Concepts
Reality
Studying Rosicrucianism introduced me to the concept of actuality vs reality. The problem in using the concept of reality as a measure of truth, they say, is that none of us can experience the reality of another person or being. The reason for this, of course, is that each of us can only interpret the environment around us with the help of sense organs integrated into our physical bodies.
I use my eyes to identify a color or shape, for example. You use your eyes to do the same. We can communicate and agree that what we see is a given shape or color. However, we cannot literally see through another set of eyes. We cannot interpret that visual stimuli in the way another does. In short, we have no way to know if the way we interpret the world around us is the same way another does.
Of course, there are methods of dealing with this, if there weren’t, we’d have a much harder time creating stuff like language and society. In fact, we have all agreed (by way of early childhood socialization) on foundational Truths, such as the real-ness of the physical, and the un-real-ness of the non-physical.
Despite these large-scale shared Truths, they are still, at the end of the day, a part of our own, unique, personal reality.
Actuality
So, if we all experience our own unique reality that no other living being can experience, what, if anything, exists outside of that? What holds our shared realities?
Our own unique, individual reality is how our physical body, our physical senses, realize the actuality. If all our individual realities were suddenly blipped out of existence, we’d be left with actuality, or, what actually is.
We cannot conceive of what this looks like, as it exists outside what our physical organs can sense. I think about it as a dense sea of subatomic particles, by which I mean, however we conceive of the smallest unit of material in existence. This sea of particles exists in a relatively neutral state, but as it is sensed by different beings in different dimensional realities, the particles are zhuzhed up into different combinations, creating, in our 3-dimensional reality, things like elements and, eventually, objects and beings.
This is, I think, obviously a complex topic that deserves an intense amount of investigation and thought. That is, however, far beyond the scope of this post. What’s important to remember here is: Reality is how we experience actuality. Plenty of stuff exists outside of our own realities, but there is no “outside” of actuality.
What is Magic?
Using the above model, magic can be understood as the ability living beings have to manually change their realities.
We typically think of magic being dependent on something like a witch’s spell, and while that is certainly one way to practice magic, it is by no means the only way. In fact, the insane thing to realize about magic is that it is a process that we are participating in constantly.
When you learn to play a musical instrument, a saxophone, say, you have to spend considerable time teaching and training your muscles to do things they’ve never done before. All 10 of your fingers are being used independently, and each needs to gain muscular strength in different ways. Additionally, you need to learn to form the correct embouchure, to hold your lips and tongue in the correct position to produce sound, not to mention learning to breathe in a way that supports that sound.
None of those abilities are exactly new to the novice. We all already use our fingers, our lips, our tongues, and our lungs, of course. But unless we’ve already had to learn some similar skill, we may have never observed these processes, and learning to even identify the correct muscle to focus on can feel impossible.
Magic is the same. It’s a process that is integral to our existence, and is something that we are doing all the time, as a matter of course. A magician (or wizard, as the case may be) is someone who is determined to learn to isolate, identify, and to control that process, in the same way meditation can teach us to control our minds and breathing. (control isn’t exactly the right word here, but manipulate feels weird, too. please substitute the correct word thanks)
Practically, changing your reality means just that. It means that you’ve done something (a spell, ritual, meditation, prayer, whatever) in which you have declared an intention. That intention goes to work in your subconscious mind to alter the reality you exist in. If your own reality is akin to a computer program, magic is learning to input the correct commands to change shit up. Perhaps you’ve done a ritual asking for a higher income. A few weeks later, perhaps, a higher-paid promotion becomes available, you get a raise, or are offered another job.
How this all happens is largely mundane, in that it’s by way of channels that we’re already familiar with; that is to say that a change in personal intention can create changes in how you understand yourself. Those changes are broadcast to those around you, and your world changes within as well as without. An easy example is a beauty spell that makes you feel more beautiful. If you actually feel more beautiful inside your self, people around you will find you more beautiful as a result, and will treat you as such.
What is the MAGA mindset?
At this point, I don’t think anyone is confused by what is meant by MAGA folks. But, in case you’ve spent the last 10 years under a rock, MAGA stands for “Make America Great Again,” the slogan of Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign. Despite having four years in the white house, the slogan stuck around for his next presidency.
The Trump regime made significant departures from typical American Conservatism (though, the venn diagram has a whole ton of overlap), working with fascist and nationalistic beliefs repacked as patriotism. “MAGA” is used to represent the group of people that support the Trump regime explicitly because of his more extreme views. American Republicans may argue that trans folks should not be allowed to be openly trans in the military, but MAGA goes farther, creating a world where trans people are violent sex criminals stalking our poor women and children in public bathrooms. The difference here is that MAGA creates narratives (or, you know, straight up fucking lies) to prop up their more extreme beliefs, something that often works to sway people who may not themselves share the extreme beliefs.
We have all learned in the past few years that when you encounter a MAGA person, it’s best to not engage. Why? Because they will refuse to agree on any shared reality. All Truth has been compromised for them, and they can seemingly only sense a narrow band of stimuli.
Magic vs Brainwashing
It was during a recent onslaught of texts from some MAGA family members of mine that I realized they were, quite literally, interpreting words that we were sharing in conversation in a way completely different than I was. We were talking past each other and not realizing it. It’s like we were speaking different languages, but both languages use all the same parts and pieces.
And, it’s then that I started to realize that the process which leads to brainwashing is the same process as magic.
Magic is the intentional and directed attempt to change your reality.
Brainwashing is having had your reality changed, whether as a result of your own work, or as the result of a charismatic figure in your life.
In another time, perhaps, we might say that our MAGA family and friends had been cursed, or were under the control of dark magic. From our point of view, someone we knew and loved suddenly transformed into someone else. Depending on their beliefs and rhetoric, we might have been led to describe them as heartless or brainless, suggesting they may have been replaced by some type of golem or spirit.
Agency
Having accepted this model (even just for the purpose of reading this post), we can see that non-physical mental/emotional/spiritual concepts like “brainwashed” and “magical” exist as parts of a continuum of other non-physical experiences.
However, because it is non-physical, and because we have been socialized away from interacting with the non-physical, we all engage with and understand the non-physical (“thinking” is included here) in unique ways. Is that voice in your head your spirit guide? Maybe a demon? Is it your conscious? The still, small voice? Is it God? Humanity has created so, so many systems and structures to deal with the non-physical, imbuing most with good/bad values, as humans are wont to do.
Therefore, since we all have, essentially, our own unique internal structures, we all also have varying levels of agency when it comes to the structure itself. Belief systems that you might consider “occult” today often are based on the idea that you actually have significant agency in your reality, if only you can learn to hold the reigns. Other structures offer less agency, or none at all. This isn’t good or bad, but simply representative of the unique footing we all stand on.
The varying degrees of agency we feel has an incredible impact on our ability to think critically (that is, to question what we see and think), and, therefore, impacts our ability to allow our realities to be changed by someone other than ourselves.
Jim Jones, Donald Trump, Charles Manson, and other cult leaders have a type of charisma, a way of connecting with other people that inspires and fosters trust. Of course, this isn’t a bad thing! None of these things we’re talking about have a moral value. It’s like saying breathing is good or bad. It, of course, isn’t good or bad. It’s, instead, a function of being alive. Similarly, socializing is, in many ways, a function of being alive.
Would-be cult leaders usually find themselves with a following of people. Before they had even thought of starting a cult, their natural personality caused people to be drawn to them. Whether intentionally or not, these individuals start creating their own realities (how could you not? All your friends support all your ideas!), and, because of the foundation of trust they’ve built with their followers, those individuals begin to (usually, unconsciously) alter their own realities.
These people, then, have passively slid into a reality that is different than the baseline global reality. The degree of difference may have something to do with the degree of damage these groups do, and/or the damaging conditions they put up with.
If these people don’t start questioning their reality on their own, they may happily stay in that reality for the rest of their lives. Unless, of course, they are forcibly removed from the group and then undergoes de-programming, in which they are reintroduced to the reality you and I exist within.
Conclusion
All of this is to say that magic has, in centuries past, been feared. I believe that fear came from a legitimate place and, because of how we’ve come to understand magic today, is something we, foolishly, no longer connect with. The only people who shouldn’t fear magic today are magicians. Only magicians know how to manage their sphere of reality. But who is a magician in today’s world?
Aren’t politicians magicians, really? Don’t they work overtime to curate a particular reality in the minds of their constituents that will result in them maintaining their current levels of power and wealth? Aren’t celebrities magicians? Certainly any royal is.
To be clear, I don’t mean that these people are occultists, but that they practice magic in a way that isn’t seen as such. Most likely, they don’t realize they’re doing it. They may understand it as charisma, star-power, masculinity, or something else entirely.
Regardless, the changing of your circumstances, of your reality, of the way you understand the actuality, is magic.
In this way, I think the proliferation of the MAGA Curse has given those of us still outside it an incredible opportunity to see some practical applications of magic. Trump (and, more accurately, his hobgoblins or advisors or whatever) has caused so much destruction, death, and evil to wash over the planet and I bet you $10 bro never even read Crowley. Magic is not something you only access in your sanctum or in your circle. It’s not something you can only interact with after hours of ritual. It can be, of course, but it’s also something you’re literally using constantly.
Magic is an energy, and that energy fuels you. Try and notice it, and notice how, in very little ways, you are constantly changing your reality. Magic is deeply related to psychology and sociology. Learn to experience it as such. As you do so, however, remember Crowley’s less famous axiom: Love is the Law.