos. Reading about the origins of some of our most familiar characters is quite the eye-opener.

Then there are the less familiar tales stories Id never heard before. A quick dip into the book will throw up diverse narratives, from the volcanic rage of Hawaiian goddess Pele to the cheeky striptease of Ame-No-Uzume, while a deeper dive reveals arcs and connections across cultures, religions and continents. I also loved Harriet Lee-Merrions illustrations, which bring the stories to life in cool, modern, intelligent style capturing the imagination of every woman who has ever found herself in need of a powerful role model.

Maxine Peake

We are the granddaughters of the witches you werent able to burn.

Goddesses, ghosts, witches, creatures. The mythological and fantastical have always fascinated me, but it was the female players who became an obsession. While my friends were mooning over Michael J. Fox and Tom Cruise, I was transfixed by Clash of The Titans (the 1981 version), where Perseus takes on various creatures to save Princess Andromeda. It wasnt hunky Harry Hamlin who seduced me, but the rickety figure of Medusa stop motion artist Ray Harryhausens snake-haired creature dragging herself around a fire-lit underground temple, eyes beaming green light. This sinister creature was far more fascinating than the vacuous stack of muscles which vanquished her. I was mesmerised. What was her story? What drove her? Why, even after death, did she retain her terrifying ability to turn all who gazed at her into stone? Most importantly, why did people have a problem with her?

Later came the witches. I was giddy over Helen Mirren as Morgana in the Arthurian epic Excalibur (1981), the chanting villagers from The Children of the Stones (1977), the White Witch from the Narnia tales, Fairuza Balk in The Craft (1996), the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939), even the dodderingly sweet-but-evil Minnie Castevet in the cult Rosemarys Baby (1968). All these depictions were reductive and cartoonish in their different ways, but Id still find myself rooting for these women. I loved their sense of self-possession, their knowledge, their power; they looked like they were having a lot more fun than the heroes and heroines who eventually defeated them.

Id hoover up folk tales, from the Welsh Mabinogion with its tales of shimmering faerie princess Rhiannon to the Irish mythological cycles with the screaming warrior Morrgan. Id spot seductively fascinating women in classical literature: the witches and sages Circe, Hecate, Cassandra and the bounding, athletic Artemis. I also devoured characters from further afield the whirlwind fury of Kl from Hindu tales, Anath from Semitic stories and the raging Pele from Hawaii. These are women who go beyond long-haired, smiling stereotypes, whose stories are so powerful, so entrancing that they have survived for millennia.

To a ten-year-old me, whose only female superhero was Wonder Woman, these mythological creatures resonated hard. They fought, took revenge, were wild some of them were even worshipped for it. And its their quirks, their power, their fallibility that makes them fascinatingly relevant to women today.