Magic: The Bridge Between Religion & Science

The theory of Magic is intersectional with the cross-cultural pursuit of enlightenment, knowledge, and for some, power.

Magic is heavily theorized in the topic of religion and was a crucial element in theorizing early anthropology.

When we learn about Magic, we learn about ourselves— the human race and how we are a lot more alike than different. The religions we have clung to for guidance, hope, or cultural structure have so many similarities when politics, greed, and vanity are removed.

History of Magic

The English word Magic comes from the Latin word magus, which stems from Greek and then originally Old Persian word maguš. Maguš comes from the Proto-Indo-European magh, which means "be able".

Scholars argue how to define Magic for as long as the word has existed, much like the word religion. The meaning of the word differentiates across periods and cultures. Magic and witchcraft were labeled "bad" as the result of religious and political agendas.

Historically, the word described what was not socially or culturally acceptable. Karen Louise Jolly, a historian, describes Magic as "a category of exclusion, used to define an unacceptable way of thinking as either the opposite of religion or of science."

The label herded societies into beliefs that were deemed appropriate and less threatening to the current power structure. Often it was used as a label to justify persecuting the lower class, women, or cultures considered less civilized by colonizing parties. In short, the negative stigma associated with the occult justified Euro-Christian colonialism. The word occult means “hidden knowledge” which had to remain mysterious for the sake of survival from religious persecution.

In contrast, many believe Magic bridges religion and science, nature and miracles, and the outside environment and inside the mind. Paganism and the New Age phenomena use these subjects to describe spiritual enlightenment.

Witchcraft or magic practitioners have a long history of being used since ancient times. From Mesopotamia, Indigenous tribes, Egypt, and throughout Europe, people have contributed to the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment through magic and witchcraft, whether labeled such or not, for thousands of years.

Modern-day witchcraft is also intersectional with Eastern religious beliefs. They have similar ideologies to Eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism concerning the pursuit of knowledge, self-development, and spiritual growth.

The history of Magic and witchcraft being labels used to oppress, colonize, and persecute women is why modern-day occultists and witches are reclaiming the words. By embracing these words, we are challenging the negative associations and revoking the persecution of the marginalized societies outside of the Western, Christian-centric ideologies, that frequently impose their belief systems with no solicitation and nonconsensual force.

Witchcraft, Magic, and energy work have very much become the practice of the persecuted and have deep ties to social justice, such as racial and feminine liberation.

Historical Occultists

Aleister Crowley: "Born as Edward Alexander Crowley; October 12, 1875 – December 1, 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the prophet entrusted with guiding humanity into the Æon of Horus in the early 20th century. A prolific writer, he published widely over the course of his life."

Dion Fortune: "(born Violet Mary Firth, December 6, 1890 – January 6, 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, novelist, and author. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organization that promoted philosophies that she claimed had been taught to her by spiritual entities known as the Ascended Masters. A prolific writer, she produced a large number of articles and books on her occult ideas and also authored seven novels, several of which expound occult themes."

Gerald Gardner: "(1884–1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, as well as an author and an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the Contemporary Pagan religion of Wicca to public attention, writing some of its definitive religious texts, and founding the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca."

Anton LaVey: "(born Howard Stanton Levey; April 11, 1930 – October 29, 1997) was an American author, musician, and occultist.[4] He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of LaVeyan Satanism."

Various Definitions of Magic

"Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will" - Aleister Crowley

"Magic is the art of changing consciousness according to Will" -Dion Fortune

[Magic is] "attempting to cause the physically unusual" - Gerald Gardner

[Magic is] "the change in situations or events in accordance with one's will, which would, using normally accepted methods, be unchangeable." - Anton LaVey

Categories of Magic

1. High Magic (Ceremonial Magic): Magic where the practitioner uses specific rituals and invocations to call upon the spirit world. Ceremonial Magic is a blend of older occult teachings such as Thelema, Enochian Magic, Kabbalah, and other various occult philosophies.

2. Low Magic (Folk-magic): Folk-magic is the Magic of the common folk historically. Low Magic tends to be more practical for purposes such as "healing, attracting luck or love, driving away evil forces, finding lost items, bringing good harvests, fertility." Folk magic uses items easily accessible to the lower class; the association is another reason it can be called low Magic. The documentation of Folk magic throughout history is nearly nonexistent due to the lower class’s illiteracy. This is not to say that modern practice is less powerful or useful, but more accessible.

3. Witchcraft: Historically, the word differentiates between revered folk magicians from their evil counterpart, the witch. Today, western magical practitioners claim the term regardless of intent and practice both ceremonial and folk magic.

4. Left vs. Right-handed Magic: Left-hand magic is limited by social norms and warns of the consequences of using Magic for harm. Right-handed Magic ignores taboos and what is socially acceptable and gains power from breaking them. Both these terms should replace the terms "black" or "white" Magic that has racist origins.

Helpful Definitions

Occult: matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them; hidden knowledge

Paganism: a religion other than one of the main world religions, specifically a non-Christian or pre-Christian religion

Metaphysical: of or relating to the transcendent or to a reality beyond what is perceptible to the senses; highly abstract

Supernatural: of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe

Transcendent: exceeding usual limits; extending or lying beyond the limits of ordinary experience; being beyond the limits of all possible experience and knowledge

Magic: an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source

Magick: word preferred by Alester Crowley to differentiate occult magick from illusions and mainstream entertainment magic such as card tricks

Sorcery: the use of power gained from the assistance or control of evil spirits especially for divining

Witchcraft: the use of sorcery or Magic

Divination: the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers; intuitive perception

Geomancy: divination by means of figures or lines or geographic features

Hydromancy: divination by the appearance or motion of liquids (such as water)

Aeromancy: divination from the state of the air or from atmospheric substances

Pyromancy: divination by means of fire or flames

Alchemy: a medieval chemical science and speculative philosophy aiming to achieve the transmutation of the base metals into gold, the discovery of a universal cure for a disease, and the discovery of a means of indefinitely prolonging life; an inexplicable or mysterious transmuting; forefather to chemistry (alchemy is not revered in the scientific community)

Astrology: the divination of the supposed influences of the stars and planets on human affairs and terrestrial events by their positions and aspects (led to astronomy similar to alchemy and chemistry)

Enchantment: the act or art of enchanting; a magic spell [that holds influence over other's actions]

Chaos magic: An approach to Magic which encourages practitioners to innovate and borrow methods and practices depending on what is most suitable at any one time, rather than to adhere to a rigid system (such as Wicca)

Sex magic: Sex magic (sometimes spelled sex magick) is any type of sexual activity used in magical, ritualistic, or otherwise religious and spiritual pursuits. One practice of sex magic is using the energy of sexual arousal or orgasm with visualization of the desired result.

Vodou (voodoo): a religion that is derived from African polytheism and ancestor worship and is practiced chiefly in Haiti

Maji: voodoo used for harm

Hoodoo: a body of practices of sympathetic Magic tradition, especially among African Americans in the southern U.S.

Santería: Afro-America religion practiced originally in Cuba in which Yoruba deities are identified with Roman Catholic saints; it arose through a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa and the Roman Catholic form of Christianity. (Wikipedia)

Brujeria: Meaning "witchcraft" in Spanish, brujería describes or disparages occult religious practices in some Latin American and Afro-Caribbean cultures with indigenous roots. (dictionary.com)

Reiki: Japanese system of touching with the hands based on the belief that such touching by an experienced practitioner produces beneficial effects by strengthening and normalizing specific vital energy fields held to exist within the body; rei spirit, soul + ki vital force, mind

Witch: "wise person"; one that possesses malignant supernatural powers (historical definition)

Bruja: Spanish name for a witch; one who practices Brujeria

Strega: Italian word for witch or woman who is supposed to have powers of Magic, usually through working with the devil. (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/ )

Bruxa: Portugal. A female vampire, the Bruxa, is normally transformed into a vampiric form by witchcraft. She leaves her home at night in the form of a bird, and her most frequent activity is tormenting weary, lost travelers. She is said to appear as a beautiful maiden and leads a normal human life by day, bearing children, which in general become her regular form of food.

Cunning folk: Cunning folk, also known as folk healers, are practitioners of folk medicine, folk magic, and divination within the context of various traditions of folklore in Christian Europe (from at least the 15th up until at least the early 20th century). (Wikipedia)

Magician: one skilled in magic

Scorcer(er/ess): a person who practices sorcery

Light-worker: A person driven and motivated to do work which makes the world a better place, improve peoples' lives, and elevates people to a higher level of consciousness.

Shaman: a priest or priestess who uses Magic to cure the sick, divining the hidden, and controlling events

Spirit Guides: In Western spiritualism, it is an entity that remains as a disincarnate spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living incarnated human being.

Animism: the belief in a supernatural power that organizes and animates the material universe and the attribution of a living soul to plants, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena.

Sources & Recommended Reading

Bailey, Michael D. (2006). "The Meanings of Magic". Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft. 1 (1). pp. 1–23. doi:10.1353/mrw.0.0052.

Bailey, Michael D. (2018). Magic: The Basics. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-138-80961-1.

Bremmer, Jan N. (2002). "The Birth of the Term Magic". In Jan N. Bremmer; Jan R. Veenstra (eds.). The Metamorphosis of Magic from Late Antiquity to the Early Modern Period. Leuven: Peeters. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9789042912274.

Bogdan, Henrik (2012). "Introduction: Modern Western Magic". Aries. 12 (1). pp. 1–16. doi:10.1163/147783512X614812.

Cunningham, Graham (1999). Religion and Magic: Approaches and Theories. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748610136.

Davies, Owen (2012). Magic: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199588022.

Flint, Valerie I. J. (1991). The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691031651.

Freud, Sigmund; Strachey, James (1950). Totem and Taboo: Some Points of Agreement Between the Mental Lives of Savages and Neurotics (Repint ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 978-0393001433.

Gordon, Richard (1999). "Imagining Greek and Roman Magic". In Bengt Ankarloo; Stuart Clark (eds.). The Athlone History of Witchcraft and Magic in Europe. 2: Ancient Greece and Rome. London: Athlone Press. pp. 159–275. ISBN 978-0485890020.

Graham, Elizabeth (2018). "Do You Believe in Magic?". Material Religion: The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief. 14 (2). pp. 255–257. doi:10.1080/17432200.2018.1443843.

Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006). "Magic I: Introduction". In Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Brill. pp. 716–719. ISBN 9789004152311.

Hanegraaff, Wouter J. (2006b). "Magic V: 18th-20th Century". In Wouter J. Hanegraaff (ed.). Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism. Brill. pp. 738–744. ISBN 978-9004152311.

Hanegraaff, Wouter (2012). Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521196215.

Hutton, Ronald (2003). Witches, Druids and King Arthur. London and New York: Hambledon and London. ISBN 9781852853976.

Jolly, Karen Louise (1996). Popular Religion in Late Saxon England: Elf Charms in Context. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 978-0807845653.

Kieckhefer, Richard (2000). Magic in the Middle Ages (second ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521785761.

Mair, Victor H. (2015). "Old Sinitic *Mᵞag, Old Persian Maguš, and English "Magician"". Early China. 15: 27–47. doi:10.1017/S0362502800004995. ISSN 0362-5028.

Mauss, Marcel; Bain, Robert; Pocock, D. F. (2007). A General Theory of Magic (Reprint ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415253963.

Otto, Berndt-Christian; Stausberg, Michael (2013). Defining Magic: A Reader. Durham: Equinox. ISBN 9781908049803.

Styers, Randall (2004). Making Magic: Religion, Magic, and Science in the Modern World. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195169416.

Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja (1991). Magic, Science, Religion, and the Scope of Rationality (Reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521376310.

Sasson, Jack M. (1995). Civilizations of the ancient Near East. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-684-19722-7.