Warning: Spells are Spells

Do you like your scary movies? Me, too. Every year, during the month of October, I pull out everything from Halloween to The Wolfman with almost as much fun as I pull out Elf and Scrooge during December.

But there is a difference between a classic horror movie and diving headlong experientially into the world of the occult. And these days, you need to be careful about what it is you watch. It may not be as innocent – or non-experiential – as you might think.

Why?

Because now producers of media content are seeking out occult consultants to bring the real world of the occult into the mix. Consider AMC’s Mayfair Witches, based on Anne Rice’s trilogy The Lives of the Mayfair Witches. Creator Esta Spalding wanted its portrayal of modern witchcraft to ring true, so she brought in a practicing witch to guide the writers and actors as to how witchcraft is actually performed. 

They “let me know what they wanted to achieve magically,” the witch consultant said, “and I filled in the blanks…. If there were herbs or a spell that they chanted in Latin, I provided it. It was so cool to actually see my work being executed on screen.”

As Heather Greene writes for the Religion News Service (RNS), the

“most well publicized collaboration between consultant and filmmaker may be the 1996 cult classic The Craft. Wiccan high priestess Pat Devin was brought in during the scriptwriting process, adding authentic Wiccan ritual and language. Modern pagans noticed her influence, and the film is still one of the most popular in the community.” 

Such use of “magic” is vastly different from what you find in, say, the writings of J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis or J.R.R. Tolkien, which belong more in the fantasy camp. There the magic used is mechanical, not blatantly occultic. It’s nothing more than the magical powers of Superman. They are attempting to promote fantasy, not reality. There is no contact with a supernatural, demonic world in the classical form of the occult. In truth, they are simply morality tales, and the magic is used as a metaphor for power. The overarching theme is the fight between good and evil, and that evil is real and must be resisted. In such fantasy worlds, wizards, witches and magical potions abound but in a fantasy framework where the author uses them to present good as good and evil as evil. Even so, parents should make sure they help their children contrast the mechanical, fantasy magic in such books and subsequent film adaptions – and the fantasy magic in all fairy tales and children’s literature, from Snow White to Cinderella – with the real-life witchcraft the Bible condemns, which encourages involvement with supernatural evil.

And that is what separates such fantasy works from the Witches of Mayfair or The Craft. Other productions using actual occult consultants include Charmed, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and even the military legal procedural JAG. Greene notes that, more recently, this has also included the show Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and movies such as The Last Keepers and Practical Magic.

Witch and astrologer Aerin Fogel, an on-set adviser for The Craft: Legacy, told RNS that beyond authenticity, consultants are there to provide safety. “Magic is functional whether or not the people practicing it are using it functionally.”

In other words, a spell is a spell, whether it’s performed for the screen or in a magic circle. When offered, they are experienced and can be replicated. 

The consultant for Mayfair Witches is using a bit of magic himself. During the show’s airing, he burned a series of candles to help its success, hoping to “conjure up a second season.”

Here’s hoping that Christians, at least, have enough sense to blow those candles out.

James Emery White

Sources

Heather Greene, “Horror Shows Like ‘Mayfair Witches’ Hire Occult Consultants to Cast Their Spells,” Religion News Service, March 7, 2023, read online.

About the Author

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.

The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of CrosswalkHeadlines.

James Emery White is the founding and senior pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC, and a former professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, where he also served as their fourth president. His latest book, Hybrid Church: Rethinking the Church for a Post-Christian Digital Age, is now available on Amazon or from your favorite bookseller. To enjoy a free subscription to the Church & Culture blog, visit churchandculture.org where you can view past blogs in our archive, read the latest church and culture news from around the world, and listen to the Church & Culture Podcast. Follow Dr. White on X, Facebook and Instagram at @JamesEmeryWhite.