Some people thought he meant that the world was soon to end, but I don’t think he meant that. I think he meant that the truth of life’s wonders is constantly revealing itself all around us. The sacred text that waits patiently for us to read it is life itself. The rituals, the magical workings, the symbols and incantations of magic, the writings of religion, maybe even the ponderings of personal just-make-it-up spirituality are the technology that opens channels for what might be called life energy, or God, or virtue, or—I like best of all how the elf Silver Flame put it—the sacred retort. Whether those things exist outside the human imagination or merely inside it doesn’t matter as much to me as it does to some people. If the Jesus who showed up in my dream lives only within my heart, he’s still there. What matters to me is that we can allow ourselves to participate in the richness available to us.
All we have to do is choose.
After the Westminster service, I went up for a closer look at the grand monument to Sir Isaac Newton that stands at the front of the chapel. A few steps to the side, I stood on the stone engraved with Charles Darwin’s name. These two men did more to aid human progress and more to destroy the traditional beliefs of religious life than anyone on earth. Both are buried at Westminster. Still filled with that wondrous feeling of connectedness, I stood right on top of Darwin’s name.
SOURCES
1. THE WAITRESS WEARS A PENTACLE
Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft.
2. EAT ONLY CHICKEN THE DAY OF THE GAME
Cohen, “A Surge in Popularity in Jewish Mysticism”; Piccalo, “On E-Bay, New Meaning for ‘Spirited’ Bidding”; Faires, “The Curse of the Play”; Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment; James, Varieties of Religious Experience; Schneider, Culture and Enchantment; Bailey and Bledsoe, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man; Shorto, Saints and Madmen; Galbreath, “Explaining Modern Occultism.”
3. AMERICA THE MAGICAL, I SING OF THEE
Finke and Stark, The Churching of America; Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer; Ellis, Lucifer Ascending; Boyer and Nissenbaum, Salem Possessed; Butler, Awash in a Sea of Faith; Ellis, Raising the Devil; Melton, Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America; Hoffman, “Modern Alchemists”; Stavish, “History of Alchemy in North America”; Godbeer, Devil’s Dominion; Fuller, Religious Revolutionaries; Galbreath, Explaining Modern Occultism; Kyle, “The Occult Roars Back”; Hill, “Imaginary Friends Perfectly Normal”; Dunnewind, “Just Imagine That”; New York Times, April 13, 2004, D3; Fuller, Spiritual but Not Religious; Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft; Burton and Grandy, Magic, Mystery, and Science; van de Broek and Hanegraaff, Gnosis and Hermeticism; Kieckhefer, Magic in the Middle Ages.
4. LOOKING FOR LIVING DOLLS, WHACK JOBS,
AND THE LUCKY MOJO CURIO COMPANY
Catherine Yronwode’s collection of slave narratives at southern-spirits.com; Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt; Yronwode, Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic; Hemenway, Zora Neale Hurston; Dewey and Jones, King of the Cold Readers; Saville and Dewey, Red Hot Cold Reading; Duriez and Foster, Christianity Today.
Lyrics to hoodoo and blues songs are reprinted from luckymojo.com, which carries an extensive copyright disclaimer. “Due to certain social, economic, and political paradigms in place at the time of their composition,” Yronwode explains, “many early blues songs were improperly copyrighted or not copyrighted at all.” She adds that unethical practices on the part of some music publishers and arrangers have further muddied the copyright status of these songs. “It is my sincere belief,” she notes, “that the song transcribed on this [web] page bears the implied moral copyright of its composer, whoever that may be. If you believe that you control the copyright by virtue of authorship or legal legerdemain, you may contact me in a civil and polite manner and I will attempt in good faith to satisfy your needs in the matter of obtaining formal permission to quote the lyrics in this scholarly publication.”
5. NEWTON’S ALCHEMY, HEGEL’S GRIMOIRE,
AND WHAT CIVILIZATION OWES TO MAGIC
Adler, Drawing Down the Moon; Wilson, The Occult; Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft; Sutin, Do What Thou Wilt; French, John Dee; Burton and Grandy, Magic, Mystery, and Science; Armstrong, The Battle for God; Gleick, Isaac Newton; Gleick, “Isaac Newton’s Gravity”; Magee, Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition.
7. MALEFICIA DU JOUR: SERVED HOT, COLD, AND CASH BEFORE DELIVERY
Haskins, Voodoo and Hoodoo; Pinckney, Blue Roots; Teish, Jambalaya; Twyman, Book of Lies; Borg, Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time.
9. WHAT TO DO WHEN THE MOTHER OF GOD COMES CALLING
Pinckney, Blue Roots; Burton and Grandy, Magic, Mystery, and Science.
For information on Catherine Yronwode’s hoodoo class lessons and The Lucky Mojo Hoodoo Rootwork Hour; go to luckymojo.com and discussions.
10. HOODOO? WE DO, IN THE GRAVEYARD
Hemenway, Zora Neale Hurston; Catherine Yronwode’s hoodoo class, lesson 27.
11. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT ZORA
Kaplan, Zora Neale Hurston: A Life in Letters; Hillman, The Soul’s Code.
12. EVERY TIME YOU HEAR A BELL, A MUGGLE HAS TURNED MAGICAL
Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft; Toms, An Open Life; Melton, Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America; Schjeldahl, “Striking Gold.”
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