Witchcraft and Magic
Introduction- What is the treatment of witchcraft and magic in the works of Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Marion Zimmer Bradley?
  1. Definitions
    1. "Witch"
    2. "Magic"
  2. Biographical Info
    1. King
    2. Rice
    3. Bradley
  3. Witchcraft & Magic in King's works
    1. Thinner
    2. The Eyes of the Dragon
  4. Witchcraft & Magic in Rice's works
    1. The Witching Hour
  5. Witchcraft & Magic in Bradley's Works
    1. The Mists of Avalon
    2. Lady of Avalon

Conclusion- Each author portrays witchcraft and magic differently.



Witchcraft and Magic
The Occult. Witches. The Craft. Magic. Magick. The Paranormal. Satan. Miracles. Spells. Curses. All these things capture our attention. Millions pay to see David Copperfield elude us with his slight of hand. New Agers buy books on astrology and how to cast spells. Few teens have yet to see The Craft. We read the Enquirer and the Daily news looking for reports of miracle cures for cancer and obesity. We tune into the many psychic friends networks out there, hoping to find out is a loved one feels the same. The game of choice at a sleep-over is "light as a feather, stiff as a board" along with the ever- popular Ouiji board. Tarot card readers are in demand. In the Bible we read of Jesus turning water into wine. And we blame Satan worshippers for the evil in the world. And we read fiction about those who are witches and practice magic. Some of the most popular authors in this genre are Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Marion Zimmer Bradley. In each of their novels, these authors choose to portray witchcraft and magic in different ways.
What is magic anyway? And what is a witch? Both of these terms have several different meanings. Magic can be a group of witches drawing down the moon, a stage magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat, the Son of God making the blind man see, or the gypsy in the circus tent reading your fortune. Witches are the green faced monsters in Halloween stores, the



beautiful protector of OZ, a Pagan or Wiccan that worships the Goddess, or to many, an evil spawn of Satan. They were often burned or hanged in the middle ages during the Inquisition, at the Salem Witch trials, and sadly, are still often harmed today, if not by death, by being disowned by family and friends, or by losing jobs.
        The authors that write about such subjects come from many different backgrounds, King, who was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947, (2)took up telling tales of horror to ease his loneliness when his father went out for a pack of cigarettes one day and never returned.(Celebsite) He graduated the University of Maine in 1970, after which he worked as a teacher and a janitor.(Stephen King: The Biography) He is described as a "gentle, caring family man"(Celebsite) He also just happens to be the richest writer in world history.(Celebsite) Anne Rice was born "Howard Allen O' Brien" on October 4, 1941.(Salopek) On her given name, Rice says
"…Apparently my mother thought it was a good idea to name me Howard. My father's name was Howard…she thought it was a very interesting thing to do. She was a bit of a Bohemian, a bit of a madwoman, a bit of a genius, and a great deal of a teacher. And she had the idea that naming a woman Howard was going to give that woman an unusual advantage in the world" (You Asked…Witches)

As a child Rice was fascinated by Catholicism. She went to mass, studied the Catechism, read the legends of the Saints, and loved Bible stories. (You Asked…Witches) In 1972 Rice's daughter Michelle died before her sixth



birthday. In 1973 Rice wrote Interview With a Vampire, the first of the Vampire Chronicles, in five weeks. It was later made into a movie.(Salopek) Marion Zimmer Bradley was born June 3, 1930 on the East Coast. In 1947 she married Robert Bradley then divorced him in 1964. (Rossi) She lives in Berkeley California with her two children. (Bradley) Recently she has had several strokes over the past few years which have kept her from writing and have forced her to work more as an editor.(Rossi)
        In his books King explored almost every terrifying theme imaginable, from vampires to a malevolent car. (Stephen King: The Biography) When he writes about magic, he usually portrays it as evil spells and charms. One is in the novel Thinner, where weight loss is brought on by a gypsy's curse.(Stephen King: The Biography) In the novel The Eyes of the Dragon one of the main characters is an evil wizard named Flagg. He is centuries old, has the ability to change his appearance, and possesses a great knowledge of herbs and potions. It is the age- old tale of an enchanted castle where the good prince, a young man named Peter in this particular tale, battles the evil wizard and the misled boy, Peter's brother Thomas, to triumph once more and restore the kingdom to peace.
        In Rice's books on witches, entitled The Witching Hour, they are portrayed as having a dark power that it handed down through the generations and not always being helpful or welcome. Rice uses historical facts in her tales of



witches but doesn't necessarily believe in magic itself.(You Asked…Witches) She does her research in Biblical and Scriptural books, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the Apochyphal Gospels. She says "Its just as natural to me as eating ice cream to read this material, and I know its been very influential in my books."(You Asked…Personal) However, she does believe in telepathy and clairvoyance. On the presence of evil in the world, Rice says
"I believe that we aspire toward good and evil has to do with destruction and suffering in the world, and the diminishing of life, and life's beauty, and all of it's bounty. "(You Asked…Personal)

Rice also says that she would never cast a spell.
"…I would be very afraid to use spells and charms myself. I would be very afraid to put a curse on someone…I have just enough belief in these thoughts to respect them deeply, and not to want to play around with them"(You Asked…Personal)

And so Rice portrays her witches historically and as having supernatural powers.
        "The prolific Marion Zimmer Bradley suffuses her stories with a mixture of magic, myth, history, and romance, much to the delight of her legion of fans."(Myth Maker) Bradley's witches are the Celtic pagans who worshipped the goddess back in the times of King Arthur. On how she first came across the story of King Arthur, she says






"I first ran into the story when I was growing up, through the Prince Valiant comics. We had a lot of books in the house- my mother loved to read- and the legends were a lot more interesting than the farming community where we lived."(Myth Maker)

They are portrayed as good, fighting the Christianity that is driving their religion out of Britain on the premise that it is evil. They also try to pick good kings to keep the country from falling apart. In the Lady of Avalon a priestess named Callean establishes a priestess colony on the Isle of Avalon and surrounds it in a mist that only the priestesses could part, to separate it from the destruction of Christian Roman rule. (Myth Maker) Avalon became the seat of the Goddess worshipping religion. There they guard sacred artifacts made in Atlantis such as the Holy Grail and the lance which later become religious symbols. (Myth Maker) The high priestess fights Christian male powers and seeks visions to see incarnations of the Sacred King to save Britannia by traveling between real and magical worlds.(Lady…reviews and commentary) In the Mists of Avalon Bradley portrays the three faces of the goddess. Elaine is the maiden, who allows herself to be caught up in a plot in exchange for the chance to marry Lancelet. Morgause is the mother, raising her own sons, taking care of Morgaine while she was pregnant, and then raising Morgaine's son as her own. Morgaine is the crone, unintentionally bringing death to many men who love her. Viviane and the Merlin are shown as wise, but the bishop and Gwenhyfar are shown as uneducated and narrow-minded. That is Bradley's portrayal of witches.
        


In conclusion there are many different portrayals of witches and magic out there. I have shown three different ones for three different authors. It all depends on how the author views the world. The unknown is a popular subject
to write about. What the author says cannot be proven right or wrong, because it is just that, unknown. It is the reader's choice of which views they prefer, or whether they believe in witches and magic at all.

















Works Cited
Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. New York: Del Rey/ Ballantine
Books, 1982

Celebsite: Stephen King Bio (online) available
http://www.celebsite.com/people/stephenking/content/bio.html,
5-7-98

"King, Stephen" Compton's Encyclopedia Vol. 12. Chicago: Compton's Learning
Company, 1992: 245

King, Stephen. The Eyes of the Dragon. New York: Signet, 1987

Lady of Avalon- reviews and commentary. (online) available
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN, 5-7-98

"Myth Maker". (online) available
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subsbt/f….ey-marion-
zimmer.html, 5-7-09




Perkins, Barbara M. "King, Stephen" World Book Multimedia. Chicago: World
Book Inc, 1995

Rice, Anne. The Witching Hour. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990

Rice, Anne. "Fan Letter #1 from Anne Rice" (online) available
http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/arltr1.htm, 5-7-98

Rice, Anne. "Fan Letter #2 from Anne Rice" (online) available
        http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/arltr2.htm, 5-7-98

Rice, Anne. "Fan Letter #3 from Anne Rice" (online) available
        http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/arltr3.htm, 5-7-98

Rice, Anne. "Fan Letter #4 from Anne Rice" (online) available
        http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/arltr4.htm, 5-7-98

Rice, Anne. "You Asked, Anne Answered: personal" (online) available
http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/ques-per.htm, 5-7-98




Rice, Anne. "You Asked, Anne Answered: personal" (online) available
        http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/ques-per.htm, 5-7-98

Rice, Anne. "You Asked, Anne Answered: witches" (online) available
        http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/ques-wch.htm, 5-7-98

Rice, Anne. "You Asked, Anne Answered:writing" (online) available
http://www.anne-rice.inter.net/ques-wri.htm, 5-7-98

Rossi, Fabrice "Marion Zimmer Bradley" (online) available
http://www.ceremade.dauphine.fr/~rossi/darkover//mzb.uk.html,
5-7-98

Salopek, Laurie M. "Anne Rice Timeline" (online) available http://www.anne-
rice.inter.net/tline.htm, 5-7-98        

"Stephen King: The Biography" (online) available
http://www.flashtech.net/skws/biography.html, 5-7-98