I believe in magic.

There. I said it and the roof didn’t cave in on me.

Ready for the kicker? I’m pretty sure that you believe in magic, too.

But can you say that out loud?

Okay, go ahead. Say it like you mean it: “I believe in magic.”

Can’t quite get the words out with conviction, can you? I understand.

Because for the last 300+ years – ever since the Enlightenment – the ideal of rationality has dominated the Western world. So much so that to claim you believe in magic today is our modern-day version of blasphemy.

Don’t get me wrong, operating on a basis of scientific rationality has done some amazing things for our world: Democracy! Science! The Internet! Rockets that shoot people into outer space!

But the “rational” is only one side of the story of our human existence. You and I both know that life is about more than that.

We’re taught from birth to believe that anything not proven by the scientific method is just fantasy, a fairy tale. Until here we are: in a black hole of meaninglessness where once things like myth, folklore, meditation, prayer, ritual, and magic were rooted, helping us to express and incorporate the ephemeral nature of our existence into our everyday lives.

It’s a void that can never be filled with the meagre offerings of rationality and skepticism we are fed like pablum. A spiritual malnourishment that our entire society seems to be suffering from.

And so you start to lose faith… In magic. In your own soul. In the wonder and awe-inspiring nature of your very existence.

There’s a reason that “magical” stories, movies and television shows are so popular. They capture not just our imaginations, but remind us of what it is that we’re missing from our lives.

We’re hungry for something to fill that void we’ve created.

But real magic isn’t as flamboyant as what you see on the Hollywood screen.

It’s found right here in daily life. In synchronicity. In one too many coincidences. In déjà vu. Or in that moment when you think about someone just a millisecond before the phone rings and it’s them on the other line. (All phenomenon that have, of course, been roundly dismissed by skeptics, with only scoffs of pity for those of us too uneducated and naïve to believe in this stuff.)

Which makes it all the more ironic that it’s actually at the frontiers of science that we find the first stepping stones we can use to bridge that gap between the rational and the magical.

What do I mean by that? Well, we know that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It’s one of those First Rules of Science that you learn in school. You can thank Einstein for that one, but let’s take this even further.

It was Einstein who also said that “matter is energy, whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses.”

Which means that everything in our three-dimensional plane of existence is simply energy resonating at various frequencies. Solid, liquid, gas; everything is energy.

Even the thoughts you think are nothing more than electrical energy being transported across the neurons in your brain.

Now here’s where it gets really juicy.

New research in quantum theory has postulated that, for events on the quantum level, all outcomes are possible right up until the moment at which we perceive the outcome. And more than that, it is the influence of our very act of perceiving that affects the reality of the final outcome. As in retroactively influences. As in the outcome determines the beginning.

Which seems totally bonkers until you throw in the recent theory that time is simply a function of our perception and not a constant, fundamental law of the universe.

Well, then you can begin to contemplate how creating magic in the “now” that we perceive and then experiencing its outcome in the “now” of a future moment might not actually be as impossible as it first sounds.

But maybe you’re not convinced. Maybe you’re ready to dismiss all of this as “woo-woo” nonsense. If so, think about this:

Radio waves are shuttling complex data like wifi signals and telephone calls through time and space ALL THE TIME. All you need is the right tool to pick it up.

Just like human ears have evolved to be tools that pick up sound waves.

Just like human eyes have evolved to be tools that pick up the refraction of light waves.

Our brains are also tools; receivers where we take in the information we’re getting from all sources – skin, eyes, ears, nose – and order that information into thoughts that we can process as useful information.

So now, what if our emotions and our subconscious intuitions were also tools?

I mean think about it: Why else would you use words like “up” and “down” to describe emotional states the same way you would use those words to describe tuning a radio?

Except these tools (emotion and intuition) allow you to process and understand a different kind of energetic information swirling around you at all times, thus allowing your brain to transform it into conscious thoughts and directed actions.

Almost 40 years ago – long before most of the scientific studies I mentioned above were done – Starhawk wrote the following in Spiral Dance, her seminal volume on Goddess traditions:

“The primary principle of magic is connection. The universe is a fluid, ever-changing energy pattern, not a collection of fixed and separate things. What affects one thing affects, in some way, all things: All is interwoven into the continuous fabric of being. Its warp and weft are energy, which is the essence of magic.”

So what if fairies and other magical beings were real, but just matter resonating on an energetic frequency that we can’t normally perceive?

And what if when you do think of someone a second before they call it’s because time is just a perception and the energy of their intention has reached you faster than your phone could receive the radio wave transmission?

What if the “Power of Prayer” was just one example of a larger phenomenon, and that a chant, or a spell, or any words and thoughts focused with intention had more power than you could even imagine?

What if the “Placebo Effect” wasn’t just a trick of the mind, but an example of the energetic resonance of belief to transform reality?

What if you could actively work towards making your energy resonate in unison with a goal you wished to accomplish, or an outcome you wished to see come about? (Just like that phone call sent out across the radio waves to find the matching phone number to connect to.)

What if making magic meant that you understood these connections and then used them intentionally?

What if all you had to do to practice magic in your life was to learn how to tune yourself in to it? To recognize it?

What if it just boiled down to an emotion or an intention coupled with a tool that was used to focus your energy and modify its resonance?

Do you see where I’m going with this? Imagine the possibilities!

Because all those things: the crystals, written words, candles, charms, rituals, even seasonal festivals and traditions. They’re all just tools. They’re not the source of the magic. Sure, they may have properties that can enhance your practice and align your resonance, but the true magic lives within you.

Magic isn’t just a trick. It’s not a simple coincidence, or else something science hasn’t figured out yet. Magic is all around you all the time. It’s a part of your existence, of your reality. It’s a function of the universe… And the universe is so much bigger and more mysterious than our tiny little overly rational human minds can possibly comprehend.

Are you getting excited now? Is your mind opening to things that you were too afraid or ashamed to let yourself believe in before? Perfect.

So how about we try this again? I want you to say it like you mean it this time. Are you ready?

Say, “I believe in magic!”

There, now doesn’t that feel better?