The 90's were a great time to be a witch. Not a haggard, wrinkly old woman with a warty nose but a young, nubile, sexually hungry girl. For the most part, as long as these ladies, "played nicely" they enjoyed the full gamut of benefits of practicing the dark arts: power, beauty, money, fancy things, men, etc. On the other hand, their petty, childish, mean-spirited behavior was swiftly punished with deformity, loss of love, loss of status, and sometimes even death. While there is often some sort of religious lesson embedded within these stories ("Stick with god because dabbling in the devil's world is, you know, bad.") the greater message is seemingly more of a social nature, "women must behave themselves or else ." So where did this avalanche of witchy women begin? Possibly in the pages of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches (1990) which birthed a teen version by LJ Smith - The Secret Circle (1992). And maybe even some honorable mention
these are movie musings for snarky movie nerds. there's always spoilers.