I Love The Craft, Charmed, and Practical Magic…Wait, I’m A Fluffy Bunny?

Author: Celeste

I doubt there is one person in the school I go to that doesn’t know that I’m a Pagan—or, as the part of the student body that don’t like me call me, “witch bitch.” This just past school year, my junior year, I made an attempt to clear up rumors by being interviewed by the school newspaper about my spirituality. I explained it (excluding words such as witchcraft, spell, magic, and Wicca of course) and hoped that it would make people see me in a new light. Unfortunately, because the aspiring journalist wrote it in such a way that made me sound very melodramatic (and put quotes around things I didn’t say!) I think it just added fuel to the fire.

But anyway, now that the background is out of the way, let’s get back on the subject at hand.

I like to view myself as a very intelligent, well-rounded, open-minded individual. Since day one, I’ve researched and researched and researched everything I could. Within the first week, I knew what a ‘fluffy bunny’ was, and I was determined not to be one. Right from the get-go, I knew magic wasn’t like in the media. I knew vampires and werewolves and dragons and other fantastical creatures like that weren’t real, although I certainly wished they were.

I had my fluff moments here and there despite all the research and work I put in, but don’t we all? I’m past that now, and although I don’t really self-identify as a Wiccan or a Witch any longer, that’s the label that’s stuck because I used to be very…. out there. Hence the fluff. So, rumors were thus spread, especially when I got to high school, and I became known as “witch bitch” to some, “the witch” to others, and still others just didn’t care. ( I appreciated those still others.)

So, anyway, in reference to the title. First, it was The Craft. My buddy Kat introduced it to me first, since she adores it. And I really liked it, too. Sure, many people think it’s a terrible movie, but I thought it was really good. Besides, you can only expect bad graphics and actors from a 90s movie about witches.

After The Craft was the lovely Practical Magic. Who doesn’t love this movie? Not only does it have great actresses, but also it’s a great love story and a great example of the fact that things like curses only work if you believe in them. The whole placebo effect thing.

And of course, there’s Charmed. I’m almost finished watching the entire series—I’m on the fifth episode of the eighth season now. And I love it. I think it’s hilarious. And even though the graphics and actors/actresses are even worse than in The Craft, it’s so addicting that you can’t help but love it. My mother and my 8-year-old sister love it as well.

Now, like I’ve mentioned, I like to view myself as a very intelligent person. I’m no longer “out there” about my spirituality. I don’t even wear a pentacle anymore: I wear a pretty little triskele. I get complimented on it all the time. If someone asks me what religion I am, I tell them I don’t like to put a label on my beliefs, but I do believe there is a divine out there, that it’s called by many names, and that I basically try my best to work in harmony with the earth and the universe.

If I know for a fact that the other person is of a like mind, I tell them that I’m an Eclectic Neo-Pagan. I don’t bring Neo-Pagan or New Age centered books with me to school unless I’m passing them on to a friend who wants to borrow it. I don’t talk very much about it, either, simply because there’s nothing to talk about. My experiences are my own and I don’t need to share them. I don’t shout my thoughts and feelings from the rooftops like I used to. I’ve become a much quieter, peaceful, and—because I’ve settled down with my spirituality—much more confident and centered. People respect me a lot more now, and even the rumors have seem to have settled down.

So, one day I was talking to a friend about TV shows we like, and I said my and my family love to watch Charmed. He snorted and said, “Yeah, ‘cause it’s about witches, right?”

Huh?

I ignored the comment and mentioned another TV show I like (House, but that’s not the point here) , but it left me wondering what people think of me when it comes to the kind of media I like. Do people really think I only like The Craft, Charmed, and Practical Magic—and Harry Potter, but who doesn’t love Harry Potter? —because they’re about witches? Do I come off as fluffy bunny simply because I don’t hate the fantasy genre that is filled with vampires, witches, wizards, fairies, and other creatures?

I know there’s really nothing I can do about besides not mention the kind of media I like, but it still irks me. And it really gets me thinking about assumptions within the Pagan community, too. But here, it’s almost reversed. You’re ostracized if you DON’T love those kinds of things. Oh, but you can’t be “out there” with it. Except if you’re at a Pagan gathering. Then you can be “out there”.

But you all know what I’m talking about. It’s been discussed in several different articles on here before. I don’t need to go over the whole thing again. I really just wanted to blow off some steam.

I’m really just tired of the fluffy bunny thing. Okay, I admit, I used to use the fluffy bunny label all the time. Sometimes I still slip up and use it. I’m really trying not to, and it’s because I’m trying to get rid of that assumption that I’m fluffy bunny because of the kinds of TV shows and movies I like. Or books. Because I love the Sweep series by Cate Tiernan, too.

They’re fiction, people. We all know they’re fiction. Granted, there are those out there who don’t think they’re fiction, but those people are much more few and far between than we think they are. We aren’t like rabid Twilight fans that convert to Cullenism and think that they’re vampires, too.

Just because someone loves The Craft, Charmed, and Practical Magic DOES NOT mean that they believe witchcraft is just like that. I wish more people would understand that.