Contemplating the Existence of Magic

The "Ancient Roots" chapter of A History of Magic, Witchcraft, & the Occult immersed me in a world of magic that I had never previously contemplated. We read of omens, amulets to ward off evil, the cursing of enemies, spells for the afterlife, necromancy, sorcerers, and the appeasing of gods with blood. After finishing the chapter, I remember feeling stunned by how entrenched these ancient cultures were with magic and the occult.

As modern readers, we read such material with a mixture of fascination and contempt. What interesting practices and beliefs these people had! How could they have believed in such foolish ideas? The tension is certainly real. There's a degree of incredulity and a degree of wonder. What could you even mean by the command to "Take the dung of a dog-faced baboon, two eggs of an ibex, four drams of frankincense, a single onion. Put all these onto a mortar with the mouse." Such a statement likely doesn't even have a category to register on in our minds.

While reading through the passages and examining the artifacts, a thought started creeping into my mind-- one that would normally get me laughed at and shunned: What elements of truth might have existed in these practices? 

I need to back up a little bit before proceeding forward. To put my cards on the table, I am a follower of Jesus Christ and believe in his life, death, and resurrection. Obviously, then, I believe in the supernatural-- in the "spiritual world." However, I want to counter the assumption that such beliefs must be equated to some form of willful ignorance or a shallow intellectuality. Since I was little, I have always been curious and inquisitive. In high school, these traits were grown into a deep pensiveness and thoughtfulness about life and faith. I am someone who is philosophically-minded, wanting to explore the large questions, the fundamental assumptions, and the coherence of our worldviews. I am a member at Trinity Presbyterian Church, a church whose pastor majored in philosophy at TCU. I am of the Reformed tradition of Christianity, a tradition that places high importance on scholarship, theology, and reasoning. I say these things not to try to prove my "intellectual credibility" but to make clear that my personal beliefs do not give me a proclivity to "believe in magic." Yes, compared to someone who is a naturalist, I am more inclined toward the spiritual realm, but it is not as if Christians are stuck with their heads in the sand, making us more predisposed to believing in the magic of old.

To return to my original question, my curiosity instead stems from the belief that though ancient, our ancestors were not stupid. Yes, their beliefs about how the world works have widely been disproved, but I don't think it is fair to characterize them as somehow being "sub-human." As outlandish as their practices and beliefs seem to us, they were still people-- still creatures with the same rational faculties as us. Our knowledge and understanding might be more advanced, but I don't think the rational capabilities in our brains have evolved that much in the last 10,000 years (compared to evolution occurring over millions of years).

Certainly, many beliefs that ancient cultures held can now be explained through scientific principles that help us to understand nature, but there are some things that I cannot wrap my mind around as well. For example, we can attribute the coming of weather or seasons or natural disasters to better understanding about atmospheric trends and conditions, not that the gods were angry (though we must be careful to not presuppose that if gods did exist that they could not or would not want to control such things). However, I cannot keep myself from asking, would these people not demand some signs of efficacy to believe in healings, divinations, speaking with the dead, curses, etc.? I understand audacity of such a question: in itself, it opens up the possibility of spiritual intervention, something we certainly are not comfortable with. But, if you will consider the point, does it not make sense that these people would not require at least some proof? Of course, I'm sure that "chance" could play a role in some of it-- for example, people accidentally dying-- but that reason only goes so far. I know it sounds crazy to air the possibility that some of these things-- things really far from our lived experiences (or our empiricist beliefs)-- could've truly existed, but I can't help at least pondering the question.

And to the first rebuttal, the one question I have to start with is, "Are we supposing spiritual encounters/beings/experiences cannot exist?" If we don't make that presupposition and we believe in the rationality of our ancestors, is it not at least potentially fathomable to believe that perhaps magic could've existed? That it might still?