Defining Magic for Big Daddy

First of all I'd like to apologize for my lack of attention to this blog. I have several others as well as a new live-in boyfriend and my actual job has changed so I have decided to try to get back in the game a little here.

Recently I had a discussion with my boyfriend, we'll call him Big Daddy, regarding magic. Having only recently moved in to my apartment he had a very difficult time sleeping. Big Daddy was plagued with interruptions and bad dreams. I'd read a few years ago in a Feng Shui coffee table book (oddly enough 2 different people purchased this book for me... guess I was meant to have it) that said that no mirrors should face the bed. In Feng Shui they believe that your soul leaves your body at night, since it doesn't require sleep, and moves throughout the spirit realm and returns to your body before you awake.  Whenever your soul is frightened it jumps back into your body- hence the jolt and gasping for air that we sometimes experience, and your soul "seeing itself" in a mirror can cause this. I mentioned it to him and told it couldn't hurt to try covering the mirror to see if he slept better. He agreed and I cavalierly covered the mirror on the wall across from our bed, and magically- he finally slept through the night.

This induced an interesting discussion between big daddy and myself. What is magic? He is a self-proclaimed atheist... though I have suspicions of agnosticism... and he was curious about what exactly my beliefs were regarding magic. This tickled me because I realized he thought that maybe I believed that I was Hermione Granger.  I smiled and reflected on the previous evenings "magic". I believe in magic therefore it exists. I put my energy into helping him sleep better and I covered the mirror citing a belief that he clearly put faith in- and it worked. Did it work because it's magic or did it work because he believed it would? The answer is that it doesn't matter. The fact is that it worked. Faith and magic and very similar and both are based in belief. When concocting any remedies or potions or spells... belief is the key. Belief, intention, focus, energy, and faith. These are the real ingredients in magic. This doesn't mean that aloe doesn't heal a sunburn, that it's all in your head, because the physical is as important as the psychological. Aloe physical properties are very real- it heals sunburns regardless of your belief but say, growing it in a window facing west brings calm to your home... that's belief.

This is how I explained my beliefs to Big Daddy. This was easiest format to explain to someone who doesn't also believe the same things. He smiled and told me that he thought that was interesting, that he hadn't realized that my beliefs would sound so logical and that he was pleased that I was totally sane. Ha ha ha! Wait until Samhain....

What are some of your experiences explaining your beliefs to loved ones? Did you find acceptance?