Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina is about a witch who has to choose whether to sign her
soul over to Satan.
The show leans in on the shadowy aspects of the occult big time.
But real-life members of the occult have turned a critical eye towards the show.
Here's what Sabrina gets wrong about the occult.
In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, every witch, including Sabrina, is given a dark baptism
once they turn 16.
During this ritual they sign their name in blood in the Book of the Beast, giving themselves
over to an eternity of servitude to the Dark Lord, a.k.a., Satan.
In doing so, Sabrina, who is only a half-witch, would put an end to all mortal ties and become
a full witch, submersed in the world of the dark arts.
"Are you willing to forsake the path of light and follow the path of night wherever it may
lead you?"
"I am."
This makes for great television, but it isn't real life.
Refinery29 quotes a witch named Amanda Yates Garcia as saying on screen depictions of witchcraft
as dark or satanic are the, quote, "bane of [her] life."
Garcia, and many other witches like her, agree the concept of Satan is something that comes
from the Christian religion.
They don't believe in him, and he has no part in the occult practices witches associate
themselves with.
A male witch named Myrddin told the BBC:
"We don't do anything sinister like Devil worship and we don't make human or animal
sacrifices.
We honor, revere, and give thanks to nature.
We celebrate the seasons.
It's not all blood and gore."
And Daizy October, a witch who contributed to a Huffington Post article on the matter,
says:
"The 'lord' of witches is not 'Satan.'
Most African Traditional Religion practitioners, Wiccans, and pagans have no concept of 'the
devil' in their spiritual traditions at all."
The concept of servitude, a major plot point in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, is not
something any real witch would have an interest in.
While in the show, witches are ruled and governed by a hierarchy of dark figures, the fundamental
beliefs of witchcraft as it exists in reality revolves around governing oneself.
Laura Tempest Zakroff told Refinery29:
"I don't 'worship' anything.
Rather, I listen, observe, commune, and connect with the world around me."
She goes on to say, quote, "honoring and respecting yourself" is a key value.
"My name is Sabrina Spellman, and I will not sign it away!"
Quartz drives the point home further: In 1974 a group of 73 witches, known as The American
Council of Witches, had a four-day meeting in Minneapolis to agree upon a set of common
practices so Wicca could be recognized as an official religion in America.
The end result was the Thirteen Principles of Wiccan Belief.
Number one on the list is:
"We practice rites to attune ourselves with the natural rhythm of life forces marked by
the phases of the Moon and the seasonal Quarters and Cross Quarters."
Key word: "ourselves."
In the sixth slot you'll find:
"We do not recognize any authoritarian hierarchy, but do honor those who teach, respect those
who share their greater knowledge and wisdom, and acknowledge those who have courageously
given of themselves in leadership."
No dark figure controlling everyone here.
During season one, Sabrina and a few of her other classmates from The Academy of Unseen
Arts are shown casting a spell while occupying all five points of a large pentacle drawn
on the ground.
The symbol of the five pointed star with a circle around it is used frequently throughout
the series, primarily in association with some horrific and/or terrifying activity,
but, as a real witch will tell you, that's not the intended use of pentagrams and pentacles.
According to the site Witches Lore, the pentagram and pentacle are symbols of protection against,
quote, "evil and negativity."
The pentagram represents the human form, as well as the five senses, the three aspects
of the Goddess, and the four elements of nature, while the circle is, quote, "a way to bind
the elements together."
"Blessed be."
All Wicca makes clear that the symbol has been misrepresented for ages, but cannot possibly
be a symbol of evil, or devil worship, because Wiccans do not believe in the devil.
In 2018, the Satanic Temple sued Netflix and Warner Brothers over Chilling Adventures of
Sabrina's use of a statue of the goat-headed deity Baphomet, claiming the show violated,
quote, "copyright and trademark" of the Temple's statue.
Traditionally, the deity Baphomet is depicted as having a woman's body, with a goat's head,
but the Temple's version has a male chest, and is flanked by two children.
The Satanic Temple's version of the statue can be seen heavily featured in Chilling Adventures
of Sabrina, within The Academy of Unseen Arts, and they protest that the show's use of it
creates an association of evil and darkness.
The Temple would prefer to not be associated with such, quote, "evil antagonists."
The $50 million copyright lawsuit was later settled, and Netflix agreed to, quote, "acknowledge
copied elements" in the credits of already filmed episodes, according to Variety.
It's been appropriated by many different groups throughout the ages, but its origins are not
directly tied to anything "evil."
Throughout each season of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Sabrina, her aunts, and her peers
at The Academy of Unseen Arts find themselves in predicaments that require elaborate spells
to be conducted, often in Latin.
Blood is spilled, the clouds quicken, smoke fills the room, everyone's eyes turn white.
Spooky stuff.
(Latin)
According to real witches, that's not really how things go down.
At all.
Shana Leilani, a witch who works at a metaphysical store in Los Angeles, says:
"The appeal of witchcraft is dangerous and sexy, but real witches are more like your
grandma."
Regarding the series, Bruja Brittany Bella Graham adds:
"Nobody would watch it if Sabrina were just taking an herbal bath."
For the most part, real spells require little more than a few herbs and magical intentions.
What's more, those spells shown on Chilling Adventures of Sabrina involve ingredients
that could actually really harm you.
Leilani asked of the show's depiction of spells:
"Who's consulting for you guys?
You got about five percent right and then you went off in this whole different direction
[...] I really hope some dumb teenager doesn't try drinking this.
You better really know your dose, or you could end up kilting yourself."
Joshua Conkel, a writer for the show, is a practicing witch himself and admits that some
of the writers do more research than others.
He told Patheos:
"The mandate has always been to borrow from books and films, not so much real witchcraft
practices."
In the very first episode of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, a joke is made about sticking
pins in a voodoo doll, which to the uninitiated sounds like something a witch might do.
"Hawthorne has never been sick a day in his life.
What'd you do, stick pins in a voodoo doll?"
Voodoo dolls are often depicted in the media as being tools for revenge, but that's not
their original intended purpose.
In a post on Original Botanica, it's explained that voodoo dolls are instruments of intent,
not evil.
The word "voodoo" means "spirit of God," which they honor and communicate with via spirits
referred to as Loa.
According to the post:
"African shamans started using dolls as a way to communicate with the Loa, like their
dead ancestor, for guidance."
Voodoo itself is one of the most widely misunderstood religions, so naturally the voodoo doll, most
likely the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the word voodoo, would also
fall under false light.
With any other religion, it stems from goodness, and it is only made bad by people's ignorance.
In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Sabrina struggles with a choice: sign herself over
to the dark lord and become a full witch, therefore surrendering all ties to mortal
life, or continue along as a "normal" 16-year-old, going to her mortal school, and hanging out
with her mortal friends.
"You wouldn't understand Ambrose.
You were born a full witch.
You didn't have to say goodbye to half your life, your friends, your boyfriend."
In the end, she decides she shouldn't have to decide at all.
In the real world, witches don't have to either.
In The New York Times, practicing witch Pam Grossman describes living a completely normal
life in Brooklyn, while also keeping up with her witch practices.
She's married to a non-witch who collects Star Wars toys, describes her life as ordinary,
and, as the article states, is among the modern wave of witches who, quote, "identify more
with feminism than burnings at the stake."
Even so, she says:
"My friends are constantly teasing me about if I eat babies or whatever.
And it makes me laugh."
Grossman states although she doesn't keep her belief hidden from her "mortal" friends,
she's careful to communicate exactly what a witch is, saying:
"The word 'witch' is loaded and coded.
I'm thoughtful about how I use it because it is a word that carries weight."
In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, witches acquire their skills via birthright.
Sabrina is born into inherent duality because her father was a witch, and her mother was
mortal.
At the age of 16, she's told she can become a full witch if she shuns her mortal side,
and signs herself over to the dark lord.
In real life, however, witches don't have to be born witches to practice their craft.
An article on Otherworldy Oracle makes clear the concept of witches being born or made
is a divisive one, depending on which witch you speak to, but the writer of the post lands
on the belief the answer is "both."
Many witches will describe having felt a strong connection to nature, and noticed something
special brewing within themselves at a young age, which could be signs they were born witches.
But other witches claim to have felt a call to the craft, which led them to learn it.
Also valid.
The witchcraft site Exemplore tips the scales in terms of the debate by saying plainly:
"Witchcraft is the practice of magick.
That's it."
It's a thing a person might be more inclined to pursue, like how some people have a natural
gift for math, but it's also very much a thing that can be learned.
In Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Lilith is also referred to as Madame Satan and is
depicted as being a handmaid to Satan, while simultaneously vying to take over his throne
as ruler of Hell.
Her backstory on the show is that, biblically, she was the first wife of Adam, but refused
to be subservient to him, so she was banished from the Garden of Eden by God.
This is close to the actual Biblical story of Lilith, but primarily fiction.
According to the Biblical Archaeology Society:
"She makes a solitary appearance in the Bible, as a wilderness demon shunned by the prophet
Isaiah."
It wasn't until the Middle Ages that she makes a reappearance as the so-called, "dreadful
first wife of Adam."
The society's text goes on to say that for 4,000 years the story of Lilith has been conflated
with the "mythic imaginations of writers, artists, and poets."
"I'm the mother of demons, the dawn of doom, Satan's concubine.
I'm Lilith, dear boy."
It only takes a few spins through Google to see pretty clearly that Lilith is used as
a cautionary tale written and re-written by men throughout the ages, to scare women into
obeying their husbands.
Joke's on them though.
It didn't work then, and it still won't work now.
Witches are ruled by, in fear of, and in near constant hiding from a number of men "rulers"
in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
There's Father Blackwood, a high priest of the Church of Night who attempts to use Sabrina,
and any other woman he comes into contact with, as pawns to further his evil ambitions.
There's Lucifer who, well, you know what he's all about.
And there's Caliban, the Prince of Hell, who is in direct competition with Sabrina over
hell's supreme leadership.
It's stressful to watch these powerful women be tormented by evil machismo, but thankfully,
that's not a concern of theirs in real life.
Modern day witches would never take a knee for a man.
In the book Witches, Slots, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive, author Kristin J Sollee
states:
"Witches [...] embody the potential for self-directed feminine power, and sexual and intellectual
freedom."
"I shall speak, and I shall be heard."
She goes on to drive the point home saying:
"It's no coincidence that the reclamation of the witch as a symbol of female power and
persecution started with the suffragettes, and later saw a renaissance in the women's
liberation movement of the 1960s."
Plus, witches essentially worship, and are therefore governed by, nature.
Not men.
On Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, witches are matched with animals known as "familiars"
who serve as their guides and protectors.
"Sabrina, you need to pick a familiar before your dark baptism.
The council sent the registry.
I've indicated a few suitable options."
In season one, Sabrina calls Salem to her using a spell, and that's how they're matched.
Familiars have been associated with witches, and vica versa, for ages, but are they still
a common thing amongst modern witches?
Conversationally, sure, for fun.
But not for any practical purpose.
In fact, they never actually were.
Ancient Origins says of the popular image of a witch and her trusted familiar:
"This is a fantastic archetype of magic users wielding control over nature and animals,
but it’s a far cry from the beliefs that started it all."
When witches were heavily persecuted throughout Europe and North America during the Medieval
and Early Modern periods, any animal they were seen with was called into question, and
considered some mystical creature used for their evil bidding.
This resulted in horrors like cat massacres.
But then, same as now... sometimes a pet is just that, a pet.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Grunge videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.