Welcome to The Wisdom Path Podcast. In this powerful solo episode, Rosie Peacock reads aloud the first piece in her three-part Substack series Witch, Please, an exploration of the witch as not villain, but wisdom-keeper, boundary-walker, and fierce feminine force.

This wasn’t originally going to be a podcast episode, but the message felt too vital not to share as far and wide as it could travel. Part political remembering, part personal reclamation, this is a fire-lit offering for anyone who has ever been told they were too much, too loud, too free, or simply too sovereign.

Drawing from Silvia Federici’s Caliban and the Witch, British witch trial history, and her own ancestral roots in East Anglia, Rosie examines the deep intersections of patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism, and the erasure of feminine wisdom. And through it all, the witch rises—not in costume, but in truth. In intuition. In resistance. In reverence.

With storytelling, scholarship, poetry, and a bone-deep invitation to remember, this episode begins a journey back to what the fire was really for, and who it tried to silence.

In This Episode, We Explore:

• Why witch hunts weren’t a side note—but a central tool in the rise of capitalism

• How empire used fear and shame to control women, bodies, land, and cycles

• The role of midwives, healers, and wise women in community

• The parallels between historical witch hunts and modern systems of conformity

• How the witch figure still haunts and heals our cultural memory

• Why reclaiming the witch is an act of resistance, remembrance, and rebirth

• A closing poem: She Who Was Never Burned, a psychedelic, mythic invocation for the ones who carry her embers in their mouths

Key Quotes:

• “To silence the body, you burn the one who knows how to read it.”

• “These trials were not about magic. They were about conformity, surveillance, and submission.”

• “You didn’t lose her. You are her — hot-mouthed and holy, still carrying her embers between your teeth.”

• “To honour your cycle is to resist the machine.”

• “Reclaiming the witch is not about nostalgia. It’s about resistance. And remembering forward.”

Resources Mentioned:

• Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici

• Rosie’s Substack series: Witch, Please

• “She Who Was Never Burned” – full poem included in Part One

• Upcoming episodes on myth, memory, archetypes, and the witch’s return

Journalling Prompts:

• What parts of your power have been punished or hidden?

• What were you taught to fear about your body, voice, or intuition?

• Where does fear or shame still shape how you show up?

• What would it mean to live as if nothing was separate?

Connect with Rosie:

• Substack – The Wisdom Path

• Website – Rosie Peacock Photography & Sacred Work

• Instagram

• The Wisdom-Keepers Collective – Facebook Group

• Podcast RSS Feed

Takeaway for Listeners:

The witch was never the villain. She was the memory. The midwife. The mirror. The one they feared because she could not be owned. As we reclaim her, we reclaim parts of ourselves—wild, wise, untamed, and true.

Thank you for walking this path. If this episode moved you, please download, rate, review, and share it with fellow witches, visionaries, and sacred rebels.

Because remembering is a collective act.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iamrosiepeacock.substack.com