The Old Witches' Association's Conspiracy Theory No.1

Atop a treeless hill, deep in the Varilith Woods, there stands a huge round tepee. When the night is dark and the stars shine with utmost brightness, the orange light of a fire glows through the hide walls, illuminating the creaking and croaking trees and rustling and whispering bushes of the woods, and mingling with the moonlight. Through the flaps of this tepee, wisps of smoke swirl from within, where 8 old ladies with black hats and matted hair and bright feathers and strings tangled up in their clothes sit around a cauldron. The each take turns tossing in the contents of tiny bottles, with labels like "Lingalfungus goo", and "Oregano" and "Some kind of bark, it's probably magic", cackling in the firelight.
All of a sudden, the door to the tepee is flung open, dazzling the tent's interior with the light of the stars, which are shining with utmost brightness. In walks a man whose clothes in tatters, apart from his hat, from the journey through the woods. In his hands is a hazel staff, which he wields with a defiant expression. "Witches! I have travelled far, over plains and mountains, and through these woods to reach you. I bring news, that the theory on which your association is based is nothing but lies!"
Seven of the witches look at one other, who looks unimpresses at the man. "Go on then", she croaks, rolling her eyes. "How did you disprove it?".
"Your theory states that if I wait until Mitosk's Moon, and take a hazel staff, cursed by a witch from the Grindlemourn woods, and burned at the end by fire from a blaze of beech and wood from a tree of the Grey Valley of Sirthicoron, then pointed said staff at Mitosk's moon, a dragon would come from the moon and grant me power to stop the Archarian Mages' Association from stealing our crops! But no such dragon came!"
"Did you remember to dye your hair pink?"
At this, the man tears off his hat to reveal lustrous pink hair. "I see... Well, it's a shame you forgot to throw the nicest rock you can find at the moon first, and it doesn't look like your hair is braided..."
"That was never on the list, you old crone! This is ridiculous!"
"Well, I can show you our book if you really want. Hilda!". One of the other witches stood up, and walked over to a carved wooden chest, which she opened. After a suspiciously lengthy search through it's contents, she stood up with a heavy tome. She opened it, revealing a faded yellow page, the neat ink writing in it festooned in pencil annotations.
"You see!", said the first witch, pointing to the latest annotation. "But, you..." he protested. "But Hilda just wrote that in! This is stupid, you old frauds! Why would the mages' association want my crops anyway, none of them disappeared last year!"
"That's because they replace them with illusions. Anyway, better luck next time, child" "Child? I'm nearly 40!" With that, the man stomped off into the woods, cursing under his breath, and vowing never to visit the Old Witches' Association ever again.

Summary

The Old Witches' Association is a circle of old witches, who, amongst other things, enjoy telling tales and conspiracy theories to spread around the lands. Their first, and most important conspiracy theory suggests that The Archarian Mages' Association (some of the witches' main rivals) are stealing farmers' crops, and the only way to stop them is to undertake an elaborate ritual to summon a moon dragon (there is no such thing) to stop the theft. The current list of steps in the ritual is:

1. Find a stick of hazel
2. Find a witch in the Grindlemourn Woods, and have her curse over the stick
3. Get some wood from a beech tree and some wood from a tree in the Grey Valley of Sirthicoron
4. Make a fire of said wood, and scorch the end of the stick in it
5. Dye your hair pink, and braid it into 8 braids
6. Find a really nice looking rock
7. Wait for Mitosk's moon, which only comes every two years
8. Throw the rock at the moon
9. Point the stick at the moon
10. Say some words which sound somehow magical
11. Wait for something to happen

Inevitably, people often try to undertake the ritual, which they fail in, of course. If it is ever discovered that the ritual, and indeed the conspiracy theory is fake, the witches' reputation would be ruined, so every Mitosk's moon, they keep adding new components, or insist that the rock they found wasn't nice enough.

Historical Basis

None whatsoever.

Cultural Reception

As expected, gullible farmers were at once furious at this idea, especially those who had suffered bad harvests in past years. However, most took no action against the Mages' Association. (The Mages' Association doesn't care about the accusations). Those who did turn against the association tried to perform the ritual, without success. Over time, most of the rural population has worked out that the ritual is bogus, but don't have proof, due to the witches insistence that people are doing the ritual wrong. Despite this (the fact that they can't prove the witches wrong), most people still ridicule those who are seen with pink hair around Mitosk's Moon (dying people's hair pink whilst they are drunk is also now a popular prank around Mitosk's Moon as a result).

The Old Witches' Association

Compared to most magical circles, this group is fairly new. It's members mostly deal with small complaints from rural communities, such as magical fumigation, but they specialise in spreading weird rumours and conspiracy theories. Due to the fact that their magical 'soloutions' and theories are almost never effective has lead many to speculate that they don't really have magic at all, but are just a bunch of old women trying to make mischief, an accusation which the group is yet to deny.