Kenneth Mackenzie (1833-1886) defined magic as, "a psychological branch of science, dealing with the sympathetic effects of stones, drugs, herbs, and living substances upon the imaginative and reflective faculties".
Magic is understood as a course of action taken for emotional (psychological) purposes, according to the symbolic action theory. For example, sometimes when a couple end their romantic relationship, acts of magic will take place, such as gathering old photos and burning them. This symbolic act is intended to release the person from their emotional connection to the past relationship. It is a simple magical act that has psychological effects and allows the individual to move on. Magic can serve as a form of psychotherapy.
Every time you perform a magic spell, you're engaging in experimental psychology. Psychology is the study of the mental processes and behavior. The term psychology comes from the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul" and the logia meaning "study of." The principles of psychology can be seen all around you in everyday situations. The television commercials and print ads you see everyday rely on psychology to develop marketing messages that influence and persuade people to purchase the advertised products. The websites you visit on a regular basis utilize psychology to understand how people read, use and interpret online information.
Ego is our sense of self or personality. Ego is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make a person unique. In addition to this, Ego arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. Ego is a psychological construct, but research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs. Ego does not just influence how we move and respond in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways. The creation of the Ego occurs through a process known as individuation, in which the various aspects of personality are integrated.
The Persona is how we present ourselves to the world. The word "persona" is derived from a Latin word that literally means "mask." The Persona represents all of the different social masks that we wear among different groups and situations. We take on different Personas or masks in order to perform different roles in society. The Persona may appear in dreams and myths as a shape-shifter who takes a number of different forms.
The Unconscious Mind consists of the processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available to introspection, and include thought processes, memory, affect, and motivation. Unconscious phenomena include repressed feelings, automatic skills, subliminal perceptions, thoughts, habits, and automatic reactions and possibly also complexes, hidden phobias and desires. Unconscious processes are understood to be expressed in dreams in a symbolical form, as well as in slips of the tongue and jokes. Thus the unconscious mind can be seen as the source of dreams and automatic thoughts, the repository of forgotten memories, and the locus of implicit knowledge.
Cognitive research has revealed that automatically, and clearly outside of conscious awareness, individuals register and acquire more information than what they can experience through their conscious thoughts. Individuals register information about the frequency of events automatically, outside of conscious awareness. Moreover, perceivers do this unintentionally, regardless of the instructions they receive, and regardless of the information processing goals they have. Interestingly, the ability to unconsciously and relatively accurately tally the frequency of events appears to have little or no relation to the individual's age, education, intelligence, or personality, thus it may represent one of the fundamental building blocks of human orientation in the environment and possibly the acquisition of procedural knowledge and experience, in general.
The Shadow represents the instincts, impulses and desires that emerge from the Unconscious Mind. The realm of the Unconscious is represented as an Underworld, Hades or Hell. Our supressed memories and desires are represented as demons, monsters, snakes, dragons, or some other dark, wild or mysterious figure. We may find ourselves wrestling with our instinctual desires, or trying to control our urges. Rather than trying to repress or overcome our Shadow, we need to acknowledge and understand where our desires are coming from. This is represented as a "journey into the underworld" when we come to understand where our unconscious impulses originate.
Modern Witchcraft draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, goetia and the magic of various grimoires. The practice of Modern Witchcraft often requires tools made or consecrated specifically for magical use, which are required for a particular ritual or series of rituals. They may be a symbolic representation of psychological elements of the individual or of metaphysical concepts.
In Magick, Book 4 Part II, Aleister Crowley lists the magical tools required as a circle drawn on the ground and inscribed with the names of god, an altar, a wand, cup, sword, and pantacle(pentacle), to represent his true will, his understanding, his reason, and the lower parts of his being respectively. On the altar, too, is a phial of oil to represent his aspiration, and for consecrating items to his intent. The magician is surrounded by a scourge, dagger, and chain intended to keep his intent pure. An oil lamp, book of conjurations and bell are required.
A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Books of this genre, typically giving instructions for invoking angels or demons, performing divination and gaining magical powers, have circulated throughout Europe since the Middle Ages. If a magician was suspect of working in league with the Devil, they were prosecuted as a witch. For this reason, magical journals were carefully guarded. Grimoires contained information such as astrological correspondences, lists of angels and demons, directions on casting charms and spells, on mixing medicines, summoning entities, and making talismans.
Specifically Christianised varieties of magic were devised in the early Middle Ages, when the cult of relics as objects not only of veneration but also of magical power arose. The relics had become magical amulets, and various churches strove to purchase scarce or valuable examples, hoping to become places of pilgrimage. The demonology and angelology contained in the earliest grimoires assume a life surrounded by Christian implements and sacred rituals. The underlying theology in these works of Christian demonology encourages the magician to fortify himself with fasting, prayers, and sacraments, so that by using exotic holy names of God, he can use divine power to coerce demons into appearing and serving his magical goals. Not surprisingly, the church disapproved of these rites; nevertheless, they are Christianised.
Hermetic magic was made popular in northern Europe, most notably England, by Cornelius Agrippa's De occulta philosophia libra tres. Agrippa had revolutionary ideas about magical theory and procedure that were widely circulated in the Renaissance among those who sought out knowledge of occult philosophy. "Agrippa himself was famous as a scholar, physician jurist, and astrologer, but througout his life he was continually persecuted as a heretic. His problems stemmed not only from his reputation as a conjurer, but also from his vehement criticism of the vices of the ruling classes and of the most respected intellectual and religious authorities." The purpose of magic was treated as solemn and religious. The magician explores the secrets of nature in order to glorify the works of God and to inspire a more ardent worship and love of the Creator.
The performance of ceremonial magic provided catharsis, emotional purging, and group bonding. The coming together of a coven indicates group commitment and emotional support. Psychologists consider that there are various ways in which religion may benefit both physical and mental health, including encouraging healthy lifestyles, providing social support networks and encouraging an optimistic outlook on life; prayer and meditation may also help to benefit physiological functioning.
Magic is understood as a course of action taken for emotional (psychological) purposes, according to the symbolic action theory. For example, sometimes when a couple end their romantic relationship, acts of magic will take place, such as gathering old photos and burning them. This symbolic act is intended to release the person from their emotional connection to the past relationship. It is a simple magical act that has psychological effects and allows the individual to move on. Magic can serve as a form of psychotherapy.
Every time you perform a magic spell, you're engaging in experimental psychology. Psychology is the study of the mental processes and behavior. The term psychology comes from the Greek word psyche meaning "breath, spirit, soul" and the logia meaning "study of." The principles of psychology can be seen all around you in everyday situations. The television commercials and print ads you see everyday rely on psychology to develop marketing messages that influence and persuade people to purchase the advertised products. The websites you visit on a regular basis utilize psychology to understand how people read, use and interpret online information.
Ego is our sense of self or personality. Ego is made up of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviours that make a person unique. In addition to this, Ego arises from within the individual and remains fairly consistent throughout life. Ego is a psychological construct, but research suggests that it is also influenced by biological processes and needs. Ego does not just influence how we move and respond in our environment; it also causes us to act in certain ways. The creation of the Ego occurs through a process known as individuation, in which the various aspects of personality are integrated.
The Persona is how we present ourselves to the world. The word "persona" is derived from a Latin word that literally means "mask." The Persona represents all of the different social masks that we wear among different groups and situations. We take on different Personas or masks in order to perform different roles in society. The Persona may appear in dreams and myths as a shape-shifter who takes a number of different forms.The Unconscious Mind consists of the processes in the mind that occur automatically and are not available to introspection, and include thought processes, memory, affect, and motivation. Unconscious phenomena include repressed feelings, automatic skills, subliminal perceptions, thoughts, habits, and automatic reactions and possibly also complexes, hidden phobias and desires. Unconscious processes are understood to be expressed in dreams in a symbolical form, as well as in slips of the tongue and jokes. Thus the unconscious mind can be seen as the source of dreams and automatic thoughts, the repository of forgotten memories, and the locus of implicit knowledge.
Cognitive research has revealed that automatically, and clearly outside of conscious awareness, individuals register and acquire more information than what they can experience through their conscious thoughts. Individuals register information about the frequency of events automatically, outside of conscious awareness. Moreover, perceivers do this unintentionally, regardless of the instructions they receive, and regardless of the information processing goals they have. Interestingly, the ability to unconsciously and relatively accurately tally the frequency of events appears to have little or no relation to the individual's age, education, intelligence, or personality, thus it may represent one of the fundamental building blocks of human orientation in the environment and possibly the acquisition of procedural knowledge and experience, in general.
The Shadow represents the instincts, impulses and desires that emerge from the Unconscious Mind. The realm of the Unconscious is represented as an Underworld, Hades or Hell. Our supressed memories and desires are represented as demons, monsters, snakes, dragons, or some other dark, wild or mysterious figure. We may find ourselves wrestling with our instinctual desires, or trying to control our urges. Rather than trying to repress or overcome our Shadow, we need to acknowledge and understand where our desires are coming from. This is represented as a "journey into the underworld" when we come to understand where our unconscious impulses originate.
Modern Witchcraft draws on such schools of philosophical and occult thought as Hermetic Qabalah, Enochian magic, Thelema, goetia and the magic of various grimoires. The practice of Modern Witchcraft often requires tools made or consecrated specifically for magical use, which are required for a particular ritual or series of rituals. They may be a symbolic representation of psychological elements of the individual or of metaphysical concepts.
In Magick, Book 4 Part II, Aleister Crowley lists the magical tools required as a circle drawn on the ground and inscribed with the names of god, an altar, a wand, cup, sword, and pantacle(pentacle), to represent his true will, his understanding, his reason, and the lower parts of his being respectively. On the altar, too, is a phial of oil to represent his aspiration, and for consecrating items to his intent. The magician is surrounded by a scourge, dagger, and chain intended to keep his intent pure. An oil lamp, book of conjurations and bell are required.
A grimoire is a textbook of magic. Books of this genre, typically giving instructions for invoking angels or demons, performing divination and gaining magical powers, have circulated throughout Europe since the Middle Ages. If a magician was suspect of working in league with the Devil, they were prosecuted as a witch. For this reason, magical journals were carefully guarded. Grimoires contained information such as astrological correspondences, lists of angels and demons, directions on casting charms and spells, on mixing medicines, summoning entities, and making talismans.
Specifically Christianised varieties of magic were devised in the early Middle Ages, when the cult of relics as objects not only of veneration but also of magical power arose. The relics had become magical amulets, and various churches strove to purchase scarce or valuable examples, hoping to become places of pilgrimage. The demonology and angelology contained in the earliest grimoires assume a life surrounded by Christian implements and sacred rituals. The underlying theology in these works of Christian demonology encourages the magician to fortify himself with fasting, prayers, and sacraments, so that by using exotic holy names of God, he can use divine power to coerce demons into appearing and serving his magical goals. Not surprisingly, the church disapproved of these rites; nevertheless, they are Christianised.
Hermetic magic was made popular in northern Europe, most notably England, by Cornelius Agrippa's De occulta philosophia libra tres. Agrippa had revolutionary ideas about magical theory and procedure that were widely circulated in the Renaissance among those who sought out knowledge of occult philosophy. "Agrippa himself was famous as a scholar, physician jurist, and astrologer, but througout his life he was continually persecuted as a heretic. His problems stemmed not only from his reputation as a conjurer, but also from his vehement criticism of the vices of the ruling classes and of the most respected intellectual and religious authorities." The purpose of magic was treated as solemn and religious. The magician explores the secrets of nature in order to glorify the works of God and to inspire a more ardent worship and love of the Creator.
The performance of ceremonial magic provided catharsis, emotional purging, and group bonding. The coming together of a coven indicates group commitment and emotional support. Psychologists consider that there are various ways in which religion may benefit both physical and mental health, including encouraging healthy lifestyles, providing social support networks and encouraging an optimistic outlook on life; prayer and meditation may also help to benefit physiological functioning.
Great post, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI so love the idea of magick as a psychological branch of science!
ReplyDeleteThis is a FANTASTIC article.
Interesting. What sorts of effects do you feel are possible under this understanding of magic? If magic is psychology, could you, for example, heal someone not present?
ReplyDeleteThese may sound like facetious questions, but I've found there's great variety in what people consider possible through "psychology". Some feel that what is imagined on a psychological level can cause effects in the physical universe external to the body. Just curious how you interpret things. :-)