The Psychology of Magic

For many, especially those who have not studied the topic or have studied it only superficially, magic is equated with superstition. It is a practice for the uneducated, or for those who are ignorant of the scientific view. For others, particularly those who follow established religions, it is viewed as an evil and forbidden thing. It is easy to understand both of these views if we only take a cursory look into the practice of magic. There are indeed practitioners who are superstitious and fail to understand the real meaning of what they are doing. There are others who take the practice to a dark place and attempt to use the art for manipulative purposes; those who misuse their magic because of their lack of self-awareness. To make things more complicated, many writings on the topic are cryptic and describe the process allegorically. When taken literally, many of these writings can seem silly or even diabolic.  

Magic itself is a tricky word. It not only implies superstition to some but also something otherworldly supernatural, or even unnatural. This is not the case. Magic is simply a formalization of how our minds work. At its best, it is an almost scientific application of transformative methods and universal laws that have been used for millennia. If you talk to someone who has truly been practicing the art, and using it for its intended purpose, you’re likely to find yourself talking to a very grounded and rational individual – one who seems less affected by both the positive and negative influences they encounter in the outside world. On the surface, magical practice can appear to be an escape from the material world. In reality it anchors us more completely to the world, and allows us to live life more completely.  

We are going to examine the nature of magic. In order to do so, we must look inside the human mind and heart and gain some understanding about how human beings work. We’ll look particularly at our conscious and unconscious minds, how these operate and how they drive our behavior. Studying this, we’ll investigate the nebulous concept of “will” and discuss the extent to which we truly have control over our thoughts and actions. Finally, we’ll think on Jung’s concept of the “Collective Unconscious” and how human beings are all connected in some way. We will start our journey by visiting one of the most magical and mystical places known to modern humanity; our local grocery store.  

Imagine yourself now, walking into your store of choice to pick up your weekly groceries. The lights are bright; the aisles are wide. You grab the cart, which is as large as it can possibly be without being unwieldy, and designed to hold as many products as possible. Walking down the aisles, you will notice that brand name items (more expensive than the generic ones) are located on the shelves that are within eye-level. Notice also that the candy, toys and breakfast cereals that would appeal to your children are conveniently located at their eye-level. The checkout area is filled with brightly packaged products that you don’t need – such as magazines with tempting headlines, and sugary snacks. As you walk up an aisle, you see a display full of 12-packs of a popular brand name cola flavored beverage.  

After a moment’s hesitation, you decide to pick up some of that beverage and place it into your cart. You hadn’t been planning on picking up this particular item, but you saw it and thought it sounded good to you. This was your choice, right? You thought about it, and then of your own free will, made the decision to put the 12-pack in your cart. It was a simple decision, wasn’t it?  

I hate to break it to you, but by picking up the beverage it is distinctly possible – even likely – that you are the victim of an elaborate magic spell. I have not named the brand of the cola beverage in question, but by the end of this paragraph, you will know exactly what brand I’m talking about. You have witnessed the beverage being drunk by mythical creatures such as Santa Claus and computer animated polar bears. You have been told that it is the “real thing.” You have witnessed this beverage being poured slowly into sweating glasses filled with ice. You’ve seen it advertised in movie theaters, just before the previews start. If you are a little older, you may even remember commercials with people holding hands and singing “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” Its logo is immediately recognizable  

So, what is this magic spell that has been cast upon you?  In order to understand this, we must first look into the way the human mind works. The brain receives information from the senses, and it records all of it. Everything we ever hear, see, smell, taste, or touch is stored somewhere in our brains. Our memories of past events, reactions, and emotions are also stored.  However, if our conscious mind had to go through all of this sensory information stored in our brains, it would take us a really long time to react to situations in the world and make decisions. So, the lion’s share of the information stored in our brain is housed within our subconscious mind.  

However, just because we are not conscious of all of these memories, experiences, and reactions swimming around in our brains, doesn’t mean that they don’t contribute to our decision-making. In fact, the reverse is true. A large portion of the factors we use to make decisions, take action, or react to something are factors that never actually reach our conscious minds. I’m certain we can all recall times where we found ourselves reacting to a situation in a certain way, or making a snap-decision, and then wonder why in the world we just did what we did.  

So back to the magic spell to entice you to buy the 12-pack: how did it work? All of the advertising you have ever seen regarding this product is stored in your brain. The company that creates the advertising knows this, and has been very carefully training your brain to associate their product with happiness, good looks, childhood nostalgia, etc. They have created an attractive and easily recognizable logo (for magical purposes, we could call it a talisman) and have made sure that logo is visible to you hundreds of thousands of times in your life. Then you walk into a grocery store. While your subconscious mind is busy processing your unconscious associations with this product – associations that are not real, but merely ideas put into your mind by advertising – your conscious mind apparently makes a rational decision to purchase the item. The magicians (advertisers) for the company have convinced you to buy their product. Even better, after stacking your subconscious mind against you, they were able to convince you that purchasing the product was actually your idea! 

This is a fairly innocuous example of how the stuff that is stored in our subconscious can influence our decision making. It is, after all, only some cola. Still, there are other things floating around in our subconscious that can influence the decisions we make without us ever knowing about it. If you have watched the news recently – especially in regards to officer-involved shootings of people of color, you have likely heard the term “unconscious bias.” 

Unconscious bias is a great example of the power of our subconscious mind, particularly in cases where we are required to make decisions quickly. In the context of race, we see its effect with law enforcement – how people of color are treated differently by police than white people during intense or potentially dangerous situations. We also see this in the workplace, where often women or people of color are treated slightly differently or paid less simply because of their race or gender. Often these situations are not cases of overt racism or sexism, but rather a reaction based on experiences in our brain that never reach our objective consciousness. We don’t question the bias because it seems normal to us – just the way the world is… 

The first step to overcoming unconscious bias is awareness. Our brains like patterns, and patterns form habits. Once we become aware of our faulty decision-making, we can take conscious steps to change our habits. Our conscious mind can take over, and we can re-train ourselves to behave differently in situations. In other words, we take over the programming of our unconscious mind, rather than letting our environment do it for us – which happens to be the most concise definition of magic.  

When we read of magic, we often also read about “will.” It is the goal of the magician to cause transformation through the exercise of his or her will. The greater the magician’s will, the more powerful the magic. This does not mean, however, that a magician uses magic to get what they want. “Will” is a difficult word to define. Throughout the ages, humanity has struggled with the question of will. Do we have free-will or is everything pre-determined? Our genetics, our culture, our subconscious mind, and our instincts, are all aspects of our environment that have a huge influence on who we are and what our potential is – and, at least on the surface, are things we cannot control. Obviously, if we are taking action or making a decision in response to a situation because of some unconscious impulse, desire, fear, or habit, this would not be acting out of free will. Free-will implies that we make a decision on purpose: “I did this, because of that. I thought it through and had complete control over my decision.” “Will,” therefore, can be defined as a purposeful action without external influence or unconscious forces. If one is acting according to their true will then one is fulfilling their full potential; their purpose in life.  

In ancient Greece, there was a saying: “know thyself and thou shalt know the Universe and the Gods.” The Will is something that must be developed over time, and the key to developing your Will is discovering (and creating!) who you really are. In order to do that, a magician does two things:  

First, the magician must start to become aware of the things that exist in the unconscious mind. Just as described above in the example of cognitive bias, awareness is the first step toward consciously changing behavior and reactions. Second, the magician must work to establish a dialogue with the subconscious mind in order to re-program it and change negative habits. The goal is to ensure that the whole self, conscious and unconscious, is focused on being a complete and whole person who is not subject to unconscious whims. How is this done? 

Meditation and prayer have always been great ways to calm the mind and quiet it down. It is in this silence that you begin to commune with yourself and get in touch with the “you” that is behind all of the chatter – even the chatter of which you are normally unaware – and start to get a sense of who you really are. The practice of meditation and prayer also widens your perspective, and often you’ll begin to experience an intimate connection with the rest of creation. The concept that everything is connected, that knowing thyself is the same thing as knowing “the Universe and the Gods” – is a key element in the practice of magic. The magician believes in the universality of consciousness, and that it is possible to expand the individual consciousness to encompass the entire universe. This concept is often explained in the Hermetic Axiom “that which is above is the same as that which is below.” It implies that the individual and the entirety of the Universe are the same thing, made of the same thing.  

From a psychological point of view, magic ritual takes meditation a step further. There is an intimate connection between magic and religion, spirituality or personal belief. Whether it is called “magic” or not depends on your belief system. For example, the Catholic view of “transubstantiation” – where bread and wine are actually transmuted into the body and blood of Christ – could easily be considered a magical process, even though it isn’t defined as such in Christianity. Your personal religious or spiritual beliefs help to define, for you, what exactly magic is and where it comes from. It is up to each individual, through experience and practice, to determine what magic is for them. Here we are only discussing its effect on us and how it helps us toward discovering who we are and using our free will to become the best and most whole person we can become, so that we can live to our true potential.  

If you have studied magic rituals for any length of time, you have discovered that magical ritual uses a variety of arcane symbolism, chanting, magical alphabets, spells, talismans, and a variety of mythologies. Invocations and evocations are also often used. From the outside, this can appear to be somewhat superstitious in nature. Those who dabble in magic without truly understanding it and approach their work in a superstitious way contribute heavily to this appearance. This is particularly true of those who believe that this type of Work is mainly used to manipulate and control others – which typically does not work and often causes profound mental instability and delusion in the practitioner. Used properly, rituals can put us in intimate contact with our unconscious mind, and through that to other levels of consciousness.  

Carl Jung posited the existence of a “collective unconscious,” which is varying levels of the unconscious mind that connect us with the rest of the human race. His thought, echoing the statement “know thyself and thou shalt know the Universe and the Gods,” was that consciousness is connected. Since humanity has a shared experience throughout history, certain symbols, words, and stories have a profound effect on all of us because of that shared experience. Symbols such as the pentagram, the circle, and the triangle have meaning to us because they are found in nature and mathematics, and they tap into that collective unconscious, where these symbols have had meaning for millennia. Archetypal stories, such as the Hero’s Journey into the underworld, the dying and resurrecting God, and tales of the rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood, marriage, parenthood, and adulthood to old age, resonate and propagate in virtually all cultures around the world. Such stories are always very similar, with only minor changes to adapt to a certain culture. Concepts regarding the power of the written and spoken word are found in all religions and cultures.  

The perceived power of symbol, ritual, allegory (or story), chanting and writing are consistent throughout the world. This is likely because of the makeup of our unconscious mind. This part of us communicates best in symbols. Again, to return to our grocery store example, this is evident in how products are advertised to us. We are not reasoned with and given a list of pros and cons regarding the purchase of the product – at least not in the most effective forms of advertising. We are provided with some sort of logo or symbol of a product, which is more likely to stay in our subconscious. Advertisements work to communicate a story and connect the product with our emotions. If an advertising campaign is truly successful, we don’t buy the product because it is superior to others. In fact, we don’t buy it for any rational reason at all. We buy it because the product itself produces the desired unconscious emotional reaction.  

By using various forms of symbology, magic ritual can give us more understanding of what exists in our unconscious mind, and gradually give us more influence over it. If advertising companies, social media, daily experience, politicians, and cultural pressure can be recorded in the unconscious mind and affect our actions in the world, then why couldn’t we also fill our unconscious mind with information that would affect our inner environment? If the majority of our mental processes are beyond our awareness, wouldn’t it make sense to stack the deck so that these mental processes align more with who we feel we are and who we want to be?  

For those who practice Ceremonial Magic, one of the first rituals that we learn is the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram. It has two forms; the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) and the Lesser Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram (LIRP). Operationally, the only difference between the two is the direction in which the pentagrams are drawn in the air. However, the effect of the two different rituals can be much different. The banishing version is designed to remove all outside influences from the area in which you are performing the ritual. The invoking version brings specific influences into that area.  

In both rituals, you vibrate (chant) certain Qabalistic god names; first when creating what is called the Qabalistic Cross, and then while you are drawing pentagrams in the air while facing the cardinal directions. The ritual is completed by invoking specific Archangels that preside in the four cardinal directions and represent the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. If this particular symbol set is not for you, there are similar rituals that can be performed based on the symbology of a variety of cultures.  

If you chose to practice this ritual, you often do it as an opening before doing any other magical work. You do it daily if you can, and your mind starts to become saturated with the symbols and sounds that you produce in the ritual. Usually fairly quickly in this practice, you’ll find that your unconscious mind starts spitting these symbols back to you. You’ll have dreams about the ritual or a specific symbol or sound found within it. You’ll find yourself suddenly noticing images of pentagrams and crosses in the outside world that you didn’t know before. You may even find that you suddenly meet someone else who practices this ritual, or discover that someone you already know practices it. In short, you’ve established a 2-way conversation with your unconscious mind.  

Beyond just encountering the symbols, you’ll notice the effect of the ritual itself. As you perform it over and over again, you’ll notice that the air around you does seem purified when you perform the LBRP, and that your mind is quiet and receptive. You’ll find yourself enjoying the ritual and looking forward to performing it and having that short communion with your inner self.  

Eventually, you’ll see that your unconscious mind catches on and decides to use the symbols on its own. I remember a time at work when this happened for me. I had been practicing the LBRP on a regular basis. The current culture at work was fairly oppressive, mostly due to an emotionally unstable supervisor. She said something to me that really angered me. I was about to react without thinking and say something I would regret, when I started to hear the god-names I normally chanted during the LBRP and felt the presence of the pentagrams. Immediately the negative emotions in my mind were banished and I was able to deal with the situation objectively and thoughtfully instead of just reacting emotionally.  

This is an example of how magical practice can create a dialogue between our conscious mind and our unconscious mind – our inner self. We can use this to change our behavior and to essentially program ourselves to be the best version of ourselves possible. We can use it to manifest desired changes in our lives. Remember, our unconscious mind sees everything, even if we do not notice it objectively. Once we have stated our intent, using symbols that our unconscious mind can easily understand, we find in short order that we begin to consciously notice opportunities and situations that can help us reach our intent. It is in this way that the magician become the driver of his or her life, rather than being a slave to unconscious biases, desires and fears.  

This is not an easy path to take. Throughout the process, we learn a lot about ourselves. Some of these things we will like, some of them we won’t like and will want to change. It requires a steadfast examination of our prejudice and fears, and methodic work to transform them into something more positive – more in line with who we wish to be. Yet as we progress in this process, we find ourselves becoming more complete and well-rounded individuals.  

At first glance, and indeed at the beginning of this process, this practice might seem to be merely a form of psychoanalysis. There is, however, a profound spiritual aspect to this work. This spiritual aspect is informed by our own personal beliefs and our religious symbol-sets and it gives us a magical direction that transcends just us. So far, we have talked about the “what” of magic. Now we will begin to talk about the “why” of magic. In order to do this, we need to talk about the collective unconscious and examine the ways in which humanity is connected with each other and with the universe itself. To study this, we must delve into Jungian Psychology, Qabalistic theory, and scientific theories on the creation of the universe. 

Just as it was with early scientific pioneers like Isaac Newton, Galileo or John Dee, for many early investigators of psychology there was a very fuzzy line between scientific and occult study. Both Carl Jung and Isaac Newton studied alchemy and magic in addition to their more traditionally scientific pursuits. In fact, Jung’s “Red Book” deals almost exclusively with the subject of alchemy.  

Jung’s studies of archetypes, symbols, and the subconscious mind were heavily informed by his occult knowledge and led to his theory of the collective unconscious. The collective unconscious is our common, ancestral memory. This explains why certain symbols, myths, and archetypes are similar across cultures, even cultures separated geographically that would not have encountered each other. It is a deep dive into the memory and experience of the human race as a whole, and is indicative of our inter-connectedness. The magician uses symbols, not only to tap into his or her own unconscious, but to explore and influence the shared consciousness of humanity. Through the collective unconscious, we can access the deepest part of human awareness, and gain knowledge and wisdom that is outside of our individual experience.  

Jung studied the Qabalah – a form of Hebrew and esoteric Christain mysticism- and through that study gained knowledge of the interconnectedness of all things. Qabalah, in its essence, is an esoteric explanation of creation. For Qabalists, creation began when mind became aware of itself. This combination of Mind and Awareness created duality and then the duality connected to form unity. From this unity energy distilled into ever more sophisticated states, and finally into matter; and the material universe came into being.  

Qabalistic theory is very similar to the scientific big bang theory of the beginning of the universe. There too was a point of potential energy that, through some medium of action began to expand. As this energy expanded it cooled and changed in density and form; and eventually formed stars and planets.  

In both Qabalistic and Big Bang theories, one constant remains. During this process of creation, nothing is added or taken away. What was there at the beginning is here now – no more, no less. Everything that is, is made up of the same stuff – stuff that has always been since the beginning of the universe and will always be until the end of the universe (if there is such a thing). Scientifically, this means that by looking at the smallest particle, or by looking far enough out into space, we can find the beginning of the universe, and discover more about how the universe works. Spiritually, it means that we can look within ourselves to discover our true nature – how we work – and understand our connection with everything else in creation. The key here, is the understanding that there is no real difference between a particle in our body and the particles that existed just after the big bang. Likewise, there is no real difference between our mind and the mind of god – merely a difference in perspective and in our level of realization.  

Looking at things this way, suddenly the simple statements made earlier about magical ritual being used to discover who we are and our purpose in life takes on new meaning. Jung says we are all connected in a collective unconscious. The Qabala says we are the same as creation itself. The mind of an individual is also the mind of the creator. The will of an individual is also the will of the creator. Spiritually speaking, by discovering who we are and our individual purpose, we take steps toward realizing the who and the why of creation itself.  

As is typical of magical practice, we began our journey in a very mundane place -at the grocery store -and ended with the creation of the universe; only to find that these two experiences are one in the same. We discovered that the power of our subconscious mind can control us; tell us what to buy, who to vote for, who is “good” and “bad”; or it can be used by us – by our free will – to discover our own true nature and purpose in life, and unite our will with the will of creation itself. Such is the nature of magical work, the great work, the Summum Bonum.