Ian's Witch Blog

  One subject I wish we focused more on during this semester’s class is how witches play into Medieval European folklore. In light of this, a tale that is particularly interesting to me is that of Hansel and Gretel. This has been especially true ever since I heard the original version of said tale, as well as the cultural events that spawned it. And, although this version is not dramatically different from the well-known story today, the context from which the Brothers Grimm’s first edition (an edition that was meant for fellow scholars, not children) was informed makes the story much more psychologically sobering. To the original story, then: it is 1300’s Northern Germany; a famine has crippled the region after the widespread introduction of agriculture spurned a population boom (of which the land was not capable of supporting) and, subsequently, a mini ice age. So, because they cannot feed a family of four, a mother and father decide to leave their children, Hansel and Gretel, ...

  A couple of weeks ago, our class concocted some potion recipes, with each person coming up with their own wild ingredients. Pressed for time, I decided to draw from Harry Potter and go with one of my favorite words I’ve ever heard, a bezoar. Mentioned frequently by Severus Snape throughout the book/movie series, this ingredient has always stuck with me, even though I had no idea what it actually was. Well, after still not knowing when asked about it in the following class, I finally figured it was time to incrementally increase my Harry Potter knowledge. So, a bezoar, in real life, as an indigestible object that is either intentionally or unintentionally introduced into a person’s gastrointestinal system, was commonly thought to protect such people from poison. In the sixth movie, this belief is demonstrated when Ron accidentally consumes a bewitched bottle of sweetwine that was meant for Dumbledore. Rowling, who frequently drew from real-life magical sources, has Harry scour P...

  In line with my previous post on the prevalence of 'witchiness' throughout the music of the late 1960s and the mid-to-late-1970s, Jimmy Page may have been the rocker that possessed the most legitimate and sincerest belief in these ideas. Whereas some artists appeared to exalt witches because of their unique aesthetic qualities and symbolic association with oppressed peoples, Page’s interest lies in the backdrop of this phenomenon instead. Indeed, Led Zeppelin’s lead guitarist is more concerned with the occult than anything else. More specifically, in a sense, Page is more concerned with ‘magick’ than magic. In 1959, a fifteen-year-old Jimmy Page’s lifelong interest in Aleister Crowley began. Yes, after coming across the Thelemic’s Magick in Theory and Practice , Page stated, “That’s it. My thing, I’ve found it”. While the rocker never officially joined Crowley’s Ordo Templi Orientis, he certainly dabbled in Thelemic philosophy, among other occult practices. This philosophy,...

  One movement we have not discussed enough in class is the increase in ‘witchiness’ throughout the late 1960s and early-to-mid-1970s. Seemingly because of its natural compliance with counterculture in general, and especially because of this specific counterculture’s obsession with Bohemian fashion/attitudes, the ideas and aesthetics that accompany the culture displayed in WitchTok today appears to have originated during the hippie/yippie era. Indeed, according to the Internet subculture’s prominent archetypes and themes, it seems a person cannot be considered a full-fledged ‘witch’ unless they know all the lyrics to Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhiannon”. Kidding aside, that song is not the only one from this time period that explores such concepts. Of course, Stevie Nicks, both through her songwriting and appearance, embodies the era’s fascination with witchdom, but songs like Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”, Cliff Richard’s “Devil Woman”, Cher’s “Dark Lady”, and, alas, The Eagles’s “Witchy ...

Before the presentation on Maleficent two weeks ago, I knew little and less about the movie’s plot. Frankly, all I really knew about the movie was that Angelina Jolie played the titular character. So, when the presenters outlined the basic setup of the movie (the struggle for conquest between the human world and a fairy world called The Moors), I thought the film would steer in a much different direction. As I’ve mentioned before, I took a class last year on 20 th Century Irish Literature, a class that I never realized would have so many connections to this one. From Samhain and Halloween to W. B. Yeats and C. S. Lewis, Ireland’s relationship with mysticism and, therefore, witchcraft is as strong as that of any other country/culture. Yet, despite all of this, Maleficent ’s connection to Irish myth still came as surprise to me. Indeed, the story of Niamh and Oisin starts off in much the same way as Maleficent , which is why I thought the movie’s plot was headed in a different direct...