Personal Story With A Soundtrack - Do You believe in Magic?

Do you Believe in Magic?

It´s a question you hear every now and then. Try asking it, you will see that many people feel a bit weird answering. Yes, but... No, but... well maybe but.

Probably they are partially afraid to honestly answer, or maybe because magic is a very broad concept.

Ki:Theory - Do You Believe In Magic

Do I believe in magic?

No, I did not believe in Magic growing up.

I had no magical experiences as far as I can remember and the topic was never discussed in the household I grew up in.

My belief was pretty agnostic.

Not sure if it was my upbringing or my personality, but I was sure that there was nothing mystical about life. It were all a logical, biological and biochemical process that, combined with coincidence, created life on this planet.

You live, You die. For you are dust, and to dust, you shall return.

That is life in a nutshell for you right there according to the 17-year-old me.

The Beginning Is The End Is The Beginning (Dark Cover) Feat. Meagan Lee

Knowing what I think I know now, it´s hard to believe that I truly thought that the world was such a simple place.

Forgive a teenage boy for not wanting to accept what his eyes can´t see.
Forgive him for declaring all things not visible to the human eye as non-existent. A boy that age has enough worries, this limited perspective made life easy and conveniently transparent.

This younger me was unaware, unaware of being groomed to become something that he himself did not believe existed.

Looking back on those years I wonder how witchcraft and magic are discussed in other households. In mine, it was not. Strangely enough, the topic never surfaced, which is weird as I learned later on that my family did have a magical connection.

We Don't Talk About Bruno (From "Encanto") - Cursed version

Now, before I go on let me put in a disclaimer: The existence of magic has never been proven beyond any doubt. And although I ended up experiencing my fair share of magical moments, I often wonder if it was all real.

Talking about real, I am glad to be pre Harry Potter. Nothing wrong with JK, it's just that if those books were written during my childhood I might have never read The Right Book.

JK used some true magical elements, but in general, the magic used by Harry and co is fantasy fluff. Still, it might spark children's interests to explore the darker magical realms later in life.

My Later Life

Somehow I never fitted in at home and happily moved out to study Journalism when I was 18. It was during that first year living on my own that I found myself wondering about the city. It drizzled and I probably took a wrong turn, or two, and ended up where I had never been before.

Alone In The City - Chris Botti

As the drizzle turned to drops I decided to enter this weird little bookstore. Me in a bookstore. I never read books, what was I doing here?
Thanks to my mindless wandering I ended up in front of three shelves with mystical books.

Imagine my surprise finding out there were actually books written about this nonsense.

Nobody in my circle ever talked about these things and the internet was non-existing. Well, at least not at home.

As I am kinda curious by nature I bought a book, well two actually. One with spells and enchantments and a picture of a lady on the back that looked like she knew what she was talking about. And another book about animal totems, called Animal Speak by Ted Andrews.

☽✪☾ Alina de Brocéliande ☽✪☾ Le Grimoire Secret - Book Of The Shadows Song French

That started my self-studying, no mentor no guidance....as far as I was aware. Just those books that attracted my attention. And even though I was a poor student somehow there was always money for more books.

It took ages for me to see

Where did my passion for mysticism originate? Never was it spoken off, and see me now sitting here among my books.

My mind started drifting, looking back at my teenage years. All of a sudden the images floating by halted and focussed. I was sitting in the back of the class watching my eighth-grade teacher Mr. Pim Pieck. He was holding a book, readinging it out loud.

I was amused, I had not thought about this man for ages. Before this sweet memory could make me smile, I felt like I was slaped in the face. Something or someone was trying to tell me to pay attention.

As if the slap had shuffeld my braincells in the right order it hit me. It was that book that was the only true touch of magic I experienced growing up. That book was already 15 years old when it found me for the first time. Time is not of the essence, as it will find those for whom it is meant to touch.

A book many parents might not have chosen for their children. But if I was a wizard, and I knew it was my task to spark something in a certain young soul, this would be how I would do it today.

That 15-year-old book was the best-selling novel by Otfried Preussler, KRABAT AND THE LEGEND OF THE SATANIC MILL.

Goëtia. | Dark Magic Music

Little did I know then that Mysticism is like magnetism, if you don't have any you don't see any. As soon as you open up you will attract more. More of the pleasant and the unpleasant kind.

Click Next for Chapter Two

Source Gif Pixabay and goth in Midjourney edited by @eve66