strega

[azurelunatic]

Oooooooh.

"Strega... knows things. She believes in herself, because she's found out that she's right a lot. She decided, at some point, that being what she is is more important than belonging with other people. She walks her own path."

...

"Are--- is there such a thing as male strega?" Ginny asked.

Blaise shook her head, amused. "It's only witches. Don't know why--- there's a lot of explanations for it---" she held up a hand, ticking them off on long white fingers. "The religious types say it's because witches are closer to the goddess, the spiritual ones think it has something to do with the life force, the medical or scientific thinkers---" she giggled--- "sort of agree with the spiritualists, they think it's got something to do with hormones and the ability to have babies. The social and psychological theorists--- they're the ones that make the most sense to me--- say it has to do with cultural stuff, with what Carol Gilligan--- she's a Muggle psychologist--- calls 'loss of voice', where girls in adolescence stop listening to themselves and speaking their own minds in order to be accepted, because there's all this cultural pressure to be nice and sweet and take care of other people and not threaten your boyfriend's masculinity by beating him at something." Florian snorted. "So with all that pressure, for a witch to overcome that, she has to be really powerful, mentally I mean--- really tough inside. Add in the magic and you've got a force to be reckoned with."

...

"Okay, easy example--- what it 'means' is what I just did with Cho out there--- strega has a force of will that can make other people back down. When she knows something--- and I know Harry didn't kill Diggory--- other people stand aside."


from Pawn to Queen

We may have one or two of those, or at least, in-training, around the place here...

Comments

[iroshi.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that Snape would have hated Mark as forcefully as he hated James Potter, and for the same reason. I suspect I could have been strega, but I have lost that sense of rightness; I no longer trust myself. It's a hard road back, it really is.

[amberfox.livejournal.com]

Amen. *salute*

[azurelunatic]

I'm trying to work myself towards it.

I got off lucky in that I'm still not quite yet formed hard into mySelf, and wasn't when things happened.