"Bell, Book, and Candle" on Mid-Mod Magic Monday!

A mid mod goddess

Greetings, fellow mystics, witches, and generally magical peoples. Today is a bit of a fresh beginning for my little blog - and a new focus for The Mid-Century Mystic, most particularly on Facebook (and sometimes Instagram). And it's been a long time coming.

See, before I came out of the broom closet, in the infancy days of The Mid-Century Mystic, I met with a great social media creatrix who I enlisted to help me put together a structured media campaign for all my disparate avenues of employ (voice-over, MCM, writing, etc.). And lots of it fell to the wayside (I hate Twitter and shall never Tweet and closed my account and basically spat at the screen as I closed it - PuhTOY!  good riddance to time-wastey rubbish). The one thing that she said when working with me was, "Why are you afraid of the Mystic webpage? It seems to be the one that lights you up the most?" Welp, I was afraid because, at the time, I wasn't confident with my magic and, more succinctly, I was afraid of what others would think. But as times are changing, and more magickal practices are being embraced rather than feared, I feel it's time, FINALLY, to bring back the focus to my social media plan with more blogging, more posts with purpose, heck - MORE MAGIC.

Yumminess on a plate. With bongos.

And so today, I begin bringing you more engaging content and (although I've avoided it for a myriad of reasons) specific types of posts for specific days. Blah, blah, blah - enough of the warm-up! Welcome to ...

#MidModMagicMonday !!!

And what better way to kick it off that with a little bit of trivia concerning "Bell, Book, and Candle", the quintessential Mid Mod witchy gem of a film from 1958, starring Kim Novak (yummy in each and every slick ensemble,every glint of her eyes, every silky move of her body), James Stewart (just yummy because James Stewart) and one of my favorite Mid-century actors, Jack Lemmon (playing bongos, stealing every scene, AND portraying a slightly sinister witch to boot. Be still my heart because the yumminess is heavy with this one!). Watch the splendor of his performance at the witchy Zodiac Club here .

But you're wanting your trivia, so here you go: apparently the phrase "bell, book, and candle"  "refers to a Latin Christian method of excommunication by anathema, imposed on a person who had committed an exceptionally grievous sin. Evidently introduced by Pope Zachary around the middle of the 8th century, the rite was once used by the Roman Catholic Church" according to Wikipedia.  It is opened with "Ring the bell, open the book, light the candle" and closed with "Ring the bell, close the book, quench the candle". I read the actual Latin translation and it's fire and brimstone ugly stuff here. But I find it interesting that the phrase and ritual are quite reminiscent of opening and closing the circle in many types of witchcraft rituals.


Spoiler alert (if you haven't seen the film): when Gillian, Kim Novak's character, loses her powers because she falls in love, shows emotion, cries (something witches apparently can't do - well, I'm here to tell you otherwise), I wonder if that's why this particular phrase was chosen for the play and film, She essentially excommunicates herself from her powers, she loses them because the pull of mortal love is stronger than her magic. And that element of the film always made me sad, In my belief system and my use of magic, love and magic are part and parcel of the same.
Perhaps I'll get a chance to direct the play at some point. Or, better yet, be cast in it (Sadly, I'm beyond my Gillian years, but there are other juicy, witchy roles within it). And I'll remind the cast and crew that to truly bring the play alive, love AND magic must marry to create the most potent potion of them all.

Love and Magic