manifestations and realistic components
yeah these aspects underlie a
theoretical framework which informs us
about the philosophy and belief system
of those who practice it
stay tuned my friends to find out the
philosophy of magic. There are
essentially three main theoretical
approaches to magic the first one is the
intellectualist approach based on the
works of Archer anthropologists EB Tylor
and James Frazer which deems magic to be
based on the error of mistaking an ideal
analogy for an analogy that occurs in
the tangible reality Tylor and Fraser
endorsed the evolutionist theory
according to which time moves towards
progress a general improvement in all
human conditions including knowledge
social structures and the overall
understanding of the world as well as
its mechanisms they therefore teamed
magic as a practice associated with an
earlier primitive development of the
human understanding of the world it is
important to highlight that when freezer
mentions magic he refers to ritual acts
based on the law of sympathy which means
that things can act on each other at a
distance
combined with the law contagion which
implies the things which have been in
contact retain a connection to what they
have been in contact with thus I can use
my supervisors glasses which have been
in contact with them to affect their
perception or view of my PhD thesis and
see it as brilliant instead of rubbish
in this example the glasses were in
contact with the person I wanted to
effect as well as the part of the body
primarily involved for the intended
purpose this is the law
contagion associated with that of
sympathy or similarity magic is here
based on hidden analogies and
correspondences which connect all things
manifested and whose knowledge will
allow the magician to interact and
recreate the reality in this view magic
is contrasted with the unhidden plain
measurable causal mechanisms of science
these are also called concepts in
aromatic philosophy which we deserve a
video on its own and is rooted in neo
platonic philosophy
the second is the functionalist theory
and focuses more on ritual practice it's
based on theories of the French
sociologist Marcel Mauss and the milder
time to understand magic they don't
contrast it with science as it happens
in the intellectualist approach but
rather with religion while religion is a
belief system practiced by a number of
individuals a group a church magic is
more of a private practice more
individual base than group oriented even
when magic is practiced in a carbene it
still retains a more private nature
where only a selected few are allowed
this was of course theorized before the
spreading of Wicca and contemporary
pagan witchcraft which might challenge
such a dichotomy as I would imagine the
third theoretical approach is causality
versus participation and it's based on
the works of French philosopher lucien
live abroad this is another case of
understanding magic in contrast with
science while science is in fact
grounded in instrumental causality that
is the idea that measurable phenomena
will be in a relation of cause and
effect the occult sciences endorse what
has been referred to as reification of
symbols and analogies ray fi means to
make it into a thing and this is what
happens here with magic the word is
seen as permeated by non-causal
correspondences where the magic
practitioner is not a mere observer or a
measurer but a participatory actor and
interactor I find it interesting to
notice how the theoretical approaches to
magic are always trying to grasp magic
in contrast with either religion or
science I believe the reason as to why
this occurs is due to magic being
somewhat at the fringe of both religion
and science it's not quite a religion
but presents religious elements and it's
not quite a science but encompasses some
of its methods so with different
premises and applications so can we
attempt together to lay out the concepts
and beliefs on which magic is grounded
based on the aforementioned as well as
on my own field research among pagans
shamans and which practitioners I can
infer the main philosophical elements
underpinning the belief system of
someone who practices magic the first
being correspondences things are
connected by invisible sighs the belief
that everything is interconnected
through occult forces hidden ties and
the magician is the one who is able to
unravel them interact and play with
these invisible connections to get very
visible results such a connection is
created through the use of symbols and
analogies by learning the secret
correspondences between the macrocosm
and microcosm between the human and the
over and above human world since every
little thing is tied to another the
magician has to learn which is connected
to which in order to manipulate the
fabric of reality second physical
contact equals lingering connection
things which have been in contact for a
significant amount of time maintain a
lingering connection to each other thus
even after
the two are separated they can still
influence each other
correspondences between things intensify
after physical contact tree-like
attracts the like there is a sympathy
between things and actions which
resemble each other since the walnut
resembles a brain it could be used for a
magic spell to improve one's focus for
example this applies to single objects
as well as to dynamic actions the
mimesis
or enactment or what the magician wants
to manifest in their life is believed to
attract that very event tree in
magnetism the word in which the magician
lives is populated by spirits deities
demons and so on
with whom the magician can interact
establish relationships and get help in
some cases there is an animistic view
where everything is believed to be
sentient and alive whereas in other
instances only if you are sentient but
every element of reality is still in a
state of interaction whether it be
active or passive this is connected to
the reinterment of nature or reinterment
of the world which has become a buzzword
in academic literature and that I also
mentioned in my videos on the New Age
movement and on paganism I find it to be
quite poetic and well suited to the
concept 5 multiple realms of reality and
the possibility to travel through them
there is not just one realm of reality
that the magician can experience but
multiple ones whether it be the astral
plane or the non ordinary reality the
wider picture the magician has of the
world is made of multiple layers four
realms and journey through them will
cause the magician to encounter spirits
of various nature and gain power and
knowledge sixth and last one are called
experiential knowledge knowledge in the
world of a magician a magic practitioner
is based on experience the one the
magician gains as well as the experience
is shared by other practitioners or
elders depending on the tradition this
may or may not occur as part of an
initiation process there is also some
kind of inductive methodology employed
in magic a set of experiments so to
speak trials and errors which lead the
magician to progressively learn what
works best and what doesn't this is one
of the reasons why magic practitioners
often note down their workings on a
journal or a diary often referred to as
a grimoire or a Book of Shadows and
finally knowledge is believed to go
beyond the realm of the five senses as
well as the limits of rationality and
hence we may say that it is in fact
occult
