Samantha stated on a recent episode that her powers of witchcraft were limited. I notice that Endora's powers of witchcraft appear to be stronger than Sam's.
Of course, there's Aunt Clara who messes up her spells which cracks me up every time.
On the episode where Endora and the aunts gather to evaluate Tabitha's powers, Maurice shows up and banishes them to Mt. Everest.
Even Endora seemed fearful of Maurice's power, as if she couldn't retaliate in any way. Does his power supercede all the other witches?
Does anyone know the story behind the levels of power of witchcraft on Bewitched? Is it ever explained?

I think that the older the witch is, the more experience they have, and therefore their powers are stronger. Maurice was a little older than Endora, both were older than Samantha (no kidding ;) ), etc. But just like humans, there reaches a point when old age deteriorates that... hence Aunt Clara. Hope that helps. :)

One thing that I was thinking about this morning was that in a first or second-season episode, we are given the impression that Maurice is more powerful than any of the witches. I'd think that since he is probably seen as the person who wears the pants in the family that he would be very powerful.

I have some thoughts on this also. The powers of any witch or warlock are likely dependent on experience, individual skill/talent, heredity and sheer force-of-will.

In the episode you mentioned, it seemed to me that Endora was reluctant to try anything at first because she didn't know where they were. Perhaps it's not wise to blindly cast a spell without a certain minimum of information. (Just a theory.)

Something else I wondered about concerns the inability of a witch/warlock to counteract the spell of another. There must be some loopholes in this "law". In an early episode, Samantha was able to return Aunt Clara's boyfriend to normal (after Clara had accidently turned him into a baby elephant). Of course, Sam was only able to do this once Clara remembered the spell she used. Once known, Samantha was able to invoke a counterspell. The best I could do was theorize that other factors must have been at work, such as:


Aunt Clara's waning abilities don't give her spells much "stick-um".
Aunt Clara wanted her spell to be broken and released her mental hold on her spell.


This may also explain, in part, why Endora was unable to rescue herself from Maurice's spell. His iron will may have tipped the scales sufficiently to hold them there.

OK, the floor is now open to any other theories, conjectures or comments.

I agree with the experience theory but like anything practice makes perfect. Now if it was just age Uncle Arthur should have been better than he was! I would think he was a alcoholic the way he laughed and screwed up his magic. As a matter a fact Esmeralda could have been on heroin the way she shakes and get flustered! I also think that Samantha became Queen of the Witches because it was her show! Clearly Endora should have had that job! :)

Originally posted by marvin g
I also think that Samantha became Queen of the Witches because it was her show! Clearly Endora should have had that job! :)

In the context of the story, Samantha explained that certain children were selected at birth (ostensibly to be on the "wating list"). If Endora was chosen upon her birth to be "on the list", perhaps she had already served previously (minimum term is 1 year) or perhaps circumstances did not require her to be called to duty.