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Witch
The witch is a popular fairy tale and folk archetype. She appears as
a woman with powers over the natural world or magic. While
sometimes pictured as beneficial, such as in healing, she is also
portrayed as one to be feared, as the one who places obstacles in
the hero/heroine's path.
The witch can be the instinctual, inner Self, or a guide. Of the
Goddess, she might be the crone aspect, and therefore wisdom
and the destructive power needed for rebirth and regeneration. She
is the archetypal aspect of the Great Mother, the destructive aspect
of the goddess of the earth. "The goddess of life and death, the
witch, the tendency toward getting involved in the process of life
and death" (Franz, 129).
Witches appear in Kiki's Delivery Service, Sailor Moon, and Lodoss War. In most cases the term is used to define a woman with magical abilites, though male magic users like a magus show up in Sailor Moon as well as Wise Man. The idea connecting magic use and females, which is an old tradition in both the West and in Japan, is a theme of the mahou shoujo genre. And that
genre is also sometimes connected with the fairy.
In the Sailor Victory OAV the witch Margarita serves to contrast the young heroines of the show. She represents the crone or full aspect of
powers. Some of her attributes are the staff with crystal ball she channels her energy through and in turn into the stomach or womb area of her mecha
by a large jewel if she wants to amplify her power even more. She is also an older woman, perhaps in late 20s and the antagonist of ep. 2. The heroines
all range in age from a child perhaps 11 or 12 to late teen. They don't use magic, simply courage and mecha designed by their engineer of the team. Their battle
is two sides, like many shows, of the feminine, and youth coming into its own. A symbolic rite of passage.
An unusual witch is found in Night Walker ep. 11. She is based on the superstitions of centuries ago where a witch might make a deal with
the devil and then the community would suffer. In Shido's flashback he recalls a woman who waited for her lover's return, fearing he'd find her too changed,
she sold her sould to the devil for eternal youth. But in process, she ultimately killed the villagers and her lover, paying the price that by selling her
own human heart, she was forced to eat theirs. Her possessed form is that of a wooden doll, and her true home beneath a great tree (the
witch's connection to nature). The woman in the story is also blind, a physical manifestation of her inner pain and not wanting to see what she
became or what she'd done.
Guide
The witch in Disney versions of fairy tales of course comes off
frequently as evil, but if one digs deeper into the scholarship, and
also the tales themselves, the witch isn't always so. She serves a
purpose and one thing very important is she is a kind of guide in a
sense to dealing with "the other" or "the other world." Deal with her
correctly and the rules of this world correctly, and the hero or
heroine comes through it the stronger or more aware (in Jungian
terms, the individual will come into consciousness through it). To
give an example, there is a Baba Yaga tale entitled The Doll in Her
Pocket - Vasalisa the Wise (included in the Women Who Run With the
Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D.). In it Vasalisa is tricked
into journeying to Baba Yaga's home and if not for her instinctual
voice (her doll helper, spirit of her mother) then Vasalisa would
make the mistakes of travelers before her and fall victim to Baba
Yaga, but instead she approaches her and answers the questions of the
old crone/witch correctly and is put to work in her home. And for
Vasalisa, the import of her journey will be learning to do what is
correct and go through this ordeal with Baba Yaga. If one takes these
Baba Yaga stories and the role of the witch in them, they parallel
well the role of Zeniba and Yubaba of Spirited Away. Neither is wholly good or evil,
but if one approaches them with the right answer (Chihiro: I want to
work!) then one can continue on and not lose themself, and one
becomes better for it. Haku falls into troubles because he does not
approach Zeniba correctly and because he chooses an unvirtuous or
morally bad way with Yubaba. Chihiro like many fairy tale heroines
instead approaches her life in this world simply as she comes to each
choice and each task. Straight forward and as it should be. Many
times naive characters or "the fool" types are thought to be stupid,
but really the point is that they approach things as they come to
them in a straightforward manner. At the end with Yubaba, Chihiro is
given the task of picking out her parents. Yubaba replies to Haku and
the others, it simply is as things are done. She isn't trying to do
evil to Chihiro, this is simply the rule of the spirit world and it
simply is how things are, no more and no less. Also, the point is
that Chihiro must be ready, and if she answers correctly, then it is
symbolic that she has come through her own journey successfully.
Magic
Energy channeling in anime seems to reflect a popular image and perhaps an historical image as well when it comes to portrayals of Buddhist vs Shinto magic. Male characters will tend
to lean towards a buddhist influence. In anime one sees male buddhist monks much more frequently than female ones. Examples include Chichiri in Fushigi Yuugi, the Ancient and Anubis in Ronin Warriors. On the other side,
the miko from Shinto seems to lead many female characters towards this end. Examples include Rei from Sailor Moon, and Momiji and Sakura from Blue Seed (though Sakura was an onmyoji in Shinto garb).
A note on male/female magic comes from Leticia: "Women have always been related with a different magic than men (the woman use it in an emotive way and man use it in a logical way). Even though, when you use magic it always ends up turning against you (a clear example is Kanzaki Hitomi at "Escaflowne"), you have to be part of the magic, just to let it act through you, remembering always that magic is not god: that's the real magic. And that's the reason that women are more capable to realize the true magic (men are more likely to be alchemists, wizards or sorcerers)."
Lastly, the following comes from Toni Levi: "Women are thought to be more mystical and emotional/intuitive. Men are considered to be more rational. There
are actually a lot of fortune tellers and such from Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian
sources as well as Shinto. But the women tend to go into trances while the men generally use books (like the I-Ching) or astrology charts."*
From forward to the Tenshi-Tachi ML, Dec. 14, 2002.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena
In the series, Anthy represents the witch. Her folklore ties are pretty easy to see, with her link to magic and the unconscious. In the series, her role as the witch also brings
in a bit of historical perspective as well as the folklore. There were times in history where the witch was used as a scapegoat, and punished by the society. This idea comes up at the end
of the series, when in the flashback we see Anthy called a witch after she chooses to seal the prince away from the world, and later at the end it is Anthy (the witch) who must endure the
swords of hatred in place of the prince.
One last note must be taken as well on the title of "witch" given to Anthy. As this is an anime, a brief note on the witch in anime is appropriate. Usually, the witch does not
have a positive or negative distinction in anime. A witch is someone simply who has magical abilities, and this would be one explanation for Anthy being a "majo".
An addition from John Pollard:
" It is worth noting too, that in fairy tales, the witch and the princess, or maiden, represent two members of the feminine triad, and a relationship between them
occurs generally in stories where the mother, who serves as a mediator between youth and old age, is physically absent. There are elements of the maternal
in Anthy. Her tenderness and care for plants and animals, for example, suggest not simply a witch with her garden and her familiars, but also a nurturing spirit
proper to the mother. At the same time, the absence of true parental figures in Utena is conspicuous. This could be responsible for the polarization of Anthy between
"witch" and "princess," but also could be the reason for youthful characters like Saionji, Mamiya, and Utena herself contemplating the lack of
"something eternal." Youth is faced with death, and has no mediator to put it in perspective. Therefore the feminine, too, is seen as something which must
be controlled and subdued (i.e. the princess) or it will lead to death, to the loss of identity, or what have you (i.e. the witch,
and in Akio's case, he believes this is exactly what has happened.) In other words, the need to contain the "witch" within the "princess" is in part
the result of an unwholesome view of the feminine, stemming from an absence of one of its faces."
Spirited Away
Yubaba and Zeniba are twin sorceress sisters. Yubaba ("bathhouse old woman") and Zeniba ("money crone" according to Nausicaa.net) handle separate aspects of the business respectively it seems. While
Yubaba runs the bathhouse itself, it's hinted that her sister may handle the monetary affairs. Besides the indication by their names, Yubaba will fly to her sister's house during the day (or
at least we see her fly off with something and return with a bag of presumably money, could be to see her sister). There is also the matter of Zeniba's seal. A frog sits upon it, exactly the
same as the statue by the river with Chihiro earlier in the film. Though the frog may be a symbol/sign for both sisters and not one in particular.
The "baba" in their name while translating to "crone" or "old woman" also gives the connotation of a witch. Baba is the name of a witch in another series, Dragonball. And Baba Yaga is a
very famous witch from Russian and Eastern European lore. Her hut was said to stand on chicken legs and only lower for her, and when the hero in a fairy tale came to her house he had
to keep his wits about him/her to gain her help or continue on his journey unharmed.
Neither Yubaba or Zeniba are entirely good or entirely evil, but the latter does seem to give off a gentler air after Chihiro wins her over. Both resemble the fairy tale witch, or even a Baba Yaga-like character,
in the sense that they could both potentially harm Chihiro (Yubaba threatens to turn her to a pig or a lump of coal and on the first meeting with Zeniba she is after punishing Haku for his transgression). At the initial encounters Chihiro is tested. In some fairy tales a magic phrase
is important to gain access to the lair of a witch or for the hero in his journey. In both Rapunzel and some Baba Yaga tales, a phrase is needed to get access to the tower or to the hut.
With Yubaba Chihiro must say the magic phrase that will get the witch's aide and cannot be refused (Yubaba even says in passing she made an oath to not refuse work to whomever asked), and with Zeniba Chihiro must prove she has come
a long way in character and courage (she broke Zeniba's spell through love and made her journey for the same reason).
Zeniba in turn provides the thread and spinning wheel (popular fairy tale image) for Chihiro's companions to weave a hair tie for her. Because they wove it it will protect her she says. This is the final aide and gift to the heroine in her journey.
At the end Yubaba explains that their world has rules, and the rule is needed to break the spell. To do so Chihiro has to pick out her parents, she must know them in order to break the contract/spell and send them all home. From Yubaba's tone and
expression, she does not truly wish Chihiro any harm but in this instance this is how things are and how the rules work where magic is concerned. Chihiro entered their world and chose to accept the rules and now she must finish what she started.