this article reminds me of a book i read in my Early American & the Atlantic world class by Richard Godbeer, about the salem witch trials. he argued that even though it has been framed as the puritans all having viewed witchcraft as evil, actually spells and superstitions and things were a common part of north americans' lives, and they sort of compartmentalized the two so that they wouldn't see their every dayactions as being sacreligious. that was a tradition that had been carried over from England, and as this article explains, still goes on today. and i guess that same sort of tension exists, with science instead of religion. being superstitious wouldn't make you evil, but today it just makes you seem stupid. but despite how powerful the ideas of science and religion are, its interesting that people still keep relying on these methods for feeling like there is some reason for the unexplainable things that happen. score one for sarah jessica parker's outstanding performance in hocus pocus.