Magic vs. Devotion

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Catriona McDonald

11 July 2014

I rambled a bit on this in the Paths Between the Pillars comments, and thought it was an analogy I’d like to refer to again later:

At least to me, “magic” can be practiced by anyone, regardless of religion, while “devotion” indicates a particular type of interaction within one’s religious/spiritual framework. To make a rather silly comparison, magic is the Xbox; devotion is inviting your mates over for beer and pizza, where the Xbox may or may not come into play–Hel, you can even play the Xbox by yourself!

3 responses to “Magic vs. Devotion”

Nornoriel Lokason

11 July 2014

Reblogged this on The Serpent's Labyrinth and commented:
These are my sentiments exactly. You can play Xbox without beer and pizza, likewise you can have beer and pizza and Xbox.

(I can’t have beer at all, or pizza unless it’s gluten-free. *sadface* Also D is now going “hurr hurr ‘playing the Xbox’”. *facepalm* Spoopy spirits, they r srs bizness.)

One of my biggest pet peeves within paganism (and boy do I have many) is the idea that one has to practise magic (esp. witchcraft) to be pagan, or conversely that witchcraft/magic/whatever has to be religious in nature (such as invoking gods for a spell), or even involve a belief in entities at all. (I know plenty of agnostic/atheist witches.) Paganism =/= magic. For _me_ magic is a religious experience – magic is religion, magic is devotion for me – but they are not inherently one and the same thing, just like beer and pizza does not an Xbox make (but I imagine you could play a game on the Xbox wherein you acquire beer and pizza on the screen… and that was your moment of Zen for the day, folks).

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magickfromscratch

11 July 2014

This makes a good deal of sense to me. Being a polytheist, or any kind of theist at all, is not a pre-req for magical practice. Magic is not required for religion to take place.

Clearing this up is, I think, mostly a matter if just saying it a lot.

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locksley2010

17 July 2014

Exactly. Thank you very much! 🙂

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