Let me set the scene, we live in an era of materialism, where wealth is worshipped above knowledge, more than that, knowledge is acquired in order to attain wealth (you educate yourself in order to get a better job) Our appearance and external features seem more important and our inner life has moved to second place. People turn up their noses to praying and wishful thinking and have placed science in a semi-religious pedestal as holder (or potential holder) of all answers. This sounds well and good, we are all rational beings who claim to have moved away from superstition and even the number of ‘atheists’ is ever increasing. Yet, in this era which claims to be free of witch hunting, I call for the witches and the wizards!
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| The author prepares for some magic of her own! |
Let me explain, magick is the intervention of a will into the workings of the Universe. Students of magick concentrate their learning on exerting an influence in the world (which is why some people think magic is about making things fly, because that is a sort of action in the world). Magick is a sort of miracle, in the same way that a genius technician makes a computer going through a quasi-artistic state of creation. It is founded on a series of natural and psychological principles which now inhabit the backdrop of the scene; along with humanity’s mental well-being (our minds get fed so much crap on a daily basis).
For example, people nowadays would find it absurd if a person wore a protective talisman, or that some people hear advice from an 'other-worldly being'; yet science keeps telling us that there are more dimensions (eleven have been confirmed so far) than the one we inhabit, and that elements have more properties than the ones we perceive with the naked eye. The 3D world of the five senses is perhaps only a part of a greater knowledge, a deeper understanding of the universe. We tend to condemn before we understand, and let’s face it, we do not understand a lot.
Magick, with this strange spelling, is an ancient domain of knowledge which seeks to understand the universe and humanity’s connection to it, with sympathy, with respect. Magick respects nature, it has rules, in the same way that science has laws. People who really have studied magick (I recommend to consult Manly P. Hall) will reveal to your consciousness how magick is not child’s play, it is a powerful art, a study, that is as active in human history now as it ever was. It is not in popular culture for several reasons, to name a few: the influence of religion, the industrial revolution and subsequent move to materialism, the fear of teachers of this knowledge to be spread and misused and of course, the mis-users of it prefer it to stay in their hands. Magick is no easy topic, it is very contested ground.
We live in a world were knowledge runs in many many different rivers, some people see the world as completely spiritual and ‘magical’; some understand a purely material and pragmatic world; some only care about the brain and some consider mathematics to be a sort of magic. Some people believe in creation, some in evolution, some in the creation of evolution, the one thing we haven’t learnt yet is to connect the dots, to see all the elements as part of a greater truth. We insist in others being wrong and obsess about our own views, and at that rate, who is going to open their minds? Who is going to believe in magick? Of course not when everything seems so confusing and magic seems like the irrational answer; we have become impressionable beings who gets wowed at the cinema but believe nothing and unfortunately, think of nothing.
There are few kinds of a people more speculated, stigmatised and ridiculed than ‘wizards’, ‘magicians’ and ‘witches’, or students of magick, (think of Harry Potter which is actually claimed to have many accuracies between its fantasy world and the real study of magick). Yet we all have an element of respect there, and a certain fear of their bizarre occupation, because in this day and age its more normal to stare at a glowing screen for twelve hours rather than try to listen to the ‘spirit’ of a forest. I’m not talking about ghosts, but I’m talking about a real and powerful connection to our different elements. For example, there are people who have a natural ability to heal, which means that even their sheer presence can make a sick person feel better, or their touch can accelerate healing; some of these people even do pursue the medical profession. Some people claim to have an ability to see into the future. Some would say that’s magic, others see it as a deeper understanding of our nature, perhaps that’s what it is, science has not explained it yet but the phenomena have been occurring since forever.
I had doubts whether to start this article by linking magick and philosophy or to explain my views on magic. I found the best way is to tell you now that the very educated men (yes, mainly men) who are the most representing figures of philosophy were in fact, occultists (another name for magician) in their time. Francis Bacon, is a notorious example. The reason why I use this example to illustrate my point is because magick is not a matter of ignorance and superstition, no, it is a deep, real knowledge of nature and other forces in order to exert YOUR will in the world but mainly, for growth. At the end of the day, for most of us, magick cannot be fully explained, but admittedly, it cannot be fully denied either.
Eliza Veretilo
The Philosophy Takeaway 'Magic' Issue 25
