Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Ask Angus

Home
Pagan
AskAngus7: Margaret Hamilton for Pope!

AskAngus7: Margaret Hamilton for Pope!

Last updated on: March 26, 2013 at 11:10 pm by Angus McMahan

AskAngus7: Margaret Hamilton for Pope! 2013-03-26T23:10:05-07:00 Angus McMahan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Dear Ask Angus,

Mom of 4: My kids think all witches are green with warts on their noses, as portrayed in cartoons and Halloween costumes. I’ve tried to explain to them that there are real witches among us who look nothing like that, but I don’t know much more myself. Please help!

Dear Mom of 4,

Ah yes. The Margaret Hamilton syndrome. Her portrayal of the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz (1939) forever solidified in our minds what a witch is supposed to look like. Her character was certainly terrifying: Check it out next time you see the movie. Maggie steals every scene she is in – the rest of the characters just become so much wallpaper when she is on screen. Margaret also reprised the WW character on a 1976 episode (0847) of Sesame Street that resulted in so many complaints from the parents of traumatized children that the episode has never been shown again.

So the Wicked Witch character is so popular in our culture because it is SCARY. And people of all ages (cultures, backgrounds) love to be scared.

The real Margaret Hamilton. Not scary at all.

But none of this has a single thing to do with real witches, none of whom are green (except the day after a sabbat party), and very few of which have warts on their noses (certainly no more so than the general population).

In all fairness, it should also be pointed out that real witches are also nothing like the (so called) Good Witch of the North. Billie Burke’s portrayal of all that is glittery and ball-gowny and sing-song voiced is no nearer to the life of your average pagan than Maggie’s shrieking shrew cariacture. The Good Witch of the North is the cause of all the awful things that happen to the rest of the characters; she denies all responsibility; and she blithely uses Dorothy to do her dirty work, all the while withholding valuable information from her (“You’ve had the power to go home all along!”). Indeed, this passive-aggressive/denial/revenge paradigm makes The Northern Witch into the prototype New Age practitioner, come to think of it.

The sad fact is that a real witch just wouldn’t make a very interesting movie role or halloween costume. We’re really not all that spectacular. And your average child woudn’t be riveted by a character that gardens, prays with her candles, stares at the moon a lot, and makes teas for her friends that soothes their aches and pains.

I’m afraid Mom-of-4 that your children are simply too young to really grasp the sublteties that make being a witch so utterly captivating to those of us in the Craft. In a few years the older ones could come along on a nature walk or a beach clean up – or you can make a fieldtrip to one of your town’s occult book stores – and they can see for themselves what it is that real witches actually do.

P.S. Ironically, Margaret Hamilton was a lifelong and tireless advocate for the humane treatment of animals, which is a VERY witchy trait. But its hard to find the halloween costume of “Animal Shelter Volunteer”.

Way scarier than the Wicked Witch of the West, imho.

Dear Ask Angus,

Stephanie: What do you think of the new Pope? And in what ways do you think he will affect Paganism?

Dear Stephanie,

From what I can see the new Pope is an old, Roman Catholic man who toiled for years in the byzantine politics of one of the oldest, most Conservative, most repressive, most hide-bound, most bass-ackwards totalitarian states, before somehow rising to the top of this back-biting food chain and emerging as the Top Dog. I don’t think the Reform Train will be leaving that particular station anytime soon.

Pope Francis is from Argentina and is a Jesuit. Will this make any difference? (“difference” here defined as being able to have at least a smidgen of awareness of how an inkling of Progressive attitude could ease the suffering of millions of his flock.) It might. But its still too early to tell. My money says little to none, however. You don’t rise to the top of this reactionary heap by being any kind of radical.

Do I think any of this will affect Paganism? No. Catholicism is a rigid, top-down Heirarchy that seeks to control its followers. Neo-Paganism is a bottom-up, grass roots movement that allows for maximum latitude amongst its practitioners. The Witches are slowly gaining access to seats at the Grown-Ups table of religions, but we should not expect any sort of instant hand-up from a group that took until 1992 to agree that that Earth does indeed revolve around the Sun.*

My prediction is that Pope Francis will get better reviews than the newly demoted Bishop Ratzinger, if only because being a former Nazi who retired from the Papacy (the first since 1415!) under very mysterious circumstances, and now living out the rest of his rope under the diplomatic immunity of the Holy See – is a pretty easy act to follow.

~Ask Angus

Send your questions to: [email protected]

(Pics from daykeeperjournal.com, wikimedia commons, untilthelastrevel.tumblr.com, and Paul Gilligan)

*We’re now sorry for imprisoning Galileo for the rest of his life. Our Bad: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/31/world/after-350-years-vatican-says-galileo-was-right-it-moves.html

Previous Post

March 19, 2013

AskAngus6: "Pagan girls" with knives, white fairies on dope.

Next Post

March 26, 2013 AskAngus8: Red State, Blue State, where can I congregate?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month June 2020 December 2019 February 2019 January 2019 September 2018 July 2018 April 2018 February 2018 October 2017 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 April 2016 July 2015 March 2015 February 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did God change Abram’s name to?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Abraham Isaac Jacob Moses