Walking Widdershins in Anti-Racist theory and practice

Widdershins, adverb: In the opposite direction to the movement of the hands of a clock

(Oxford Dictionary, 2005)

Withershins, widdershins, adverb: To take a course opposite that of the sun, i.e. counterclock-wise, leftahndwise, or to circle an object, building, monument by always keeping on the left. A journey begun with such a turn is thought either unlucky or given to evil intentions in much of Celtic literature (Mackillop, 2004).

I recently came across the word 'widdershins', an old Scots word for moving counter-clockwise. The word has been associated in Scottish folk history as a symbolic of witchcraft and evil, its etymology originating from the Old High German widar meaning 'back' or 'against' and sinnen meaning 'to travel' (Merriam-Webster, 2016).

The concept of traveling 'back' or 'against' is not new in anti-racist praxis. The widely-used concept of 'reflecting' is indicative of a broad move by organisations and individuals to beome more aware of racial identity and bias.

Used positvely, our concept of anti-racist reflection can provide personal insight and growth in an area of learned ignorance. Used in its shadow, the reflection is aimless, without adequeate structure, like a snake following its own tail, or indeed stuck in one spot without moving. Reflection is used as a placeholder for change, its true meaning implicit: if we appear like we're thinking really carefully, we can fool ourselves and others into thinking we're doing something meaningful, when we're actually just stood still.

Anti-racist reflection, like other forms of practice, need structure if they're to thrive. I like the idea of walking widdershins as the concept of working anti-intuitvely, while still using a framework. White supremacy culture's 'wisdom' teaches us values of expansion, productivity, of being 'solution-focused', which often influences attempts by white-cultured organisations to implement anti-racist principles. Often these attempts sidestep meaningful engagement with power structures and privilege. Walking widdershins means turning backwards-and-into the sites of long-held power, the 'unbecoming' of the coloniser mindset, and are thus 'anti-intuitive' as they counter the implicit values of white supremacy.

How can we catch flies without a web? Anti-Racist work needs theoretical frameworks and structure in order to be supportive (Image credit: Natalia Wilson, moonrat42, Flickr)

So what does it mean then to work anti-intuitively, or walk widdershins? Perhaps we can borrow from ideas of Jungian shadow work (themselves adapted and taken without credit from Indigenous American traditions). We must move beyond individual shadow work and into the collective shadow if we're to understand how racism moves between interpersonal to systemic elements.

Below is an activity to try to critically engage with walking widdershins in anti-racist practice. You can do this with a pen and paper. First you might want to connect to the energy of walking widdershins by finding a quiet place you won't be disturbed, taking some deep breaths and actively imagining yourself walking in a backwards spiral through a terrain (snow, maize fields, scrub etc). Try to really engage with the environment - is it barren or luscious, hot or cold, gentle or barbed? When you're ready, look at the questions below and spend a couple of minutes writing down a response to each prompt.

© Amber Thornton, 2025. This work is always inspired by the work of the many anti-racist activists and academics before me. You will see this activity is heavily inspired by reflective practice models & anti-racist somatic thinking, of which I owe much to.

Once finished, you might want to begin to draw links between the aspects when you find moments of commonality or contingency. By the end, you will have a spider web, much like our friend in the photo above.

I encourage you to try this model with a recent example of racial stress or harm you have experienced or perpetrated. For those who hold marginalised identities, this activity can help us reflect on aspects of intergenerational harm to find triggers and tend to wounds. Of course, in a world full of neo-colonial violence and genocide, there is no abosulute 'healing'. There is grief work, and walking backwards through our ancestry and our triggers to find more moments of calmness and wellbeing. Grief work is often neglected in western culture, which makes me think of the white supremacy value of productivity. If we avoid the sitting-in or going-back, in favour of the moving-forward, we fundamentally ignore the call to engage with the difficulties and bypass the need to acknowledge and take accountability.

I hold that reflective activities which ask us to engage with the personal, collective, and ancestral shadow, once processed, can help us be more present in the communities we live in and serve, to hold space for ourselves and others, and move from perpetuating harm to perpetuating healing.

References

Mackillop, J. (2004). Dictionary of Celtic Mythology, Oxford University Press.

“Widdershins.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/widdershins. Accessed 10 Apr. 2025.

"Widdershins", (2005), in Oxford Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, Oxford University Press.