Probably no movie has addressed the practice of contemporary witchcraft (expecially among teens) as seriously as Andrew Fleming's THE CRAFT. The filmmakers undertook to engage a "technical advisor" from the Wiccan community to work on the writing of spells and chants that would be in keeping with the practices of many Witches, at least on a generic level. The teen witches in the movie enter their circle "in perfect love and perfect trust", invoke the elements at the "four quarters", set up an altar with the pentacle upright for a change, and visit an occult shop with a proprietress who offers reasonably accurate advice on candle magic and a lesson on the Law of Threefold Return.
This grounding in "authentic" practice--complete with "Blessed Be's" and "So Mote It Be's"--is an attempt to lower the audience's level of disbelief gradually as the movie moves into standard horror movie territory. The film posits that there exist "natural witches"--rather like Stephen King's "Carrie"--capable of altering reality through will without recourse to ritual or spell. As the natural witch of the film, Sarah, joins in ritual work with three high school misfit witches destructive manifestations and power struggles result.
In spite of the clearly over-the-top Hollywood special effects in the latter stages of the film, I have fielded questions about the film which boil down to, in essence, "Does that stuff happen?" The movie is just carefully researched enough to appeal to teens who may be looking to Wicca as a means of building personal power in a disenfranchising environment. The movie in fact opens ominously with the three witches chanting "Ours is the power" as they raise power in circle--laying the foundation for the important message that magic is ethical neutral, but must be approached with pure intentions lest the practitioner suffer harmful consequences.
I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that the makers of THE CRAFT put enough care into researching Wiccan practice and underscoring the existence of Wicca as an ethical spiritual path (as opposed to a panacea for powerlessness) that one should not dismiss discussion of the movie out of hand. It is easy to lump the film with offensive drivel like HOCUS POCUS or THE FIRST POWER because of its fantasy horror sequences, but it is truly an interesting starting point for a discussion of contemporary pagan paths and the ethics of Witchcraft.
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