Pop culture paganism gets a lot of hate because people immediately make assumptions. You're not a real pagan/witch or You're ___insert mental condition here___, or You just want attention, or You just want to watch tv and not do real research! And any other assumptive insult you can think of. I'm not going to go into those, because ... well. No explanation needed. I am going to do this in a question/answer format, so I can come back and add as needed.
THEY'RE NOT REAL GODS, WHO ARE YOU EVEN WORSHIPING!?
Worshiping is a big word, that I don't really like. While I recognize that it goes against the definition, I always see in my mind people genuflecting before a cult like dictator. Dunno why. At any rate, most pc pagans don't, *in my experience*, actually worship the spirit they're working with. It's more along the lines of Catholics praying to saints, but with a little more hands on work.Imagine, if you will, having a spiritual mentor who walks along with you. This person you can talk to about anything (or anything regarding a specific subject such as school, health, confidence, etc). This person will give you advice, you can bounce ideas off of the, they will give you inspiration, motivation, strength, etc. Now imagine that this person has only a spiritual form, not a physical form. They may have some spiritual "powers" for lack of a better word, they may have "specialties" in the way that a lot of characters have special talents/abilities.
There you go! It's really that simple.
BUT..... THEY'RE NOT REAL! THEY'RE FICTIONAL!
Okay. I get it. But look at the following that a lot of books and tv shows get. Think, for instance on Tamora Pierce's books. Let's take her Protecter of the Small series. Here we have a young woman who wants to be a lady knight. And in her quartet of books we see her standing up to bullies while dealing with her menses. We see her getting knocked down, fighting injustice and making small changes where she can. She struggles in school, and helps others where she excels. Now, imagine a young girl in a not terribly good situation. She finds these books and gets inspired by Kel, the main character. She sees Kel being able to fight the bullies, she sees Kel going through all of these trials, and the girl gets inspired by her.
So what's so wrong with this little girl decorating a candle in a way she thinks Kel will like and uses that candle as a focus for meditating on Kel and allowing Kel to inspire her. Nothing wrong with that, right? So take it just a bit farther. This little girl is by no means the only one who feels that way. Many, many do. Now let's keep going here... all of those thoughts and feelings are real things, on a spiritual level.
Many believe that when a character has enough belief in them (think of all who believe in Gandalf, from the Lord of the Rings. And also consider just how long people have been believing in this character.) that can put spiritual form to them. And while they don't have the power, per se, of an actual deity, they still have emotional power to those who believe in them. They will still have a spiritual form that people can interact with. And for me, it comes down to this:
IF IT HELPS SOMEONE, WHO IS IT HARMING?
This is where it can get really finicky. And this is one of the main reasons a lot of people are anti pop culture witchcraft. And this is one of the things that kept me away from it for a long time. Especially when you are working with a live action character (like perhaps Sam from Supernatural) it can seem like you're worshipping a human being. This is where one needs to keep the line between actor and character firm, thick and unwavering. Also I think this is why many of us work with cartoon characters like MLP, Sailor Moon, Rainbow Brite, etc. (The source for this amazing drawing)
It's my personal belief that worshiping, or working with in a way like this, a human being is wrong. One should not, in any way, deify a human being. Not only is it creepy, but most humans don't want to be deified and so you're really doing something to them you shouldn't. The vast majority of those of us who practice pop culture paganism recognize that, for example, Mark Hamill is not Luke Skywalker, and that Luke Skywalker is not Mark Hamill. So long as you keep that separation, you're fine. In my opinion.
SO.... OKAY. HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY DO IT?!
That's a really personal thing. Whatever you do needs to be comfortable with you and also with the entity you're working with. Spirituality is a very personal thing. How you do it is your business, and truthfully your spirituality is no one else's business, unless you make the conscious decision to share it.
Either way a lot of us simply "use" the entity as a source of inspiration and motivation. They can help you work through things especially if it's something the character is a survivor of. (Going to books again one could theoretically work with Christine Feehan's Skyler to help work though abuse situations.)
You can, if you want, to make a shrine to them, or just have a candle, or one or two pieces of merchandise for them. Or nothing. How you work with them is personal and your choice.
IN THE END....
I think a lot of us under 35/40 are so welcoming to pop culture paganism is because we grew up in the tv and internet generation. We grew up with these characters and with the advent of the internet and web pages we have finally been able to learn so much more of the background of characters. This has led us to really be able to identify much stronger with the characters and thus be inspired, motivated, and thoroughly helped by these characters.
And so some of them want to take it into a spiritual realm. So what? It's not for everybody but nothing ever is.
**I will be doing a follow up post about pop culture witchcraft. Often this is taken much easier because... I dunno. Witchcraft is fun and people can look at it in a non serious way, maybe. As always, if you have a question put it in the comments and I will edit the post to answer your question.**
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