Strange Solace

I was surprised to see the pink house on a postcard. Most people aren’t even aware that it is there. That might sound strange, being that it is in a prominent position in the main square in Bremen, Germany. But most people’s eyes seem to drift over it, their attention drawn to the ornate brick church with the copper spires or the grand Deutsche Bank building with its fine marble columns and imposing facade. 

It’s not that the women who live in the pink house don’t want to be found at all. If that was the case, they would go and live in cottages deep in the forest alongside their grandmothers. It was just that they found it easier to carry out their business if they received as little attention as possible from the wrong people. Those people who ask too many questions. 

They have never truly shaken the fear of being accused of ruining crops or making pacts with the devil, (although there is a time and a place for both). That was a long time ago, but they still feel the loss in their family trees. The world had moved on and they had moved with it. They developed their ancient practices to deal with the problems of the modern world. New needs had been created. 

So, some witches moved out of the woodlands and into the city where they could be found by the women who needed them. Perhaps they needed a herb to make a violent husband fall asleep for a night, or even forever. Perhaps they needed something to help parents think of think better of an unsuitable potential husband. 

Perhaps a compress to ease the pain of childbirth, or a spell or ritual to enable another woman to conceive or ensure she does not conceive. Maybe they needed a tincture to make an employer look reasonably on a promotion or a politician to truly understand a campaign for women’s rights. 

They missed the forest, the sound of the birds and the hum of the bees, but modern women needed modern solutions. 

The pink house was a place of sanctuary where women could find solace and support. The Women used their connections to find places at universities, or jobs as governesses, or in convents for those who did not wish to marry. 

The witches also gave one woman a voice that could not be resisted. So, when she spoke passionately of women’s rights, the townspeople could not help but listen.

The Pink House would become the means of hundreds of women to shape their own destinies.

Copyright: image believed to be in the public domain and used for creative, non-commercial purposes. Vintage `postcard of. Bremen, Germany. Postmarked 1908.