It's All In Your Head--A Scientific Approach To Magickal Theory

Magick? Noone believes in magick except children and savages. Science has explained our universe to a sufficient degree in our modern age that there is no room for magick. These are the thoughts of most people. However, what would you think if I told you there was a scientific basis for magick? Discoveries in the fields of quantum mechanics and psychology have shown us that the universe is far stranger than most people think.

So what is magick? Magick can be defined as causing changes in your environment in accordance with one's will using methods not explained by generally accepted scientific theories. That means one can make a conscious choice on what they want and influence the outcome. How could this be so? Well, experiments such as the Double Slit experiment have led to the realization that, on a quantum level, what we perceive to be reality only exists as waves of probability until an observer collapses the waves into particles, crystalizing one possibility into reality while negating any other possibilities. This means that nothing exists objectively until it is experienced subjectively by some form of consciousness.

This is all well and good, but clearly the wave functions around us don't necessarily collapse into a crystalized universe of our desire. So, how do we harness this power? This is where the field of psychology comes into play. According to psychology your mind is composed of different parts. Your conscious mind is only a tiny fraction of the brain power you possess the rest being primarily subconscious. Most people do not realize how little of their universe they actually experience consciously. When you are walking, do you think about each and every step? When you are talking do you think about every muscle contraction of the lips and vibration of the vocal chords used to make each and every syllable of every word? Clearly we do not. At best we think of where we are going or the words we are going to say and even that isn't necessarily true.

Since the vast majority of our mental power is delegated to the subconscious it is the subconscious that does the vast majority of the collapsing of wave functions. So, if we want to exert any amount of conscious control over this we will need to be able to communicate with the subconscious. Fortunately, the subconscious is very good at receiving signals, that is what it does best. Unfortunately, it doesn't speak the same language as the conscious mind. While the conscious mind is dominated by linear, direct thoughts and thinks in terms of words, pictures, and even some abstract ideas the subconscious mind thinks in terms of symbols.

This is where the magick comes in. Magickal practices such as sigils and rituals are symbols at their core. They are most effective when they bypass the conscious mind and speak directly to the subconscious. This allows you to utilize the vast reservoir of wave collapsing power stored there.

Obviously, given our definition of magick, we must make a conscious choice on what we want and create the symbols with which to communicate with the subconscious. However, once we have done that it is important to keep the conscious mind out of it. This is easier said than done as any time it pops into our head it has effectively gone from the subconscious to the conscious mind and once there the subconscious leaves it to the conscious mind to process.

While there are many methods of learning to control the conscious mind that is beyond the purview of this post. There are also many other factors involved that I could not go into in a single post as the effective manipulation of reality is quite a complex issue and there is always more to learn. That being said, I did want to provide a basic overview of how the science of magick works and hopefully ignite a fire in a few minds that thought such things impossible. So, with that, I will sign off for now but there will be more to come. Til then, happy steeming.