Post #4024110

2026-07-23 01:43 UTC

There's reasons for that. The demands made upon magic have been shaped by the harshness and cruelty and avarice that's typical of European and colonial civilization. If people feel they need magic it's usually because they're desperate, at the end of their rope, and face damnation and ruin at the hands of conventional authorities, most especially authoritarian Christians who claim that their rulebook about salvation and morality has the only answers anyone needs. Hence those who have sought magic have often been inclined to abuse it, or to make a mockery of it because such mockeries are very salable. I propose that the only way to repair this situation calls for two things, one obvious, one perhaps less obvious: authoritarian Christianity must be crushed, and magic as a concept needs to be legitimized. (cont'd)

Replies (1)

@mxchara@seattle.pink 2026-07-23 01:49

"Magical thinking", as a term and a concept, exists because #magic is seen as forbidden. If magic were an accepted discipline in human society it would become formalized and tamed by the need for a collective set of ethics, as well as the necessity of interacting smoothly with the rest of society. But because mainstream Christianity has become terminally obsessed with mere secular dominion and absolute control over humanity, "Western" society regards magic as superlatively sinful and that attitude carries over into irreligious fields like science. Bigotry, most especially #antisemitism, plays a key role. One of the worst general slanders against Judaism is that Jews are doing evil magicks, am accusation that has been terribly inflamed by European occultists who feel at liberty to steal things from Jewish mystics. (cont'd)

Open ##4024171