Jasper's Pop Culture Magic/Paganism Guide For Beginners & Toe-Dippers
When you first get started in pop culture magic (PCM) or paganism (PCP), it can seem overwhelming because of the lack of broad-scope sources and the abundance of options for what to use in your craft. If you're building a PCM-based praxis, you may be wondering what you should do.
Choose the things you deeply love and carry with you, stuff you've loved for a while or can see yourself loving for a long time. Stuff that makes sense as a medium for magic for you.
When I started, I only used Pokemon-based stuff, because I've been unfortunately obsessed with that series since I was little. I eventually branched out into Dungeons and Dragons, the Elder Scrolls, and Magic: the Gathering. There have been plenty of series that I enjoy that I think could be an interesting addition to my magical practice, but I haven't included them.
I don't interact with my four media sources the same way, and this seems to be a pretty common occurrence in PCM/PCP. There are several ways to interact with pop culture in your magical and/or religious practice(s), some of which I asked about in my recent pop culture survey. If you're looking to incorporate PCM into your craft or PCP into your religious practice, consider the following methods (though there are more than just those listed here).
Divination (either outright or inspiration).
Things like cards or runes can be used in divination, especially if they're already used for that in the source.
Other things can be used as inspiration for divination methods, such as tarot decks based on the media in question or using the soundtrack (if applicable) for shufflemancy.
Elemental (or similar) systems.
Some pieces of media have elemental systems, many of which follow elemental systems used in our world. For example:
Avatar: The Last Airbender (and its related spinoffs): air, earth, fire, water (and possibly spirit? I don't keep up with it)
Cardcaptor Sakura: dark, earth, fire, ice, light, snow, thunder, water, wind, wood
Flight Rising: arcane, earth, fire, ice, light, lightning, nature, plague, shadow, water, wind
Iron Widow: earth, fire, metal, water, wood
Other franchises don't have elements, but rather systems that categorize magic in other ways.
Dungeons and Dragons: Magic Schools (abjuration, conjuration, divination, enchantment, evocation, illusion, necromancy, transmutation)
Magic: The Gathering: Colors (White, Blue, Black, Red, Green, and sometimes Colorless)
Pokemon: Types (there are 18 of those damn things, I'm not listing them all here)
The Elder Scrolls: Magic Skills (Alteration, Conjuration, Destruction, Enchanting, Illusion, and Restoration, though Alchemy is a Stealth Skill that's often added)
Figures such as protagonists, in-universe divine figures, or different races (in the case of sci-fi/fantasy).
This can be close to deity work, hero worship, working with archetypes, or spirit work. It can vary and fluctuate. This leans more into the pop culture paganism side, but it's something that's always an option.
Working with different races, such as the Merfolk of MTG, is another option if you don't like working with individuals and rather choose to interact broadly. I don't know much about it, but uhhhh I may be mildly obsessed with the idea and am researching it.
Inspiration for servitors/thoughtforms.
If you have the energy and magical programming know-how, this could be an interesting avenue to explore. It helps with visualization and ideas of what the servitor/thoughtform looks and acts like.
Magical praxes (ideas of how magic works).
This is a lot more vague, but essentially you're taking ideas from the magic system of the media and working with it in our world to help explain how magic works to you.
Spells such as wards or fireballs.
You actually don't have to be a PCM practitioner to make spells based off of pop culture things (not just spells, but things like character traits, Pokemon moves/abilities, and so forth).
This is the most common version of PCM that non-pop magic users dip their toe into or that pop magic users come up with to interact with media that isn't central to their practice/magical praxis.
Symbols, sigils, and languages/scripts.
Many forms of media bless us with various symbols, sigils, languages, and scripts that have different meanings. These are a treasure trove for magical working if you like to write or draw.
You don't have to work with all of these various forms in your craft, and you don't have to do the same thing for all the forms of media. I'll go through my four to illustrate:
Dungeons and Dragons: divination, elemental system, spells, symbols
Magic: The Gathering: elemental system, inspiration for servitors/thoughtforms, spells, symbols
Pokemon: elemental system, inspiration for servitors/thoughtforms, spells
The Elder Scrolls: figures, spells, symbols
Finally, there is so much nuance in PCM/PCP, and most of it has to be discovered firsthand.
I can talk for days about how I built my magical praxis, my magic system, from the ground up. In fact, I'm even writing a book about where it is now. But that topic is boring and won't help anyone who doesn't care about my craft and wants to build one of their own.
Dabbling is always something you can do, though I recommend being wary of just taking something from a real-world culture, religion, or other group just because it appeared in a piece of pop culture media. Not everything is free for the taking. Be respectful.