What can Magic do for you?
There is so much on the internet these days about defining Paganism, how to understand it and practice it. There seems to be an equal amount of clutter about the practice of magic. Sites that provide information about which spells are successful and for what means. So few people seem to really trust themselves enough to make those decisions on their own.
I keep a garden at home. As I was walking through it earlier today, I reflected on how, over time, I began to figure out the purposes of specific plants and herbs. Similarly with practice and time, I also figured out what magic really meant to me, how I was meant to practice it, and its place in my spirituality. Separately I still fiddle with mechanics in theory. Other times it dawns on me that researching ancient perspectives on magic help me to achieve a greater understanding of how it might have been applied. Its symbols are equally important, because it reveals psychological insight into ancient civilizations.
But let’s not stop there. That kind of research leads me to identify with more ancient than modern perspectives and has led me to look for more information on folk practices or natural magic. It also leads me to ask questions about the kind of understanding ancient peoples had regarding some of the hot occult topics of today (psychism, astral travel, past life memories), and the relationship they had with the divine, with the land, and with the otherworlds (upper, lower and otherwise).
Paleo-shamanism shows us that ancient peoples had a relationship with the land, and an understanding of some concepts we have difficulty with in our own modern world. As did paleo-paganism. And although most ancient pagan mythologies suggest a limited scope for the otherworlds, they don’t really address past life memories very often. A closer look at some of the ideologies held by the ancients and held by us may help to bridge the gap and address if we are tapping into the same “world of ideas” that they once had.
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