Scotland & Its Witch Hunts – An Eco-Feminist Perspective
4,000 accused. Mostly women. No memorial. This illustrated talk asks why — and what it still means today.
Her name was Jonette Boyd.
She was accused of witchcraft in Ayrshire on 6th April 1658. Almost 400 years later, I walked the paths she would have walked on her way to trial. The celandines were flowering. Ravens were calling overhead.
Those would have been the last flowers she saw. The last birds she heard as a free woman.
Around 4,000 people were accused of witchcraft in Scotland between 1563 and 1736. Around 85% were women. Scotland has no national memorial to them – just a disused water fountain, hidden in an Edinburgh garden.
This talk asks why that happened. And why it still matters.
Online event
Thursday, Mar 19 from 7:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Book your tickets here
WHAT THIS TALK COVERS
This illustrated talk explores Scotland’s 17th-century witch hunts through an eco-feminist lens, examining the conditions that made mass persecution possible and what they reveal about land, power and community.
You will leave understanding:
- How church and state — including King James VI and his book Daemonologie — turned fear into policy
- The links between the enclosure of common land and the persecution of women who lived close to it
- How the same logic that labelled a wildflower a weed labelled a woman a witch
- Why this history is not safely in the past
This is not a conventional history lecture. It is a rigorous, accessible, and deeply human exploration of a story that was never meant to reach you.
WHAT TO EXPECT
- 1-hour illustrated online talk
- Space for questions and conversation
- An introduction to the Pockets of Love project
- Suitable for everyone — no prior knowledge needed
This talk is the first in a three-part series:
Talk 1: Scotland & Its Witch Hunts – An Eco-Feminist Perspective
Thursday 19 March, 7.30pm
Talk 2: Why The Patriarchy Needs Witch Hunts –
Thursday 2 April, 7:30pm
Talk 3: Remembering Scotland’s Witches: The Pockets of Love Project –
Thursday 16 April, 7:30pm
Buy all three talks for £25.
Book your tickets here
