Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of sexual and domestic assault.

 Practical Magic centers around and is guided by the destructive power of love. Early in the novel, it is presented as a sickness that becomes all-consuming and erodes the mind, even manifesting in the physical body:

They could see how love might control you, from your head to your toes, not to mention every single part of you in between. […] a woman could want a man so much she might vomit into the kitchen sink or cry so fiercely blood would form in the corners of her eyes (14).

Contrary to the message of many fairy tales, love is not a force of healing but a rupture of the self. Sally and Gillian learn this early in life due to their aunts’ work. They see the degradation of the women who come to the aunts for help, and they witness the long-term effects of Irene, the girl from the drugstore who thought she would do anything for love. Initially, it’s her love for the married man that makes her ill. When she receives her heart’s desire, however, it only makes things worse; she becomes unrecognizable to her friends and loses the parts of herself that deserved love in the first place.