Real witch explains what Agatha All Along gets right and wrong about witchcraft

Since its release in late September, Agatha All Along has bewitched critics and Marvel fans alike.

The latest chapter in the MCU’s ever-expanding spellbook currently holds a respectable 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and attracted an impressive 9.3 million views globally within its first seven days on Disney Plus. 

It’s clear then that Agatha’s magic has managed to break through the superhero apathy that has supposedly cursed Marvel fans in recent years. 

Yet, while I was watching Agatha, Teen, and her friends make their way down the Witches’ Road, I couldn’t help but wonder what a real witch thought of the show. After all, according to 2021 census data, more than 74,000 people in England and Wales identify as modern Pagans, while a further 13,000 identify explicitly as witches. So, what do they think of their religion being used as the basis for another superhero TV show? 

Down the Witches’ Road

Disney

Enter Sarah Kerr, the President of the Pagan Federation in the UK and a self-proclaimed witch. Sarah has been practicing the craft since she was 16 years old and currently works as a professional healer and witch.

So what did she make of Agatha All Along? Well, it’s good news for Kevin Feige and the team behind the show because Sarah was rather charmed by the whole thing. 

“I enjoyed it,” she told me. “It was a great show. I love shows like this, even if I occasionally watch them and go, ‘Oh God, here we go again’. But actually, I really enjoyed this because they did a really good job of portraying the raising of 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 that, although it’s a bit sensationalized, they captured that [idea] quite well.”

Sarah was also rather taken with the character of Agatha, admitting she admired the witches’ confidence (something Agatha has in spades) before adding that one of the most important parts of modern witchcraft is building confidence and becoming more sure of yourself. However, her favorite thing was the idea of the Witches’ Road. 

“I think my favorite thing was them getting the metaphor of the journey that you go on, because it is very much a journey when you start with craft. It’s a lifelong journey that you go on, and you explore yourself further and deeper. So, I think for me, that was quite important, and the Witches’ Road is obviously the symbolic metaphor within that series for that journey.” 

Get behind me Mephisto!

Marvel/Disney

“I think that was that was really interesting. I’ve not really seen that portrayed before in film. There’s an awful lot about rituals and spellcasting and all that sort of stuff. However, the actual journey that witches take when they begin practicing is very rarely represented. That was really interesting to me.”

Before Kevin and the other Marvel bigwigs get too confident that they’ve got the witches on their side, though, it’s important to note that Sarah did have some criticisms of the show. Sarah took some issue with how sensationalized it was – no, we’re not talking about the way Marvel’s witches throw fireballs or fly – this has more to do with darker aspects of witchcraft in the MCU and their connection to Mephisto, Marvel’s Satan equivalent. 

“I mean, number one, Satan doesn’t feature in most witch’s practice,” she explained when I asked about Satan’s links to witchcraft. “I can’t say that for every witch because, for some witches, it will be true. But I think there’s a lot of emphasis placed on this dark entity, this dark lord, that for many practitioners, especially in the Western world, just isn’t true.”

For Sarah, this is part of a bigger problem with the depiction of witches in the media, which has built up a negative stereotype around her religion. “I think it’s [a stereotype] that is centuries old, and I don’t just mean going back to the historical witch hunts necessarily,” she said. “It goes back further than that, you know. And I think it’s not just based in witchcraft; it’s based in the control of women.” 

“I think in the Western world now, we’ve got to the point where it’s less of a problem. Women don’t get hunted for being witches anymore. But it is something that is laughed at and misunderstood. It is still discriminated against, which is why my organization exists.”

Sarah expanded on this idea a little more when we were talking about the general depiction 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 portrayed as “this evil thing because it deals with the dark side of life, with the unknown, with the side of life that people struggle to explain,” but that’s not her experience of the craft at all.

What Marvel needs to do next

Marvel/Disney

Thankfully, Sarah believes that shows like Agatha All Along and characters like the Scarlet Witch are helping address this issue. “I think the more that witches are portrayed in a positive light, I think that has a positive effect. We’ve seen a massive hike in people practicing witchcraft… because people want something that they can believe in and something that is within their control. Witchcraft offers that.”

So, if Marvel wants to keep the witches and warlocks around the world happy, what does she think Kevin Feige needs to do? 

“Don’t change it because they’ve actually done an amazing job. Keep exploring those metaphors that are real within witchcraft. Ignore the tropes, ignore those stereotypical things because a lot of them aren’t true anyway, but keep going because, actually, you’re doing a really good job of this.”

Sounds to us like the critics aren’t the only ones to fall under Agatha’s spell!

Have you started down the Witches’ Road yet? It’s never too late to start, but you’ll need to read our Agatha All Along Episodes 8 and 9 streaming guide to know where to begin. We’re also celebrating Terror-Tober at Dexerto and have put together lists breaking down the 102 best horror movies and the scariest moments in video game history. Enjoy!