Drops: On Magic
Fear of otherness is nothing more than fear of magic.
Magic is defined as the “art of influencing or predicting events and producing marvels using hidden natural forces.” But what I found most interesting is that to find the root of this word, one must dig very very far into the past. Magic has existed for centuries. Some say it comes from Old Persian PIE root of mahg, which means “to be able, to have power”.
Yesterday I was dancing with some friends with a big full moon in the background. There was a moment I turned to look at her and saw a shooting star fly right next to her. The sky was full of them. The best word I could use to describe this moment was: magic.
But magic has been swept under the carpet, forgotten and neglected under systems that oppress any attempt to be different. What we forget though, is that everything that we think of as more than human helps us connect to our humanity, that we are not humans without it.
David Abram reminds us in his essay Magic and The Machine: “Yet it’s the alterity or otherness of things — the weirdly different awareness of a humpback whale sounding its eerie glissandos through the depths, or an orb-weaver spider spinning the cosmos out of her abdomen; or the complex intelligence of an old-growth forest, dank with mushrooms and bracket fungi, humming with insects and haunted by owls — it’s the wild, more-than-human otherness of these powers that makes any attentive relation with such beings a genuine form of magic, a trancelike negotiation between outrageously divergent worlds. Without such radical otherness, there’s no magic”
This is what we need to constantly remind ourselves when we are divided. Fear of otherness is nothing more than fear of magic. Magic is an antidote to racism, sexism, transphobia and extraction.
What things you’ve seen or done in the past few days that felt magic? ✨
MAY THE MAGIC BE WITH YOU. ✨
Drops is a Waves column created by Virginia Vigliar, it showcases short reflections and knowledge sharing for you to water. If you need a quick break, want to be immersed in poeticism with purpose, then this is for you!
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