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5 Reasons Why Political Magic Is So Hard

5 Reasons Why Political Magic Is So Hard

Last updated on: December 15, 2024 at 3:00 am by John Beckett

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5 Reasons Why Political Magic Is So Hard 2024-12-13T14:22:08-06:00 John Beckett

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Magic is wonderful and powerful and can accomplish things that ordinary effort alone cannot. But like everything else in the universe – both seen and unseen – magic has limits.

Practice magic for very long and you learn that weather magic is incredibly difficult. You may be a powerful witch, but a hurricane is far more powerful than you are. You learn that lottery magic is ineffective – if you improve the odds of a low-probability event by a thousand times, you’ve still got a low-probability event.

Political magic seems like it should be easier. The stories of our ancestors tell of magicians who cursed kings and of kings who hunted witches because they feared their magic (I’m looking at you, James I). In practice, though, political magic is some of the most difficult magic there is.

Here are five reasons why political magic is so hard.

1. The sheer number of people involved

Imagine that your political target is a huge sphere – a really big ball. Your magic is designed to nudge that ball in your preferred direction. Your magic is strong, so you expect the ball will roll in the direction you push it.

Except that hundreds of millions of people are also pushing on the ball: people who pushed with their votes, people who push with their magic, people who push with their thoughts and prayers and their everyday actions – and people who push with more money than you’ll ever see in your life. Even if your magic is stronger and better focused than any of them, it’s not stronger than all of them together.

Even at the local level, there are thousands of people involved in a political decision, whether that’s an election, a piece of legislation, an administrative rule, or a court decision.

This is why politics works best when we work together.

It only works when we work together.

2. Countermagic from the other side

Let’s try a different metaphor for this and imagine a race or an issue as a game of tug-of-war. Your magic and the magic of those on your side are pulling in one direction. But other people are pulling in the other direction, and there are more of them than we often think.

The Pagan community – or at least, the online Pagan community – is very liberal. My Facebook friends probably include more socialists and communists than conservatives. But they do exist.

Witchcraft may be the last resort of the oppressed, but high magic has always been an activity for those with the power and money and security to practice it.

And all this is before you count the Christians and other monotheists whose worship and energy directed toward conservative and fascist politicians make a huge impact. They would be highly offended if you called what they do “magic,” but if looks like magic and works like magic and generates results like magic, then I’m going to call it magic.

Progressives aren’t the only ones doing magic.

3. Lack of cohesion on our side

The tug-of-war metaphor assumes we’re all pulling in the same direction. We’re not.

I’m going to skip my usual rant about liberals demanding purity and perfection while conservatives vote for anyone moving in their general direction. Instead, I want to focus on our lack of magical cohesion.

Some of this is unavoidable. Kitchen witches, green Druids, and chaos magicians all have different magical techniques and different theories as to how and why they work. We’re not going to be able to get together and do the same things at the same time.

More importantly, we don’t agree on magical targets. Should we direct our magic toward a person? Toward an executive order or a piece of legislation? Toward awareness and engagement from the public? Something else?

We may be on the same side of the line, but we’re not all pulling in the same direction. Which makes it that much easier for the other side to pull us all into the mud pit.

4. Political goals are often vague goals

Magic works best when the target is narrowly and specifically defined. Political goals tend to be vague and generic.

What exactly does it mean to “stop Trump” or “bind Trump”? Or “protect freedom”? Or “hex the patriarchy”? All those things sound good to me, but what do they involve? What would be the results of a successful working? What routes does your magic have to physically accomplish it?

Vague goals are part of politics. What does “Make America Great Again” really mean? It means different things to different people – and it inspired those different people to vote for one person. It’s a good story (good as in “effective” not as in “helpful”). If you’re a bard or musician or a visual artist maybe you can come up with a better story that progressive candidates can run on in 2026 and 2028.

But magicians need more than stories. We need specific goals and targets: executive orders, legislation, administrative policies. These are specific enough they can be impacted by magic.

If we can overcome the other challenges listed here.

5. Lack of tangible connections

The Wicca 101 books I read back in the 90s described spellcasting as raising energy within a circle, then opening the circle to send the energy to its target. But how does the energy know where to go?

Even GPS needs an address to work.

Magic works best when it has a tangible connection – the whole “get me a lock of his hair” thing. Ivo Dominguez Jr. has a piece in Serpents of Circe on “Linkages & Materia for Political Workings” that makes good suggestions for establishing connections. But while pictures from the internet and printed mass mailings are helpful, they’re not as powerful as a flesh and blood connection.

The closer and more visceral a connection you can make with your target, the better the odds of your magic going where you want it and not into the ether.

These are the five primary reasons why political magic is so hard. But the fact that something is hard doesn’t mean it’s not necessary – we don’t want to give up. What can we do to make things better for ourselves and our wider society over the next four years, and beyond?

Keep your magic small and tightly-focused

If vague and overly broad goals are a problem, small and tightly-focused goals are the solution. That doesn’t feel as good as something big and dramatic like “binding Trump” but it’s far more likely to produce results.

And small results over time add up.

Emphasize tangible action

In addition to the four sides of the Witches’ Pyramid, many magicians add a fifth step: acting in accord. Or, as my Baptist father used to say, “pray, and then put legs on your prayers.”

You can work magic to protect immigrants, and then you can volunteer with organizations that helps refugees. You can work magic to protect LGBTQ people (especially trans kids, who are under serious attack these days) and you can work with existing groups to tangibly and spiritually support them as they attempt to live their lives their way.

You can bind and curse regressive politicians, and then you can call their offices to let them know not all of their constituents agree with them, and then give money to candidates and parties that will run against them in the next election.

You can work magic to protect reproductive rights, and then you can give money to organizations that help vulnerable people travel to get the care they need that regressive politicians deny them in their home states.

Magic and tangible action go hand in hand. Do both.

Do not comply in advance

At this point, we don’t know what Donald Trump and his minions are going to do. More importantly, we don’t know what they’ll be able do to. In his first term, a lot of good people in the government and in private society simply refused to comply, and in doing so, kept things from being worse than they would have been otherwise.

I will never tell you that you must do something that puts you and yours at significant risk. But I will emphasize that none of us should comply in advance. Do the right things until and unless you have no other choice. I’m disappointed that Christopher Wray resigned as Director of the FBI, clearing the way for Trump to appoint someone who will go after people he considers his enemies. Trump would have fired him anyway, but resigning now makes things easier for Trump.

Be better than Christopher Wray – do not comply in advance.

Live your life your way

For those of us who’ve been taught – and who firmly believe – that none of us are free until all of us are free, withdrawing from the fight is unthinkable. Just because I’m not gay or trans or capable of getting pregnant doesn’t mean I can stop trying to make things safe and at least tolerable for those who are. And while Pagans aren’t at the top of the Christian Nationalist hit list, we are on the list – and I’ve read Martin Niemöller’s poem.

At the same time, we do no one any good if we’re so obsessed with politics – especially by way of doom scrolling – that we burn ourselves out while accomplishing little or nothing.

We have to live our lives the way we want to – the way we’re called to. If you’re called to be a political activist, then be a political activist. Otherwise, don’t let Donald Trump interfere with being the best Druid, priest, witch, writer, musician, or whatever it is that fills your soul and brings you joy.

Yes, that’s easier for some than for others. But ultimately, Donald Trump, MAGA, and Christian Nationalism are cultural problems. And the best way to change the culture is to show people a better way to live, by living it.

Be yourself, as loudly and brilliantly as you can.

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