What makes Magic, magic?

[KatieInTheBox]

This is going to be another one of my long ones. I was reading a book called Spellbound. It was about how magic has played a part in human culture and life. We humans seem to be fascinated by this idea of Magic. (Magick, glamour, Chi, The Force, ext.) Is it the idea of it being something new, or something so ancient we forgotten it? Are we seduced by the idea we can bend the world to our will and yet cause little damage? Like making a mountain, out of a hill and not kill the plants that already live on said hill. Is it the instant gratification, of saying a few words and getting a huge response? Or maybe it's just simply fun?

Magic is defined as:

"# any art that invokes supernatural powers
# magic trick: an illusory feat; considered magical by naive observers
# charming: possessing or using or characteristic of or appropriate to supernatural powers; "charming incantations"; "magic signs that protect against adverse influence"; "a magical spell"; "'tis now the very witching time of night"- Shakespeare; "wizard wands"; "wizardly powers" "
Link

I was just wondering this. Whether it's Harry Potter, LOTR, Narnia, Fairy Tales (Be they Grimm or Beetle and The Bard), Star Wars, and even Comic Books, we seem to really make good stories that have magic last. Even Jane Austins' or Mark Twain's books, that have the magic of life have lasted, along with so many others. Look at myths, they were the Harry Potter of their time and we still read about their heroes today. Is it the magic or the lessons we want to pass on the reason we tell the stories, or both?

If a man from 2008 C.E (AD), were to meet a man from 2008 B.C.E (BC), won't that BCE man think the CE man were a god? We can talk and see others over huge distances, by simply turning on a screen and a microphone, with speakers. We can fly, we can genetically change plants and animals, we can destroy mountains in the blink of an eye, we can recreate the forces of nature on a miniature scale, we can make what was a weeks journey in a single day, we can translate languages written or spoken with little trouble, we can cure many illnesses and prevent them and this is only a small example.

It's quite scary, to think about. Technology and magic are so distant, but when you dwell on it they are very similar. Will we make magic exist through technology one day? Or will there always be a line between them?
Technology of the mind and magic in the heart.

What do you think makes magic, magic?  

[SuzelovesJamesPotter]

You really have a point there. With more people working harder and harder we are achieving things most people wouldn't believe. It's quite awesome and I have never quiet realized it. Interesting..  

[Elpis8]

I see your point, but we could never achieve magic. Magic is supernatural. It is not of us. We are of it. Magic (at least to me) isn't just waving a wand. It's the every day miracles you never really think about until afterward.  

[Diana Tregarde]

Tychea, ah but we can achieve magic.

I had a long talk with a philosopher a few years ago who told me his view is that magic is alchemy manifested. And alchemy is the process of transformation.

Given JKR writes about choices, and her background is classical English literature, the heroic manifesting in an ordinary, every day person holds our interest. It's both a metaphor dross becoming gold, the everyday becoming special, the lowly realizing their potential and for achieving happiness and success as well as a blueprint for the same.

No wonder magic is popular!

Incidentally, John Granger, another philosopher, who wrote the Keys to Harry Potter and Looking for God in Harry Potter, both recommended, has a marvelous website, hogwartsprofessor.com. Think I'll start a thread about him.  

[PadfootsPet]

First off, this is an amazing, thought provoking thread! Katie you are my hero for the day!

Now on the subject.

I think that magic has to be out there, in some form or another. I've known people who could make things happen just by wanting them to. I know that it is something in our heart, and completely separate from technology. One day, when they're installing chips in people brains to make them human computers and what not, there will be those who refuse, simply on the basis that they do not need it!!

I believe if you want something bad enough, and will it hard enough whether through prayer, or magick or alchemy you will never need technology to accomplish your goals. If magic was not real, the idea of it would not remain for so long. How is it that the idea of gods and witchcraft have remained if there was not at least a bit of truth to start it of?  

[Elpis8]

Diana, I see where you're coming from, but I still disagree. I don't think that magic can be manufactured. Magic is, well, magical. Magic doesn't come from outside, from a person's sweat. It comes from the heart, the inside, like PadfottsPet said  

[silvr_breez]

Magick has been practiced for centuries.I myself might become initiated as Wicca.  

[Elpis8]

What do you define as magic, silvr_breez?