Using Witchy Media to Inspire Your Craft

Written By Samuel Jobe, Votary of An Morrigan

The witch has made quite an appearance in the media over the last few years. From
American Horror Story:Coven to the most recent production by Marvel, Agatha All Along, the witch as an archetype has taken the front seat. More than likely do to the group mind of humanity moving away from Abrahamic religions to practices more akin to those of our
ancestors. We know that witchcraft is not as it is made out to be in movies and tv shows, the stuff practitioners do to perform their magic is much more strange and unusual. While witchcraft has adapted to the modern age, in some regards, it is not recommended to base one's practice off what we consume through the lens of a camera. Yet, using media to reinspire our practices is a great way to take the appropriate amount from what we consume and translate it to an ever growing faith.

I have been reading Tarot professionally for about 5 years now and utilizing tarot as a
system of divination for a little over 7 years now. Since that time I have jumped around from system to system, trying my hand at bone throwing, playing cards, and more exclusively the French cartomancy known as Lenormand. Cards are my forte and have enjoyed exploring different modalities of divination and how each system can inform the next one. I have been known to jump back and forth from tarot to another system, just to find myself back home in the Tarot. My favorite tv show right now is Agatha All Along and the best episode they have put out so far is the latest one “Death’s Hand in Mine” which follows Lilia’s life (The Divination Witch).

The episode really highlights Tarot, not only its very well explained interpretations, but more so the significance divination can and does have on the queer-ant ;). Tarot is an art form and Agatha All Along has reinspired me to pick up my favorite deck and read them once again. Remembering not only the love I have for this modality of fortune telling, but the love I have for the Spirit of tarot overall.

I have never been one to use spreads, I throw my tarot cards in a particular way and have
done so since I bought them. The spread I use is one that the Spirit I work with prefers, the positions do not hold stagnant meanings but provide me with the freedom to pair cards and connect dots. Since I don’t use spreads I also wanted to try out The Safe Passage Spread which is highlighted in this episode. It consists of 7 cards and very much reminds me of the very well known Celtic Cross Spread. I really enjoyed playing around with the spread from the tv show and gleaned the meaning I needed out of the question I asked. Just because it came from a tv show does not mean it is inherently useless and isn’t able to be adopted into an actual practice.As long as we don’t go around believing that turning the Tower card upright will literally flip a room upside down. There is a fine line when taking things directly from witchy media and the finesse one must have to make something the genuine article.

Seeing our practice, our lives being translated through media is always a point of joy, at
least for me it is. I will consume any media that has a witch in it, or magical powers - my mom can attest that Barney was my favorite show as a little kid. Only because he had sparkles that came off his hand and I knew that to be magic. Being inspired by the media is never a bad thing, if anything that might very well be a reason to watch media with witches in it. Witchcraft is only inhibited by our capacity to be inspired and it is in inspiration that power truly lies.