History of Witches

The **history of witches** traces back to the creation of the world with The First Witch and her sister, Gaia.

In Ipswich, witches are an integral part of the town history and are still significant in the present-day community. Witches once lived with nonwitche until they became central myths that are still told by the older generation.

## The Era of Dawning

The Era of Dawning is an early period when the first hundred spells were created by witches. These spells continue to serve as the foundations in spell theory and casting.

The Faraway is Gaia's subconscious and the First Witch's realm. Humans were able to recieve the First Witch's gifts by crossing the bridge that she built into the Faraway. As Gaia nightmare's seeped in her subconscious, they were unleashed on Earth and caused mythical kingdoms like Atalantis to fall. The First Witch destroys the bridge, and allows the humans who were gifted with the third eye to remain. Spirits were also created in the Era of Dawning, including those like the Predator Spirit who was manifested by Gaia.

The **First Witch** is considered to be the mother of all witches after she spent time on earth to "indulge in Gaia's pleasures". Annie McGregor is the descendant of the First Witch, which was determined after she used an unnamed artifact presented to her by Justice Sommer. Her descendants include Amelia Ward and Bailey Ward. After the Era of Dawning, it was unknown whether the First Witch continued living.

## The Dark Hunt

The Dark Hunt is an old dark magic ritual involving witches shapeshifting into animals to test their magical skill.

According to Betsy Sage, the Dark Hunt is performed during the evening of the September full moon. Younger witches are transformed into rabbits and older witches are transformed into foxes who hunt them. The Dark Hunt is overseen by the White Fox, who is a particularly "ruthless" witch, according to Betsy Sage.

Since dark magic was banned, the Dark Hunt ritual has not been performed for over 200 years. However, Jason Ashford, a former academy student, organizes a Dark Hunt and provides artifacts to Betsy at the Ipswich Witch Museum. Bailey Ward learns about the Dark Hunt through the Faraway spirits by consulting with the Fox Spirit. Bailey continues to seek out information from town records and visits the museum after Naomi Wood tells about the newest Dark Hunt exhibit.

At the museum, Bailey finds an unnerving statue resembling Lydia Summers with a noose around her neck, indicating that she represented the rabbit. She also finds Lydia's diorama in the exhibit.

## Witch Academies

Fallow's Tree Academy was once an academy for witches taught by Justice Sommer and Annie Mc Gregor.

Other witch communities exist outside of Ipswich, though Pendle Hill Academy's reputation as a prestigious witch academy and deep roots with the beginning of witchcraft marks the town as a hub for magical activity. The Western Academy is another school for witches.

## The Present-Day

It is revealed that the First Witch continued living for at least 80,000 years by being omnipresent in the Faraway and the material world.

## Symbols

### The Boulder

Naomi Wood tells Bailey Ward the story of the boulder that was passed down by her grandmother. At Raven's Perch, witches had cornered the non-witches and turned them into a human boulder out of revenge for their own persecution.

However, if Bailey chooses to speak up at the ceremony, one of the masked witches denies this story. Instead, they say that non-witches brought witches to a cliff at Raven's Perch to fatally push the witch and the boulder off the edge, If the boulder fell before the witch, the witch was deemed innocent.

At the Dark Hunt, Travis Ming, the witch in the bear mask, recruits hunters to join the hunt by testing their strength through breaking the boulder. Bailey is able to topple the boulder along with Dylan Blake and Gilmore with Dylan distracting the group and Gilmore secretly casting conjure air along with her.

### The Rose Symbol

The rose symbol first appeared at the Faraway ceremony after Lydia's disappearance.

Justice Sommer says that he disovered the symbol in a spellbook somewhere in South America. According to the book, it symbolizes power, which he describes that "its bearer is the goddess who shall lead us to victory". Sommer attempted to brand multiple women with the symbol to no avail, as they became mentally unstable. However, Sommer later recognizes that since the symbol was likely to have been created by the **First Witch**, only her descendants may embody the symbol.

Later, the rose symbols manifested on the floor in Lydia's room and was determined to be dark magic. After performing another ritual to save Rosie, Bailey finds the symbol embedded on the back of her neck. This leads her to investigate the meaning behind the symbol with Rosie, Dylan, and Gilmore.

After heading to Ipswich Witch Museum, Betsy Sage mentions that the symbol branded on witches out of disdain during Justice Sommer's age. As time passed, witches began reclaiming the symbol as a mark of pride for witchkind.

## Famous Witches

* Justice Sommer
* Annie McGregor