Should Christians watch Practical Magic 2? The long-awaited sequel to the beloved 1998 original arrives in September 2026. The witchcraft question requires a direct biblical answer, not a vague 'use discernment.' Here is the complete Christian assessment.
Practical Magic 2 (September 2026) reunites Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman as the Owens sisters for the long-awaited sequel to the 1998 Warner Bros. film based on Alice Hoffman's novel. The original Practical Magic became a cult classic — particularly beloved by women who connected with its themes of sisterhood, unconventional femininity, and the power of female community. The sequel returns to the Owens family's story, continuing the exploration of witchcraft as inherited gift, identity, and sisterly bond across generations.
The original film holds genuine affection from many women who grew up watching it in the late 1990s, including many Christian women who found the sisterhood themes resonant. The content question for the sequel is the same as for the original: is the witchcraft "just fantasy," or does it matter spiritually?
The most important thing GodlyScore can do for this film is not hedge. Scripture addresses the practices depicted in Practical Magic directly and without ambiguity:
Deuteronomy 18:10-12: "Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord." The Hebrew term translated "witchcraft" (mekhashepha) refers specifically to the use of magical practices to influence events or contact spiritual forces outside of God.
Galatians 5:19-20 lists "sorcery" (Greek: pharmakeia, related to the manipulation of spiritual forces through substances or practices) among "the acts of the flesh" alongside sexual immorality and idolatry. Revelation 21:8 places "those who practice magic arts" among those excluded from the New Jerusalem.
This is not a minor or debated biblical position — it is one of the Old Testament's most consistent prohibitions, repeated across the law, the prophets, and the New Testament. The prohibition is not against believing in spiritual power (the Bible affirms spiritual reality) but against seeking access to spiritual power through means other than God.
The most common Christian defense of Practical Magic is "it's just fantasy — the magic isn't real." This argument deserves honest engagement rather than dismissal.
The "just fantasy" defense has more force for some content than others. A story involving a magic wand in a clearly impossible world (Harry Potter, Narnia) is further removed from actual practice than a story that depicts magic as something real women can access through lineage, ritual, herbs, and intent — which is exactly what Practical Magic presents. The Owens family's magic is not the physics-defying wand-waving of a video game; it is portrayed with the texture of folk witchcraft: candles, herbs, incantations, inherited knowledge. This is closer to what actual Wiccan and folk magic traditions describe than to generic fantasy magic.
The film's positive portrayal of this — as empowering, natural, and beautiful — normalizes a practice Scripture consistently condemns. Whether the magic is "real" in the film's world is less the issue than whether a Christian viewer is spending two hours having their aesthetic relationship to witchcraft shaped by a warm and emotionally resonant portrayal of it.
See our guide on Should Christians Watch Practical Magic 2? alongside our guide on Is Witchcraft a Sin? for the complete biblical framework. See our Christian TV Reviews hub. Plugged In reviews both the original and sequel. GotQuestions on witchcraft and the Bible provides the full scriptural framework.
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