We recently re-watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a favorite series in my house), and there is a scene where Cordelia is burning some photographs after breaking up with Zander...and it got me thinking. There are a ton of things that we do that are magical, even if we don't think about or call them that.
Burning or otherwise destroying old photographs, or letters, after a breakup is a classic way of dealing with the heartbreak of the loss. It is also a great way to banish things we want to be rid of (which might include the memories of what we no longer have, that deep emotional connection that is no longer there).
What I think is odd is that if someone finds out a teen got dumped and is tearing up all their old love letters and burning pictures, no one thinks it's bad or evil. But if you mention that you are doing a banishing and burning a picture, suddenly it becomes a thing of fear.
Another 'ordinary magic' moment comes with wishing. We wish on all kinds of things: birthday candles, eyelashes, dandelion fluff, stars. It's something we teach children, it's something that is completely socially acceptable. But if you do a ritual action (which all of those things mentioned are ritual actions), and then call it a spell, it suddenly becomes a dangerous thing.
Breaking free from these stereotypes can be difficult for many people. They grew up hearing scary stories about what witchcraft and magic are, often associating them with demons or Satan or mental health issues, and they bring those associations with them. They may feel drawn to learn more, but a part of them is also scared.
Looking for the many ways we practice and celebrate magic in our lives can help to lessen those old stories, to make it easier to see that magic isn't what we grew up thinking it was. When we start to notice the places that magic manifests in our lives, we can see how we are already doing it.
Many people consider themselves semi-superstitious. They may laugh it off and not be very serious about superstitions, but they will still throw salt over their shoulder or avoid crossing under a ladder (especially when no one is watching). A lot of superstitions are built on magical theory, even the ones that seem mostly arbitrary.
Think about crossing under a ladder. There doesn't seem to be any real danger there. Yes, the ladder (and anything on it) could fall on you, but most of the time that isn't a big threat. I think this more falls into the category of liminal space. The area underneath the ladder becomes a temporary doorway...the kind of doorway that is often associated with the fey, and there are many, many warnings about interacting with them.
A lot of superstitions involve ritual actions for luck..or ritual actions to ward off bad luck. Take knocking on wood. This is something that many people say and do when they talk about something that 'might' happen, but is undesirable. They knock on wood (or say "knock on wood") to counteract the 'curse' of even mentioning it. Kind of like when people groan whenever someone says "This is going great!" because they feel that pointing out the good luck will cause something bad to happen.
Interestingly, again this belief often goes back to fey, spirits or Gods, and the idea that if you talk too highly about something, or point out how well things are going, some malicious (or trickster) spirit will come and change your luck. There are many cultures that avoid praising people to keep the attention of the Gods away from them.
Another really interesting place where magic seeps into our everyday life is with weather predictions. There are a TON of signs that people look for, in regards to the weather, and it is a common joke that we know so little about weather that you should listen to what the weatherman says...and expect the opposite. But weather predictions are a mixture of divination and science.
In many forms of divination, we are looking for signs and omens, things that tell us something is coming. We interpret those signs to see what we think might actually happen. A lot of weather omens are actually based on years of observation. People would see things happen in the world around them, and notice that when there was a halo around the moon, rain would often follow. And many of these signs are based on noticing atmospheric changes that do often lead to a specific weather occurrence. Where the randomness often comes in is that there are so many factors effecting the weather, that just because one indicator is there, doesn't mean something else might change the effect.
One sort of strange place where magic appears is with lucky items....or talismans. Often, when we first 'discover' a lucky thing, we will have some fortuitous event, and our mind will latch onto an object present at the time. We associate that boon with that object, and it becomes lucky in our mind. Where the magic comes in is now we start to ritualize our use of the object. If we had a particular pencil when we aced a test, we now want to use that pencil for all tests, because it will help us get a good grade. If we hit a home run while wearing a particular pair of socks, we now want to wear them to every game (and may not want to wash them, to avoid washing the luck out).
As we continue to use the object, anytime something good happens, we reinforce that talisman, and build that energy in it. Eventually, it does have the effect we believe it to have..because we believe in it and we've invested all this time in building that connection. This is essentially what we do when we choose to create a talisman, except instead of our subconscious mind picking the item for us, we deliberately choose an item to imbue with a property (such as luck, though you can create talismans for many different things!).
Sometimes adding more magic into our lives isn't a matter of doing more...it's a matter of seeing what is already there. There is magic all around us, and often in the things we are already doing. As we become more aware of this, we can tune in and put more deliberate attention on the actions we are doing, which makes the magic work better and quicker. We can charge our lives and enhance the magic that we are already tapping into! Just by being aware, and looking for the magic that already exists.
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