Does Magic Actually Work for this Stuff?
To be quite honest, I have trouble seeing magic as an equal effort as compared to donations and volunteering. While I have been practicing magic for well over a decade, I see it as a much more fickle and less objectively dependable thing than more mundane efforts. I generally feel it’s better suited for particularly subjective and personal causes than something like “save the world!”
Are you familiar with confirmation bias? A very simple and incomplete definition would be “seeing what one wants to see.” In the case of magic, most people who practice it want to believe that it works (especially on an objective level), and so, whether consciously or not, will emphasize results that favor that interpretation.
For example, let’s say you do ten spells. Of those ten spells, three of them are followed by getting what you wanted, three with something sort of like what you wanted but not exactly, and four with not getting what you wanted. A 30 percent success rate isn’t all that great. However, confirmation bias may lead you to count the three kinda-sorta “results” as successes because they were in the neighborhood of what you wanted. And then you can come up with any number of justifications involving outside factors that led to the other four simply not working at all.
With magic that doesn’t work, you can’t reliably trace whether it had an effect or not. In fact, you can’t even trace it necessarily when it does work. There’s no way to prove that the spell or ritual you performed actually had any effect compared to if you hadn’t done the magic.
With donations and volunteering, on the other hand, it’s easy to see where the effort goes and what the result is. The exact dollars you give may be tough to trace, but you can definitely see where your volunteer time goes. I spent some time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, and at the end of the day I could say “I nailed some hurricane strips to the roof” or “I painted a couple hundred feet of siding.”
So, at least as far as being able to claim definite, measurable results, donations and volunteering has the upper hand.
Magic As a Way to Assuage Guilt
Most people want to be able to help others in some way. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. However, I think sometimes “sending energy” is used as a way to make a person feel better about not being able to give money or time. And, beyond that, I think “sending energy” is sometimes used as an excuse to not give time or money, even when those things are available.
If you see the intangible effort of magic as equal to the tangible efforts of donations and volunteering, then it’s easy to make the excuse of “Well, I’ll just light a candle/say a prayer/do a spell.” Rarely do people spend as much time and money on a magical working as they would on a donation or volunteering effort. I generally don’t spend twenty-five dollars or more on candles and other supplies for a single magical act, and while I’ll happily spend seven hours on a Habitat build, I think my personal record for an ongoing ritual is something under two hours.
Rarely do people spend as much time and money on a magical working as they would on a donation or volunteering effort.
Let’s face it—for the most part, doing magic just doesn’t require as many resources as more mundane activities. And I think because of that a lot of people use magic as their excuse for not putting in the time or money in other ways. I’m not talking about people who are completely strapped for cash or spare time, but the ones who could give up buying a new tarot deck or watching a bad movie, even just once, to put those efforts toward something other than themselves. We do deserve nice things, but sometimes giving up an unnecessary bauble can make the crucial difference to someone who’s just trying to get by.
Appraising Intent
So, be honest with yourself. Whenever you’re faced with someone asking for your time or money and you opt to work magic instead, look at why you made that decision. Is it because giving even five dollars or less would seriously affect your finances? (Yes, this is possible.) Is it because you just don’t have the time or sanity to make one more commitment? (This is entirely possible, too.)
Or are you making an excuse? Could you give just a couple of bucks or a half an hour of time, but instead choose to stay at home and light a candle? Are there places where you could give up some small luxury to make the money or time for someone else, but instead write down an intent on a piece of paper to burn? If you find you are making excuses, there’s no need or gain in beating yourself up about it. Just make different choices to the best of your ability, and move on.
It Really Doesn’t Take Much
The saying “every little bit counts” is true. To give you a personal example, I am an artist and author. I sell my art and books at local Pagan events. While I have a lot of big, expensive, shiny objects for sale, like bone athames and elaborate totem dance costumes, I also have smaller, inexpensive things like little leather pouches and earrings. Sure, selling a couple of the big items can make my weekend a lot happier. But I sell a lot more of the little things, because that’s what more folks can afford, and those
