The Decline of Magic
Writing from the year 1709, I'm currently standing at the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, the intellectual upheaval that revolutionised philosophical and political thinking in the 18th century. But prior to this development was a much more fundamental revolution in western thinking, a revolution which happened during my lifetime and which changed western thinking forever: The Decline of Magic, the Disenchantment of the World. In my opinion it's this revolution, and not the following Age of Enlightenment, which consists the transition between antique and modern thinking, between feudalism and capitalism, between power given by god and power founded on reason, thus between medieval and modern state.
What is Magic?
Before we discuss the decline of magic, let me define what magic is. Magic is not about throwing fire balls, or about transforming enemies into sheep, or about strangling telekinetically someone whose lack of faith you find disturbing. Magic is more, it's deeper, it's a state of mind, a concept profoundly rooted in what the wise men of your time might call "collective subconscious". It can be resumed as follows:
* THE SYMBOL IS IDENTICAL WITH THE SYMBOLIZED. *.
This is the very core idea of magic. Let me illustrate this by a shaman putting needles into a voodoo doll, in order to inflict pain to the depicted human. This has nothing to do with causality for the shaman, the voodoo doll is identical with the human. Thus, by hurting the doll he directly hurts the human. This is called "mystical participation" or "mystical identity".
Another example are cavemen "killing" a drawing of an aurochs before a hunt the drawn aurochs is thought to be identical with the real one, and its symbolic killing identical with the later real killing. Again, one cannot empathize enough that this has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with causality mystical identity is a concept ages older than causality. Yet other examples is a magician who draws the symbol of a tempest into the air, or an amulet symbolizing a protective spirit or force, or a necromancer invoking a demon by calling his name. Those examples show that the symbol does not need to be an object or a drawing it can be a symbolic act called "ritual" a word or sentence, or a name.
(As a sidenote, names are thought to be very powerful symbols, and speaking one's "real" name means wielding power over him. That's why the name of the Jewish god shall not be spoken; that's why Satanists speak the name of a demon to summon them; and that's why Rumpelstiltskin hides his name - as do Tolkien's dwarfs.)
The decline of magic during my reign
I was born into a world full of magic. Magic was part of every day's life. Processions were considered an efficient way to fight against pandemics, wise women were believed to practice witchcraft, and the touch of the King was believed to have healing powers. However, since these days, scientists and philosophers like Descartes, Galilee, Locke and Newton have established a new worldview, one that views the world not as a giant organism where touching one part hurts the whole body, but as a giant machine with parts linked by causality. The concept of causality goes back to Aristotle, but it now claims the role up to now occupied by magic : The force that holds the world together in its inmost folds. That does not mean that the crowd does no longer believe in magic every Holy Saturday, I touch about two thousand sick people but the thinking heads or Europe, the intellectual elite, have abandoned it. Processions against the pest are no longer hold, and the persecution of witches in France stopped around 1680, one decade before the witch trials in Massachusetts.
By the way, one might notice a subtle yet important modification in the formula I speak when I touch a sick person: My predecessors said "The king touches you, God heals you", and so did I at the beginning of my reign. But nowadays the formula is "The king touches you, may God heal you. " That means, the touch is no longer considered as identical with the healing - it is a demand to God to heal. It's no longer an act of magic - it's a prayer, in a fashion.
Political consequences
If you think the only political consequences of this change of mind have been the fact that the parliament of Paris denies nowadays the existence of witchcraft, you couldn't be more wrong. The change shatters, in fact, the very foundation of monarchy. One should not forget that in France, as all over in Europe, symbols contribute to the legitimization of the monarchy. The authority of the king over his subjects is often symbolized by the authority of a father over his children but as long as the symbol is identical with the symbolized, the king is the father of his subjects. In consequence, the commandment "You shall honour your father and mother" applies to the king. This patriarchal, god-wanted power is now undermined by authors like Locke who see in the supposed identity of king and father nothing more than just an analogy.
The father symbol is not the only one formerly used to strengthen the authority of the crown. A king is often be compared to Heracles or to Apollo. In the magical worldview, this means that in a mystical sense, the king is identical with Heracles or Apollo. In the modern worldview, it's just an analogy. As for myself, I have my proper symbol: The Sun. At the beginning of my reign, my subjects considered me as mystically identical with the sun, and I did everything to strengthen this perceived identity: I appeared on ballets disguised as sun, I adapted my daily rhythm to that of the sun, and I surrounded myself with pomp and splendour.
Now this identity with the sun has turned into a pure analogy. The Sun King has become a Sun-like King.
So what? Well, as the king is no longer father, no longer Apollo, no longer identical to the Sun itself, his authority can be questioned. I find myself in a constant struggle against the "legitimation crisis" of the crown. In the old days, my propaganda apparatus was based on glorious allegories, comparison of the King with antique gods, heroes, emperors nowadays, people want facts, numbers. "20 cities taken in one month", ""7000 prisoners", "300 churches build", "80 cities taken", "2 millions of Calvinists led back to the roman-catholic church" to quote some modern inscriptions of medals, an important propaganda tool of my time. (I had even to forbid Descartes' doctrine in French universities a decision I'm not proud of.)
The decline of magic and ascension of reason - together with its logical consequence, the so-called "Enlightenment" will eventually lead to the end of traditional monarchy in Europe. The Englishmen beheaded their king already in 1649, the French will follow the example 144 years later. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the process is irreversible.
Is Causality better than Magic?
The magical world view was a model, a try to bring some order into this chaotic world. Now, this system has been replaced by another model: Causality. Does this mean that causality is better than magic? Not necessarily. Imagine that mankind destroys itself with one of your sophisticated super bombs and insects take over the planet does this mean that insects are better than humans? No, it only means that insects are more able to survive a manmade Armageddon. It's the same with causality and magic: Causality is not better, it's only handier to explain the physical world.
Magic and Religion
There is one domain where magical thinking has still its place, even in your time: Religion. The reason is that religion is per se all about mystical truth, not physical facts thus, the principle "causality is handier" does not apply to metaphysics. So, even a fully rational person may believe that in a mystical, metaphysical way, a symbol is identical with the symbolized. For a catholic like me, the cross is salvation. The Holy Friday is the day Jesus dies. The altar bread is Jesus. (Have you ever loved somebody so much you almost wanted to eat him? Well, Catholics who love the Lord actually can!)
Why does religion use magical thinking rather than causality? Simply because magic is the language our subconscious understands! (I'm not a psychologist, but this seems pretty evident to me.) The subconscious does not reason, it thinks in images, in symbols. So, to appeal to the subconscious, magical thinking is actually handier than causality. No reasoning could give me the consolation I find in the cross or in the communion.
This does, of course, not mean that a religious person can apply magical thinking to the physical world. The Bible is full of symbols, full of magic, and is not meant not be used to determine, for example, the age of the world.
People need magic
Symbols, rituals and magic are, as I mentioned before, the language of the subconscious. That's maybe why people will always need some magic. You can't wholly extinguish magical thinking. Rituals symbolic acts are part of our daily life, and rituals mark important points in our life. (Ever wondered why there is an exam at each graduation, even if the candidate has proven his ability before? The answer is simple: Graduations are transition rituals, they have to hurt! ) Even in private context, symbolic acts may help ripping the picture of your ex-partner after a rupture; throwing away your very-last-cigarette; or the universal ritual of the female gender, applicable for all happy or unhappy occasions: Buying shoes (No offence, Ladies - for the record, I love buying new shoes.)
We can't live without symbols, without rituals. We can't live without magic.
Writing from the year 1709, I'm currently standing at the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment, the intellectual upheaval that revolutionised philosophical and political thinking in the 18th century. But prior to this development was a much more fundamental revolution in western thinking, a revolution which happened during my lifetime and which changed western thinking forever: The Decline of Magic, the Disenchantment of the World. In my opinion it's this revolution, and not the following Age of Enlightenment, which consists the transition between antique and modern thinking, between feudalism and capitalism, between power given by god and power founded on reason, thus between medieval and modern state.
What is Magic?
Before we discuss the decline of magic, let me define what magic is. Magic is not about throwing fire balls, or about transforming enemies into sheep, or about strangling telekinetically someone whose lack of faith you find disturbing. Magic is more, it's deeper, it's a state of mind, a concept profoundly rooted in what the wise men of your time might call "collective subconscious". It can be resumed as follows:
* THE SYMBOL IS IDENTICAL WITH THE SYMBOLIZED. *.
This is the very core idea of magic. Let me illustrate this by a shaman putting needles into a voodoo doll, in order to inflict pain to the depicted human. This has nothing to do with causality for the shaman, the voodoo doll is identical with the human. Thus, by hurting the doll he directly hurts the human. This is called "mystical participation" or "mystical identity".
Another example are cavemen "killing" a drawing of an aurochs before a hunt the drawn aurochs is thought to be identical with the real one, and its symbolic killing identical with the later real killing. Again, one cannot empathize enough that this has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with causality mystical identity is a concept ages older than causality. Yet other examples is a magician who draws the symbol of a tempest into the air, or an amulet symbolizing a protective spirit or force, or a necromancer invoking a demon by calling his name. Those examples show that the symbol does not need to be an object or a drawing it can be a symbolic act called "ritual" a word or sentence, or a name.
(As a sidenote, names are thought to be very powerful symbols, and speaking one's "real" name means wielding power over him. That's why the name of the Jewish god shall not be spoken; that's why Satanists speak the name of a demon to summon them; and that's why Rumpelstiltskin hides his name - as do Tolkien's dwarfs.)
The decline of magic during my reign
I was born into a world full of magic. Magic was part of every day's life. Processions were considered an efficient way to fight against pandemics, wise women were believed to practice witchcraft, and the touch of the King was believed to have healing powers. However, since these days, scientists and philosophers like Descartes, Galilee, Locke and Newton have established a new worldview, one that views the world not as a giant organism where touching one part hurts the whole body, but as a giant machine with parts linked by causality. The concept of causality goes back to Aristotle, but it now claims the role up to now occupied by magic : The force that holds the world together in its inmost folds. That does not mean that the crowd does no longer believe in magic every Holy Saturday, I touch about two thousand sick people but the thinking heads or Europe, the intellectual elite, have abandoned it. Processions against the pest are no longer hold, and the persecution of witches in France stopped around 1680, one decade before the witch trials in Massachusetts.
By the way, one might notice a subtle yet important modification in the formula I speak when I touch a sick person: My predecessors said "The king touches you, God heals you", and so did I at the beginning of my reign. But nowadays the formula is "The king touches you, may God heal you. " That means, the touch is no longer considered as identical with the healing - it is a demand to God to heal. It's no longer an act of magic - it's a prayer, in a fashion.
Political consequences
If you think the only political consequences of this change of mind have been the fact that the parliament of Paris denies nowadays the existence of witchcraft, you couldn't be more wrong. The change shatters, in fact, the very foundation of monarchy. One should not forget that in France, as all over in Europe, symbols contribute to the legitimization of the monarchy. The authority of the king over his subjects is often symbolized by the authority of a father over his children but as long as the symbol is identical with the symbolized, the king is the father of his subjects. In consequence, the commandment "You shall honour your father and mother" applies to the king. This patriarchal, god-wanted power is now undermined by authors like Locke who see in the supposed identity of king and father nothing more than just an analogy.
The father symbol is not the only one formerly used to strengthen the authority of the crown. A king is often be compared to Heracles or to Apollo. In the magical worldview, this means that in a mystical sense, the king is identical with Heracles or Apollo. In the modern worldview, it's just an analogy. As for myself, I have my proper symbol: The Sun. At the beginning of my reign, my subjects considered me as mystically identical with the sun, and I did everything to strengthen this perceived identity: I appeared on ballets disguised as sun, I adapted my daily rhythm to that of the sun, and I surrounded myself with pomp and splendour.
Now this identity with the sun has turned into a pure analogy. The Sun King has become a Sun-like King.
So what? Well, as the king is no longer father, no longer Apollo, no longer identical to the Sun itself, his authority can be questioned. I find myself in a constant struggle against the "legitimation crisis" of the crown. In the old days, my propaganda apparatus was based on glorious allegories, comparison of the King with antique gods, heroes, emperors nowadays, people want facts, numbers. "20 cities taken in one month", ""7000 prisoners", "300 churches build", "80 cities taken", "2 millions of Calvinists led back to the roman-catholic church" to quote some modern inscriptions of medals, an important propaganda tool of my time. (I had even to forbid Descartes' doctrine in French universities a decision I'm not proud of.)
The decline of magic and ascension of reason - together with its logical consequence, the so-called "Enlightenment" will eventually lead to the end of traditional monarchy in Europe. The Englishmen beheaded their king already in 1649, the French will follow the example 144 years later. I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the process is irreversible.
Is Causality better than Magic?
The magical world view was a model, a try to bring some order into this chaotic world. Now, this system has been replaced by another model: Causality. Does this mean that causality is better than magic? Not necessarily. Imagine that mankind destroys itself with one of your sophisticated super bombs and insects take over the planet does this mean that insects are better than humans? No, it only means that insects are more able to survive a manmade Armageddon. It's the same with causality and magic: Causality is not better, it's only handier to explain the physical world.
Magic and Religion
There is one domain where magical thinking has still its place, even in your time: Religion. The reason is that religion is per se all about mystical truth, not physical facts thus, the principle "causality is handier" does not apply to metaphysics. So, even a fully rational person may believe that in a mystical, metaphysical way, a symbol is identical with the symbolized. For a catholic like me, the cross is salvation. The Holy Friday is the day Jesus dies. The altar bread is Jesus. (Have you ever loved somebody so much you almost wanted to eat him? Well, Catholics who love the Lord actually can!)
Why does religion use magical thinking rather than causality? Simply because magic is the language our subconscious understands! (I'm not a psychologist, but this seems pretty evident to me.) The subconscious does not reason, it thinks in images, in symbols. So, to appeal to the subconscious, magical thinking is actually handier than causality. No reasoning could give me the consolation I find in the cross or in the communion.
This does, of course, not mean that a religious person can apply magical thinking to the physical world. The Bible is full of symbols, full of magic, and is not meant not be used to determine, for example, the age of the world.
People need magic
Symbols, rituals and magic are, as I mentioned before, the language of the subconscious. That's maybe why people will always need some magic. You can't wholly extinguish magical thinking. Rituals symbolic acts are part of our daily life, and rituals mark important points in our life. (Ever wondered why there is an exam at each graduation, even if the candidate has proven his ability before? The answer is simple: Graduations are transition rituals, they have to hurt! ) Even in private context, symbolic acts may help ripping the picture of your ex-partner after a rupture; throwing away your very-last-cigarette; or the universal ritual of the female gender, applicable for all happy or unhappy occasions: Buying shoes (No offence, Ladies - for the record, I love buying new shoes.)
We can't live without symbols, without rituals. We can't live without magic.
VIEW 17 of 17 COMMENTS
I like your idea of the tattoo and piercing combination. Now that I've heard of it, it is a mystery to me why people don't do that all the time. One day, I will have to put my computer aside, fetch some real paper and pencils and not rest until I have created a collection of images that fit both my beautiful Antonia and your royal inspiration.