A Few Notes About Magic & Magick

Before I get into my notes, let me just make something very clear: I am not a practitioner of the occult. I am not a supporter of the occult. I am not in the least bit interested in dabbling in the occult. The Bible forbids the use of that kind of magic. I am just clearing up what I've learned about the differences between magic in works of fiction and real world magic. And when I say "real world magic," I am not talking about parlor magic, which is the stuff that illusionists--entertainers use. I mean occult magic, which is spelled with a c and a k at the end.

And while there are works of fiction that contain depictions of occult magick, I follow the Bible's prohibition against using it. Pirates of the Caribbean and Disney's The Princess and the Frog both contain depictions of Voodoo, which is occult magick. But Pirates is very tongue-in-cheek so those movies can't be taken seriously. And no, I am not advocating that movies with depictions of occult practices trivialize the use of Magick. When occult practices work, they are dangerous. When they don't work, there isn't as much of a danger. At least, that's what I've heard a couple of Catholic clergy members say.

I am just saying that you're fine when you enjoy the Pirates of the Caribbean films. As I pointed out in a previous blog post, Jimmy Akin loved those movies and he defends the Catholic faith for a living. And he's been doing that for a long time.

In my opinion, it is too much when movies like Doctor Strange use real world occult terms and base some of their fictional magic on real world occult practices.

Depictions of magic like in Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Disney movies are fine, because the magic in those aren't the type of magic condemned in the Bible.

 

The attitude of "Why would I want magick when I have God who loves me with the love of a father and a spouse," has certainly helped me.