This is not to say that we understand magic, in the sense that physicists understand why subatomic particles do whatever it is that they do. Or perhaps they don’t understand that yet, I can never remember. In any case, we do not and cannot understand what magic is, or where it comes from, any more than a carpenter understands why a tree grows. He doesn’t have to. He works with what he has.
Lev Grossman - The Magicians
Magic is magical. Trite, I know. It's a word that has been used so much that it has lost almost all meaning. So much so, in fact, that many people write it Magick (myself included sometimes) in a vain attempt to give it back a little of the meaning it has lost.
It's funny that a word that symbolizes the very essence of unknowable power, unending mystery, and unresistable force could become so... mundane. Maybe it's very nature encourages people to try and make it as normalized as possible, simply so our pea-sized brains can avoid a permanent and overwhelming paralyzation.
I think the world is full of people who want to avoid at all costs what goes bump in the night, and a few of us (crazies) who desperately seek that bump out. It's the ultimate passive-aggressive revenge to take the unknown, the mystical, the magical or any other form of supernatural and drain it of it's essence by these people who dare not speak it's name.
Well, I'm taking Magic back. No, i'm not going to resort to whimsical t-shirts and bumper stickers. I am taking it back by making it real in my own life. I am doing my daily practice, I am seeking out teachers and students, I am collaborating with many fine practitioners (yoo hoo book club! *waves) and I am making it a reality. And I am making it real because I am writing it here. It's easy to tell yourself that you will do something or that you will make a commitment or take a stand, but when you write it down it becomes real. That is Magic.
As Ramses II said in the Golden Age of Hollywood, "So Let It Be Written, So Let It Be Done."
It is an interesting point that you can talk about magic in many contexts in general society and people just assume you are talking about a game or movie or something and don't freak out. There are many words that are much more taboo now. I also have always found it amusing that some things that I do as part of my magical practice are also done by people in the business or sports world and as long as you don't call it magic, people think it's fine. Words are tricky like that
ReplyDeleteis the word you are looking for Magic or is it ritual?
DeleteI had a Fabulous Quote from Hakim Bey about the meanings of Words, and if I find it later, i swear to the Gods its going up here, but in the mean time, you can have a couple of other quotes about words that are special to me.
ReplyDelete"It is a magic book. Words mean things. When you put them together they speak. Yes, sometimes they flatten out and nothing they say is real, and that is one kind of magic. But sometimes a vision will rip up from them and shriek and clank wings clear as the sweat smudge on the paper under your thumb. And that is another kind.”Samuel Delaney "Equinox"
"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - - that's all."
(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 6)Lewis Carroll
“You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means” Inigo Montoya
In any case, all people in a given conversation have to agree what certain words mean, or we are talking at cross purposes. Sometimes I do that on purpose. Obfuscation is the greatest power to fight against mundanity. We are in our own little sub culture here, and we all more or less agree on what magick means. Sometimes, when I am talking to no sub-culture people, I will drop it in anyway, in kind of a flirty playful way, and let them think it means whatever. I suppose a good bit of them just consider me playful, or deranged, one of those. I don't stop for a good fight or a good explantion, as then we would be at cross purposes on purpose, a confrontation. If magick REALLY means what I think it means( which it does, the most powerful thing you can have is a strong world view) then I have just Bitch Slapped their worldview (It needed Bitch-slapping, but that is neither here nor there) Then I have declared game on, and they must DO SOmething, or take a blow to their World view. I think this is sometimes where the violence against magick practitioners Really comes from. Good Points Jaron, and you make my Brain Tingle!!
Many ancient cultures believed that words literally held power. As a gift from the gods, language was sacred and therefore should be used with caution. For example, I recall at least one culture where people used several names. Only your very close friends/family would know your personal name because by saying your true name they gained (real) power over you. That is another reason why religious rituals were often kept secret. We may have lost this belief in the power of words from our modern viewpoint, but the effect is still there. When we overuse words, like you note, those words no longer hold their power. And as Doc notes, we can use this concept to go the other way too - we can purposefully choose to overuse words to reduce their hold over us.
ReplyDelete