I’ve been thinking a lot about how the mystical, occult, eldritch, witchy, druidic, priestessy/goddessy, magical and strange have never really been accepted in the US.
I mean, first of all, way too many people in the US have come from overly puritanical and fear-mongering religious backgrounds, so anything outside that narrow and rigid band of experience seems really terrifying. Certainly not all, but way too many. And most genuine Christians who actually try to emulate the way Christ behaved would agree with me on that.
But also, or possibly as a result of that, Magic(k) in all its permutations has always been … something Othered. Nobody normal has power. Nobody average can do that stuff they do in the movies.
Well, right! Nobody with 50 years of experience and a masters degree in magic can do the stuff they do in the movies! They don’t have the special effects budget, for one thing.
But look at media, books, movies, tv and web series, and think for a minute. How often do you see ordinary people, Joe and Jane Average, doing actual magic? It’s usually, not absolutely always, but usually someone who inherited power from an ancestor, or someone who had power imposed on them from some outside source. Or it’s vampires, werewolves, gods, demigods, demons, angels, ghosts, spirits of this or that, or Chosen Ones of some kind. The power has come from something outside themselves. They’re not just sitting around the house, thinking, “Gosh, I am really fascinated by magic and mystery and I want to know more, and learn how to use my mind in new ways.” They’re not walking down the street one day thinking, “I love the planet so much that I want to become so deeply harmonized and in sync with it that every step I take feels like I am walking on holy ground.” And if there is a character like that, they almost always end up consulting and becoming a side-kick of someone who has inherited the power from an ancestor or something.
Because, let’s face it: Someone sitting in a quiet room alone, with closed doors and drawn curtains, meditating and keeping completely still while they insert new code into the Fabric of the Universe, does not make good television. Borrrr-ing. Sure, sometimes we make an altar, light some candles, burn some incense, say a few words, vocalize a few syllables, tone a few frequencies, whatever – but once that is done, it’s mostly all happening in the head. It’s all Headology, as Granny Weatherwax* would say.
Oh, sure, there are those who like big dramatic rituals with elaborate set-ups and flashy trappings, stuff drawn on the floor, fancy goblets and ceremonial knives and similar. I can’t be having with all that. Witches have always lived on the edges of things, so they have learned to use whatever was to hand. A good sharp kitchen knife works just as well as a specially consecrated white handled knife with a handle inset with stones and engraving all along the blade. If you could be burned at the stake for possessing the tools of witchcraft, you learn to make do with whatever happened to be convincingly domestic and harmless.
Someone, might actually have been me, once said, “If you can’t do a spell in your head with no tools and no altar, nothing but your intention and your knowledge and your skill, what the hell kind of a witch are you?”
Sure it’s fun to have fancy stuff. I love shiny things. But I don’t require them, because my fore-parents in the Wyrd had to make do with a bit of string, a butcher knife, and some rocks that got dug out of the garden. I come from hard people, farm people, living close to the land and close to the edges, hungry and sharp.
But, to return to the above point, there are no special effects in Headology. No whizzing glitter tornado rising out of the candle flame, no white ring of power rippling out from around the body as the spell is chanted (with Gravitas, don’t forget the Gravitas!), none of that. Just a simple change in the feel of things that I can feel with my mind and my energetic body, and maybe my hair stands up a little bit on my head, but other than that, zero boffo. I know the change has been made, and that’s enough.
And I know it works. Jesus does it ever work. I solemnly swear that I was not born into a family of witches or wizards or demigods or whatever. I chose this way, for reasons of my own, with no bloodline or bestowing of power in any way. Power? I don’t even think power is a thing. I think focus and intention are things. I think making a decision and taking action are things. I think harnessing the energy of creativity available to every sentient being in the Universe through their Imaginal Faculties is the main thing. We all have this ability, but nobody tells you that, so most people go through life thinking they’re not special enough to do magic. Special? Get outa town – because witches were frequently pushed out of town, to live on the edges, in the woods, beyond the bridge, where they couldn’t do any damage. They were so special we had to burn them at the stake.
Wake up and smell the eye of newt. Anybody who has an imagination can do magic. Period. If you have ever decided to get up from the chair, walk across a room, and turn on a light, you have used your imagination. You imagined that it would be a good thing to have a light on, and you made it happen. Not with your mind, but by taking action. That, friends, is using your imagination to make the world a more pleasant place. All magic is, is using that ability with bigger intentions.
No, it’s not good television, but that’s because most people have under-developed imaginations. Reality is way more interesting than television if you use the abilities you were born with. Stick around. We’re doing more of this.
*For those unfamiliar with one of Terry Pratchett’s most beloved and enduring creations, get a copy of Wyrd Sisters and read it right now.