P. Baxter
From Charmed
P. Johnson nee Baxter (September 1897 - December 1970) was a good witch born in the Warren line with the power of molecular deceleration or molecular immobilization. She was the daughter of Philippa Warren and a niece to Brianna Warren and Lola Mack. She is the mother of Penny "Grams" Halliwell and hence the great-grandmother of the Charmed Ones, as well as the past life of Piper Halliwell.
Baxter died on December 1970 which gave her time to meet her great-granddaughter Prue who was born on October 28th, 1970, though it was never mentioned if she did or did not.
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[edit] Forename
An implication to what Baxter's first name was was never given; however, possible P names it could be are Patricia, where Penny came up with the name for her daughter in memory of her grandmother. It could possibly be Prudence, for whom Patty named her eldest daughter; Baxter, like Phoebe Bowen, could have been another favorite relative perhaps. Another possibility could even be Paige, although this is unlikely as Patty's fourth daughter, whom she was forced to give up at birth, was named by her adoptive parents.
[edit] Powers & Abilities
We only saw Baxter use her power once during the episode "Pardon My Past". When Anton tried to strangle her she threw out her hands as Piper does when she wishes to freeze something. However, he tried to fight through it and, being an upper level warlock, this resulted in her power only decelerating him for a very short space of time. Hence it is clear that her past life's power was a weaker version of Piper's molecular immobilization, possibly even Molecular Deceleration. This is backed up by the fact that Leo stated powers grow stronger in the future lives if past lives used them well, and recede if they were abused (as was the case with Russell's pyrokinesis.) So Piper's power would probably be the same, but stronger.
Also, as a witch she could also cast spells, make potions and scry.
 Baxter giving Bowen the spell to destroy Russell |
 Baxter holding down her cousin Russell to cast a spell on her |
[edit] Romantic & Family life
For an unspecifed amount of time, P. Baxter had an intense love affair with Leo's past life before dropping him for Gordon Johnson (Dan Gordon's past life), which Leo later called a mistake on her part.
In 1930 while in Boston, Massachusetts, Baxter gave birth to her daughter, Penelope (Johnson) in a hotel room, a breach birth as it was. This was revealed in the episode That 70's Episode. This makes her the only cousin out herself, Phoebe Bowen and Pearl Russell to marry and conceive a child; although not the only one to fall in love.
She suggested to Bowen that it was time to kill Russell, who had been turned evil by the immortal warlock Anton. She and Bowen took the additional measure of cursing Russell's soul; they were afraid that Anton and Russell would be too much for their descendants to handle if they ever got back together in a future life. The curse nearly killed P. Baxter's great-granddaughter, Phoebe Halliwell, 76 years later.
[edit] Professional Life
P. Baxter lived in the manor back in the 1920s with her two cousins P. Bowen and P. Russell, when she ran a speakeasy during the prohibition. This was possibly where Piper's natural talent and enthusiam at running establishments such as P3, Quake & her restaurant that she opened after season 8 ended.
Unlike in modern times the use of magic was not hidden at all, at last to those who frequented the speakeasy, with neither of her cousins or herself refraining from casting spells or using their active powers inside it. Since magic has always been protected from exposure it is possible that the speakeasy doubled as a getaway for witches.
[edit] Notes
- Penny once mentioned to Paige Matthews that Paige had her mother (Baxter's) eyes. Which is ironic since Baxter looked exactly like Piper. However, Leo said that the only reason that Phoebe recognized P. Baxter as Piper is because their souls recognized each other, which also meant that P. Baxter would have seen Phoebe Halliwell as Pearl Russell. Therefore, P. Baxter could have looked completely different. ("Happily Ever After")
