Classics of Pagan Cinema: Teen Witch (1989)

The years between puberty and adulthood can be exciting and difficult,” wrote Silver RavenWolf in 1998. No one would have agreed with her more vociferously than Louise Miller, protagonist of 1989’s most tubular film: Dorian Walker’s Teen Witch.

Calamities in Pagan Cinema: “Tarot”

“Witches can often enjoy the film versions of ourselves,” says Meg Elison in today’s review of the new movie TAROT, “who worship fake deities, cast nonsense spells, and practice bonkers made-up magic. Even those Witches will have a hard time enjoying Tarot, a new horror film by Spencer Cohen and Anna Halberg. Simply put, this movie is tarot-ble.”

Practical Advice for Discerning “Cunning Folk”

Ed Simon reviews Tabitha Stanmore’s new book, “Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic.” “Stanmore enumerates the sorts of practical rituals that cunning folk offered in the plying of their trade. A thief might be discovered, for example, by making suspects eat chunks of cheese in which various charms had been carved, whereupon the guilty party would choke on their morsel. (This must be hard cheese, Stanmore emphasizes.)”