For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with magic. For me,
magic was a way to feel more in control of my environment and
connected to the world around me. It was an explanation to so many
unknown questions: How does my mom always know when I’m lying? Why
does it sometimes begin to rain the second I walk outside? How could
Santa really reach all of those houses in only one night???
Along with this obsession I always wanted to be a magician. Like
many people, growing up I would try periodically to make potions
from plants in my parent’s yard, contact supernatural entities like
spirits or gods, or focus hard enough to awaken my inner psychic
powers. Unfortunately for me, none of these methods ever ended up
granting me the power that I deeply wanted. Over time my ideas of
magic changed, with the only representations of it being from TV and
movies. I gave up on my dreams of practicing magic. I grew to see
magic as one of two things: illusionists performing planned tricks
with sleight of hand, or fictional old white men with pointy hats
who used wands to shoot beams of light at their enemies. Only now as
I’ve gotten older have I realized that that’s really not the case,
and magic is a very real art that has only been misconstrued by
modern storytelling.
In reality, magic is an ancient and global art that has been
practiced in countless different ways throughout human history.
Ancient magic was so central to human existence; it had a profound
impact that can still be seen to this day. Some of these magical
practices began alongside modern-day sciences and fields of study,
like chemistry and astronomy (Drury 74). Other
beliefs founded religions, and became so well integrated into their
specific practices that today, the people who perform the rituals
don’t even know they’re magical (Ibid 63). For
example, the act of prayer can be seen as a distant descendent of
the art of Divination.
There are so many magicians--real, living people of the past and
present--who have used (and continue to use) magic to alter the
world around them. One universal truth I have found from the stories
of these magicians is that true magical power stems from knowledge.
Almost every magician I’ve heard of has an origin story which
includes learning, training, and experimenting with their ways of
practicing magic. Most of this knowledge has been kept secret from
the public, but in the modern days of the internet many of these
secrets have been shared and exposed.
But this has led me to ask myself, why aren’t there more magicians
out in the world? How could I have gone so long believing that all
magic was fake? I think this is because of a few things. For one,
the common media portrayal of a magician has alienated many from the
idea of a magical practitioner. Without proper representation, it’s
hard to see oneself fitting into that supernatural environment.
Secondly, the lack of accessible text explaining magical ideas can
be a huge roadblock for many to begin their study of magic. Many
books outlining practical magic are expensive, long-winded, and
written with such academic language that they can be virtually
impossible for a beginner to understand.
So I myself, a beginner, am embarking on a long journey to become a
magician. While I don’t have any masters to directly teach me this
information, I believe I can find my own ways to practice magic
through studying the many thousands of ways that other humans have
engaged with the art. And, in hopes of encouraging others to find
ways to make their lives more magical, I will be making all of my
findings accessible to the public. My goal is for anyone who desires
to be able to learn something about the history and practice of
magic, so they can feel empowered to become magicians in their own
ways.
Chapter 1: What is Magic?
So what is magic? The word “magic” itself is often used vaguely, and
in the academic sense it has rarely been given a solid definition.
In the academic world, there seems to be a lot of confusion as to
the true and concrete differences between science, magic, and
religion. This is because, even though in modern practice they are
very different fields, they all can be traced to similar origins.
Religion and magic have been intertwined since the dawn of
humankind, with some earliest magical practices being deeply
entwined philosophically with religious worship and practice
(Drury 12). This is easy to see as both deal with
supernatural power and entities. As mentioned earlier, there is also
a strong overlap between science and magic, which is understandable
when you think that both come from the desire to understand and
influence the world around us. It’s also clear because some magical
practitioners’ studies were the precursors to branches of science
such as chemistry, astronomy, and physics
(Ibid 74). But, there are a few key differences
to tell them all apart that can help to define what “magic” means
for us.
The first important factor that differentiates magic as a practice
is that it deals with supernatural forces. This is different from
science in that magic works with unobservable phenomena or things
that we cannot always measure and replicate. This to some undermines
the validity of magic as a practice, which has led scholars like Sir
James G. Fraizer to believe that “all magic is necessarily false and
barren; were it ever to become true and fruitful, it would no longer
be magic but science” (Stark 103). In my opinion,
this statement is undermined by the fact that magic as a practice
exists alongside science. If magic really was only the failures of
science, wouldn’t it have been replaced by the proper scientific
methods long ago? On the contrary, magic is still practiced around
the globe in many different forms
The difference between magic and religion is a little bit more
complicated because of the fact that they both deal with very
similar forces and entities, and are often practiced together. Many
scholars try to make the distinction by claiming that, in a
religion, the practitioner is dealing directly with Gods or
conscious supernatural beings for personal rewards, while magic is
where the practitioner utilizes impersonal supernatural forces for
their own gain (Stark 111). It’s a small
distinction, in my opinion, essentially being the difference between
asking someone for a glass of water and getting up to grab one
yourself. These definitions can be complicated in practice as well,
because many different magical rituals and ceremonies have religious
context. By making broad statements about the exclusion of gods from
magic, it can lead to complex rituals being simplified to just
religious exercise. Historically, this has meant that many
Afro-Cuban practices are left out of the discussion of magic, as
some claim their practices are too passive on the part of the
practitioner and rely too heavily on gods and spirits for their
reward (Drury 8). I believe this is a part of
what created the image of the magical practitioner I described
earlier: the old, white, pointy-hatted man.
In my practice, I intend to broaden the definition of what magic can
be. I believe it’s safe to say that anyone who goes so far as to
reach out to the unknown, contact the supernatural, and influence
the natural world is practicing what I would call magic. I think
that, while some categorization can be helpful, at a certain point
dividing these different practices only serves to create a narrative
that ultimately alienates many people from magical practice. And,
especially in times like these, I think ritual magic practice is
needed more than ever. Whether you believe in the power or not,
there’s no harm in giving people activities that lets them create
community and feel more in control of their environment.
So, magic is the practice of interacting with supernatural or
metaphysical forces to influence the natural world. But how
do you practice magic? There are far too many individual ways to
answer this question in a single lifetime. There are, however,
certain trends and types of practice that can be tracked and
compared globally. In this writing I will outline these practices,
some common knowledge and some lesser known, in hopes of creating a
new, true, globally inclusive image of a magical practitioner. For
my first attempt, I am splitting my search into four different
categories of magic to explore. First is Divination, the practice of
gaining supernatural insight through magic. The second is
Incantations, the practice of creating specialized magical objects,
spells, and potions. The third is Symbology, the study and use of
magical symbols for power. And the fourth is Tools, the different
specialized objects used for performing magic.
Divination is one of the oldest forms of magic known to humanity, as
it’s generally employed to solve one of the most common fears a
human can face--the uncertainty of the future. Defined simply,
Divination is the practice of gaining insight into a particular
situation through practiced magic. Most often it is used to
tell the future, but it can sometimes be used to gain information
that would otherwise be unavailable to the practitioner
(Buckland 157).
For many of the earliest magicians we know of, commonly referred to
as the Shamans, Divination was a key skill to have. They were known
to provide many services to their societies, such as predicting (and
sometimes summoning) the weather, guiding lost souls, curing unknown
diseases, and helping people pass on to their realm of the dead
(Drury 10). In some regions, specifically in the
Central and Southern Americas, Shamans would implement the use of
hallucinogenic drugs to help transport them to the metaphysical
realm for gathering information (Ibid 23-25).
Whatever the methods, Divination was a very important yet relatively
common practice all over the globe.
Over time, the practice became so common and sought after that in
certain societies, specialized magicians were trained almost
exclusively in the art of Divination. Most famously, in the Greek
civilization there became a type of practitioner, known commonly as
the Oracle, who would answer the questions of those who had the
privilege of asking them. Though there were many different
practitioners and methods of receiving the divine information, some
of the most famous are the Oracles of Delphi. The Oracles would
welcome inquirers willing to pay the price for their services, and
from what we know the process went something like this
(Drury 40):
Divination is such a ubiquitous practice that there is an almost
endless list of ways to practice it. Many include objects, but these
objects can be almost anything. There are recordings of humans using
beans, palms, tea, mirrors, pendulums, dreams, rocks, fire, symbols,
and many more (Buckland 182). One of the most
popular objects are decks of cards, and there is a wide range of
different decks that can be used. The use of cards to
Divine is called cartomancy. Though some claim that cartomancy dates
back to Egyptians, the earliest confirmed forms of card reading rose
to popularity in the late 14th century, as playing cards rose to
popularity across Europe (Caldwell 1).
Though many of the early practices went undocumented, during the
Spanish Inquisition in the 1600s many testimonies were given of
“witches” practicing different forms of cartomancy. For example,
Margarita de Borga (executed in Madrid in 1617) would read the cards
of her clients by reciting an incantation, then laying 5 rows of her
deck of cards. If your cards came up in pairs things were good, but
if you had other configurations it could mean trouble
(Caldwell 4). Or Lady Maria de Acevedo, who would
use a deck of 41 cards to help figure out what her lover was
thinking about, where he was, or to help convince him to return to
her after a fight (Ibid 5). By the middle of the
18th Century, cartomancy was a very common practice, aided by the
exploding popularity of the tarot cards. The tarot card deck
originated as a set of playing cards of the 21 “triumph” cards and 1
odd card of the fool (Parlett). These cards were
unique in that each card had its own character and allegory
attached, so they were often used to give fortunes and tell the
future (Ibid). To use them, practitioners draw a
certain number of cards, and then place said cards into a specific
formation. Depending on the location of the card, the meaning could
be applied to the subject's future, past, interior thoughts, larger
goals, or other more specific information they were looking for
(Buckland 160). The deck was re-illustrated by
numerous artists globally, and over time different tarot decks
became developed regionally with some variations on the card names,
meanings, and interpretations. Today, there are thousands of
different decks to choose from, and Tarot reading is more popular
than ever.
Due to the wide variation in methods, some magicians theorize that
Divination is an innate human skill that is just aided by focusing
on specific objects (Buckland 157). A
practitioner that by some is considered a master of this skill (who
is sometimes referred to as the Mother of Modern
Occultism/Spirituality) is Helena Petrovna Blavatsky.
Helena, or HPB as she preferred, was a Russian born of minor
nobility who was alleged from a young age to have supernatural
abilities (Lachman 15). For the entirety of her
life, HPB claimed to be in divine contact with her Masters: a series
of mysterious and metaphysical men who psychically taught her how to
harness her special abilities. She was also witnessed performing
several supernatural tasks. Once, while visiting with Allan Hume and
his wife Mary, HPB asked Mary if she had lost something that she
wanted to find. Mary told HPB that she had a specific heirloom
brooch that her daughter had lost some time ago that she had been
wanting to find. HPB made Mrs. Hume describe the item in great
detail, and then wrapped a coin between two cigarette papers and
left for dinner. After dinner, HPB told Mrs. Hume to dig in a
specific spot of her garden, where Mrs. Hume found her heirloom
brooch wrapped between two cigarette papers
(Ibid 186).
While this demonstration is impressive while taken at face value, we
must acknowledge that this happened many centuries ago, and we’re
relying solely on witness testimony. To this fact, it must be noted
that HPB was also revealed as a fraud at many points in her career.
One of her associates once detailed how HPB had made her fabricate a
trick cabinet for letters from her metaphysical Masters,
now referred to as the Mahatma Letters, be delivered to Alfred Percy
Sinnett. While Blavatsky claimed they entered the cabinet through
“Astral Special Delivery,” her associate stated that they were just
written by HPB and placed into the cabinet by human hands
(Lachman 219). It is also widely speculated that
Blavatsky’s Masters were faked entirely, and they were invented by
HPB to give her more credibility as a white woman studying
Eastern philosophy in the 19th Century. This theory is supported by
Blavatsky’s own descriptions of her guides, frequently
characterizing them vaguely as Indian, Tibetan, or Hindu men, which
aligns with the rampant Orientalist ideals of the time and the
obsession with Eastern monks and philosophy
(Ibid 107).
In the end, I think HPB’s life story and practice remains as an
extraordinary example of a magician, whether or not you believe that
she actually had supernatural abilities. Blavatsky was an overweight
Russian woman who spent the majority of her life casting off
orthodox traditions and building her own path. And that, in my mind,
is the true power of divination--whether or not it can be concretely
proven that the practitioner is communicating with supernatural
forces, they always seem to gain knowledge that they had desired to
seek. The human mind is powerful, but in many ways it is flawed.
Maybe, by employing magical methods, practitioners can reach far
beyond what we have told ourselves is possible.
Chapter 3: Incantations
The topic of Incantations is probably the broadest category that
I’ve attempted to define, as I’m including many different types of
magic under the term of “incantations.” In truth, the term
incantation refers to a specific magical practice of writing,
singing, or reciting certain words which, through supernatural
means, will give the practitioner powers
(Buckland 116). In this chapter, however, I aim
to explore numerous methods that can be used in a formulaic sense in
order to grant the practitioner various types of power. This
includes practices like creating binding spells, potions, and
enchanting items. To begin my research, I will be looking first into
practices like Vodún, ancient Egyptian magic, and Taoist Fu
incantations. Some sources I’m looking at are:
Another common thread in magic: the language, writing, and symbols
you use are crucial to the practice. It is often the specific words,
tone, writing, or symbols that connect our physical world with the
supernatural powers that the practitioner seeks. It can be an
incredibly hard topic to study and understand, as knowledge of these
symbols is sometimes considered so powerful that it is kept secret
from the general public (Drury 37). To begin my
study of magical symbology I will be researching the few types of
special symbols that I know of: the Hermetic Quabalah, Palo
Mayombe/Kongo Cosmology, and the Yijing. Some sources I’m looking at
are:
Tools can also be incredibly important to a magician’s practice. As
in many areas of life, without the proper tools it can be impossible
to get the job done. There is such a wide variety of different
objects and tools that were created for the sole purpose of
influencing the non-physical world, including different handheld
tools, different types of dress, specific altar configurations and
objects. To begin my exploration I’m looking at popular Wiccan tools
like cauldrons, wands, and knives because they’re the tools I’ve
seen most commonly parodied in pop culture. I also am going to
explore some tools used by Indigenous Peoples in Northern America
(specifically Canadian tribes) as those are also tools that I see
parodied often in pop culture, but with a much more negative effect
on the Indigenous Cultures they belong to. Some sources I’m looking
at are:
