EP 63 Missing Witches – Dihya al Kahina: A Free and Noble Witch

Sep 27, 2020

1 min read

Podcast, Indigenous Magic, Activist Magic, Feminist Magic, Witch History, Black Witchcraft

This episode honours a 7th Century hero. A Black indigenous Woman who was a leader. A warrior priestess named Dihya, champion of the native North African Amazigh people, her name means “the beautiful gazelle” in the Tamazight language of the Amazigh. Amazigh, plural Imazighen, means “free or noble people” in the Indigenous Tamazight language. Among outsiders, the more common name for Imazighen is Berber, which comes directly from the word ‘barbarian’ or babary. A colonizer’s word. A word that’s used to diminish and destroy. Like her people, Dihya is largely known to the world now by the name given to her by those she resisted, conquerors who wrote her history for generations and christened her “el-Kahina” or The Kahina, meaning “prophetess” or “seer” or…“witch”.

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This episode of the Missing Witches podcast was written and performed by Risa Dickens. Music and editing by Amy Torok. Thanks again to our sponsor Foxglove Pharm, don’t forget to use our listener offer code MISSINGWITCHES for 13% of your order. OR make a contribution to their Wildlife Rescue, Out Of The Woods. Find your witchy wellness at FoxglovePharm (that’s pharm like pharmacy with a ph) dot com. You can also support Missing Witches on Patreon at patreon dot com slash missing witches and COMING SOON, Missing Witches T-shirts on TeePublic. AND PLEASE consider pre-ordering our upcoming book, Missing Witches by Risa Dickens and Amy Torok, published by North Atlantic Books.

Works Cited:

Historiography, Mythology and Memory in Modern North Africa: The Story of the Kahina Abdelmajid Hannoum