Should We Accept Kooky Ideas Because We Practice Magic?

I once was part of a magic group where a few members started pushing lizard people consipracy stuff. I find this kind of thing decidely wacky and baseless, and said so. Many people in the group chided me for not being open to the idea. “After all we all believe in magic, and most normal people find that crazy too, so who are we to say this is not real” was the general consensus.

This pattern has repeated itself many times. Whether its a hollow earth, ancient aliens, or Tick Tok timeline shifters I am told that because I practice magic, which most of the world thinks is not real, I shouldn’t criticize these ideas.  I think of it differently:

It is precisely because I practice something that mainstream society doesn’t view as real that I NEED to excercise discernment and care about these matters. 

My experience of life has left me unable to deny that magic is real, even though its impact is subtle enough that I cannot prove its existence to others. Some people will find that kooky, and you know what? If their experience of reality hasn’t given them any reason to think otherwise, I don’t blame them for thinking that. I rest easy knowing that magic is no kookier than anything millions of religious people believe, and that for the most part, folks are able respect their religious friends beliefs. I am not trying to get anyone to believe in magic, they just need to not be antagonistic to me pursuing it for us to be friends.

Now, if I walk into a discussion on science or politics and start blathering about occultism, they have every right to say “we find that kooky and not something we even want to invest time or energy to investigate“. That is precisely what Witches, Sorcerer’s, and Magicians should do when people show up pushing conspiracies, outlandish claims, or simply impossible fantasy. Say “I’m sorry, you can believe whatever you like, but this is not the place to entertain that”.

I have had everyone from Tulpamancers to Qanon enthusiasts absolutely shocked that I don’t roll with their fantasy. “But you believe in magic! Society says thats not real, so why don’t you believe this?” Honestly, I “believe” in as little magic as possible. I engage in as little magical thinking as possible. Why? Because there are some magical things that I cannot deny and which have proven both meaningful and useful. If I take that as a liscence to just accept things that do not even indicate that they might be true or useful, its a ticket to cloud-cookoo land. I don’t want to be that person. Do you?

Magic has practiced throughout the world in different forms for all of human history. It is not a very wild and insane thing. Both historic and current occult practices are topics studied in University recisely because it is a normal and widespread thing that people do. Using the four authenicity model, magic hits all the marks. Taking showers to shift to timelines with alternate pasts, not so much.

In the wider occult community is an unspoken rule of “I will validate your experience it if you validate mine”. It is necessary simply to have a conversation. I don’t think it’s useful to spread this acceptance so wide that we throw discernment out the window.

The rub of course is that you might find yourself on the receiving end of the “thats too cooky to consider” treatment. What then? Well, chances are, if you find yourself in that situation,  you are not being very aware of your surroundings or respecting the parameters of a conversation. I don’t talk magic or religion at dinner parties with non-occultist friends. If I did, as I said above, they would be well within bounds to ask me to stop. Sometimes you are just dealing with a simple troll who wants to heroically debunk your beliefs. Just walk away if you don’t feel like engaging them. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.

To be clear the time-shifters, ancient vampires, and reptilian conspiracists don’t owe me an explanation either. Just don’t expect me to vaidate your schtick because I believe in (some) magic.