Myths & Mischief

Hello again, darlings!

Have you been enjoying this adventure? I hope so!

This week, we’re talking about Agatha’s card, which was shown to Lilia near the end of Episode 4. Of course, we know that all of the cards were meant for Lilia’s trial, but we’ve come this far. So let’s keep going!

After the witches escape the second trial, they have to heal Teen from the glass shard embedded in his stomach. While Agatha, Jen, and Alice are panicking, Lilia randomly says “three of swords,” like she does. It’s curious to me that she called this one out specifically while Agatha was experiencing an emotional crisis (Teen’s injury), considering this card represents rejection, betrayal, hurt and discouragement.

The Marvel version of this card only has one similarity with the original, and that’s the heart with swords. Let’s look at the rest.

Agatha Herself

The most obvious difference between the two is that Marvel put Agatha on their card, So let’s look at Agatha for a moment. She’s wearing purple, as always, the color of her spirit magic. (“Her purple” as Nicky said.) But what are the symbols on her dress? They look like blobs from far away, but up close they look like black four-petal flowers. If we flip the color scheme, there is a purple four-petaled flower called Dame’s Rocket that is considered the symbol of feminine independence. Folklorists call it the “flower of deceit” because it has a strong cinnamon fragrance that is only noticeable in the evening. Isn’t that interesting? I think the flower’s dual meaning points to Agatha’s internal struggle between seeking independence and dealing with the guilt of using others for her gains.

Agatha is also wearing a golden circlet around her head. The golden  laurel wreath has been a symbol of victory, success, and fame since the first Olympics in Greece. If Agatha is wearing one, that must mean she achieved a great victory and earned it.

Do you think she achieved that victory during the show? On one hand, her actions in the show demonstrated a cunning and strategic mind. She manipulated events to suit her needs and developed mastery over her magic without a teacher. On the other hand, the circlet could also symbolize her past conquests, particularly obtaining the Darkhold. As the leader of her coven, it’s plausible that the wreath signifies recognition from her peers. Ultimately, it seems that Agatha wears the circlet as a testament to her multiple victories.

You can also see that she’s offering out empty hands as if asking to hold something. Many people have suggested this stance represents her once holding her infant child that is no longer in her life. To me, this looks like she’s reaching out to grab something that’s off camera. Or she had just laid something down that she had been carrying. Either way, it’s definitely a holding pose where something should be sitting in her hands. (Fans pointed out this is actually the stance she takes when she places Billy on the stone table to heal him.)

Finally, if you look very closely, the style of her dress on the card is the exact same as the dress she wore when her coven tried to kill her. Short sleeved, dark purple dress that’s cut low on the neck, over white laced undergarments. This could mean that her trial has something to do with the judgment of her previous coven.

Creepy Trees

Instead of raining clouds covering the background, Agatha’s card has these gnarled trees. These are an obvious direct reference to the Witches’ Road trees. We see them multiple times when the camera pans wide. What I find most interesting is that we can also see their roots. 

In the spell to call a new Green Witch, they say “Supra. Infra. Entra. Extra.” which means “Above. Below. Inside. Outside.” One of the core teachings of any pagan culture, which includes witchcraft, is “As Above, So Below.” It means that everything exists as duality, whether it’s nature, people, psychology, whatever. A tree’s branches can only grow as tall as the roots are deep. In this image, we see the beginning of the roots and I think they’re meant to be crawling into the ground.

This also reminds me of how the trees on the Road are windy and have giant roots coming out of the ground. The roots, in their eerie prominence, speak to Agatha’s deep connection to the magical forces that have both nourished and ensnared her. There’s no denying the power she’s tapped into, but the question remains: How much of herself is buried beneath those roots?

Witches’ Road

The last piece of this card that I want to point out is that Agatha is literally standing on the Witches’ Road. It even shows you the purple leaves that we’ve all noticed have changed depending on the witch who’s being tested. In magical culture, purple is the color of Spirit, which is represented by the tip of the pentacle.

We are all made of spirit, it is what connects us to each other.

I also noticed that this explains where the source of Agatha’s power comes from, whereas Alice’s comes from anger (fire), Lilia’s comes from wisdom (air), and Jen’s comes from her ancient blood (water). Rio, of course, is THE GREEN WITCH but even as Death, we don’t know enough about her yet to make many suppositions about her witch powers. Agatha’s power, on the other hand, comes from her actual life force itself. This is why she can absorb the energies of other witches when they attack her, because her life force is more powerful than theirs.

Honestly, this could also be why Agatha is immortal.

I loved this show so much! Let me know if I’ve missed anything.

Make sure to keep reading for more theories and thoughts…

– The Researcher –