Juliana O'Farrell is a powerful witch who appeared in the novel Inherit the Witch.
History
When she is first seen, she is casting some type of Tracking Spell to which the only ingredients we see is a circle of rowan leaves and sage. When she approaches the Charmed Ones, she comes off as quite distrustful of other witches and it is hinted during the course of the novel that Juliana at first believes her hiding place is being compromised by the Charmed Ones. She later apologizes and states that she and her daughter Lily are the only surviving members of her family and that ever since her family was killed she has been in hiding preparing her daughter for witch-hood. Throughout the novel, the Charmed Ones are given a glimpse into the lives and magical traditions of another witch family which contradicts their own traditions including confronting a demon not even they have the power to vanquish. Eventually Juliana discovers secrets that not even she knew about her family and, thanks to the Charmed Ones, learns to trust Good magic again.
It is known throughout the novel that she did have a strong family relationship, she even admits that "we used to be a tight knit clan". She also states that she had "seven brothers and sisters" but they were all slaughtered by Gortag and that her last brother "shielded" them from Gortag.
Romantic life
Not much is known about Juliana' romantic life. Lily once stated that her father left both her and her mother because she believed he resented her.
Powers and Abilities
- Basic Powers:
- Spell Casting: the ability to cast spells and perform rituals.
- Potion Making: the ability to brew potions.
- Scrying: the ability to scry for something or someone by using a map and a crystal. Juliana also used a more modern form of scrying when she did her tracking spell, this form of scrying is more so used in the Wiccan practices.
- Mediumship: The ability to see and commune with spirits of the dead.
- Active Powers:
- Pyrokinesis: Juliana stated that she was a firestarter and could start fires with her mind.
Notes
- Juliana is the first magical witch that is introduced in either the shows or novels that does not possess a Book of Shadows stating that "there was an old story that if you put a spell on paper then it could be used against you, plus three of our ancestors were burned at the stake in Ireland and it was forbidden from then on to have any records of our craft"
- Juliana is also shown to harbor anger and hatred for the Elders and their Whitelighters for two reasons. She blamed the Elders for not being able to stop Gortag and for letting him kill her entire family.
- It is interesting to note that Juliana is the first witch shown to have renounced all connection to her Whitelighter without turning into an evil witch or a warlock.
- It is also interesting to know that unlike the Warren Line, whose powers follow in some kind of pattern, the powers of the O' Farrell Clan seem to manifest without any type of specific pattern as is shown that Juliana was a firestarter witch while her daughter seemed to have the power of Shapeshifting, her aunt was shown to have the power to read minds while her grandfather was said to have the power to levitate objects but was revealed by Juliana to have an extremely weak form of telekinesis and was only able to use his power when he experienced extreme emotions as Juliana stated "my grandfather had telekinesis but he was only able to use it when he experienced strong emotions like if he was angry or upset he could throw an object or two with his mind"
- It is interesting to note that Juliana's destiny could have been to vanquish Gortag as stated by three reasons. When Juliana and Piper were discussing a spell to transfer powers from Drew to Lily, Juliana stated "when I discovered I could start fires with my mind, my aunt and grandfather were so delighted. I was the strongest witch to be born into our family in centuries so I got kinda full of myself, I figured if I could do that then I could set us all free of Gortag" she stated that she was the strongest witch in her family in generations.
- Juliana also stated that Gortag had a warlock place an enchantment on the O'Farrell family to prevent the females from giving birth to girls since only a mother/daughter witch combination could defeat him. Juliana proved her magical strength by being able to break the enchantment and enable her to have a daughter. Something that not even the Elders themselves could do
- Another interesting note is that when Lily and Drew were discussing plans with Phoebe and Paige, Lily stated that Gortag during a gathering of all the traveling Wiccan families and that one of the witches used her power to throw him into the fire and then placed a spell on him to keep him within the fire which in turn weakened Gortag.
- When Drew was discovered to be Juliana's real daughter, she was discovered to be a powerful shapeshifting witch and that her power was so powerful she could transform into mythological animals as when she shapeshifted into a dragon during a fight with Gortag, when she discovered her power could do that she was able to shapeshift into a Phoenix and hold the demonic spirit within the flames long enough to kill him only to be reborn from the ashes.
- In the episode, "Little Monsters", Paige fights against Chris to vanquish the manticore baby stating that it's nurture over nature, again it is mentioned in "Inherit the Witch" by Lily stating that "they always told her she was bad and eventually she started doing bad things"
- When Piper is trapped in Drew's room in the Elson home, it's mentioned that "on the day a witch was to receive his or her powers, there was a moment in time where the powers existed unprotected in space, a moment before the powers found the witch who called for them and if an evil demon knew when it would happen, they could wreak havoc trying to steal the powers and kill the new witch"
- The Window is mentioned again by Paige when under the impression that Drew was evil, and was trying to corrupt Lily into being an evil witch.
- We learn of a new type of demon called Clan-gods which are evil demons which hunt down babies and gorge themselves on the child's lifeforce, according to Juliana there is a baby protection spell which wards them off. The only powers they were shown to have were Web Projection, Cloaking, Sensing, Shimmering, Life Draining (as Leo stated "they gorge themselves on the child's lifeforce then go off into hibernation). We also learn that if the baby is magical then the lifeforce produced would be much more stronger due to the negative energies produced by that witch being turned down the path of evil.
- Juliana stated that "she was the strongest witch to be born in her family in generations" yet her brother who possessed the power of cloaking, was able to keep the cloak going even after he was killed.
- We learn that if a witch renounces all connection to his or her Whitelighter then the Elders can do nothing for that witch unless he/she accepts the Elders' assistance.
Appearances
Juliana O'Farrell has appeared in a total of 1 non-canonical novel throughout the franchise.