Manchester/Scotland 2025 - Edinburgh Castle Witches' Well

 

While waiting for our entry time into the Castle of Edinburgh, I remembered to go look for the Witches' Well which was nearby which I forgot all about visiting the previous day. I guess many people would have pass it by if they have not researched about Edinburgh and it's history of witches. It's just right in front o the castle square really. If you come up from Royal Mile towards the castle, it would be to your right upon entering the Castle square. It isn't very visible, and I guess only those who were interested would seek it out. When it comes to witches and fairies, I'm super interested :) And I knew this was one of the places that I wanted to visit.

It is actually just a small well, if you could call it that. I don't recall seeing any water actually flowing out of it. And it's such a small monument that it would be easily overlooked by everything else in Edinburgh. There wasn't anything grand about it. Just a simple concrete small well with some flowers on it. But the significants of it weight heavily in their history. Dedicated to all the women (and some men) that was killed during the witchhunt of Scotland. But just recently, it has been declared that there were no witches in Scotland, only a big misunderstanding in history.  

Here are some information about the Witches' Well.

At the two side of it, there are further illustration and wordings. One is for bad, "The Evil Eye"....

And the other was for good, "The Hands of Healing". Showing that there are two sides to teh story. Duality? Or the non-existence of it. To me, witches has already been about small ladies, ladies that uses their brain and had knowledge of the world around them, either about the weather, or herbs and medicine, animals and humans all alike. They were just wise women misunderstood and feared. And I get the appeal of it, a lot, of wanting to live alone in a cottage in the woods, looking ugly and hideous so that people would leave you alone :P

And if like fated, there was also a beautiful elegant looking cat just seated there guarding the Witches' Well :)  On this trip, I actually bought a super big book about the occult and witches of Scotland! It cost me 30pounds! And I am as surprised as anyone when I walked out the shop with that book on my last day there! Hahahaha. I just wanted something memorable from Scotland. It was either witches or fairies! Perhaps I will go look for a book on fairies on my next trip :)  I actually saw a beautiful one in the Museum of John Knox. We'll see!

Here's a photo of me while we linger outside the castle waiting to enter it at 930am slot.