My oldest daughter who is 11 has friends who watch Charmed and believe that this is what being Pagan or Wiccan is all about. It is this heroic person in league with the Christian God and the Pagan Gods and Goddesses that fights Demons to keep evil from taking over the world. Not to bad if you think about it up close. But, it isn't really what the pagan movement is about. Sure they have the terminology down but when was the last time the Lord of the Dead manifested in your living room in full physical state and kidnapped your grandmother?
When it comes to Charmed, I just keep saying well at least we are put into a good light with this. There are other movies in the past few years that were not unkind but weren't so kind either. The Craft for instance. Well despite having seen many people invoke the spirit of an elemental deity, a God or Goddess and having "Drawn down the Moon" a time or two myself, I have never seen anyone be totally possessed by such things. The messing with news stories, time and flying were all very interesting things that could never happen that way either. But, there are Teenagers out there who believe that all of this is true and accurate and they can make it happen. So what did The Craft get right? Well they got right that certain things shouldn't be messed with, Karma will kick you in the butt if you aren't careful and you need to cast a circle and call the quarters. But, even that is iffy, after all you never see the Sisters in Charmed casting circles before Demon fighting now do you?
The closest thing that has come to the truth from Hollywood has been Practical Magick. They don't fly. Instead every Samhain they instead jump off the roof with the help of an Umbrella. Not to shabby. It shows that they have some control of the element Wind. This is something that is possible. Just ask Donald Michael Kraig. I don't know that you could ever control wind enough to jump off a roof and not die but I won't say it isn't possible either. They used the correct name of a deadly herb to poison the guy with. But, that's where they get off the deep end. No witch in her right mind would dream of trying to bring the dead back to life, no matter how scared she was of losing her kids. They did a good job of showing what a real possession might look like. Hollywood has always been good at that. They even did a good job of showing what a Wiccan form of an Exorcism might look like. But, then they lost it with the dust falling to the floor and having to sweep it outside then pour some disgusting brew on it.
