Friday, July 9, 2010

Magic and a Latter-day Saint worldview.

Disclaimer: nothing in this post should be taken aspostulating that every member of the Church should practice magic or thatmagical practice and theory should be taught or promoted by the Church. Rather, it falls under the principle taughtin D&C 58:27.

Definition and Theory

Christian mage Dion Fortune defined magic as “the art andscience of causing change in consciousness in accordance with will.” This definition should be read along with theprinciple that ‘every energy is an entity and every entity is an energy.”

Magic depends on the life force; called ruach by theHebrews, Ki by the Japanese, ea by the Hawaiians, prana by the Hindus and TheForce by George Lucas in his Star Wars films. This “energy,” for lack of a better English term, is as much a part ofnature and reality as gravity and electromagnetism. Anyone can learn through simple methods tosense it. Magic works by influencing thelife force, which then affects the world.

Magic can only do things that nature can do; that is: itcannot, for example, cause rain to fall out of a clear blue sky. Rather the barometric pressure drops, thewind shifts, clouds roll in and rain starts to fall. What makes it magical is that it comes inresponse to the mage’s intent expressed through ritual or other techniques.

Magical Ethics

For me, the core of magical ethics is the principle taughtin Moroni 7:16-17 and the golden rule. In other words, if you are working magic to do good or if it brings youcloser to Christ, then it is ethical. Ifyour magic drives you away from Christ or if you are working magic on anotherthat you wouldn’t want done to you, it is not ethical.

The second stage of magical ethics is the practical “strawberryjam” rule; you can’t do anything magically without getting a little onyourself. This is because magic works byyour intent. If you create a pattern ofintentionality in the life force of doing harm, you define yourself as someonewho does harm and eventually even when you are trying not to do harm, thepatterns you have created lead you to do harm anyway. The converse is also true.

Unintentional Magic.

It is quite common that someone might work magic withoutrealizing that is what s/he is doing. For example, if you repeatedly tell yourself that you are positive,intelligent, competent, etc; sooner or later, you will be. I have also on occasion seen Christian bands(who would be horrified at the idea they were working magic) quite effectivelycreate a group mind, unifying theaudience in the act of worship.

1 comment:

  1. The "Ethics of Magic" was very well and succinctly written and I thank you. I have often been at odds with those would believe that "Magic can do anything" and that as long as they believe they are not doing harm it ok to do anything they want to.

    I can tell you that the strawberryjam postulate works and that a great many of these believers were caught up in their the vices of their own designs time and time again.

    I have a saying "Intent versus Impact" in that if you are not careful what you wish for comes to pass in its entirety. I always cautioned great restraint and patience for one small miss word and you get something far greater than was asked for....

    In so far as Christian or any other faith based belief system... I personally believe 'Magic Happens" and that Magic (and its use) is not tied to nor powered by faith. I feel that it exists regardless and anyone can access it easily.

    Mark

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