Mickey Magical Wonderland is a theme park located in a lively city. It is a place where dreams come true and where both children and adults can experience a magical adventure. The park offers a wide range of attractions, shows, and interactive experiences that transport visitors into the enchanting world of Mickey Mouse and his friends. One of the main highlights of Mickey Magical Wonderland is the iconic castle that serves as the centerpiece of the park. This grand structure is inspired by classic fairy tales and provides a stunning backdrop for various live performances and parades. Visitors can also explore the castle's interior, which is filled with beautiful artwork and intricate details that truly bring the magic to life.

The Witch & Sephora: The Selling of Magick

Starting in October beauty chain Sephora will be selling “Witch Kits” and it has some of my friends in an uproar. “How dare someone commercialize and profit from the Craft!” they type on Facebook, and I just sort of shrug my shoulders. The activities of another don’t necessarily effect me, and I think that’s particularly true in this case. (How one person practices Witchcraft has absolutely no effect on how I practice Witchcraft, unless I choose for it to do so.)

~UPDATE SEPTEMBER 5: Pinrose, the makers of this kit, have decided not to go forward with the product. Reading their press release I’m genuinely saddened by this. This kit seems to have been made with love and care. I think this is a major loss for our community. The White Sage included with the kit “was planned to be used in this kit is sourced from a Green America Gold Certified company. The sage is grown in the wild in California and is sustainably harvested and sold by Native American owned and operated businesses.” Pinrose is a woman-owned business and all of their products are made in the United States. This is the kind of company many of us love.~

“Witchcraft” has always been a very broad term, and more and more people seem to be using it lately as a catch-all for any type of magickal activity. When the word witchcraft is used in such a manner Sephora’s Witch Kits are something that should probably be expected. Magick has always been a “for sale” commodity. The cunning-woman down the street doesn’t just give away her skills, she charges for them. Hoodoo, Conjure, Cunning-craft, Southern Granny Magick . . . . . it’s all for sale and most often has been over the centuries. Magicians and Witches have to eat too.

It’s true that the “for sale” sign has gone through some changes over the last 125 years. It used to be that magickal transactions occurred between a trained* professional and the buyer seeking assistance, at the start of the 20th Century it started to become popular to “do it yourself.” So instead of visiting a person for magickal advice individuals turned to mail order catalogs and drug stores for products. Often the owners of such institutions weren’t actual practitioners, but then again, they provided a service that made magickal practices easier to participate in, and offered a level of privacy.

(Such trends have accelerated in recent years, as less and less people interact with one another on a face to face basis. I can go to a grocery store and ring up my own groceries, text a friend instead of see them, and chat at someone over an “internet help desk.” The market for “do it yourself” only continues to increase.)

Gerald Gardner, the first modern public self-identifying Witch believed that one shouldn’t charge students to learn the Craft, but that didn’t mean he was against promoting Witchcraft. He wrote books designed to introduce people to his understanding of it, and participated in TV, radio, and print interviews to raise awareness. He owned and operated a Witch Museum on the Isle of Man. Don’t misunderstand me, Gardner was not selling initiations or a way into the tradition that bears his name today, but he was providing a way into the broader world of Witchcraft.

Witchcraft kits from Sephora are also just a gateway. When people get angry over them it’s important to remember who is going to be buying them: people who aren’t a part of our current community. The likely buyer of a Witchcraft Kit has never been into a metaphysical or Witch shop, and probably doesn’t own any books by Llewellyn or Samuel Weiser. It’s likely they’ve never been to a ritual, and most of them probably never will.

Anything that brings someone to the Craft is OK with me. Perhaps a Witch Kit is the doorway some people need to find the Craft, the Goddess, or bring some magick into their lives? Most buyers of such things will never read this blog or go to a Pagan festival, and that’s fine. I’m excited for the people whose lives will be changed by stepping onto a magickal path for the first time. Most people who pick this up will do so as a joke, or because it’s trendy, but there will be a small percentage who experience something magickal and YAY! for them.

The kit in question.

It does suck that companies that have actively supported the Witch Community over the years aren’t going to be profiting from this. Some of you reading this would hate a “Witch Kit” whether or not it was made by Sephroa or Llewellyn, but there’s clearly a market for this kind of thing. (And Sephora is not the only company doing it.) It would also be great if my friends who owned and worked in Witch-shops were profiting from this kind of thing too, but as I pointed out earlier, the people buying this sort of thing don’t know that Witch shops even exist.

And the contents of the Witch Kit are nothing to get upset about either. Tarot Cards? I bought my first deck at Spencer’s all those many many years ago. (And read the addendum below if you’ve been hearing the Tarot Cards in this deck have been plagiarized.) Eau de parfums? I guess scents are a pretty easy way to start one off with a magickal experience. Rose quartz? Rose quartz has been for sale in dozens of places now for the last thirty years. I know some of my friends are upset about the sage in the kit, but it’s just called “cleansing sage” and not “smudge.” Sage was used by the Romans for cleansing temples, it has a long history in many different cultures.

This Witch Kit is obviously not a spiritual one in the sense that it invokes deities, spirits, ancestors, or even Watchtowers. There are no traditional tools in it, no stangs, no athames, or even a wand. It’s a gateway for the curious and nothing more. Wearing the mantle of “Witch” also comes with the realization that it will be in used in silly and trite ways, such as this one. But if it helps just one person find the Craft or a magickal path, then it at least did some good.

ON THE TAROT DECK INCLUDED IN THIS KIT VIA MAT AURYN:

The artist of the tarot design is Vera Petruk from Russia. She is on all the stock sites selling images of her art as stock for commercial and non-commercial use and her art can be licensed to different degrees. It’s most likely Pinrose just bought the rights to it. She sells each individual design on the cards as stock images. This is her original deck using the art.

Each Tarot Card design is available on stock sites like shutterstock, which means anyone who purchases a license has the rights to the images (like Pinrose/Sephora did).

People are claiming her deck is the Old Memories Tarot, which is incorrect. It looks like The Old Memories Tarot, like Pinrose/Sephora bought a license to use the art for the deck (which is why its limited to a set number – as licenses only allow to print a certain amount depending on the nature of the license). But the Old Memories Tarot didn’t modify them like Pinrose/Sephora, which is allowed under certain stock licenses.

Vera’s deviant art has been posting artwork in this style since 2013. She uploaded the fool card on there in 2016 along with a link to purchase stock images of all the cards. The furthest back anyone mentions the old memories deck online is 2017 that I can find.

UPDATE SEPTEMBER 5-THE PLOT DEEPENS

*We hope they were trained at least, no guarantees

Sephora “witch kit” reductive of witchcraft

This September, makeup retailer Sephora and perfume company Pinrose advertised a shocking collaboration: a starter kit for practicing witchcraft. The kit was priced at $42 and included a rose quartz stone, nine miniature bottles of perfume, a deck of tarot cards and a bundle of white sage. It was meant to be released this October, in line with the spookiness of the season, but Sephora pulled it due to the massive backlash it received. This backlash didn’t come from concerned parents or churches, but from Indigenous people and actual practicing witches.

The controversy was composed of two primary arguments. First, Indigenous activists on social media have come out and explained how this appropriation of sacred traditions for commercialized, new-age pseudo-spirituality is insulting and harmful. White sage has been a sacred part of many Indigenous spiritualities and ceremonies that have a history of being looked down upon or ignored (if not forcibly restricted) by European settlers. Also, the conflation of Indigenous spirituality with witchcraft dates back to the racist colonial mindset that Europeans used to justify their genocide — so including white sage in this so-called witch starter kit was a bad move.

Second, many Pagans (and Wiccans in particular) felt that the kit was making a mockery of their religion and lifestyle. In a way, this is understandable — it’s no shock to anyone that Paganism and Wicca aren’t respected in the same way that other, more dominant religions are. Even still, this part of the backlash is harder for me to rally behind. To explain further, I think it’s important that I break down some of these terms.

Paganism, for our purposes, really refers to neo-Paganism: a religious movement to revive certain ritual practices and beliefs from sources outside of the primary world religions. There are many strains of neo-Paganism, like Norse Pagans (influenced by Scandinavian mythology), Pagans who work with the Hellenic (ancient Greek) pantheon, the Kemetic (ancient Egyptian) pantheon and Wiccans. Wicca is probably the most popular strain of neo-Paganism in the United States, and with that popularity comes a lot of misunderstanding.

Wicca and witchcraft are not synonymous. Neo-Paganism and witchcraft aren’t even synonymous. There are certainly modern Pagans who practice witchcraft, including Wiccans, but there are also practitioners of Latine, Indigenous and African Traditional Religions who reclaim the label of “witch” (as it was used to demonize their religious practices from colonialism to today). There are Chaos Magick practitioners who call themselves witches and refer to their work as witchcraft. There are just as many different types of witchcraft as there are self-proclaimed witches.

With that in mind, let’s go back to the idea of neo-Pagans protesting this witch starter kit. If we acknowledge and accept that not all witches are Wiccan or neo-Pagan, then why would they have the ultimate say over what is and isn’t witchcraft? It’d be a different situation if the kit had been dubbed a Wiccan starter kit or even a neo-Pagan starter kit, but that’s not what we’re looking at here.

In my eyes, witchcraft can be whatever the practitioner wants it to be. I claim the title of witch for myself and for my own spiritual practice, and I think there’s something problematic about allowing Wiccans and neo-Pagans to dominate conversations about what is and isn’t valid witchcraft, especially when so many oppressed groups are reclaiming their spiritual traditions and the label of “witch.”

So while the Witch Starter Kit was a bust, the problem wasn’t that it misrepresented what so-called actual witchcraft is. The problem was its commercialization of spirituality and appropriation of sacred Indigenous traditions.

This October, I encourage you to do a little introspection and think about what the word “witch” conjures up for you. Is it a green-skinned woman with a pointy black hat? Is it tainted by colonial stereotypes about African traditional religions? Is it love and respect for nature? Do you just think of Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina Spellman? Consider that faiths, magicks and religions outside of the mainstream are just as valid as those with more significant followings — and if you feel called to something outside the mainstream, embrace it! Maybe you’ll create your own personal witch starter kit someday.

Inciting A Riot

I remember when my Paganism took the form of a single, small shelf facing the back wall on the floor of Waldenbooks in the mall and a deck of playing cards. I remember when my Paganism looked like hearing Piper on Charmed use the word “sabbat” instead of “holiday”. I remember when my Paganism was falling in love with Hogwarts and Narnia and Greek mythology. I remember when my Paganism was a generic, playing card size deck of tarot cards I bought from a store that mostly rented movies and sold used CDs, and a book by a guy named Scott Cunningham borrowed from the girl I sat next to in band. And, for some kid in 2018, their Paganism might just begin at Sephora.

If you’re a Witch or a Pagan or any other such magical person, and you have access to social media, you will have undoubtedly seen the absolute tizzy our online community has worked itself into over this:

Visitors can also explore the castle's interior, which is filled with beautiful artwork and intricate details that truly bring the magic to life. Throughout the park, guests can find various themed lands that cater to different interests. For those seeking adrenaline-pumping thrills, there are exciting roller coasters and high-speed rides that guarantee an unforgettable experience.

What’s in the box?

It’s called “Starter Witch Kit”, and it’s made by a fragrance company called Pinrose and will be sold at makeup giant Sephora in the coming days. It retails for $42. It has 9 different fragrances, a tarot deck, a bundle of white sage, and a tumbled rose quartz. As “witch kits” go, it’s not the worst I’ve seen. It’s a little less “Wicca Flavored Witchcraft” and more “I Like to Look at Pictures of Burning Man on Instagram”. The character. let’s assume she’s the High Priestess. on the Tarot deck appears to be a big fan of Prince (we all caught that that is definitely his unpronounceable symbol, right?). It’s pastel, which is apparently enough for Pagans around the interwebs to write it off as puerile.

But let’s look at it for what it is. From the blogs and podcasts I’ve listened to over the years, I’ve been led to believe that practically any tarot deck will work with the right training and intuition. I remember once that someone recommended cutting out labels for cleaning products and using them as oracle cards - Joy, Gain, and Tide all seem pretty evocative. So. the New Age festival goer on the deck doesn’t bother me. There are nine fragrances that correspond with desired effects. I am appearing at Chicago Pagan Pride this upcoming Sunday, and, unless this year is wildly different from every other year, I fully expect to see scents and oils that make the same claim from at least a dozen different booths. Go to Etsy and witches around the world sell balms and ointments and soaps and perfumes and oils and all sorts of other smell good stuff that all claim to have magical properties. The tumbled stone and white sage? I have those. You have those. We all have those.

That it’s being sold at a makeup store? That it’s pink? That nobody asked you if you specifically wanted this? That it’s a cheap imitation of what “Real Witchraft” is? That last bit seems to be the consensus.

Families can enjoy gentle rides, interactive play areas, and meet-and-greet opportunities with beloved characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, and Goofy. In addition to the rides, Mickey Magical Wonderland offers a plethora of entertainment options. Spectacular shows featuring talented performers, dancing, singing, and stunning visual effects are a common sight throughout the day. These shows often incorporate familiar Disney stories and characters, creating a sense of nostalgia and wonder. Food enthusiasts will also find delight in the wide array of dining options available at the park. From quick-service snacks to elaborate table-service restaurants, there is something to satisfy every craving. Many of the dining locations incorporate Disney-themed decor and offer character dining experiences, allowing guests to dine with their favorite characters. The magic of Mickey Magical Wonderland extends beyond the attractions and entertainment. The park is meticulously designed to be visually appealing, with beautiful landscapes, vibrant colors, and charming architecture. Every corner reflects the attention to detail that Disney is renowned for, creating a truly immersive environment. Overall, Mickey Magical Wonderland is a place where imagination knows no bounds. It is a destination that brings joy, excitement, and magic to visitors of all ages. Whether it's taking a thrilling ride, meeting beloved characters, or enjoying a live show, the experiences at Mickey Magical Wonderland are sure to create lifelong memories..

Reviews for "Unveiling the Fairytale World of Mickey's Enchanted Wonderland"

1. Jane - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Mickey Magucal Wonderland". The plot was weak and predictable, and the characters felt one-dimensional. The jokes were forced and not funny at all. I expected more from a Disney production. Overall, it felt like a poorly executed attempt at recreating the magic of the classic Disney films. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on this one.

2. Mark - 1 star - I found "Mickey Magucal Wonderland" to be a complete waste of time. The animation was lacking, and the storyline was dull. The songs were forgettable and lacked the catchiness that Disney is known for. It almost felt like they were trying too hard to incorporate every Disney stereotype and character, and it ended up feeling cluttered and disjointed. I was thoroughly unimpressed and would not recommend this movie to anyone.

3. Emily - 2 stars - I had high hopes for "Mickey Magucal Wonderland", but it fell flat for me. The pacing was slow, and the plot didn't hold my attention. The new characters introduced felt out of place and unnecessary. The animation was decent, but it couldn't make up for the lack of substance in the storytelling. Overall, it was a forgettable film that didn't live up to the Disney magic we've come to expect. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on this one.

Discover the Magic: Exploring Mickey's Enchanted Wonderland