10. Magic

Magic - creative intentionality - can guide action and inspire change.

Magic, or creative intentionality, is both present and possible in everyday life. Nature has knowledge of what is needed for its growth and flourishing, and directs all its energy towards the fulfilment of these goals. The salmon and the sea turtle swim rivers and oceans to spawn at their birthplaces; the bee travels miles to collect pollen to make honey for the hive; a climbing vine stretches its tendrils to the highest point it can reach, no matter where its roots rest. Although these beings are our kindred, many humans have forgotten much of the natural power we have to make magic happen.

Human magic, though, works a little differently. The human capacities for reflective thought, language, and intentional action differentiate us slightly from other Earthlings (although there are some, like elephants and dolphins, with whom we likely share more of a reflective nature than previously believed). As such, human magic requires that we put the distinctive capacities of our species – for thought, word, and action – to use. To make magic happen, these three must be in alignment.

We begin with thoughts. To know what you think you must learn to hear your inner voice. We have a constant internal narrative that is assessing and surmising and judging our everyday interactions with the world. The purpose of meditation and a full (more than asana) yoga practice is to be able to still this chatter, what yogis term the ‘monkey mind’. But before we still it, we must first learn to observe it; listening to it and hearing what it has to say.

When you first start truly listening to your thoughts you may be surprised by their contents, and in particular how harsh they are, to ourselves and others. The inner critic is one of the most prominent characters featured in our mental dramas. It is a perfectionist, so it spends a lot of time speaking on what it finds wrong with what it sees. It makes observations of others as well as of self and it deems most things it encounters not good enough. This is the place where most of us begin, and from which we are charged with making magic happen. The negativity coming from the inner critic is actually a magical force in itself – a world creator – although it is not the kind of magic that a mystic would wish to embody. It generates energies that distort reality, and leave our beings uneasy and out of tune.

As such, we must transform the voices inside ourselves, especially the inner critic, into a supportive chorus that does not distort but harmonises, pushing us ever closer towards the good intentions that we set for ourselves, our lives, and our worlds. We do this by giving language to the futures we wish to create, articulating our deepest intentions in words. Witches knew, and the post-modernists reminded us, that by offering us concepts, possibilities, ways to organise facts and identify relationships between all of these, language is a world shaper.

In science, work is defined as the energy - application of force - required to move or transform an object. In spiritual practice, magic works by using energy and symbolism to transform reality. Words are magical symbols that have the effect of making visible a desired inner world – their evocation is a bridge between imagination and reality. Magical words, such as mantras, poems, songs and spells, guide us and inspire action, which - in combination with myriad other forces - can change us, and the world.

Further Reading

· Starhawk (1999) The Spiral Dance.

· Butler, J. (1988). Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, 40(4), 519–531.