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May 12th. 2013 ...
 Pagan Studies I: How Should We Define Modern Paganism?
 Nothing Special... Part Two
 The Third Path
 Exploring Paganism

May 5th. 2013 ...
 Nothing Special.
 The Value of Multicultural Awareness
 Put Your Back Into It (Our Lady of the Sacred Honey Badger)
 Moon Musings, Planetary Preponderances and Red Lipped Bat Fish

April 28th. 2013 ...
 Lessons from the Lessers: Iris

April 21st. 2013 ...
 Taken By The Goddess: The Crescent Moon Tattoo
 The Gods/Being Godbothered
 To Be A Witch
 The Archetypes are Gods: Re-godding the Archetypes

April 14th. 2013 ...
 On The Inclusion of Children
 'Wand Fun' With Grandson
 Lessons from a Baby
 Lessons of Freedom: On Divinity and Healing

April 7th. 2013 ...
 Out of the Broom Closet... Sorta
 A Journey Through the Witches Tarot
 History and Science Behind Numerology

March 31st. 2013 ...
 What is the Magickal Self?
 Ethics and Numerology

March 24th. 2013 ...
 Keystones of the Sacred Land

March 17th. 2013 ...
 Why Some Pagans and Witches Still Hide
 Witch Heritage 101: What Happens When Witch Haters Joke about anti-Witch Films
 I'm Not a Broom. So What's with the Closet?

March 10th. 2013 ...
 Top Ten Stupid Things I Did as a New Pagan: Part 3
 Hunting for the Real Witch in Film
 The Collective Shadow
 Lies - The Opposite of Truth

March 3rd. 2013 ...
 Grounding and Releasing Negative Energy
 A Patchwork of Magick

February 24th. 2013 ...
 Top Ten Stupid Mistakes I Made as a New Pagan (Part Two)

February 17th. 2013 ...
 Top Ten Stupid Mistakes I made as a New Pagan... Part One
 Gardening with Crystal Energies
 A Call from the Ancestors
 Moon Musings, Planetary Preponderances and Black Water Snakes

February 10th. 2013 ...
 We Are the Weirdos, Mister: A Completely Uncool Story of Origin

February 3rd. 2013 ...
 "I'll Grind Your Bones to Make my Bread": Pagans and Animal Husbandry
 The Role of Contemporary Culture in Magic
 A Pagan Response to Endangered Earth
 The Great Mother's Gift, Heinlein, and the Nature of Squirrels
 13 Keys: The Glory of Hod

January 27th. 2013 ...
 Why We Do Need Wicca
 The Cosmos In the Coffee Shop
 Learning Consciousness
 On Travel Spirituality and Magick
 Gratitude

January 20th. 2013 ...
 Beloved Backs and How to Save Them
 Building or Burning Bridges?
 Plants, Magic and Intuition
 Plagiarism - How It Harms Our Community
 Looking Back

January 13th. 2013 ...
 Ramblings of a Pagan Guy: Stupid Clichés
 Know Thyself
 The Magick and Power of Words
 Aging Is Not Easy
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January 6th. 2013 ...
 Wicca v Witchcraft
 Innate Paganism
 A Witch in the Closet
 How Many People Can You Fit Under An Umbrella?
 Gut Hunches, Mouse Dreams, and Pinkie Sense
 Coming Home

December 30th. 2012 ...
 Ritual "Cheat Sheet" Bracelet
 Magick is All Around Us
 Confessions of a Living Satyr
 A Tiny Bit of Belly Dance History

December 23rd. 2012 ...
 The Warrior Goddess and You.
 World Change: A Message from Greece
 What's the Meaning of Life, Anyway?
 My Brother's Keeper

December 16th. 2012 ...
 Keeping Christ in Xmas
 Love is the Law
 Listen to Your Heart's Wisdom
 Reading the Book of Nature
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December 9th. 2012 ...
 The Elephant in the Room: Physical Fitness In Pagan Spirituality
 Magic Is Not for Free (Sometimes)
 Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

NOTE: For a complete list of articles related to this chapter... Visit the Main Index FOR this section.
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| Magick and Science

Author: Skymage
Posted: November 1st. 2009
Times Viewed: 2,256
While we witches, druids, shamans, and other assorted magical people often practice our craft discreetly, a large number of scientists have been busy, uncovering truths about our universe that prove us right. Most ancient cultures have myths that tell tales of great magick, such as levitation, causing objects to materialize out of thin air, visions, prophecies, spontaneous healing, and the ability to transform from one shape to another.
Ghosts, out of body experiences, ESP, and other types of experiences have been labeled “supernatural”, or paranormal. For many years, science frowned on these notions as pure fiction, or even worse, trickery. But over the last few decades, new advances in understanding the underlying structure of our universe, commonly referred to as The New Physics, are causing scientists to reexamine EVERYTHING.
This is a very complex but fascinating subject. Anyone who is truly interested in learning magick can only benefit by learning about it. So the following is my attempt to present, very briefly and simply, how this new understanding validates so much of the so-called “occult” and “supernatural”, and how we, as practitioners of the ancient craft, can use this knowledge to aid our work.
We will be venturing in the weird (wyrd) world of quantum physics, but don’t be scared. (If you’ve ever done any spell work in the past you’ve already worked at the quantum level, but just didn’t know it.)
So open your magical eyes, and prepare to take a new look at your universe.
Fred Allen Wolf, in his book “The Eagles Quest: A Physicist finds truth at the heart of the shamanic world”, wrote the following:
“It was once said by Sir James Jeans, the British philosopher, ‘The Universe begins to look more like a great thought than a great machine.’ And the more I journeyed into the shamanic world, the more this seemed true to me. It was clear to me that shamans use powers to deal with a universe we in the Western world tend to dismiss as imaginary. But that tendency was gradually vanishing, since the discovery of the hidden world of the atom and subatomic matter made physicists realize that it was impossible to entirely ascribe objective properties to ultimate matter and energy.”
Shamans enter into parallel worlds. It was now apparent that these other worlds were found in the imaginable realm, not just in the physical realm. Originally I believed that these other worlds were parallel physical realms, just like those predicted by quantum physics. Now I wasn’t sure that this was right.
Instead I began to see that the world of mythos was parallel to the physical world in a different sense. Somehow it was a world that eluded the uncertainty principal. It was a world that was determined in a way that my quantum physics training could not fathom. Somehow when shamans dealt with that world, a degree of control- and yes, even destiny- that wasn’t possible in the physical world was manifested.
That shamans could tune into that destiny and that prospect, for some reason, frightened me.
“It was becoming apparent to me that the real power of shamanic physics was the ability to alter matter by altering the world of the mind. This meant that shamans must have the ability to enter the mind world and they must be able to find their way back.”
As witches, or shamans, we use a wide variety of techniques in our various workings. We might be attempting to commune with a particular deity to gain wisdom. We might try to catch a glimpse of the times, future, past, or present, in the stones or cards. Sometimes we try to send healing to our loved ones. We may light candles and cast circles, we may visualize flowing light, or we may just be feeling for vibes. But regardless of what we are trying to do, or how we are trying to do it, what we are actually doing is attempting to connect our conscious will with the rest of the universe in order to effect change.
Now, most of us have no idea how something like that is actually done. So we begin with our imaginations. We enter the imaginable realm Mr. Wolf speaks of in his book. We visualize, we imagine feelings, sounds, songs, and lights. We visualize that the work we are doing is healing someone, and we see him or her getting better in our minds eye. Or we long to speak with a particular deity or spirit, and we construct an image in our minds, a living image where we can see them, hear them, smell them, etc.
With practice, it becomes easier and easier. Our experiences become more detailed, more vivid, and more alive. After a while it seems we are no longer using our imagination at all. Our magick becomes real, and alive. At least to us.
As witches, we know this is true. We know it because we live it, and we love it because the experiences are so very real. Often they seem more real than our everyday lives. But what if these experiences that started out as our imaginings were actually much more than that? What if the very act of imagining, visualizing, or having an expectation of an outcome, caused an actual change in the matter and energy around you?
Well guess what, it does. Science calls this the observer effect. It takes place on the sub-atomic level, where the line between matter and energy is blurred. Remember Einstein’s famous E=MC2? Translated, it means energy = mass x speed of light squared.
In essence, energy and matter are the same thing, in two different forms. Energy is light, heat, microwaves, radio waves, x-rays, and other forms of radiation.
We always speak of energy in terms of waves, with different frequencies, or vibrations. According to Einstein, matter is simply energy, or “waves”, in a different form. This has been verified through scientific experimentation.
On the subatomic level, it turns out that those little particles that make up an atom, the electrons, the protons, and the neutrons, aren’t solid little particles after all, but tiny energy packets. These energy packets “wave”, or vibrate, and they have either a positive or negative charge.
Scientists call these wave/particles quantum waves of probability.
The observer effect is a very strange phenomenon that occurs when scientists try to observe these sub-atomic particles, or quantum waves. When they try to observe a particular objects position, it looks like a particle. IT appears solid, a pinpoint. But when they try to observe it’s motion, it appears as a wave. It no longer appears solid, and can even seem to be in two places at once. It is as if the object is both a particle and a wave, and it will show itself to be one or the other, depending on what you are looking for.
This is very strange, and when scientists first discovered this phenomenon they had a hard time believing it. How can something be both a particle and a wave at the same time, yet only appear as one or the other, depending on what you’re trying to see? And how can something be in more than one place at a time?
After many experiments by many different scientists, there was only one conclusion: Their expectations caused that which was being observed to change it’s appearance, or form.
The questions arises then: How does this particle know whether to appear as a particle or a wave, unless it somehow is aware of what the observer’s expectations are? This again puzzles scientists, but a growing number of them have come to realize that some sort of consciousness must exist in all matter and energy in order for this to happen. (To me this sounds very much like the Native American belief that spirit exists in all things.) And this consciousness is obviously interacting with the observer’s consciousness. They exchange information, even though the observer is not aware of it.
Well, even if this is true, how does this affect me and anything I’m trying to do with my magick, you might be thinking about now? First of all, we are all conscious beings. Think of your own body. It is composed of atoms too. Just like everything else that appears to be solid around you.
But we now know that we aren’t exactly solid at all, we are really a seething mass of quantum waves of probability. Each of our subatomic particles has it’s own tiny consciousness. Because of this we aren’t really individual’s at all, but a collection of billions of tiny consciousnesses all working together. (or not. How many times do we feel torn between two or more thoughts or feelings within ourselves?)
It gets even weirder. The vacuum of space itself has been found to not be the simple “nothing” it appears to be. In fact, the vacuum is inherently unstable, a constant flux of what is called zero point energy. It is both positive and negative. Because it is unstable, this zero point energy can “fall out” of the vacuum and into existence.
Matter, energy, antimatter, and as certain physicists are starting to suspect, even spirit, soul, and consciousness, have their origin in the vacuum itself. Scientists have actually created electrons out of the nothing of the vacuum in the laboratory. Scientists have also observed electrons going back into the vacuum, disappearing from this universe.
Many physicists are starting to suspect that our electrons are able to exchange information with the rest of the universe in this way, just as the scientists are able to cause a subatomic object to appear as either a particle or wave by their expectations. Clairvoyance, ESP, prophecy, and other psychic phenomena have a basis in the interactions of your subatomic particles with the fabric of space/time itself.
And remember, the vacuum exists within you as well. There is so much distance between your electrons and protons that literally we are all over 99% empty space. So any interactions between your subatomic particles and the vacuum actually take place within you.
So not only is there no difference between ourselves and the rest of the physical universe, it turns out we aren’t even solid beings at all! The solidness is merely an illusion. Just as so many mystics and messiahs over time have claimed, we are beings of light, our atoms nothing more than little vibrating energy packets that are constantly interacting with the fabric of space and time. And the vibration of our universe is like a song, or word, as described by many different belief systems the world over. When the vibration ceases, so does existence. That particular subatomic particle/wave disappears; it’s energy going back into the vacuum, sort of. (Best way I can think of to describe it.)
The profound implications of this new understanding of the universe are just starting to be realized. The universe was indeed created out of “nothing”. Matter and energy can “appear” out of nothing, and there is nothing supernatural about it. You can “see” into the future if your awareness is focused enough to sense the consciousness of the new electrons you just picked up from the vacuum that may have already been to the future. Miraculous healing can occur if you are able to consciously adjust the quantum vibrations of the part of your body that is ill so that is matches the rest of your vibration. (So that your subatomic parts are all singing the same song, if you will.)
To the practicing magician, this information is invaluable. Visualization is the key to all successful magick. And now we have scientific proof that our visualizations and expectations do indeed affect the very fabric of space and time, and the structure of matter and energy. Of course, to affect very great change would require a great deal of concentration and awareness, very likely more than any of us, swept up in our modern rush, rush world so filled with distractions, could ever develop.
But back in ancient times, the world was quiet, and nature, not our narrow ideologies, dominated our thoughts. So many stories tell of great magick in those times. Perhaps, with the help of science, we can learn to regain some of that. So next time you’re in circle, remember that your visualizations are actually doing something, however slight, on the sub-atomic scale of the universe. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, the universe does indeed hear your wishes.
There is so much more to this approach than I have written about here. It would take many, many presentations to cover all I’ve learned in my twenty years of studying magick from this perspective. But truly, in my opinion as well as the opinion of many others who actually hold degree’s in quantum physics, we are reaching a time where science is finding the truth behind many of our deepest held beliefs.
There are a large number of books on this subject available, many more than I have read myself or listed below. (You’re all welcome to come over my house and check out my library anytime.) Some of them are a little hard to read for the non-scientifically inclined, but most of them were written with the non-scientist in mind, and they do a much better job of explaining than I have.
Footnotes: Bibliography
The Matter Myth – Dramatic discoveries that challenge our understanding of physical reality: By Paul Davies and John Gribbin
The Mind of God: - Paul Davies
The Cosmic Blueprint – Paul Davies
A Brief History of Time – Stephen Hawkings
The Eagles Quest – A physicist finds scientific truth at the heart of the shamanic world: By Fred Allen Wolf
Parallel Universes: By Fred Allen Wolf
*The Spiritual Universe – How Quantum Physics proves the existence of the soul: By Fred Allen Wolf
Taking the Quantum Leap: By Fred Allen Wolf
The Big Bang Never Happened: By Eric J. Lerner
Copyright: Copyright 2000 by Lorraine Hammock

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