Our late autumn theme here at HP is “Responsibility“. This is the second in a 3-part series, looking critically at contemporary Neo-Paganism from an earth-centered perspective. Note: The views expressed in this essay are the author’s and are not necessarily representative of HumanisticPaganism.com or any of its other contributors.
Magic is no instrument
Magic is the end
— Leonard Cohen, “God is Alive, Magic is Afoot”
Fantasy Magic
I was a fantasy geek in high school. I loved fantasy novels, and my favorite characters were always the wizards and mages. I probably had more of an escapist mentality than the average teenager, and my interest in fantasy magic was an expression of that. One might expect that I would have embraced the idea of magic when I became a Pagan, but not so. In fact, in so far as magic is understood as the supernatural control over nature, I see it as an unfortunate vestige of Neo-Paganism’s occultist legacy which has no place in a truly earth-centered Paganism.
So, how did I, a fantasy magic-loving geek, become a magic-despising Pagan? I suspect that my transition from my Christian religion-of-origin has something to do with it. Even before I “lost my faith”, I stopped believing in a transcendent deity that hears people’s prayers and arbitrarily grants some and refuses others. So when I became Pagan, I was unwilling to replace what I saw as one form of wish fulfillment with another. Intercessory prayer and magic seemed to be two sides of the same coin. I was just as suspicious of Pagan spells to win love or money as I had been by Christian prayers for the same.
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Naturalistic Paganism
Naturalistic Paganism 