The Witch as Soothsayer

The word soothsayer is not related to 'soothe', rather it means 'one who says the truth.' The always-fruitful study of etymology means I have found out only today that sooth had overtones of guilt, of being the (guilty) one.
All this is extremely pertinent to this post, given a run-in I had with someone yesterday: this is definitely a witch-figure post. Westboro Baptist church believe that one of the marks of a true Christian is that everyone will hate him, & they seem to be succeeding in making sure that literally everyone hates them. The Witch figure is one of fear & hatred, certainly, but one of the things we do is speak the truth. We carry on speaking it & refuse to be deflected from it until it is heard. When people attempt to cover the truth up, to lie, to dissemble, we keep on holding up a big sign saying 'this is the truth.'
I would recommend Tim Field's book, Bully in Sight, for a non-magical approach to the art of soothsaying. Our motivation to soothsay as magical people is slightly different: so much of magic is making things so because I say they are. I have therefore to make sure that my word has the authority & conviction necessary to effect this change, & I can only do this by my own conviction & speaking from an undivided heart.
'I think I might want this' is not enough: this is the difference between desire & will, bound up for us with truth as we know it. Didn't someone say, 'the truth will make you free?'
------------------