Understanding Magic
MASS MEDIA MAGIC HAPPENS in a twinkling of an eye (or, if you’re Samantha from Bewitched, in the twitching of a nose). The witch who knows the proper “arcane words” and “cryptic gestures” need not worry about the laws of physics or consensus reality. Annoying door-to-door salesmen can be transformed into much less repellent toads; oncoming ninjas can be stopped with a well-timed lightning bolt from a wand or fingertip. Harry Potter and his Hogwarts friends, Gandalf dispensing advice and kicking Balrog butt, Mickey Mouse battling the army of brooms he brought to life—all these and more are part of our collective mythology.
By now you’ve undoubtedly internalized this model. You’ve seen it played out thousands of times on TV, at the movies, or in video games. And you probably (hopefully!) know that this bears little resemblance to the actual practice of magic. But what you know in your head and what you feel in your bones and expect in your heart may be very different things. If you want to work real magic, you first should take a look at how special effects have colored your hopes and expectations.
You know that Hollywood magic is not real—but can you put aside this disbelief for your spellwork? Can you light your candle or prepare your bath without thinking “This is all a big game of let’s pretend; of course magic only happens in fiction”? If not, you can hardly be surprised when you get little in the way of results. Expect your magic to be psychodrama or a symbol of intention and more often than not it will fulfill your expectations. Leave yourself open to a quiet miracle (or even a loud one), and you have a much better chance of getting it.
Admittedly, this can be easier said than done. We’re children of the Enlightenment and the Age of Reason, naturally skeptical of the supernatural and miraculous. Our culture has a considerable prejudice against magic. Those who believe in spellwork are scorned as superstitious or gullible, even delusional. Simply by purchasing this book, or others like it, you have shown a great deal of courage. You have set yourself apart from most of your peers, from those who would not believe even if they saw.
The best way to overcome the hurdle of disbelief is continued practice. As you work with the lwa, you’ll find they soon make their presence unmistakably clear. (As a Houngan of my acquaintance once explained, this is how they “send you their bill” and let you know that they’ve fulfilled your request and now expect the payment you agreed upon earlier.) Once you have a few Vodou success stories under your belt, doubt will be the least of your worries!
(Of course, this may lead you to yet another hurdle: fear. Many people enjoy the aesthetics of magic and spellcraft, and are quite happy with viewing their rituals as entertainment. The idea that there might be Someone or Something Out There answering their call fills them with terror. There is no shame in this. Getting your reality tunnel warped is an unsettling experience at best, and when dealing with magic a little bit of fear can help ensure a good deal of caution.)
But Hollywood magic may have instilled other even more detrimental and insidious ideas. You may expect that magic works like, well, magic: that it can change your life and your world without any other effort on your part. Instead of using spellwork as one part of a campaign to attain goals, you might use magic as an end in itself. The aspiring wizard sits at home casting prosperity spells without perusing the want ads, or love spells without making any effort to win the desired partner. When the results prove less than spectacular, he may decide that there’s nothing to this stuff after all. Alternately, the magician-tobe may decide the problem lies with the system of magic he or she is using. Cursing the time wasted on “phony baloney,” he or she goes off yet again in search of what Raven Kaldera has called “the Great Barbie Who Gives You Stuff.”
We can learn to overcome many of our misconceptions by studying cultures that still take magic seriously. Vodouisants don’t see magicians as gray-bearded Gandalfs or sparkly Fairy Godmothers. Instead, we consider them skilled professionals, people who practice their craft on a regular basis and who have attained some degree of knowledge and practical experience. They don’t just study magic or read about it: they do it. In many cases, they are successful enough to do it for a living, sometimes a lucrative one. For them, magic isn’t something out of a fairy tale; it’s a day job.
This may seem a strange way of thinking; indeed, many will find it distasteful. To them magic should be something sacred, set apart from the concerns of the marketplace and untainted by filthy lucre. But there are many benefits to learning from professionals. When your livelihood depends on your success in your trade, you have every incentive to become skilled at it. (We should also note that cultures that pay their magicians show their belief in magic’s power. Are we worried about con artists using fake “spells” to fleece the gullible? Or is our disbelief so entrenched that we assume anyone who sells magic must be perpetrating a fraud?)
You may not have a Houngan or Mambo in your neighborhood, and you may not be able to attend fets (Vodou ceremonies) regularly because of geographic, health, or other issues. That doesn’t mean that you can’t use Vodou’s magical techniques or that you can’t gain a better understanding of Vodou’s worldview. Like many a skilled trade, one masters Vodou by doing, and so we’re going to start by learning one of Vodou’s most important secrets—how to call on the lwa and ask for their assistance!