in the beginning there was magic

Our ancient ancestors created magic to explain natural phenomena and to control the world around them -- some form of shamanic spirit world contact being evident in the early development of human communities all over the world -- and Zellie is a neo-pagan who practices magical thinking in her daily life just like earliest man did (but without the hallucigenic drugs).

"When communities evolved from nomadic to agricultural civilizations, tribal elders became kings and shamans became priests," explains Zellie, "and with this transition came a mighty shift of power."

"Shamans represented the collective will of the tribe and negotiated for the tribe with the spirit world -- with all participating in magic -- but priests took it upon themselves to represent the dieties and to direct their will upon the city-state and in doing so removed magical power from the people and distorted it."

"They were able to do so by developing highly codified and elaborate rituals -- still evident in today's formal religions -- but in early religions these rituals were mostly used for funerals, most evident in Egypt, and sacrifices, mostly practised by the Babylonians, Persians, Aztecs and Mayans."

"Ancient magic formulae became the exclusive possession of an hereditary caste of priests who deliberately encouraged the ignorance of ordinary people," explains Zellie, "and over time, supernatural events became know as 'miracles' and in acquiring religious credo a clear separation between religion and natural magic took place."

"The evolution from magic to religion in all ancient cultures was seamless," says Zellie, "but Hinduism is one of the few religions with sacred texts, the Vedas, which openly discuss both white and black magic and the efficacy of mantras and spells. In fact, the word mantrik in India literally means 'magician', and the word 'magic' derives from the Persian 'magus' which means a Zoroastrian astrologer priest."

"The Magi of Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia were the prototypical magicians," explains Zellie, "they were a class of priests whose reputation, together with that of ancient Egyptian priests, shaped the Greek mystery religions (of which Hecate was the goddess of magic)."

"In Egypt, a large number of magical papyri written in Greek, Coptic and Demotic were found which contain much of the magical lore that is used today -- magic words to command spirits; magic symbols; spirit mediums; and the use of wands and magic circles."

"Officially, the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam forbid magic and witchcraft, either executing alleged practitioners as Satanists (in the early days) or dismissing them as tricksters and illusionists (in later days)," says Zellie, "but nobody can deny that all of these religions sprang from magic and that Kabbalism (Judaism) and Sufism (Islam) continue in their ancient mystic forms."

"Also, the appearance of the three Magi at the birth of Jesus clearly shows that early Christianity was associated with Zoroastrian astrology and Jesus himself, as told in texts dismissed by the later Church, was a bit of a magician in his early life as well," laughs Zellie. "Further, despite the Bible exhorting all 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' and Saul's rebuke for seeking advice from a diviner, it was perfectly acceptable for staffs to be turned into snakes, rivers to part, a few fish and loaves feeding a multitude, water to be turned into wine and dead men to rise."

"It's amazing what hallucigenic drugs can do, isn't it?"

"It was probably due to the mystic elements of Christianity that this new religion was so easily accepted by the pagans," muses Zellie, "but the ancient practice of natural magic, predating the religions that officially usurped its power, did continue, albeit mostly underground."

"In fact, magic or holy men thrived outside of all organized religions, in all cultures, because, perhaps, they were more spiritual, more believable and better healers than those officially in charge of religion."

"Both magic and religion practise supplication -- appealing to a supernatural being or God to perform a desired act," explains Zellie. "With religious supplication, the desired act coming to pass or not is based purely on God's choice to give or withhold -- it is never the priest's fault if the supplication fails."

"In contrast, the desired act coming to pass or not in natural magic is based on the expertise of the magician and the ritual performed -- it is always the magician's fault if the supplication fails."

"Because the magician's livelihood was at stake, he or she had to be incredibly intelligent or good at sleight of hand in order to make sure that supplications bore fruit," explains Zellie, "That so many magic supplications did bear fruit gave absolute credulity to magic. Magicians were not only astronomers, knowing when eclipses were due, but they were also medicine men, knowing sleeping potions, waking potions and healing potions -- in effect, drug dealers!"

"In natural magic, then, if the desired effect came to pass the supplication was credited for it -- which, when you think about, is quite similar to the magical beliefs that some scientists hold about their experiments and most religions hold about prayer (although for the religious, the spiritual duty of prayer is far more important than the miracle being requested)."

"Some religions believe that holiness or magic can be transferred to objects and places -- as I do," admits Zellie. "Today, ground is still consecrated where a building will be constructed and 'christening' ceremonies are still carried out for the launching of new ships, and up until the Reformation there was a huge market for so-called spiritual objects and relics which were often fraudulently sold to poor peasants as cures for their numerous ills."

"In both magic and religion, the act of making sacrifices to a supernatural being is common when asking for divine intervention -- even if it just means burning oils or incense, the offering of personal objects or drinks, or the blood sacrifice of a goat or calf."

"Early Judaism, as shown in Leviticus, had strict instructions for blood sacrifice, but after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem where sacrifices were made, the need for it was negated," says Zellie. "And, in Christianity, Jesus's final sacrifice negated any further blood sacrifices. Interestingly, mainstream Islam has always firmly rejected the concept of sacrifices."

"Human sacrifice was likely practised by all early religions and was seen as the supreme sacrifice," says Zellie. "Genesis tells the story of Abraham's preparation for the sacrifice of his son Isaac; the Carthaginians gained fame for sacrificing young children when circumstances were bleak; other cultures sacrficed their enemies; and Druidism in Britain was banned by the Roman Empire because its practice of human sacrifice was considered barbaric (despite the Romans continuing to divine the future from reading the entrails of their blood sacrifices)."

"The early Jews saw magic as being intricately tied up with Baal-worship and other unacceptable forms of religion, and the Christians thought that all magic (not performed by them, of course) was powered by demons."

"Although the magical spell -- a ritualistic formula intended to bring about a specific effect -- is most well known and still practised widely, there are many other magical practices," says Zellie. "These include divination (astrology -- I'm a Virgo by the way -- augury, cartomancy, chiromancy, dowsing, fortune telling, geomancy, I Ching, omens, scrying and tarot, all of which seek to reveal information about the past, present or future) and necromancy (a practice which summons the spirits of the dead and converses with them)."

"The most beautiful type of magic, however, is that practised by Melanesians in their daily lives which, unfortunately, has been almost eradicated under pressure from Christian missionaries."

"The Melanesians are horticulturalists, spending much of their working time in their gardens during which time they sing, chant and perform actions, largely of a sexual nature, in a magical relationship linking them with their environment."

"Compared with the esoteric magic rituals of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and other religions, those practised by the Melanesians are pragmatic, a philosophy of life, and easily understood."

"What can be more understandable than performing magic rituals as part of a work ethic to assure an abundancy of food?" asks Zellie. "It's how we started to use magic, and it's how we should have continued using it rather than allowing religion and science to usurp it."

"There's more to magic than attempting to bend natural forces to the magician's will," admits Zellie. "It is also, if practised on a daily basis, an involvement in life and an openness to natural forces."

"Magic implies connections and possibilities - spirits, people, animals, plants and streams all affecting each other in a unified cosmos offering all of us participation and power."

"When the Christians started to refer to their ritual practices as 'worship' and 'liturgy', magic came to be a term designating pagan or primitive native rituals and earned an undeserving disapproval and inferiority similar to that now shown by scientists towards religion."

"If human consciousness has evolved through magic -- then religion and now science -- then magic is the basis of all knowledge of the human condition and through it one finds one's own inherent unity with the Universe."

"In that the rituals of magic are part of other actions -- as they also are in religion and science -- who is to say that without those rituals, those encouraging words, that a desired effect would still take place?" asks Zellie. "Faith in the practitioner -- be he or she a magician, a priest, a doctor or oneself -- is as important as anything else."

"Religion, basically, involves submission to a supernatural force (God)," explains Zellie. "In contrast, magic involves participation with that force and in that sense magic is closer to science than religion."

"Scientists are sort of modern day magicians creating and discovering magical things -- motor cars, telephones, wireless, computers, vaccines, dna, transplants, space travel, etc -- and invoking mystical concepts such as the nature of the speed of light and Heisenberg's indeterminacy principle by which we are unable to determine the precise location of a phenomenon because the observation of it affects its reality."

"Magic has been construed by both science and religion as superstition or as a practice based on false notions of causality," says Zellie, "but it gives scope for human engagement with the world that nothing else can. Modern practitioners of magic believe that they deal with phenomena far beyond science."

"If science represents the current world view and religion the accumulation of theological dogma, then magic represents connection with extra-normal phenomena," explains Zellie. "It is clearly expressed in the noble silence of Buddhism through which truth can be heard, and some of its practices and beliefs, such as visualization, concentration and the power of the subconscious mind -- with or without hallucigenic drugs -- are widely used today by clinical psychologists and sports trainers."

"It really wasn't long ago that everyone believed in magic -- most especially the Church which, despite decrying it as sinful, blatantly used magical powers to keep the masses in thrall -- and even great scientists like Isaac Newton clung to the alchemist's dream of turning metals into gold and others attempted to find the magical elixir of life."

"I'm living a magical life, are you?"