Just off the top of my head--PT Angelique seems more like an amateur Witch (which, actually, was a lot more how the original Angelique seemed until the period when she created her bat-familiar)--someone who had read some books and decided to see whether the stuff worked or not; when it did, she continued, but her interest in Magick was strictly practical and related to whatever goal she had before her. I think that Tim Stokes, her stepfather, had a much more serious grasp of the occult. incidentally, occultists, especially those who haven't had the benefit of a fully-structured training, often wind up becoming alcoholics or drug addicts because they need something to numb them out from all the energies flooding their systems.
In 1795, Angelique seemed a lot more like a village hedge witch initially. I think there was dialogue that indicated that her initial spell on Barnabas was her first attempt at operative Magick. Subsequently, they made her more supernatural, and had her receiving magic powers as a result of signing her soul to Satan, as was the belief most extensively documented in the Malleus Maleficarum, the infamous "Hammer of Witches." I prefered it when the character got her powers from her own knowledge of herbs and energies, not to mention her own formidable personal moxie!
G.
