by Michael Skinner

Created on: July 27, 2009

There is something in nature which an animal can do that you wish you could do. Flying is one the most popular fantasies of that type and since there are no human beings that can fly unassisted without some kind of machine or contraption, the only way for a human being to fly unassisted would be through magic.

Some wish they could have the strength or speed or stamina of animals and magic - especially sympathetic magic - is a means to get that. There are fairy stores about getting the knowledge or skills of a mythical creature such as a dragon by eating a piece of its heart.

Most normal people spend some part of their lives wishing they were someone else. Men do this when they watch sports. Women do this when they watch a princess or a movie star. Again, magic allows this kind of wish fulfillment. Through magic you could become someone you always wanted to be.

Almost everyone has experienced something he wishes hadn't occurred. Something you did, or something that was done to you, or some freak accident that you would rather not have been apart of. Well imagine if you could make the broken glass go back to being a window. Or bring the dead back to life. Surely only magic could enable you to do this.

Where are all the people and items you have lost? What happens when you die? Many dream of the kind of magic of the oracle or the blind seer that can see the future.

Without faith, or spirituality or magic many feel that they are drifting through life, directionless, a victim of time, tide and circumstances. This is particularly so for those who had no grounding in organized religion and who have been brought up in a free western culture. In Asian cultures, like China, state sponsored atheism does not necessarily lead to faithless soul searching because of the basic Confucian underpinnings of the society. Many Asian cultures have a sense of shame and loyalty to parents, family and society in general. So the magical thinking that over takes the west now and then may not look as appealing to a more ordered society.

Magic can give those bereft of a orderly system of beliefs something to believe in. Even magic has rules. For instance: never call up what you can not put down. In other words - don't summon a demon who could kill you on the spot.

In some societies, religions, like Christianity, found it easier to supplant the existing magical thinking culture by taking on their holidays and rituals and giving them new names. New magic for old. New religions for old.

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