Day 21: Have you used or considered using pop-culture in your practice?
I made a banishing candle with a photo sticker of the Wicked Witch of the West on it once. That's about the extent of my PC paganism, though I find the concept fascinating.
I tend to think that a lot of pop culture is full of racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and all kinds of assorted nastiness. It would be hard for me to find a source that felt right. I would hesitate to do a "Colors of the Wind" spell, for example, because in my head, I'd have a mental block about how racist and annoying Disney is, how disappointed I am in Mel Gibson's oeuvre, and so forth. I couldn't get myself into a good, focused witchy frame of mind with anything Disney, Barbie, or Time Warner, just to name a few, unless it was a banishing. That could be fun!
It's not that those stories and images don't have power; I think that anything that you connect with on a visceral or child-like level can add power to a working. I just couldn't personally connect to pop images like that without my inner cultural critic ranting in the back of my mind.
That said, when I saw Ponyo for the first time, I immediately connected with the sea mama as a goddess. I could see myself doing some sort of Deanna Troi spell if I was in a light-hearted mood with like-minded people.
I'd feel silly doing spells like with pop culture as a main focus on my own, but that's my own hang up. If doing a Tinkerbell spell or a Zelda ritual makes you feel magical, get to it!
As for actually worshiping pop culture characters as deities, I would feel weird. I am a writer myself, and I know how characters are created, so I have been the "man behind the curtain" and couldn't see myself worshiping characters, no matter how amazing or well written. Work with as stories, symbols or images, absolutely, if I was in the mood with the right people. Worship? Not my cup of tea, but as always to each his/her own. After all, who is to say that the so-called deities we worship these days weren't just characters to start with?
I tend to think that a lot of pop culture is full of racism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and all kinds of assorted nastiness. It would be hard for me to find a source that felt right. I would hesitate to do a "Colors of the Wind" spell, for example, because in my head, I'd have a mental block about how racist and annoying Disney is, how disappointed I am in Mel Gibson's oeuvre, and so forth. I couldn't get myself into a good, focused witchy frame of mind with anything Disney, Barbie, or Time Warner, just to name a few, unless it was a banishing. That could be fun!
It's not that those stories and images don't have power; I think that anything that you connect with on a visceral or child-like level can add power to a working. I just couldn't personally connect to pop images like that without my inner cultural critic ranting in the back of my mind.
That said, when I saw Ponyo for the first time, I immediately connected with the sea mama as a goddess. I could see myself doing some sort of Deanna Troi spell if I was in a light-hearted mood with like-minded people.
I'd feel silly doing spells like with pop culture as a main focus on my own, but that's my own hang up. If doing a Tinkerbell spell or a Zelda ritual makes you feel magical, get to it!
As for actually worshiping pop culture characters as deities, I would feel weird. I am a writer myself, and I know how characters are created, so I have been the "man behind the curtain" and couldn't see myself worshiping characters, no matter how amazing or well written. Work with as stories, symbols or images, absolutely, if I was in the mood with the right people. Worship? Not my cup of tea, but as always to each his/her own. After all, who is to say that the so-called deities we worship these days weren't just characters to start with?
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