In the modern world, magic has largely been marginalized, reduced to a stereotype found in paperback books often associated with gullible teenagers going through rebellious phases. "Magic" and "myth" are frequently used derogatorily, implying primitive superstitions that should be left behind.
This decline of magic is not surprising given the prevalence of our modern mechanistic worldview, which seeks to explain phenomena solely through linear, deterministic cause-and-effect relationships, leaving no room for magic. In the modern context, magic is often perceived as a deus ex machina, a miraculous intervention that defies the established "laws" governing matter and energy. Popular culture, including works like the Harry Potter series, often portrays magic as such, contributing to the misunderstanding of its true nature.
However, when exploring more informed sources, such as the Norse Eddas and sagas, one discovers that magic is something fundamentally different from the modern misconceptions. Within certain worldviews distinct from our own, magic becomes a comprehensible and even ordinary concept.
A Definition of Magic
So, what is magic? One of the most notable definitions comes from Dion Fortune, a prominent 20th-century writer on magic, who defined it as "the art and science of causing change in consciousness in accordance with will."
Magic operates by directly influencing consciousness and, in many cases, indirectly affecting the physical world. This is the opposite of what modern science does, which produces changes in the physical world according to the "laws" of the physical realm. The goals of magic and science diverge significantly, leading to differences in their methods. Practitioners of magic do not conduct laboratory experiments, just as scientists do not typically engage in rituals with emotionally charged symbols before altars. Critics of older magical practices sometimes argue that magic is a primitive precursor to science, but they are distinct enterprises with different aims. Neither entirely supersedes the other, and in fact, as discussed below, magic continues to exist in the modern world, albeit in a disguised form.
The final clause of Fortune’s definition is “in accordance with will,” which refers to both the will of the person or people working the magic and the person or people upon whom the magic is worked. The elucidation of this principle in the 1590 work On Bonding in a General Sense by the Renaissance philosopher Giordano Bruno remains the most thorough to date. In this treatise, Bruno details the role of bonds – simultaneously in the sense of “relationships” or “closeness” and “fetters” or “constraints” – in magic. His central thesis is that in order to bind another – that is, to transform the desires of another so that they aid the fulfillment of one’s own desires – one must work with the other’s existing desires. To get someone to believe or to do something in accordance with one’s own will, one must present the belief or action in such a way that the person feels it to be in accordance with his or her own will, thereby satisfying the desires of both the enchanter and the enchanted. Whether this ends up helping or harming the person upon whom the magic is worked is beside the point here; either can be the case depending on the context. The point is that magic can only be successful if it satisfies the desires of all involved in the working. The historian of religion Ioan P. Couliano has rightly discussed On Bonding in a General Sense as a broader, more existential, and ultimately more ambitious counterpart to Machiavelli’s The Prince.