 I will admit, when I heard that Netflix was going to have Sabrina the Teenage Witch as a series---I was a wee bit excited. I remember watching the old series with Melissa Joan Hart and loving it. I was 15 years old when the original TV show came out and was 3 years into my Wiccan journey. Of course I adored it! And I knew.....when I saw the previews for the Netflix reboot- it wasnt going to be the cute fluffy joy that it was when I first watched it in '96. I was actually excited about that! I have grown into the occult- I moved away from Wicca -Since my early teens- I have since studied Ceremonial Magick, Necromancy, Daemonolgy, Hermeticsm, Thelema. My spirituality grew and changed until I found the right path for me which was Vodou. So when I saw the previews for the Netflix show--I was like "fuck yeah! Sabrina's grown to!" And its easy to see the stereotypes of what a "witch" is just pop up all over the place. The Satan worship, the pseudo orgies, the dark magick--I get why modern witches were upset. At first it was hard to swallow myself. The imagery that witches, pagans and occultists have had to deal with for centuries was tossed all over the show. But then, the more I watched it-- the more I loved it. Why?? Every single non-traditional religion had a stereotype represented in the show! Not just Wicca (although the after school girls group W.I.C.C.A?? REALLY?). For example: SATAN. Yes, I understand why witches want to be free of the horned demon. But......There really is no such thing as actual Satan worship. Anton Levay, the founder of Levayan Satanism, created the "religion" which is more a philosphy than anything else and is a practice of individalism. Satanists reject the idea of suerpnatural beings and follow the philosphical dualities of body and soul and life after death. Satanists do not even believe that Satan exists and they do not even worship him! They see him as an archtype that represents pride, enlightmentment, carnality. Satanists dont do black magick because they dont believe in magick at all! And as for the lovely Goat Headed Baphoment---he was originally a deity of the Knights Templar-- and when Eliphas Levi got a hold of him, he became the symbol of Hermetiscm, mysticism and the occult. Baphomet needs some love to! Evil spells? Black Magick? Ok. I know this is a touchy subject. Yes, Wiccans do not perform these--- so of course this was stereotyped in the show. But, there are many other practices that do perform darker aspects of magick. Hoodoo for example contains workings for crossing, cursing, jinxing and hexing enemies. Is Hoodoo evil? No. Its a form of folk magick. Ahh yes....and the Vodou dolls. Sticking pins into dollies to hurt someone. Firstly, Vodou dolls have no place in either Hatian or New Orleans Vodou. In fact, the doll doesnt even come from Africa at all-- but rather Europe! The cunning folk in Britain were jabbing dolls way before there were Africans in Haiti! Vodou only got thrown in the picture when the white folks needed to demonize and demoralize the religious ideology of Afro-Carribeans. Look, I could go on about all the stereotypes in the show. They are boundless. But, regardless of how many interviews modern day witches do, or how many Mambos need to go on the record about Vodou --- the stereotypes arent going away. Does it suck? Fuck yea! But its all apart from being part of a non-traditional religion. Even if you worship a rock-- traditional religion will find someway of making you out to be evil and wrong. Its just how it is. And I dont see any of the Abrahamic religions fading anytime soon. The one thing we can all do, instead of moaning about "whythefuckdotheyalwaysdothis!"- just do your thing! Its a TV show. Its meant to be entertaining. If you cant laugh at yourself, then you are going to be pissy everytime a pentagram is shown. Just do you. Whenever I see a show where Vodou is supposed to be represented-- and its obviously not represented clearly- I laugh. Its because I realize the "normies" have no clue. And you can argue till your blue- aint gonna change a damn thing. When it comes to us non traditional religious folk- you gotta stop getting upset over things people do that are out of your control. Unfortunately, dark - evil- sexy shit sells way better than wholesome. It is what is is. Educate people on your own. If you have a tat of a pentagram or a veve- and someone sees it-- or gives you a weird look-- explain to them what it is. You have to remember that most of the people in the world have zero idea what Wicca, Satanism, Hermetiscm, Vodou, Santeria etc. even is. Just dont get all upset when a new TV program comes on and you feel insulted. Just watch it, laugh at how badly and silly they represent your religion and keep doing you.... And just for fun...here is a cute baby Baphomet! 
1 Comment
|
RSS Feed