Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings.   Today’s post is a Magical Media Analysis of the iconic cult classic witchy film The Craft.   This is probably one of the most obvious topics for my Magical Media Analysis series, due to the film’s iconic status in pop-culture and amongst witchy people in general.   I chose to wait a bit to cover it because I wanted to get a few more niche topics written about first, in order to give them their proper attention.   With that being said, now seems like the time to finally take a look at this truly iconic witchy film of the 90s!   I will be going over several specific elements of magick as used in The Craft in five separate sections below.   Without further ado, let’s analyze the magick in The Craft!

GLAMOUR MAGICK

~Okay, let’s start with some of the more benign and fun magick shown in the film.   Glamour Magick is shown in a short but very memorable sequence.    When the four best friends are hanging out and practicing their magick, as they do regularly in the film after they all come together as a complete coven, there is a scene where Sarah is showing the other girls how she can use magick to change her appearance.   At first, she simply changes her eye color which is very subtle, but she gets a big reaction when she doubles down and uses magick to make her blonde!   This is a cute and light-hearted point in the film where all the girls are enjoying themselves and their friendship.   Glamour Magick is very well-documented in old folklore, especially when Faeries come into play.   Faery Glamour is the ability of the Fae to transform the appearance of themselves and their environment at will, which is the same type of magick being wielded on a smaller level by Sarah in this scene!   While real-life Glamour Magick does not make such a drastic change in your appearance, as it is more energetic in nature, I do appreciate that they incorporated this type of magick into the film.

MAGICK FOR REVENGE

~Okay, so this is one of the most common types of magick shown in this film.   Rochelle uses magick for revenge against her racist bully, which takes on a much more extreme connotation than originally intended.   Nancy is full of the desire for revenge, and even accidentally causes the death of her abusive and drunken stepfather, which results in her and her mother gaining a large sum of money from the insurance policy.   Both of these revenge-filled magickal intents lead to the undoing of each in the end, with Nancy eventually being institutionalized and Rochelle losing her powers entirely.   Revenge-based magick is very well-documented historically, as curse tablets were very prominent in the ancient world, making up a large part of The Greek Magical Papyri!  

BINDING MAGICK

~One of the most important scenes in the film takes place when Sarah performs a binding ritual on Nancy after the latter has become increasingly unhinged.   I really love how well this scene was done and how realistic the portrayal of this type of magick is.   Sarah takes a photo of Nancy and binds string around the photo while chanting “I bind you Nancy from doing harm. Harm against other people and harm against yourself.”   This is a very simple way of binding someone, and I do like the balance in the reasoning, that she wanted to bind Nancy not just to protect others, but to protect Nancy herself.   Of course, this, unfortunately, does not work in the context of the film, but this ritual could be adapted in hopes of actually binding someone who is causing harm to you or a loved one!   You can definitely see the influence of the magical consultant they had on set in this scene, as it is definitely a more grounded vision of magick.   

LOVE MAGICK GONE WRONG

~I really adore the way that love magick is used in this film, as it highlights just how dangerous this type of magick truly is!    Sarah casts a spell on the boy she has a crush on, even after he starts a rumor that she has slept with him, to make him fall in love with her.   This begins pretty benignly with him wanting to be close to her and very willing to do whatever she asks.   However, this quickly devolved into him stalking her and even attempting to rape her, and she very luckily gets away from him before this can happen.   In the ancient world, and much old world magick, love magick is classified with curses, and for very very good reason!    This dark energy of love magick is exactly why many consider it a curse, especially when it is performed on someone without their knowledge or permission.   It certainly serves as an important lesson for Sarah in how she will use her magick in the future!

INVOKING THE SPIRIT SCENE

~Finally, last but not least, I have to cover the Invoking the Spirit scene!   This is the most iconic scene of the entire film, with good reason.   The girls perform a ritual on May-Eve (April 30th the day before Beltane) to Invoke the Spirit, to allow Nancy to fully engage the magick of Manon, the fictional deity invented for this film.   This ritual involves calling the corners, a traditional Wiccan way to begin a ritual, as Wicca was the most popular type of witchcraft in the 90s.   They also each have an animal to represent their element and perform this powerful ritual that ends up allowing Nancy to walk on water!   Now, what is probably most interesting about this sequence from a Magical Media Analysis perspective is the actual behind-the-scenes story of shooting the scene.   The scene was shot on an actual beach and so much energy was truly raised as this rite was using actual Wiccan wording.   A series of strange circumstances happened including a flock of bats hovering over the set, the fog rolled in at midnight, and the tide rose dramatically extinguishing the circle of candles.   All of this caused the cast to have to come back and reshoot the scene.   The witch consultant, Pat Devin, had to explain that the fictional deity Manon had a name that sounded very similar to the Irish Sea God Manannan Mac Lir.   This would certainly serve to explain the actual energy being raised on the beach that day!

~I hope you have enjoyed this Magical Media Analysis of The Craft.   What is your favorite piece of magick used in the film?   Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the original film poster.   I found the image on https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115963/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1.

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/  

Further Reading/Watching

• The Craft (1996)
• Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want by Deborah Castellano
• The Greek Magical Papyri edited by Hans Dieter Betz
• Manannan Mac Lir by Morgan Daimler
• https://thecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Invoking_the_Spirit
• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115963/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1