The other day in the Pop Culture Magick Facebook group I asked the question: “Can you still practice pop culture magic if the pop culture has been cancelled?” I used the recent example of J. K . Rowlings and her comments on the Trans community as an example where someone might practice pop culture magic, but have an issue with what the creator of that pop culture said or did. could that person still work with the pop culture itself.
If you click the link above, you’ll get to see the responses to my question from the community. There were answers all across the spectrum on this issue and I feel like all of them were well considered. But here, I thought I would share my own answers to this question.
I chose the example of Harry Potter because as far back as 2001, I was working with the Harry Potter pop culture as part of my pop culture magic and when Rowling made her comments, I did ask myself, if I should continue to do anything with that pop culture magic, or just toss it aside because of her comments.
The conclusion I came to is that the pop culture itself is separate from the creator. The creator may have been a medium for the expression of that pop culture, but the pop culture evolves past the person who created it. The pop culture becomes something else altogether as fans interact with it and make it their own. And of course the pop culture spirits have their own perspectives on the matter. They aren’t just fictional characters, but actual spirits and they get a say in all of this, because who and what they are is something outside the intentions of the person who created them.
So in my case, I’m going to keep working with the Harry Potter pop culture (on the admittedly rare occasions when I do), because its a pop culture that speaks to me beyond anything that the author intended. I don’t agree with her statements, and I could show that disagreement by sharing my own perspective on her statements, but I can also continue working with the pop culture itself, because it is something that speaks to me.
One comment I do want to make on the commentary that other people provided on this question is that everyone agreed that it’s really up to the individual person to decide if they will or won’t continue working with a given pop culture because of stances that the creator made. And I wholeheartedly agree with that commentary. The choice with any magical work, and certainly pop culture magic work, is a personal choice. Your decision to work with a given pop culture is ultimately based on what feels appropriate to you. So when you read this article or that commentary I linked to above, remember that you are the ultimate spiritual authority of your life and make whatever choices are appropriate for you when it comes to what pop culture you’ll work with and why.
