A friend of mine recently asked me, “How do you think magic works?”
After thinking a couple of minutes, I replied, “I think it’s something that science just hasn’t explained yet, it’s a relationship between a person’s will and the surrounding universe. Kind of like in quantum physics, they’ve discovered that particles shift when observed. I think that’s how magic works.”
Of course, I think how it works is secondary to the fact that it works, although I think talking about what you can do to make magic more effective is important. How many spells have you experimented with and seen a direct outcome later on? If a spell backfires, is there at least a part of you that still thrills that the spell worked at all?
Some spells won’t work, for a number of reasons. Sometimes you aren’t ready for the outcome of the spell, you don’t believe you deserve what you’re asking for, or perhaps you don’t really need the outcome of the spell.
I think I am going to begin a spell journal. I will write the spells I perform, the day they are cast, and the outcome when it happens. This might be tricky considering that a lot of people believe that a spell will only work if you forget that you did it so that the universe and your subconscious mind can make it happen. I’m inclined to agree. Solution: writing down the spell right after it is done, and not looking at that entry until one moon cycle later (or however long the spell is supposed to take), being sure to make a note on the calendar to look at the book at that time (but not making a note of why).
When we cast a spell, we are reaching out to the divine, to spirits, to our ancestors, gods, goddesses, our higher self, or our unconscious mind- whatever is the holy vehicle to carry out the magic. That aspect of the universe takes the magic and instigates change, like the effects of observation on subatomic particles. The change happens, and our spell returns to us. Or, for whatever reason, it doesn’t, and we either find what we did wrong or end up re-casting the spell over and over until we figure it out.
What if all the pagans in the United States all cast a spell on the same day to say, help impeachment charges be brought against the President? Would we see any effects? Would that be meddling? I mean, I don’t think I’ve met a single pagan who thinks that Bush is doing a great (or even good) job, so I don’t think it’s out of line to request something like this or organize a bunch of us to do this. A friend of mine posted a spell for magical justice to get gay marriage legalized in the state of California, and I think a lot of people were doing magic toward that goal. In any case, gay marriage was made legal in this state, and we all feel like we did something. Maybe it’s something that would have happened anyway, but I can’t help but feel like we had a part in it.
2 comments:
This is a very interesting idea. I don't have a lot of experience with it as I don't do a lot of spell work. But I would be interested to see what the results where, though like you said it could all turn for not as magic may not wish to be analysised so...ridgdly?
I don't know that I necessarily want science to look to carefully at magic, part of my problem with science is it's inability to allow things to be without explanation. I feel some mystery's need to be just that.
To me at least science tends to suck all the life and wonder out of the world. But then that's why I'm not into too much science mumbo-jumbo lol.
I guess I would feel that I would only want to participate in postive magical action, not negative magical action. Organizing lots of pagans to do a spell to elect the person they feel is right to the be the next president, sure, that would be a positive action, but doing spells to aid in impeachment charges, that seems like punitive or negative action, and I wouldn't want to use my power to support that.
I suppose if I thought it would be effective, or helpful in some way, I might be more inclined to go along with it, though I think I would still see it as a punitive or censorious gesture, and I wouldn't be enthusiastic about it, but feeling (as I do) that at this very late state in the game, impeachment charges would only emphasize divisions and waste congressional time, I would not want to be a part of such a thing.
As to how magick works, I would tend to agree that it's something we just don't have a rational/scientific explanation for it yet. I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with the power of positive thought, ie: if you believe it, you're a lot more likely to make it happen, but I would agree that it is more complex than that.
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