Welcome to Hocus Pocus

If ever there was a movie that screamed Halloween - it would be Hocus Pocus. From the vibrant color scheme and colorful costume to the setting being the infamous Salem Massachusetts, Hocus Pocus oozes the holiday from the very first frame of Sarah riding her broomstick through the country side. Its a seasonal favorite for my family and many of my friends - especially if you were a kid in the 90s and 2000s. 

Is it a perfect movie? No.

Is it a satisfying movie? Yes. 

--Prepare For Spoilers for a 30 year old Movie--

Though the Sanderson sisters are a lot of fun, you cheer when they are defeated at the end of the story. You're excited to see the bullies get their comeuppance. It's hilarious when Billy inevitably betrays Winnifred. And its bitter sweet to see Thackery Binx reunite with his sister and move on to the next life. 

The journey Max, Danny, and Allison go on over the course of one night is exciting and scary. Yet, the kids manage to use their wits and ingenuity (multiple times) against the witches to save the lives of all the children of Salem. Each one has a moment to shine. From Danny improvising her interest in meeting the sisters, to Max and the "burning rain of death", and finally Allison with her version of "daylight savings time". 

Though it is a little weird that a Disney movie made for kids is constantly bringing up virginity.

--End of Spoilers for a 30 year old Movie--

The movie also gets a number of things right about witches in the colonial period of Massachusetts that so many other stories get wrong (looking at you Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost). 

Witches were considered evil in the colonial period, having made a deal with the devil. Winnifred, Mary, and Sarah all refer to Satan as their master and proclaim their devotion to him. 

Witches were hanged (or pressed, or drowned) in the colonies - not burned at the stake (that was a continental European thing). North American's wouldn't have burned witches because then the spectators might have seen naked bodies. The last thing a Puritan would have wanted to see is a naked witch. 

The movie actually takes place in Sale, MA and the city really does look like that. Some of the bigger landmarks were missing, such as the hotel and House of the Seven Gables, but that's really the outside of the town hall. Also, there really are underground tunnels throughout the city - there was a huge pirate problem up until the early 1800s. 

However, there is one major inaccuracy to the movie. There were no real witches in Salem during the colonial period. None of the people accused, imprisoned, or murdered for witchcraft were actually witches. They were victims of a mass hysteria, racism, and a scheme to steal property by the elite of the city.  

Memorial to the victims of the Salem Witch Trials.

It took nearly three centuries for the city to address this shameful period in their history. Now there's a beautiful memorial to the victims and a lot of tourist traps for people see. I personally found that a historical ghost tour was a lot more interesting than the wax museums that line the main street. Though the Witch House, which has the recreated jail in the basement was creepy.

Yeah, Hocus Pocus focuses more on the spectacle of Salem's infamous history. But I think creating three completely fictional characters that have the actual historical stereotypes of colonial witches works. It plays up the folk horror of witchcraft, makes it ridiculous, and weaves in a tiny smidge of historic reality.

The new sequel, Hocus Pocus 2, adds to that malicious silliness.  

I don't plan on spoiling that movie, as it only came out three days ago at the time of me writing this post. I found it funny and a cute addition to a story that really didn't need a follow up. Some of the details are a delight - like the witchcraft store (because if Salem has an overabundance of anything, its witchcraft stores) and adults trying to side step explaining what a virgin is to a little kid.

Do I recommend the movie? Maybe - if you really liked the first one, the nostalgia will hit you right in the feels. However, I don't think it'll be the cult classic the first one is.

At their core, the Hocus Pocus movies aren't about the accurate history of Salem, MA, the witch trials, or the trauma surrounding them. 

They are stories about family and friends. The first movie has Thackery and his sister Emily mirrored by the siblings Max and Danny. The second movie is about the relationship of the Sanderson sisters and is mirrored by the three friends Izzy, Becca, and Cassie.

Hocus Pocus is one of those movies that became a cult classic because of how it treats its audience. For adults, its a reminder of what it means to be a kid. For kids, it's an adventure against villains that are silly, but still super evil. It's not perfect, but it doesn't need to be.

Hocus Pocus 2 is okay. It's not good. It's not bad.

Do you have any fond memories watching Hocus Pocus? Mine include catching it on ABC Family on a late fall day and my family realizing that the guy who plays Thackery (but is not the voice actor) was also on NCIS.

Until next week. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please, like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me. 

Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 4: Women Witches

 "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable." - Malleus Maleficarum

What is the first image that comes to mind when you picture a Witch? Or more specifically, who comes to mind?

For most the answer is a woman dressed all in black with a pointed hat. She might be old and oddly disfigured or young and beautiful with a voluptuous figure. Maybe she's pouring ingredients into a cauldron or flying on a broomstick. She might even have a black cat skulking around somewhere.

The stereotypical witch from western culture is nearly always a woman.

I swear this woman turned me into a newt.

That doesn't mean that men or non-binary people can't be witches. Some of you might have pictured Harry Potter or Merlin, except that they usually have the moniker of wizard attached to them.

To be fair, the words wizard and witch are often used to signify a magic practitioner's gender. However, they don't necessarily mean the same thing. Depending on the magical system, a wizard's magic might be very different than a witch's magic while at the same time keeping the gender barrier (such as in Sir Terry Pratchett's Disc World series). In other cases men and women can be either a wizard or a witch depending on how they use/acquire their magical ability. Other words that are known to be used interchangeably (with some regards to gender) are: sorceress, sorcerer, warlock (unpopular because it also means oath-breaker), enchanter, enchantress, and mage. You can find more information on magical title by clicking here.

Please note that a magician is typically someone who does magic tricks such as slight of hand, illusions, or misdirection. The title magician is rarely used to mean a practitioner or magic/magick.

For the purposes of this blog post, I'll be using the term witch to refer to people accused during the witch trials that plagued Europe and North America between the 1400 and 1700s.

Historically, witches could be either male or female, but let's be honest with ourselves. Most people accused and executed for witchcraft were women. According to the sources I could find, women made up between 75-85% of the people accused of witchcraft during the height of the North American and European witch hunts. A few accounts have even suggested that there wouldn't be a single woman left in a village once a witch hunt was concluded - having all been burned at the stake (sadly I can't find the source of this one).

In 1922, a Swedish-Danish man, Benjamin Christensen, created a silent dramatized documentary called Haxan. In his 7 part series of shorts, it shows the history of witchcraft as he researched it. Most of it is on how women were portrayed and accused of being witches. The seventh part fast-forwards to modern times (well 1920s modern times) about how institutionalizing women for mental problems (like hysteria) is similar to the witch trials of old. That last part feels incredibly insulting for many reasons, but the rest of it is pretty interesting to watch if only for the silly shenanigans that happen when you decide to join the devil (lots of debauchery and orgies apparently).

If you're interested the nearly 2 hour movie is in the public domain and you can watch it with English subtitles on YouTube. If you don't feel like sitting through a silent movie for 2 hours, there's a fabulously hillarious silent review that's only 15 minutes by Kyle from the YouTube show Brows Held High which you can watch here.

I think the guy in the center wants my soul guys!!!

Though the gender bias towards women witches wasn't the case in all countries where hunts occurred. Historians have noted that men were more often accused in Iceland, Finland, Estonia and Russia. (Here's where I found a lot of this information.)

However, this doesn't stop the fact that women were disproportionately affected by witch hunts (and by affected I mean tortured and then murdered). Women with property, but no husband, women who were healers and midwives, women who were poor or handicapped or just had a general displeasing disposition were prime targets to have accusations thrown at them.

Some might attribute this bias as part of the Madonna and Whore complex. It divides women into two categories. The first being the virtuous pure woman who can do no wrong like The Holy Mother Mary. The second being the vile sinful temptress who will bring down mankind a la Eve. Either a woman knows her place in society or she's evil and going to bring about the ruin of civilization. There is no in-between. 

One famous example is Bridget Bishop from the Salem Witch Trials. She was a widow and had inherited the ownership of a tavern and apple orchard (which stood in front of Salem prison) upon her husband's death. Now women in colonial America didn't really own anything. Any property she might possess was immediately transferred to her husband upon marriage. As Mrs. Bishop refused to find herself a new husband and liked to dress in a manor that was considered scandalous for the time, she was often met with disapproval from her Puritan neighbors (the anti-fun that they were).

It really didn't help that she had a lovely apple orchard worth a pretty penny that stood right in front of Salem prison (did I already mention that?).

Bridget Bishop wasn't the first person in Salem to be accused of witchcraft, but she was the first person executed. In fact, her trial and sentencing were all sped up just so the powers-that-be could confiscate and properly redistribute her land all the faster. There was some talk that they hurried her trial along so that they could expand the prison (it was overflowing with people accused of witchcraft), but that expansion never happened.

Taken one step further, many of the things witches could be accused of were often considered more famine in nature. Altering one's appearance - known as putting on a glamour - to appear more attractive and enchant someone with their "new" beauty into a relationship. Today women are still more likely than men to wear makeup and be accused of misleading a man when she's not as attractive without it. Potion making can resemble cooking (again more associated with women's work than men's) and are used for enchanting, healing, or poisoning. Interestingly enough, poisoning was considered a women's preferred method of murder for centuries (Agatha Christie novels are full of this stereotype).

Oh, and don't forget women's right to control their bodies, especially when it comes to reproduction. It's a "controversial" fight well into modern times. The Malleus Maleficarum makes several references to witches preventing conception and causing abortions. Who would be most interested in this knowledge? Women. Who would most likely know the folklore and practice around it? Women.

Women stood a lot to lose from an accusation of being a witch. How could they protect themselves from having the finger pointed at them?

They accused their neighbors first.

Something that tends to get glossed over in the history books is that women were just as likely as men to accuse someone of witchcraft. In fact women accused of witchcraft had to be looked over by other women for signs of the "devil's mark" (imperfections on the skin such as a birth mark or scar), it wasn't proper for a man to do it. Women could even be the most vocal against an accused person, especially if there was a known rivalry between the two.

She's a witch! And she's a witch! THEY'RE ALL WITCHES!

Remember how I keep bringing up Salem? Well the trials began because of two young girls. It isn't clear exactly why they started accusing people of witchcraft (likely to stay out of trouble from some misdeed), but eventually these two girls expanded to include more and more of their friends and neighbors. Certainly they were egged on by the power-that-be, but it was young women and girls who primarily targeted other women.

Things clearly haven't changed much over the centuries. Women seem to always be pitted against each other for one reason or another.

So how did we go from evil witch to beloved fixture of the fall season, popular book heroine, and nose twitching TV icon? Furthermore, where do modern practicing witches fit into all of this?

Yeah, that's right, witches still exist and they don't need anyone's approval but their own.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y'all like hearing from me.

Welcome to the Witching Hour Part 1: A Spark of Interest

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to take a long weekend up to Salem, Massachusetts: Witch Capitol of the United States. For my readers who are unfamiliar with Salem Massachusetts, following a series of "unexplainable incidents" in February 1692  a witch panic erupted in the God fearing Puritan colonies in Massachusetts. More than 150 people were accused of witchcraft and consorting with the devil. 19 of those accused were hanged, while one person was pressed to death (heavy stones were placed on them until they died). The panic didn't end until someone accused the Governor's wife in May 1693, which finally prompted the Governor to end the madness and pardon everyone who was still in jail.

Nearly 400 years of history and most people only talk about the witch trails when it comes to Salem, MA. For a very long time, the city and surrounding county tried to forget the panic ever occurred. Only one of the teenage girls ever apologized for her actions during the hysteria (sources aren't super clear what happened to all of them) and nearly everyone who was accused of being a witch lost everything.

Memorial park for the victims of the Salem Witch Trials

It wasn't until the tourism industry started making a little money, and then a lot of money, that the city began to acknowledge the 15 month panic. Now you can't walk through the main tourist districts without running into half a dozen shops dedicated to witchcraft and silly tourist traps dedicated to the trails. There's even a play reenactment of the trail of one of the accused witches twice a day for $25 per person.

I do think the city is worth a visit and the history is fascinating (though I hear October is insane), but I don't want to spend this entire post talking about my last weekend getaway.

No, what I want to focus on are the topics of witches and witchcraft.

Okay, I know it's not quite fall...let alone October, but I want to start writing about this topic now so that I don't accidentally keep up these posts until November (there's a lot to write about). Witches and witchcraft in history and popular culture are pretty interesting, plus there are several religions which incorporate witchcraft into their rituals.

Witches within European history and folklore are often wicked individuals who consorted with the devil. They hex people and try to entice others to sign their soul away. They were the cause of illness, injury, and all sorts of unfortunate, yet unexplainable, catastrophes. They are to be feared.

To be clear, no everyone who practiced magic was considered an evil witch (at least before Christianity became the dominate practice in Europe). There were quite a few religions that had wise men and women preform spells to ensure a good harvest or success in battle. The Greeks even had a goddess named Hekate who was dedicated to those who practiced magic, witchcraft, and sorcery.

More recently, we've had a kind of revival for witches in popular culture. The Sanderson Sisters from the movie Hocus Pocus and Ursula, the sea witch from The Little Mermaid, seem to embody the wicked witch stereotype, but then we have the good witches like Hermione Grander from Harry Potter and Halliwell Sisters from the 2000s show Charmed.

There are people today who practice witchcraft and have proudly adopted the moniker of Witch. The Wicca religion is notable for having many rituals that involve witchcraft. Others simply find spiritual meaning and focus practicing their craft.

There's a lot to explore when it comes to the topic of witches, witchcraft, and magick (the type spelled with a "k" at the end). There's a lot of information in the New Age section of the bookstore and online (though there's also a lot of misinformation there) on the modern practice of witchcraft. It's also a good idea to speak to people who actually practice witchcraft.

So sit back, relax, put on some creepy music, and let's learn about witches.

Until next week.

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please like, share, and or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.