Coming out of the broom closet – Reclaiming the word 'witch'

Women of the Well | Women's health, done differently · Oct 29, 2026 · 48m · transcript

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This weekend, the world dresses up as witches for Halloween.

Here in Australia, it’s also Beltane, the spring fire festival in the Southern Hemisphere wheel of the year.

So it felt like the perfect time to ask: what comes up for you when you hear the word witch?

For centuries, it was used to silence women: the healers, the midwives, the wise women, and anyone who lived by the moon and her own knowing.

Even now, many of us feel a flicker of discomfort saying it out loud. That includes two doctors who were trained to dismiss “old…