After 30 years, we have been blessed with a spellbinding sequel to Hocus Pocus. Yes, Winifred (Bette Midler), Mary (Kathy Najimy) and Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) have returned to run amok. Instead of stealing the lives of all the children in Salem, the witches have a new spell to cast – one to make them all-powerful.
In the opening flashback, we meet scene-stealing Hannah Waddingham, taking on the role of the Mother Witch. Sensing (or smelling) the sisters' power, she gifts them the infamous spell book. Excited by their new powers, Winnie, Mary and Sarah are eager to cast spells, settling on the Magicae Maxima. But Book closes itself and Mother Witch pronounces that 'doomed is the witch who uses the spell'.
The Mother Witch's proclamation of doom seems like a cautionary tale. Could she have already cast the Magicae Maxima? Hocus Pocus 2 spoilers follow.
What to Read Next
As she grabs young Sarah, preparing to feast on her soul, the Mother Witch's eyes glow. In her three minutes of screen time, she exhibits a range of powers – telekinesis, shape-shifting, teleportation and precognition ("I'm a witch, I know things").
While the Sanderson sisters have their own talents, none of them possess the same array of abilities as the Mother Witch. Such a variety of powers seem to indicate an all-powerful witch, one who has cast the MM. During her own attempt at the spell, Winnie's eyes also glow.
According to the Mother Witch, those who cast the MM become all-powerful. In folklore, the title of Mother Witch/Witch Mother is attributed to powerful initiatory spirits, worshipped by covens. Whether they're called Hecate, Nicnevin or Diana, Witch Mothers are able to bestow magical gifts.
This gift-giving is often accompanied by a book, be it spell book, Book of Shadows or grimoire. Sounds familiar. Surely, only an all-powerful Magicae Maxima-casting witch could be considered a Mother Witch.
Without looking at Book, the Mother Witch describes the MM's purpose and warns against it. She may be well-read, but being able to reel off so many details is impressive; who knows how many spells Book contains? She has an intimate knowledge of the spell's nature. Unless of course, this knowledge comes from experience.
The Mother Witch is stern and finger-pointing when warning them against the MM. Her warning is dire, the flickering look in Waddingham's eyes seem to say 'do I say, not as I do'.
'Thou art lucky to have each other', muses the Mother Witch, delighting in their sisterly affection. 'A Witch is nothing without her coven'. Yet, as Winnie points out, she is a witch alone. In her words, her coven is 'long gone' but there is a flicker of something that crosses Waddingham's face.
Her coven's backstory is vague; she doesn't warn against anything else. Could there be no greater warning against loosing your coven to the Magicae Maxima? As we discover when Winnie casts the spell, the price of power is whatever the witch holds dear.
If Winnie's price was her sisters, it wouldn't be a jump to assume that Mother Witch paid the same toll. It would explain her missing coven.
In the last shot of the film, the Mother Witch makes one final appearance, flying through the streets in her crow form. A quick bit of maths: if it was 300 years since the Sanderson sisters originally died, 30 years between films and 43 years between Winnie's 16th birthday and her first death, the Mother Witch would be at least 373 years old.
And that's ignoring how many decades (or centuries) she'd been around before. Sure, pre-1653, she had Book and the recipe for the life potion, but after giving it to the sisters did she memorise it? Keep a batch of life potion on tap?
Or, could the Magicae Maxima have enabled her to live without it? Maybe the Magicae Maxima can make a witch eternally youthful. Either way her longevity raises some questions.
Titled but not named, the Mother Witch is positioned as all-powerful, gifting spell books and bestowing powers, but missing a coven. All-powerful, just as the Magicae Maxima describes. There are fistfuls of hints that she had cast the spell, in a time off-screen.
With a post-credits scene suggesting more sequels, perhaps the Mother Witch will appear again; maybe they'll be further flashbacks and maybe these suspicions will be confirmed.
Hocus Pocus 2 is out now on Disney+, as is the original Hocus Pocus.
Sign Up for Disney+
![Disney Princess Complete Collection Box set [DVD] [2019]](https://hips.hearstapps.com/vader-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/1622032939-51jLSXD3BBL._SL500_.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:* "Disney Princess Complete Collection Box set [DVD] [2019]")
