On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, magical practice has a direct performative effect: words and incantations lead to fantastic effects. In such an occult world, the ethics of magical practice have even more dire consequences. Throughout the life of the show, both the character of Willow and the presentation of magical practice has changed and developed, and the final season creates a more ethical and somewhat resistant identity for this practice. Viewing the series as a whole, we can collectively examine the thematic and semiotic presence of magic, both through Willow as an embodiment of the practice/practitioner and through magical symbols (both "actual" and created) and acts of magic. This paper will analyze a number of instances in the show that demonstrate how magic in the Buffyverse functions as symbol and metaphor, and as a potentially political practice resistant to dominant patriarchal paradigms.