The Witch of Wookey is a myth that dates back nearly 1000 years, when she was accused of witchcraft by the local villagers. Suspicion is deadly like poison. Once there’s a rumor, it can spread like disease. Those who were believed to be witches were executed.

The villages blamed her for every piece of misfortune. Farming failings, dying animals, mysterious disappearances, and even just shreds of bad luck. Soon, the villagers believed their own lie. They were so desperate to get rid of her that they turned to Glastonbury Abbey for help.  The Abbot sent a determined monk, Father Barnard, to confront the mysterious woman who had made her home in the Wookey Hole Caves. Armed with holy objects, the monk climbed up the cave, where an argument broke out as the witch refused to leave her home, and she escaped deeper into the cave. The villagers had warned the monk that her should never follow her, as they believed the cave to be a gateway to hell, where there would be a living person going in but never out. He did not listen to them.

As the monk followed the witch, he was determined, and scooped water from the River Axe and blessing it, creating the Holy Water. He sprinkled it onto the witch, and she was turned to stone.

Later, much later, in 1912, an archeologist found the remains of a woman there, plus two goats, along with a bowl, a dagger, a latch lifter, and an alabaster ball.

Globalization and Sustainability: The witch is representing the beliefs before there was Christianity, and the monk represents Christianity. There is a replacement of one culture to a next.

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