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Literary witches have been with us from the weird sisters of the Scottish play to the victims of Puritan persecution in The Crucible—from agents of fate to hostages of prejudice. So no one should be surprised when pop culture expands its embrace to include witches along with its friendly fuzzy angels. But while cultures formed by Christianity have traditionally taken a dim view of witches and witchcraft, recent television shows (Charmed) and movies (Practical Magic and The Craft, among others) present them positively. What exactly is the witchcraft they present, and what appeal does it exercise?
In all these shows, witchcraft is a sort of pantheistic nature religion. The witches in The Craft announce, "We worship everything: God, the devil, the earth, trees." One of the witches in Practical Magic explains that witchcraft has to do with being close to nature, and thus with making the soaps and bath salts that she sells in her boutique. In fact, witchcraft involves a lot of accessories: candles, occult symbols, brooms. All of the witches have books of spells, either inherited (Charmed, Practical Magic) or purchased (The Craft). These books sometimes offer recipes for potions (Practical Magic); more often spells that, when chanted in concert, bring forth desirable results accompanied by thunder and lightening. Numbers are important: Chants recited by the three witch sisters in Charmed emphasize "the power of three"; four witches are needed in The Craft in order to invoke the power of the four winds and the four elements; an exorcism performed in Practical Magic requires "a whole coven," which means at least nine and preferably twelve witches.
Witchcraft brings with it a variety of paranormal powers such as levitation, telekinesis, and abilities to see the future and to manipulate the thoughts of others, as well as the ability to perceive, confront, and destroy supernatural evil. Sometimes a witch exercises her powers in trivial ways: a coffee cup stirs itself (Practical Magic), a pencil balances on end (The Craft), an elevator goes to the desired floor, bypassing other people's stops (Charmed). At other times, the powers are exercised heroically, to save a woman from possession by the spirit of an evil boyfriend (Practical Magic), to defend against occult power gone wrong (The Craft), to prevent the ghost of an innocent person from being wrongly captured by the ruler of hell (Charmed).
There is, however, a down side to being a witch. The powers associated with being a witch are sometimes hard to control. The biggest problem is that being a witch makes one "different," and therefore an object of misunderstanding or rejection on the part of many. Most of the witches in these stories conceal, even lie about, the fact that they are witches. One of the witches in Charmed won't tell her boyfriend because she knows he won't believe her. The witches in The Craft are known to their peers, and are derided for it. Similarly, the witches in Practical Magic are taunted and subjected to vicious lies by their fellow townspeople, merely because they are different. One witch is so upset by this treatment that she refuses to exercise her supernatural powers, thus lying not only to others but to herself about who she is.
It is not possible, however, simply to opt out of witchhood. Certain people are born to it. It is not a choice, but a given. Some grow up unaware that they are witches. They are at first confused and conflicted about being "different," but they gradually grow into increased self-acceptance and self-actualization. The one true witch in The Craft has always known she was different, as have the sisters in Practical Magic. However, one of these sisters embraces her identity, but the other one denies and suppresses it in a doomed quest for "normality." When finally she acknowledges and embraces her identity, the implicit parallel in all of these stories between being a witch and being gay is at last made explicit: her delighted friends spread the word: "Sally's out!"
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