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Magic or Religion
{Which is which?}
It all started innocently, and oddly enough, has led me to a major turning point in my life. Four years ago after moving into this apartment, first one and then another neighbor started approaching me with questions about why things are the way they are. This resulted in a daily study group. We investigated and discussed many subjects in many fields of knowledge, focusing mainly on religion.
It continues to surprise and amaze me that there are so many people who have little or no biblical knowledge, yet they know that something is coming. One day, as I and some friends were just visiting together, a couple came in and informed me that they had a problem.
“So, how can I help?” says I. She proceeds to tell me that there is a man at their house, and that this man is asking for answers they don’t have. And they ask, “Would it be OK to sometime introduce him to you?”
“So he’s at your house right now,” I inquire, as I also wonder what now.
“Yes. I didn’t know what else to do with the guy, He is really messed up. Can you please see if you can do something for him?”
I agreed to do what I could. I told them to go and get him and come on back.
“You’re going to do this right now?!” one of my friends pops off.
“Why sure. Don’t you know by now that where things of this nature are concerned that tomorrow is always too late?” is my astonished reply.
“Well! If this goes where I think it will, I just want you to know I’m outta here,” she states.
It’s not long before they return. After the introductions were dispensed, he starts giving me the third degree. This surprises me and gives me hope. You see it is a rare thing in my world to meet someone that questions everything like I do.
Before long we’re deep into discussing the difference between religion and magic. He informs me that he’s been living with a self-professed witch, and that she and I are pretty much the same. Even so far as using the same names during prayer and conversations. And that this is confusing him more.
“OK, then let us see what the “Encyclopedia Britannica” says about this,” I say as I rise and go to the library room. Here’s what we found, much to our dismay.
“Sir James Frazer,in his great classical treatise “The Golden Bough”, formulated a distinct and coherent theory of magic on which all subsequent studies were largely built. … As a preliminary, the useful distinction drawn by Frazer between magic and religion may be noted as at its essence magic consists in the direct control by man of the forces of nature, while religion relies upon the propitiation of these and other higher powers. Magic, as Frazer so fully showed, is not merely a type of belief or a piece of man’s intellectual apparatus, but an art in which theory and dogma at every step are translated into action.”
The elements of magic, according to Dr. Bronislaw Malinowski, are “things said, things done, and a person officiating. Hence the spell, the rite, and the condition of the performer are fundamentals.”
The Spell. “The spell, the uttering of words according to a formula, i.e., in a set order, is everywhere regarded as the out-standing part of the magical act. The virtue of the magic lies primarily in the formula, which is believed to have been handed down from immemorial antiquity. Hence the insistence upon the correct recital of it, lest variation in the text render the magic of no avail. Since the spell is in fact the backbone of magic, its language is naturally correlated with the aim of the ritual.”
The Rite. “Accompanying the magical formula is a set of actions, the rite, the primary function of which is to convey the spell to the object which it is desired to affect. Like the spell, the rite is definitely prescribed in form and is often in distinct correspondence with the words uttered. Thus movement described in the spell is carried out or imitated by the performer, substances which produce effects analogous to those desired are handled and mentioned.”
Condition of the Performer. The performer, “must refrain from eating certain foods, from casual sexual indulgence, and from other contaminating things. If he fails to conform, then he nullifies the power of his art; breach of taboo, in fact, is the cause most frequently assigned for failure of magic. The emotional attitude of the magician is also of interest. … In the spontaneous outburst of word and act lies the germ of spell and rite, in the illusion of subjective experience. The conviction that such actions have really had their effect rests on the foundation of the belief in magical efficiency.”
Myself, having been exposed to Christianity from an early age, found the above information disturbing. All that: about things said, done, and the person officiating, sounded strangely familiar. After many days of continued study I came to an astonishing conclusion:
There is no difference!
Practicing magic and participating in an organized religion are one and the same. But which is the “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. Or are they both wolves. Consider the following. Reread the above quotes. As you read substitute prayer for spell, ritual for rite, and priest for magician.
Magic = Religion
Spell = Prayer
Rite = Ritual
Condition of Magician = Clean/Unclean of Priest
This sparked an internal and external reordering in my life as I endeavored to exercise my faith without practicing magic.
You are free to decide for yourself.