Number 8 Witch of All-time: Glinda, the Good Witch

Top Ten Female Witches of All-time (real or imagined)

Number 7: Glinda, the Good Witch of the East

To my recollection, Glinda, the Good Witch of the East, was the first witch shown in a positive light in mainstream culture. I have to give kudos to author of the Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, for being creative and forward thinking enough to go against the norm, in a time where religion would be very apt to not accept such a character. Glinda broke all the stereotypes previously associated with witches: she was beautiful, kind, delightful; everything her nemesis, the Wicked Witch of the West was not. For that reason, Glinda, the Good Witch of the East comes onto my list of the top ten female witches of all-time, real or imagined, at number seven!

Glinda is now a huge part of Americana. Who could ever think of the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz, without thinking of the glittery, blonde haired, golden voiced good witch, played by actress Billie Burke in the famous 1939 version and by Michelle Williams in 2013’s Oz, the Great and Powerful. Sure, characters such as Dorothy, Toto, the Straw Man, The Tin Man, the Heartless Lion, the Great Oz and the aforementioned Wicked Witch of the West get more credit, but Glinda was a trailblazer, at least as far as practitioners of white magick go.

            

The acceptance of witchcraft has came a long way since the burning times of the Catholic Church in Medieval Europe and beyond, even to the shores of America, with the shameful witch hunts of Salem, Massachusetts. And even though things have changed for the better, there is still a stigma associated with practicing this oldest and perhaps wisest of religions. There is still much room for improvement in this area. Sure, today’s witches don’t carry shimmering magick wands with stars on top, except perhaps wee little girls on Halloween, but most people that practice the craft today do so to seek enlightenment and personal growth, not to eat babies or kill a neighboring farmer’s crops or prize milk cow.

It seems to me that all religions are intolerant of other religions to some degree, but this is especially true with Wicca. The famous line in the Bible, “Though shalt not suffer a witch to live”, still resonates throughout the world to this very day. Even though choosing to take to heart certain directives in the Bible and other religious texts, while ignoring others, could certainly be construed as cherry picking, I think it is much more important to believe that whatever god or goddess we worship would want us to finally live in peace and shared respect and love. Hopefully, someday the practice of Wicca will become more accepted, especially considering that most witches today are more in line with the practices of Glinda, the Good Witch, rather than any wicked witch!

            

And besides, who else could possibly take an innocent girl like Dorothy, tell her a magick spell many decades ago, and expect to have it still repeated to this day? Click your heels three times and say, “There’s no place like home”. Can you remember a better line?

Check back Thursday for the Number 8 Witch of All-time!

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