The news of a new Master’s degree in Magic at the University of Exeter—due east of the Witch Museum in Boscastle, Cornwall—inspired this post; that and pondering the effect of Latin legal phrases such as the presumption of causation res ipsa loquitur (the thing speaks for itself).
As well as privileging dead languages, law is like magic because it’s ceremonial. Its agents dress up, often donning black robes, they employ titles and a strict hierarchy, there are arcane rules which operate with or without the knowledge and understanding of the participants, there are propitious and inauspicious times and seasons, it has a certain glamour, being one of the few disciplines still centred on the intellectual ability of categorical thinking, and it has far-reaching material consequences.
Law is not like magic because it’s not an irrational, unsystematic, culture-specific sprawling set of assertions based on childish and egotistical wish-fulfilment widely considered demonic. (Although modern-day lawyers might consider that an apt description of Chancery and certain Men’s Rights organisations have exactly that view of Family Law.)
But is the above a fair description of magic? There’s a distinct lack of an agreed definition for this widely disparate set of phenomena—or even any agreement over what they have in common. In The Two Towers, the second book of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Galadriel, Queen of the High Elves, makes that plain to Sam the Hobbit, companion of Frodo:
‘And you?’ [Galadriel] said, turning to Sam. ‘For this is what your folk would call magic. I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem also to use the same word of the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel. Did you not say that you wished to see Elf-magic?’
Fellowship of the Ring Book II Chapter 7: “The Mirror of Galadriel”
So if even hobbits and elves can’t agree on the nature of magic, what hope is there for us humans? The link above leads to a fansite that quotes the author, JKK Tolkien, explaining this scene with “the distinction between magia and goeteia”, in an unsent letter to the Scottish author Naomi Mitchison—whom I once had occasion to witness in person declaring to Kirk ministers that “the witches are coming back!”. Her point being that it was the alliance of Kirk and State that had burnt them.
Tolkien’s point is that magic as functional technology is permissible and distinct from supernatural deception which, other than in harmless displays of wonders, is not. This could be read as a Neo-Platonic stance, open to useful and practical magic but opposed to malevolence and mimicry. Keith Ward, author of Religion and the Decline of Magic, details the continuance of all sorts of folk magics—some adopted as scapulars and sacramentals—under Catholicism and their repression under Protestantism.
Mitchison’s declaration may have been less theological than sociological: the witchcraze of Western Europe tended to target women of property (being widows) and was highly convenient to envious neighbours who could lay claim to their land. This perspective is shared by many Scots today as the repressive Hate Crime legislation finds its first victims, with the suspicion (supported by many social media posts of intent) that it is being leveraged for ideological intimidation and revenge.
The programme director of the new MA in Magic and Occult Sciences, Dr Emily Selove, is an Associate Professor in Medieval Arabic Literature and is especially interested in “the overlap between poetic and magical language” and, glancing at the curriculum, it’s certainly interdisciplinary. Billed as offering the opportunity to specialise in “the diverse history of esotericism, witchcraft, ritual magic, occult science, and related topics”, it’s housed in the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies and promises: “Decolonisation, the exploration of alternative epistemologies, feminism, and anti-racism are at the core of this programme.”
Well that’s all very well, but notable in its absence is the exploration of diverse ontologies (AKA metaphysics). These good people clearly envisage a good few experiential classroom sessions, carrying over to the nearest artisan vegan bakery, hammering out just exactly how the liminal discourses of queer People of Colour were even more marginalised by White male clergy. I’d be extremely disappointed if that didn’t come up at some point. However my question, in the light of Arthur C. Clark’s take on magic being indistinguishable from “any sufficiently advanced technology”, is always going to be: how does it work? Even if the answer is only ever theoretical or expressed as our best guess as to how the practitioners understand it to work.
There’s an overlap between magic and law in Agatha Christie’s The Pale Horse. One circle is cast rather dramatically by a trio of women in a spooky hotel while a debarred lawyer, encouraging persons with inconvenient relatives to place a bet with him, is circumspect about law. Somehow these spheres of influence meet in the middle. The indomitable Miss Marple finds out how (but you won’t hear the dénouement from me) mostly because she refuses to believe in magic. In this case, it’s diversion.
So what definitions of magic are there? How can someone affect something without apparent use of any natural means? Let me count the ways:
- Alchemy
- Contagion
- Likeness
- Personification
- Similarity
- Sleight of hand
- Superstition
- Supplication
The first is the attempt at holistic amelioration on diverse levels of reality notable for its spectacular lack of success—a spectacle attributed by its devotees to the prudent desire to hide its real success. (If you found those words amazingly well-written and want to read 92,000 more on the subject, see Alchemy at the Chalkface: Pirsig, Pedagogy and the Metaphysics of Quality.)
The next four are varieties of sympathetic magic theorised by Sir James Frazer in The Golden Bough and subsequently elaborated by others. The sixth is the deceptive art of diversion practiced by politicians and stage magicians alike. The seventh is the umbrella term for all the others used by people with an unshakable belief in atomistic determinism not shared by physicists. At least not after Einstein.
The eighth is the theological problem: supplication of who exactly—or what? Which brings me back to my question: how does it work?
The non-academics tweeting about the new MA are very concerned about the answer—and I don’t blame them. Western magical novels and (especially) TV series tend to be a bit vague about this. The Good Witch started off slightly witchy but the scriptwriter, no doubt due to Hallmark middle American audience comments, swiftly toned it down to a very vague Law of Attraction and the Power of Positivity. At the other end of the spectrum is The Craft, where some kind of supernatural entity, introduced as morally ambivalent but assumed at the end to be evil, is pulling the strings. The Order blends this with some attempt at magical metaphysics but by the time the demonism becomes explicit (mopping up the blood after the constant goat sacrifices is a bit of a clue) we’re already invested in the lives and loves of the characters. Bewitched just completely ignored the mechanics of magic by diverting attention to Samantha’s cute nose and Charmed, after at least one mention of “the old gods and the new” took the cookery book (and cleavage) approach.
Perhaps because of the erudite Giles (“of a British library, or The British Library”) Buffy, while merrily stealing entire episodes from Charmed, and vice-versa, at least attempted to ground its uncanny reality in some kind of coherent scheme by referencing its own version of the multiple dimensions of Buddhism. Apart from some Christmas carolling, there are no spiritual references in the Harry Potter series and JK Rowling, despite glimpses of her clear familiarity with the Western esoteric tradition, writes in the British absurd tradition of Lewis Carroll.
Still, getting back to Latin and other prestigious dead languages, all these contemporary tales have three elements in common.
- Strong emotion
- Will
- Words
With no agreement on the form, content or scope of magic, it may be distinguished from ex opere operato (automatic) sacramental operations, as the first element is replaced by the power of the Holy Spirit imminent in the Church; and from the law, as that same element is replaced by reason.
Law, religion and magic have something else in common: whether or not they are the opium of the people, as Marx put it, they are certainly the cry of the oppressed. All three may be used with malevolence, certainly, but people turn to them when nothing else works.
I am not opposed to this new MA. I wish the staff and students well, and—if they are not already on the recommended reading list—I strongly advise them to consult the oeuvre of Dame Frances Yates and of Prof. Ioan Petru Culianu. Clarity about the theories and practises of manipulation of reality may be very helpful in this age of deceit. Finally, despite the widespread opinion that they customarily do the contrary, I believe that it behooves practitioners of all three disciplines to act according to the motto of Angel Investigations: We Help The Helpless.
Thanks to Victoria Borodinova for releasing her image Tree, Plant, Crown, Trunk, Fantasy into the Public Domain.