occultvisions:

thepaganstudygrouppage:

I’ve written many posts about Pop Culture Paganism and I figured it’s about time I wrote about Pop Culture Magic, too. This will simply be an overview; some topics will be elaborated on at a later date.

Pop Culture Magic can take on many forms: using lines from the movie Chicago in a curse, creating tarot cards about your favorite show or book (for those who consider tarot cards to be a part of their magic practices), using sigils from Supernatural, naming your spells after Pokemon, referring to a spirit guide as a Patronus…the list goes on and on. Pop Culture Magic is surprisingly common because pop culture is, for most of us, a part of our daily lives. It’s what we see when we turn on the television, listen to the radio, open a magazine, gaze through a library. It permeates our lives and, as a result, sometimes seeps into our magical practice (x)

Why PC Magic? For starters, it’s fun. It allows us to personalize our magic further, to connect with the culture we’ve grown into, to draw magical strength from fictional characters, and in some cases work within different universes.

Different Universes? Yes! Many PC Magicians (myself included) work within the paradigms and events of other universes, especially if it’s a universe that is drawn from a lot by a witch. When I say “work within” I don’t necessarily mean that we “travel” to that universe (though I don’t doubt there are some who do exactly that by means of astral travel); more often, it’s as simple as thinking as if you are already in that universe – following the rules and restrictions of that universe in order to encourage your magic to act more like it would if you did exist in that universe.

Common Types of PC Magic:

Spells and Curses: This is by far the most common form of Pop Culture Magic you’ll find within the tumblr community as it is becoming more and more popular. There’s a whole ‘how-to’ coming your way next week so I won’t get into that right now. It’s also becoming more common to see real spells based on spells in books or movies, such as the Harry Potter spells going around the community.

Divination: Pop Culture Tarot cards! Here is an incredible fandom deck. PC tarot cards aren’t actually that uncommon: Off the top of my head I’ve found Jane Austin, Star Trek, Homestuck, Legend of Zelda, Dragon Age, Doctor Who, Sherlock, and Supernatural decks or stray cards, some of which can be purchased on Amazon or Etsy. There are also plenty of pc-inspired spreads, as well as other methods of divination floating around tumblr.

Magical Books: Some people choose to design their Book of Shadows like the one on Charmed. Others use magic books in video games as a resource for building on their own magic or creating new magical practices.

Words and Phrases: Incorporating words and phrases in spellwork that characters have said is pretty common, but it’s even more common for someone to pick up little words or phrases that they use for casual, on the go magic. For example, saying “I can do zat” like Chekov when you’re in a tight spot and need a boost of confidence.

Pop Culture Magic, though often thought of as a very specific area of study, is actually a vast umbrella term that has so many different aspects to it, most of which can’t be given justice in one post. Hopefully my follow-ups to this post will shed some more light on the topic and answer the questions you may have. And as always, feel free to ask me anything on the topic.

~Wanderings

REBLOGGING THIS FOR IT’S WEIRDNESS ONLY.