Monday, May 18, 2009

All Religions Are Based On Magic

Kind of interesting isn't it? Today Pagan religions and witchcraft are connected to the subject of magic, yet if we step back and take a look around, all religions are based on magic. Myths explain everything from how agriculture was developed to how successful hunts were done. Ancient Greeks had the Oracles at Delphi as well as how Haephestus could make metal or Cupid could make love spells.

Think about it. What are miracles if not magic? The stories of feeding crowds with a basket of loaves and fishes or turning water into wine. Rising from the dead? Was that not a story about Isis and Osiris as well as about Christ?

Are not mystical powers associated with Buddhist monks? Weren't monks the ones who created kung fu and tai chi? What about the Hindu fakirs and saddhus, the outrageous street magicians?

Aborigines in Australia believe that the earth and all creatures were sung into existence through magic words.

Indigenous tribes in this country have stories about the White Buffalo Woman and how the pipe came to be part of ceremonies, or how the coyote created the the first man, or the stars or other aspects of the world. Tribes of Alaska and the Northwest had stories about How the Raven Steals the Light.

Belief in magic is often controversial, yet magic is at the heart of every religion. Interesting, don't you think?

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