A Seed Talks Touring Lecture
The History of
Witchcraft & Women
Pointy hats, childless cat ladies, and the women who didn’t fit. A tour through what really happened in the witch trials — and what’s still happening now.
Get Tickets 🎟Everything you know is wrong
Not medieval. Not millions. Not midwives. The story of the witch trials is stranger, closer, and more political than the one you were told.
The myths, debunked
Nine million women burned? Pagan midwife sisterhood? Most of what we “know” comes from one bad historian and a fridge magnet.
Childless cat ladies
Hats, broomsticks, cats and cauldrons were 18th-century shorthand for a woman doing gender wrong. The JD Vance line has a long, ugly history.
The hunt never ended
Pizzagate, tradwife panics, trans women as threat. We’ll follow the through-line from the Little Ice Age to the timeline.
About the Talk
The witch trials weren’t medieval. They peaked under Elizabeth I — at the same time as the printing press, the coffee house and global trade. Witchcraft was a modern idea.
This touring lecture unpicks what we think we know. The “burned at the stake” slogan (they were hanged). The nine million figure (try thirty thousand). The pagan midwives (mostly on the prosecution side). The Inquisition (executed perhaps four people in 350 years).
Then we get to the real story: who was actually accused, and why. Poor, elderly, post-menopausal women with bare feet, unfashionable clothes, and no one to protect them. Women accusing other women. The Little Ice Age. The dissolution of the monasteries. Ursley Kemp, Elizabeth Southerns, the nameless Witch of Newbury, murdered on the Thames by Parliamentarian soldiers because she knew how to stand on a plank.
And the part that should trouble us most: the witch hunt machinery never really went away. It just found new targets.
Followed by a Q&A.
Upcoming Dates
Tap a date to book on Eventbrite
What to expect
Content notice: references to misogyny, execution, torture and sexual violence. Handled with care, but please look after yourself.
From our guests
“Phenomenal. Establishing the accurate historical perspective on the persecution of women as witches. Depth of knowledge! Engaging and accessible presentation.”
“Amazing talk! Learned so much about the history of witchcraft and how it relates to our modern issues.”
“Interesting, timely, and very funny.”
Meet the women they couldn’t silence
Tickets are selling — grab yours before the bell rings.
See Tour Dates 🎟