Does it Work?

Posted by on . 9 comments.

Last week I declared I don’t know if magic works.

Not everyone liked that declaration.

I had people ask me why I practice magic if I don’t know whether it works. I’ve also been asked why I would come out and say that when my business is selling magical scrolls.

My recent posts are my answer, and exist as a source of information for any reader on whether “it really works.” Let’s look at what we know about magic in the 21st century.

First off every magician ever tested by skeptics has failed to provide results. But the kind of magic that’s been tested is a set of tricks used to entertain or defraud audiences. It’s different from traditional systems of magic. Very few traditional magical techniques have been investigated by science, but of those, several have been proven to work. However, those techniques don’t seem to work for the reasons the magicians say they do.

The magic that works is not supernatural. If you define magic as a supernatural agency, it probably doesn’t exist. On the other hand if you define it as using rituals to obtain results, then the rituals seem to work for a variety of reasons: because of our unconscious control over our bodies, because of the power of psychology and belief, and because of the materials used in some of the rituals.

The traditional ceremonies and charms that I use likely work on the same principles.

//

I’m comfortable not knowing. I’m a priest who’s not sure if the gods are real; an adventurer who isn’t convinced there’s an afterlife. I’ve used my magic spells for 16 years. I’ve cast love spells and seen people fall deeply in love. I’ve removed curses and seen people turn their lives around. And I earned a degree that taught me that none of those experiences prove anything.

Some people hate not knowing. It’s more comforting to believe an invisible force will come to your aid; more gratifying to be so smart you see through the act. But I believe in science, and science supports neither of those views.

I’ve made my peace with uncertainty. Magic is a beautiful set of ceremonies. When I perform these ceremonies my heart sings. When I give people my scrolls it fills them with determination and the resolve to change their lives. If that’s all that’s going on, I feel okay with that.

And if a choir of spirits gathers at my side? Bonus.

This is the atelier where spells are made. Welcome aboard. 

If you love or hate what you read please tweet or share this post.

Comments

  1. sarah says:
    February 13, 2012 at 21:53

    Always so interesting.

    I think we have to accept sometimes that we can’t know what’s beyond our human consciousness by referring to what we know and understand and can quantify. It’s like trying to prove the Bible is true by referring to stories in the Bible. Living with uncertainty isn’t just an act of faith but of wisdom, at least when it comes to the “supernatural”. In my opinion :-)

    Reply
    • altmagic says:
      February 13, 2012 at 22:26

      Hi Sarah, and welcome to altmagic! Thanks for your comment. I partly agree. It is true that if something is supernatural it may be beyond our ability to directly observe or quantify. However, if that supernatural agency affects on the world in some way – whether that be healing people, changing the weather, or anything else – those are all observable phenomenon that could be recorded and quantified. If anything supernatural exists we should be able to observe it indirectly, much the way we can tell where there’s a black hole based only on the gravitational disturbance to surrounding stars.

      Or at least, that’s the best reasoning against the existence of the supernatural that I’ve ever heard. I’m open to other takes on it.

      Reply
  2. Kit Johnson says:
    February 17, 2012 at 19:35

    I’ve been practising Reiki for many years now. First I thought I knew exactly how it all worked; now I honestly don’t know. I can still spout theory, but it is not needed for the practice.

    People get well. I crave Reiki every morning, like an Englishman craves tea with his toast. This is true. Yet the truth of the mechanism of Reiki is unknown to me. I don’t think it is supernatural, but what happens on the healing table can sometimes be described as powerful magic.

    Reply
    • altmagic says:
      February 18, 2012 at 10:38

      I think that’s a really good way of looking at it, Kit. I love the tea comparison. In your experience, do you feel that Reiki mostly relieves pain, or can it cure other sorts of problems as well?

      Reply
      • Kit Johnson says:
        February 23, 2012 at 04:53

        Thanks!

        My practice is mainly about emotional healing… The chronic issues that underly our everyday lack of ease. But my teacher works with all sorts of physical things, including cancer.

        Reply
  3. Rua Lupa says:
    February 19, 2012 at 15:07

    I am really glad to find that I am not the only one who has found that to be the case and has done a little of their own ‘magic’. I’ve also annoyed some along the way with my non-supernatural approach, but none-the-less have had the same people embrace what I’ve shared with them. A very interesting experience, and one that I hadn’t expected to find. Heck, most of my approaches happened without me knowing what I was going to do in advance. I’ve been critiqued on being too straight forward, but that’s what worked for me, and had that same individual who critiqued me participate and appreciated the one ritual done a few days later, again on the fly.

    The bobcat, for example, was the first time I’ve done anything like that before. It just came to me and couldn’t shake it. Which summarizes pretty much how I operate. Most of what I do is strictly musical – a resounding favorite of the Pagan Association I used attend before moving.

    Reply
    • altmagic says:
      February 22, 2012 at 14:44

      That’s really awesome Rua. I think a lot of people are looking for a mystique and for some reason that is more important to them than results or understanding what’s actually going on when you cast a spell. Or maybe it would be it would be more accurate to say that for them the sense of mystique is synonymous with results. This is by no means true of every magical practitioner but it does seem to create a dividing line.

      I’m curious about your musical approach. Do you mean drumming for a trance effect or something different?

      Reply
      • Rua Lupa says:
        February 22, 2012 at 16:45

        Hmm, I never really had to explain it before. It kind of puts your mind in a zone for chilling – shaking out the stress of the day, other times its to vent and get over frustration, and other times its for that sense of community connection. I’ve played so others can dance and express themselves, and for soothing and healing (which is usually with my flute). Its about experimenting and experiencing how music affects our feelings and harnessing that for what is needed.

        There had been a series of times that everyone heard singing, yet no one visible was, we stopped and thought that it was someone in one of the adjacent rooms singing in the vents, but no one else was in the building. We considered that it may have been the reverberation of the drums in the room. But we hadn’t heard that before and we’d been playing there for some time. We could all agree on what we heard and even had a friend come in to join us asking who was singing and was looking for a new person in the crowed. The didn’t believe us when we said that we don’t know who is singing. Then when they joined us they heard it too but were staring at each of our mouths to see if it was indeed one of us singing. Over time we just accepted it and would talk about what we heard, it was often native type singing and sometimes more than one voice, both masculine and feminine. It was the only thing that makes me question spirits. But have no proof for either side – we all just know we heard something that sounded like singing. I tried to not let the imagination expand on further on what we were experiencing and since it was in an inclosed area think it is most likely the sound reverberating, as it usually came up only when a certain kind of tune was playing. *shrugs*

        But yeah, that is what I do for music. Or at least all I can remember for now.

        Reply
        • altmagic says:
          February 27, 2012 at 17:06

          Hmm yes, I’ve heard the singing from the other world at times. Sometimes at ceremony, but also outdoors at several sacred places.

          Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>