Witch School

We took the week of Hallowe’en/Samhain to review Witchy movies, along with some Wolfie movies. Great fun. We saw the Craft I and II and used them to bracket the others. We started in (after Craft I) with Hocus Pocus, which, while not being pro Witch, was so camp it didn’t matter and had a fabulous Bette Midler, in splendid form, doing “I Put a Spell in You”. Then we saw The Witches of Eastwick, with bravura performances by celebrities Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Cher and Suzan Sarandon. Over the top. I felt, perhaps wrongly, that their celebrity overshadowed the characters in the story, from which I wanted a bit more Witchiness. But still a learning experience. What did I learn? That Magic is much better shared and synced than Solo. And that little devils are so hard to get rid of once you have summoned them. Then we saw Practical Magic – again with the shared Magic theme, and the “come out of the Broom Closet” theme, and a lovely romance to boot. I especially loved it when the ghoul was repelled with a Star rather than a Cross – brilliant. Then Bram Stoker’s Dracula -although it really is Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula. The redemption scene at the end is very moving and puts a compassionate twist on suppositions about vampire damnation. And, of course, Annie Lennox’ seriously wonderful “Love Song for a Vampire” surely one of the great love songs of all time – a heart “beating like a drum”, “the Song of Songs”. It captures so perfectly the story, but also the aspirations we have for love. We followed that by Wolf, again with Nicholson. The message here was “Don’t let the tawdry of civilization corrupt you – or extinguish your inner wild”. And finally that second Craft movie, again emphasizing collective work and the ethics of Magic. We also found time to listen to the audio book version of Waking the Witch, a tour through the history of Witches and Craft, championing the Witch as the icon of Female Rebellion – and ! autonomy: marvellous. So now that Samhain is behind us, though it actually begins the entire Holy Season, the arc from Samhain to Imbolc, before we get into all the Yule festivities, I want to take time to reflect, to let the ideas settle inward and to see what they generate. Blessed Be!