Real Natural Magic

In popular thinking, magic (whether spelled magic, magick, or magik) is an integral part of Witchcraft and Wicca. In some ways the popular view is correct, whereas in other ways the two topics are distinctly separate categories of human consideration. In this blog we hope 1. to show that magic is a misunderstood natural phenomenon*, and 2. to clear up the distinction between a) the broad popular view that includes using magic to harm and b) the narrower Wicca practice that is limited by our prime guideline: If it harm none, do what you will. The guideline is further limited by consideration of the Law of Attraction: What you send out will return to you. In considering a "miraculous" healing wherein for instance cancer simply disappears, today's medical practitioners call it spontaneous remission, whereas in ancient times it was attributed to magic. If we admit that the mind controls the body to a much greater extent than we've been allowed to realize, and if in addition we admit that telepathy is real, then the ideas both of spontaneous remission and of magic disappear like the phantoms they are. The "remission" was not spontaneous. It was caused by the body healing itself as it had been told to do 1. telepathically or 2. magically, when the mind was convinced that the healer had magical power. You might quibble that here Wiccans are in fact causing harm to a tumor or (in the more general healing case) to the organisms that are causing the disease. Yes, we admit that possibility, but we sacrifice whatever entity or thought prompted the medical condition on the basis of the greater good. What about magically gaining an objective? We know from astral-travel experiments that the future is not fixed. When we travel forward in time, the scene we observe or participate in gets more and more variable--more fragile--until our least thought alters the future. Example: If you sincerely desire a blood-red Subaru WRX, you can travel astrally into the future and place the WRX in your driveway. Since the future is the consensus of everyone's thoughts and thus can be influenced by a number of actors, you must keep returning frequently to the driveway, each time putting the WRX into your future. This means that you alter the consensus reality first in the far future, then in the not-so-far, and so on. You may have to do this for several months; but eventually the River of Time will bring the WRX into your present reality. Presto-- "magic"? or another natural occurrence? We recognize that every creature has certain powers. You can demonstrate this fact to yourself with the aid of something like a Crooks radiometer or, even more simply, by exercising your innate ability to affect the height of a flickering candle flame--but, in our opinion, using magic to perform parlor tricks or to bring gain to the practitioner at the expense of the underlying spirituality of Wicca is regrettable: disrespectful, ungrateful, deficient, hollow, a prostitution. In fact, the two activities (the spiritual and the "real"-world) are simply in different dimensions of reality. In the vertical dimension, you have the reaching-upward of the spirit. In the horizontal dimension, you have the "real"-world activity of attempts to influence future events. The two fields intersect only in the human mind. It is sensible to watch your semantics so you can accurately say what you mean. Further, doing magic does not imply subscribing to the spiritual path called Wicca, nor does subscribing to Wicca imply any necessity to do magic. People who have confused the two fields should indeed learn and understand their powers in use and practice, preferably when those powers are applied to healing. Further, such individuals should think carefully about the long-term effect of their activities in light of the Law of Attraction. The use of power for personal gain or for parlor tricks or to injure another living being is abhorrent to those of us who walk the Wiccan path. When embarking on any effort for selfish reasons, always keep in mind the Law of Attraction. Even in such simple things as control of weather, remember that the storm is going to hit somewhere. If you deliberately shift its path, whom else will your efforts affect? Our cherished friend the late Dame Sybil Leek spent her final years on the east coast of Florida. We were always amused by her re-directing of hurricanes away from her home; however, there seemed to be a bounce effect: they would bounce off her part of the coastline to turn back westward (that is, inland)and would re-appear, usually just north of her somewhere in Georgia or South Carolina, with devastating effect. It happened so many times that it was obviously beyond chance. Was she following the Wiccan Rede--If it harm none, do what you will? In our thinking the question remains open. So we beg of you to think of the possible consequences of any action you contemplate. We publish these ruminations to encourage the examination of assumptions toward the setting of a pride-worthy example in a cowan world. To explore further thinking on power and related topics (for example, healing), see our website www.wicca.org. Blessed be those who live mindfully. GY - - - - - - - - - * More on this topic very soon