What Percent 'Witchcraft'?

Symbolism aside (this film's so incoherent I often found it hard to follow what was supposed to be going on--there's a big difference between being tied up and led around like an animal and the function and symbolism of the rope used in initiations)--but to answer the original question, the 'coven' sequences are indeed based fairly accurately on specific rituals performed in Gardnerian witchcraft. Just remember that all wiccan rituals and branches are not the same, just as Christian religions differ from one another in some details.

Some folks on this thread dismiss the entire thing as 'superstition.' That's illogical to me, since many, many things taught by Christianity are based completely on superstition! There's a point early on where they first visit the witch who reads tarot, and she explains very well how witchcraft is used as a mental tool. Nothing to do with superstition at all.

I must conclude, however, that Romero was exposed to witchcraft by some Gardnerian friends and just thought it would be 'cool' to include some of their work in a film. Most witches wouldn't participate in something like this because people won't understand what's going on--you can't take ancient, pre-Christian religion and properly explain it in a couple of film scenes. If you knew nothing about Catholics, the whole 'eat my body drink my blood' thing they do at Mass would likely creep you out, right? Anton LaVey and other Hollywood types simply found the references to blood (human or otherwise) bondage (symbolic) and sexuality (really only nudity, but modern Americans can't seem to separate the two) in witchcraft to be titillating and wished to exploit them in movies. So overall I didn't like seeing that in the film. Rather than bring sympathy and understanding to the craft, it continues to promote witches as superstitious, violent, psychologically damaged and even linked to Satan, which is ridiculous. (Witches don't even believe in Satan; the story of Lucifer is that of a 'fallen angel' and comes from the Bible, so the idea of ultimate evil or good in the form of a devil as well as a Supreme Being are Christian teachings.) Most witches of any background share beliefs AND lifestyles which profoundly respect all peoples and the earth. They function as a matriarchal community empowering women, which is why so many choose this over the patriarchy of the Christian church.

Rev. Velveteen Sly