Magic

Magic is a set of methods for arranging awareness according to patterns; it is not a truth or a religion. Nor is it even a philosophy, in the strict sense of the word, although there are echoes of profound philosophy in most magical traditions. It is basically an artistic science in which the practitioner controls and develops imagination to cause changes in the outer world. The serious application of magical methods leads to transformation and it is the transformation which is of value and not the methods themselves. All magic derives from controlled work with the imagination. Magic does not work because its propositions are essentially real or true; it works because practitioners become imaginatively involved in these propositions. Thus for controlled periods of time under non-habitual circumstances, they behave as if they were true. It is not a question of becoming habituated to falsehood but rather of the magician growing through the patterns, whether true or not, and emerging beyond them into a clarity of awareness that was not possible before the experience of transition and transformation.

Bronislaw Malinowski described magic as having three functions: to produce (something which did not exist then exists); to protect (something that exists continues to exist); and to destroy (something which exists ceases to exist). It also has three elements: spells or incantations; the rites or procedures for carrying them out; and (importantly) the state of consciousness of the magician –  who has to undergo a process of purification possibly involving meditation or drugs, fasting or sleep deprivation, visual or audible symbols. In early magical training there is an extended period of confusion in which personal weaknesses and problems (especially self-inflation), become highly amplified before they are destroyed and the energies in question are absorbed into a balanced inner pattern.

From the perspective of a magician, the propensity of people for engaging daily in activities which they know are fruitless or harmful, sustained by a pattern of values and habits, achieves its apparent coherence through a form of fantasy-sharing that holds the illusion together collectively and individually. This same propensity is used by magic to motivate inner transformation rather than outer identifications. When the awareness of values changes (in contrast to changes of values) the externally perceived world may be transformed by magical means. This possibility is facilitated when the symbols used are those of the culture with which the practitioners are familiar. Once the perception of the external world can be transformed by such means, magic then enables changes within the individual through which further methods applicable to the transformed consciousness may be inwardly apprehended. Magic thus attempts to relate human consciousness to divine consciousness through patterns inherent in each. This is otherwise known as the Great Work.

A major premise of magic is that access may be obtained to many worlds or worldviews. The transformations which occur within the magician enable access to such inner worlds of consciousness in ways which transcend the limitations of purely intellectual endeavour or the inspirations of folklore. Images are deliberately evoked and cultivated as part of this process. Initially magic alters the focus or area of attention, drawing the vital; energies together with the discipline of a tradition and its restricting vessel or matrix. In a second stage the energies are redirected and gradually amplified through attuning to richer, more complex and more encompassing patterns. These integrative patterns have a resonant effect on the psyche. They may take the form of simple symbols, or may be imaginatively recreated as complex scenes, beings or other patterns. As such they may be used to focus and direct a wide spectrum of personal and group energies on many levels of awareness. In a third stage, the awareness having been attuned to various patterns normally inaccessible to everyday consciousness, begins to operate in other worlds or dimensions through the effect of the magical patterns and key symbols. Finally the practitioner is projected into the alternative worlds of experience, often with considerable energy.

The increasing ability to change worldviews follows from a reassembly and redirection of the practitioner's energies. Such changes enable the practitioner to gain a more accurate understanding of the shared world. The value of such transitions to other world realities is that they contribute to the overall liberation from the particular illusion of the coagulated consensual worldview. They also ensure fruitful exchanges between such distinct realities and the entities that inhabit them. The intent is therefore not to escape this world but rather to transform it. The transformation begins within new directions of awareness sought in early training. It finally permeates the practitioner through to the physical body. Whereas religions seeks to save the world, the magical disciplines affirm a particularly subtle aspect of this insight, namely the possibility of transforming all worlds.

There are five fundamental magical arts: concentration, meditation, visualization, ritual pattern making, mediation. Although each of these disciplines of consciousness may be developed separately from the others, they are in fact harmoniously interwoven in any well balanced magical work. These all lead consciousness to change its direction, moving inwards rather than fixating outwards as it does in daily habitual life. Through the practice of these arts during magical development, the individual progressively learns to balance the reality-worlds within individual consciousness through ritual and planned activity by which life becomes attuned and rhythmic rather than random and chaotic. At the same time the individual endeavours to energize the imaginative constructs and the contacts established through transformative rituals and powerful mediation. The spiritual power of the practitioner is directed outwards towards material ends, flowing through the psychic body complex, transforming the awareness of the practitioner before it reaches any other defined goal. These two processes may be integrated in one harmonious living pattern, a magical life of enlightenment, in which the practitioner seeks a continual interaction between the individual and the worlds occupied by his awareness.

Some sources distinguish between high magic, a form of magic in which the magician depends only on psychic power without recourse to external aids or rites, and low magic, when various external aids – talismans, ritual chants or movements – are used by the magician to stimulate his psychic energy and enable him to perform magic feats.

The term magic is frequently abused and separated from a spiritual foundation. In any historical period, as with religion, magical arts are taken up in fashionable and often bizarre forms, by various groups and movements as continues to occur at this time. The enduring magical tradition is derived from perennial philosophy, sustained by myth, legend, visionary cosmology and poetic insight. In some cultures many perverted forms of magic continue to be practised for ignorant or selfish ends. Trivial, resource-consuming, or ultimately sinister practices are degraded forms of the enduring tradition that can lead to dangerous forms of imbalance.

Magic is frequently associated with the occult as the preoccupation of secret cults in pursuit of secret powers in order to manipulate others. As with other disciplines, it can attract self-centred individuals of extremely dubious motivation. Through their efforts to draw attention to themselves, wider understanding of magic as a discipline is distorted. The potent powers to which magic offers access are the common energies and properties of humankind and are not the monopoly of any conspiracies that may endeavour to exploit them.

Magic has frequently been considered evil, especially by organized religion and as a result of the actions of those who exploit the gullible. As a neutral set of artistic and scientific techniques for controlling the imagination, magic (as with any set of methods), may indeed be employed by those who are imbalanced to enhance their own image of themselves. Evil may then be considered as associated with that imbalance, but not with the principles, however they are abused. Many modern religions, especially Christianity, make use of magical practices identical in principle to those of the pagan religions they displaced. Such religions also exhibit special concern at the evocation of gods and goddesses as being a completely regressive spiritual tendency. However this reservation should now be seen in the light of the insights of archetypal psychology in which the imaginative value of such symbols for the psyche is recognized as one way of facilitating individuation. Just as some religions make specific use of icons and other images as an aid to prayer, magical traditions use specific images of deities to gain specific results with the imagination and its effects upon the outer world.

Magic relies very strongly on tradition, namely on the collective stream of information, methods and ethics, none of which are fully written down even in literate cultures. Modern magical arts are a clarification or restating of ancient enduring traditions. By comparison the magical practices of the nineteenth century were replete with mystification, ignorance and quasi-religious posturing reflecting the intellectual ambience of the times.

Because its means are mysterious, magic whether "black" or "white" evokes feelings of fear and insecurity – it threatens confidence in the three-dimensional, rational view of things, making it in some way inadequate. The widespread belief in astrology, superstition and symbolic representation has been used as evidence that magic is intrinsic to humanity. The very violence and intensity of witch hunts and resistance to the occult may be used as evidence for the validity of magical and occult practices, despite the fact that rationalists and sociologists have chosen to ignore folk beliefs in magic and concentrated on religion.

In fact it has been argued that the emergence of individual awareness and personal ego commenced in primitive societies by magical, symbolic means. The dasein (being-there-ness) must be defended against loss, just as the physical body has to be defended against sickness and death. Otherwise the individual is totally overwhelmed by the environment and ceases to be able to support him or herself (fascinans). This defence is symbolically enacted for a whole group by a shaman who first allows himself to be possessed by a spirit and then fights off the spirit, regaining his "self-possession" and, in doing so, that of the group.

With the rise of religious and moral structures, the individual self has a stronger backing and the need for such defence lessens. Nevertheless, the self can feel threatened when an individual knows he has gone against moral authority. It has been postulated that the feeling of guilt produced when refusing to assist a dependent and destitute relative, exacerbated by that relative cursing one's hard-heartedness, could produce "magical" illness in the same way as spirit possession, such illness only being exorcised by punishing the cause of the guilt – in this case, the unfortunate dependent or witch.

Magic may be viewed as expressive symbolism, cathartic in relieving anxiety; and magic rituals, spells and incantations may act as symbolic representation of cherished values and beliefs. In societies where magic is a part of social organization the magician plays a role including religious and medical specialist. Where religion and science fail to solve pressing problems then magic may act as a substitute adjustment, a means of dealing with issues beyond the capacity of scientific and technical knowledge. It may also be used to motivate the individual away from antisocial behaviour, whether to avoid being accused of the practice of magic or to avoid its being practised against one.

Common to most religions, but particularly clearly defined in Islam, is the concept of the True God, worshipped by true believers whose perception is broadened and deepened by revelation; and the untrue or illusory vision of the supernatural portrayed by magicians through "sihr" or "glamour", when the true nature or form of something is transformed to the unreal or mere appearance. Knowledge of such magic is said to be divisive, producing duality, and to harm those who possess it, so that they forfeit their place in the next world.