Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings!   So today is Femme Fatale Friday, but it is also my Birthday!   To celebrate the Birthday of the Enchantress of Avalon, I am going to focus on Witchy Personality Archetypes that I resonate with, by going through some pop culture examples. I think that we all tend to like to watch and read things because we feel some form of kinship and relatability to at least one of the characters. This post is partially to explore why I feel kinship to these characters from some of my favorite magical and witchy media properties. In fact, the focus on magical media makes this a sort of strange Magical Media Analysis post focusing on character archetypes instead of magick practices. I hope you enjoy this fun and different style of post celebrating my birthday. I have broken down the post into three archetypes and have chosen some examples from each to flesh out the explanation of the archetype!

Faery Enchantress Archetype

~This is the archetype of Faery Glamour, a true Enchantress who can manifest the life that she wants through her enchantments and sorcery.   She is also very much a sexy romantic! 

Phoebe Halliwell (Charmed 1998)

~Phoebe is originally introduced as the youngest sister of the trio of Halliwell witches.   It is Phoebe who reads the incarnation in the pilot episode which gives the sisters their powers in the first place!    As the show progressed, we got to see Phoebe mature and grow into a very well-rounded adult woman, but she never lost her fun-loving and free-spirited edge to her personality!   By the end of the series, she is firmly centered as a successful woman, in addition to being a powerful witch, wife, and mother.   That is truly what the Faery Enchantress archetype is, fun-loving and free-spirited even as you grow and mature!         

Gillian Owens (Practical Magic 1998)

~Similarly to Phoebe, Gillian is first introduced as the younger of the Owens sisters, and as the one who wants nothing more than to have a good time.    Over the course of the film, she finally begins to mature and realizes that all of her running from home is not necessary, as in truth it is this running from herself and her family that caused much of her pain!    She learned that being home with the ones who love her is the best place to be, and she finally felt truly comfortable in her own skin, even though she had acted as though she was very comfortable all along with all of her sexual allure and flirtatious energy!   In the end, she is also similar to Phoebe in that she has gained much maturity, but has not lost her edge of being free-spirited.   For Gillian, at least in the film, learning to accept herself and her family and realizing that she can form a permanent home helps to make her become grounded and centered!    In the novel, she learns this, in addition to falling in love with a good man for once, making her struggle for stability takes on a new level.   That being said, both the film and the book show great character development and a depth of growth!

Sarah Sanderson (Hocus Pocus 1993)

~Sarah Sanderson is the fun one of the trio of witchy sisters at the heart of the Disney Halloween classic.   Her main feature is that her job is to lure in the children by singing her haunting and enchanting lullaby.   She is endlessly free-spirited and optimistic even as the sisters meet the sun and lose their plot to come back to life permanently!

Mystical Femme Fatale Archetype

~This is the archetype of Mystical Seership and Oracular work who is also a fierce, sometimes misunderstood, Femme Fatale.   She balances the Mystical with the Bad Ass!

Morgana Pendragon (Merlin 2009)

~Morgan le Fay is one of the Goddesses who most deeply inspired my concept of the Mystical Femme Fatale Archetype.    The character that is based upon her in the BBC series Merlin is known as Morgana Pendragon, for she is Arthur’s half-sister on his father’s side this time!    Over the course of the series, she goes from being a sweet young woman struggling with burgeoning magick in a Court of Camelot that does not allow the practice of magick at all to become the Last High Priestess and arguably the most powerful magickal practitioner in the series.   I know many would say Merlin is more powerful, but I still think that Morgana had abilities that he did not, or maybe that’s just my Morgan le Fay-loving bias talking!   

Maleficent (Maleficent 2014)

~Ah, yet another ideal example of the Mystical Femme Fatale is the Mistress of All Evil herself!  In particular, we get to see a well-rounded and balanced view of her in the 2014 and 2019 films in which she is the titular character.   The audience gets to learn the truth behind her origins as a protector of the Moors, who was betrayed by her first love in the first film.    I loved getting to see an understandable reason given for her desire to place the curse on Aurora, as opposed to it simply being out of feeling insulted at not being invited to the baptism.    I also really adore her dynamic as Aurora’s Faery Godmother, as well as her relationship with Diaval!   At the end of the day, she certainly is a Mystical Faery Queen, very capable of being a Femme Fatale if pushed to it, making her an obvious character to include here. 

Faery Herbalist Archetype

~This is the archetype of Faery Herbal magick and healing.   She is also excellent at all sorts of potions, including those for love, lust, and beauty!

Sally Owens (Practical Magic 1998, film only)

~I have always related so much to Gillian, and just not that much to Sally.   I love Sally as a character, but she just did not resonate with me as I did not feel like we had much in common.    However, in the film, there is one big thing that we have in common, and that is the desire to run our own Apothecary shops!    She is successful in running her shop in the film, and it is my dream to run my own similar shop, where I can sell teas, herbal remedies, and beauty products, as well as give in-person Tarot readings.   That is the one part of Sally’s character and life that I feel connected with!

Freya Beauchamp (Witches of East End 2013)

~Last, but not least, I want to discuss Freya Beauchamp from The Witches of East End.   Now, Freya as a character is much more personality-wise like Phoebe and Gillian than Sally, which makes her much more relatable to me.    I chose to include her in this section instead of in the first section because while she has a lot of personality similarities to those other characters, she is also very skilled with potions and utilizing magick through herbal remedies!   This is what she does at the bar where she works, infusing her drinks with magick, and helping those who purchase her drinks.    She is defined as a natural at potion making in every incarnation, making her an ideal character to feature here as embodying the Faery Herbalist Archetype!

~Thus ends this Femme Fatale Friday Enchantress Birthday Special.   Do any of the three archetypes resonate with you?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services!    I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon!  Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/