What IS it? What does it mean to you? How can it exist? How does it work? What’s with the extra ‘k’, anyhow?
Expound as you see fit.
Magic is an interesting subject to me, and I am endlessly fascinated with the different ways it is used in different areas of history and the world. I think, perhaps, that’s where the seeds of my interest in religious studies started. When I started to put it all together and see the common threads, I became more understanding that we are all kind of doing the same thing despite having different words and beliefs.
My personal understanding of magic is that it’s basically very powerful prayer. You build your energy through intentional acts and push it out into the world. In a way, I think it sends off a chain reaction, energy bumping energy, directed towards whatever your goal may be.
Magic, to me, is just energy. Performing magic is simply sticking your hand into the mix and guiding your intentions towards the goal. Sometimes that’s enough, but most of the time one has to continue guiding it by working towards the goal at the same time. For instance, if a person casts a spell to get a job, they have to keep looking for a job.
Magic is sacred. It is in everything, yes, but as humans we have the ability to use it like clay to mold it to our desires.
It’s the same thing with praying. As humans, we have the very fortunate luck of being able to connect with our higher power and ask them for things. However, we are responsible for working for what we want. If you’re not opening up the door to get that new job by searching, applying, interviewing, the likelihood of someone showing up at your door and offering you one is pretty slim.
I don’t practice magic. Even in the direst circumstances, I never have the urge to do so. This doesn’t mean in the future something may pop up that I feel it’s necessary to employ it. I just put my faith in my gods. My relationship with them makes me feel confident that my prayers will be answered, though not always in a manner that makes sense right away. I worship them, and they take care of me. They are the gods, and I am the human… They know better than me, you know?
Thinking on it, I guess I’ve learned how to incorporate a few things into my life that I don’t think about anymore… For instance, when my friend felt the need to severe ties that were resulting in an evil eye situation, I rubbed her down with an egg… That’s about the extent of it.
Talismans? Sure. Purified crystals? You betcha. Colored candles on my altar to signal requests? Yup. But for the most part, despite these being magical in concept, I don’t… Well, I guess I don’t practice “high magic.” I don’t chant incantations – Does anyone else feel silly rhyming? I am not a fantasy novel.
Not too long ago I discovered that my former teacher and group of Wiccans performed a spell to have a football team win for local media. A football team… Because in a world with so many other things happening, we worry about if our team is going to win a game.
It made me sad. Not only because magic shouldn’t be a publicity stunt, but because it seems to me that we shouldn’t plug up energy fields with trivial matters. In a world where many of us live pay check-to-pay check with the risk of losing everything, don’t have a cure for cancer, and are experiencing natural disasters more often as the Earth changes… Well, I understand some people are fanatics about sports, but we should be looking at the bigger picture. I won’t even get into the politics of Pagans performing magic for the media today.
The spell didn’t work, by the way. While I won’t say the Gods aren’t sports fans, I guess they had their money down on the other team that day. And as we should all know by now, the Gods’ will trumps human desire.
Foxglove & Firmitas 