Since its release at the end of September, Agatha All Along has captivated critics and Marvel fans alike.

The last chapter of MCU The ever-expanding spellbook currently holds a respectable 82% share on Rotten Tomatoes and has attracted a impressive 9.3 million views worldwide in its first seven days on Disney Plus.

It is therefore clear that Agatha’s magic succeeded in piercing the superhero apathy this would have cursed Marvel fans in recent years.

Yet as I watched Agatha, Teen and her friends descend the The witches’ routeI couldn’t help but wonder what a real witch thought of the show. After all, according to 2021 census datamore than 74,000 people in England and Wales identify as modern pagans, while a further 13,000 explicitly identify as witches. So what do they think about their religion being used as a basis for another superhero tv show?

On the witches’ road

Disney

Enter Sarah Kerr, President of the Pagan Federation in the United Kingdom and a self-proclaimed witch. Sarah has been practicing this craft since the age of 16 and currently works as a professional healer and witch.

So what did she do with Agathe throughout? Well, that’s good news for Kevin Feige and the team behind the show because Sarah was pretty charmed by the whole thing.

“I enjoyed it,” she told me. “It was a great show. I love shows like this, even though I watch them every once in a while and think, “Oh my God, here we go again.” But I actually really enjoyed it because they did a really good job of describing the increase in energy for magical work, and they understood that at its core, witchcraft is about self-exploration.

“It’s about growing as a person,” she continued. “It’s about exploring and understanding the world around you, and I think, even though it’s a little sensationalistic, they’ve captured that (idea) pretty well.”

Sarah was also rather impressed with Agatha’s character, admitting that she admired witches’ confidence (something Agatha has in spades) before adding that one of the most important parts of modern witchcraft is to build self-confidence and become more self-confident. However, what she liked best was the idea of ​​the Witches’ Trail.

“I think my favorite part is that they understand the metaphor of the journey that you take, because it really is a journey when you start with craft. This is a lifelong journey that you are taking, and you are exploring yourself deeper and deeper. So, I think for me it was very important, and the Witches Road is obviously this series’ symbolic metaphor for that journey.

Get behind me Mephisto!

Marvel/Disney

“I think it was really interesting. I’ve never really seen that before in a movie. There’s a lot of stuff out there about rituals and spellcasting and all that sort of stuff. However, the actual journey that witches take when they begin practicing is very rarely depicted. It was really interesting for me.

Before Kevin and the other Marvel bigwigs get too sure they have the witches on their side, it’s important to note that Sarah has had some criticisms of the series. Sarah took issue with how sensational it was – no, we’re not talking about how Marvel’s witches throw fireballs or fly – it has more to do with darker aspects of witchcraft in the MCU and their connection with Mephistothe equivalent of Marvel’s Satan.

“I mean, first of all, Satan doesn’t figure into most witchcraft practices,” she explained when I asked about Satan’s ties to witchcraft. “I can’t say that for all witches because, for some witches, it will be true. But I think there’s a lot of emphasis on this dark entity, this dark lord, which for many practitioners, especially in the Western world, is simply not true.

For Sarah, this is part of a larger problem with the media’s portrayal of witches, which has built a negative stereotype around her religion. “I think it’s a centuries-old stereotype, and I’m not necessarily talking about a return to historical witch hunts,” she said. “It goes back further than that, you know. And I think it’s not just based on witchcraft; everything is based on the control of women.

“I think in the Western world we’ve gotten to the point where it’s less of a problem. Women are no longer hunted because they are witches. But it’s something that’s mocked and misunderstood. She still faces discrimination, which is why my organization exists.

Sarah expanded on this idea a little more when we talked about the general portrayal of witchcraft in the media and the difference between what we see on the big and small screen. She said that very often in the press and media, witchcraft is presented as “this evil thing because it deals with the dark side of life, the unknown, the side of life that people struggle with.” to explain,” but that is not his experience. of the profession at all.

What Marvel should do next

Marvel/Disney

Luckily, Sarah thinks shows like Agatha All Along and characters like Scarlet Witch help to solve this problem. “I think the more witches are portrayed in a positive light, the more I think it has a positive effect. We have seen a massive increase in the number of people practicing witchcraft… because people want something they can believe in and something that is within their control. Witchcraft offers that.

So if Marvel wants to keep the witches and wizards of the world happy, what does it think Kevin Feige should do?

“Don’t change anything because they did an incredible job. Continue to explore these metaphors that are real in witchcraft. Ignore the tropes, ignore those stereotypes because a lot of them aren’t true anyway, but keep going because you’re actually doing a really good job at this.

It seems to us that the critics are not the only ones to fall under Agatha’s spell!

Have you started on the witch trail yet? It’s never too late to start, but you’ll want to read our Agatha throughout episodes 8 and 9 streaming guide for where to start. We also celebrate Terror-Tober at Dexerto and have drawn up lists breaking down the 102 best horror movies and the the scariest moments in video game history. Appreciate!