Majokkid - Magia Records

I never liked the term ‘pop culture magic’.

As someone who grew up during the dot com boom, I used what I could to stitch together an understanding and practice of magic and that often included fantasy media. Even after my family switched from dial-up, our computer and television use was heavily monitored and scrutinized until we were in high school and college so I relied heavily on what books, games, and comics I could get my hands on. More often than not, fantasy books and comics were met with less questioning than texts on magic and the occult. This is not to say my parents were not trying to be understanding of my interests but they definitely voiced their opinion that my imagination was too active for my own good and they feared I would slip into delusions of fantasy. Even my friends became disinterested with what explorations of magic we were able to have and I was left to keep my thoughts and questions to myself while I found what esoteric wisdom I could by attending shul and talking with my rabbi.

When I moved cross-country for college, I felt free to finally try to tap into what magical community I could. I was lucky enough to stumble upon an occult bookstore where not only I was able to start having all sorts of conversations with lots of different practitioners, I also found my incredible partner. But even in this web of magical experiences I found myself in—working with chaos magick, folks from Thelemic and ceremonial magick backgrounds, traditional witchcraft, Zen Buddhism, and even Haitian Voudu initiates and rootworkers—there seemed to be a universal disdain for pop culture-inspired magics. (It didn’t help that one of the bookstore regulars, who is admittedly a powerful magician, was an avid pop-culture magician and otaku who lacked social maturity and consistently needed to be reminded not to dominate discussion circles with tales of his astral adventures with Goku and Bigfoot.) Everything and everyone was telling me, whether subtly or directly, that pop culture magic was inauthentic and, at worst, cringey and as a feminine-passing person, I felt like I needed to work extra hard to be seen as a legitimate magician amongst studied practitioners even though I could not shake the urge to explore more of what compelled me to study magic in the first place.

This is all to say that it took a lot of time and internal work to get to a place where I felt comfortable enough to talk about my mahō shōjo practice, start to share it with my peers, and even use the tag ‘pop culture magic’ for visibility. There are reasons why this kind of media is so compelling and it is a joy to explore the feelings and techniques it offers especially in the context of a broader magical discussion. There is absolutely no reason to purport that powerful magic cannot also be soft, girly, or dreamy. And while it makes me a little sad to see people engaging with these ideas continue to put down pop culture magics as somehow watered down or less-than other approaches, I think I understand why they do.

I’m only going to do this once since I felt like it was clear that I didn’t want anything to escalate by leaving Magi Metro and I figured that you and your community wanted nothing to do with me. I was upfront from the beginning that I was going to keep interaction to a minimum and I am completely content to continue blogging as I would have before being introduced to your circle. I have done nothing but provide my experience and my insight and I am honestly at a loss at figuring what I could have done that made such an impact.

I asked the Tumblr community for clarification on something (all the while noting that I was not disparaging anyone’s practices) and even though I never really got a sincere answer, I was met with animosity from you and I suppose those you felt the need to vent to.

If you want to continue this conversation, please message me directly. ☆

Can someone explain to me the actual difference between ‘physical’ and ‘astral’ magical heroes? Most of the folks that I have come across that label themselves ‘physical’ heroes don’t really seem to have a practice rooted in or working in this reality? They seem to still rely heavily on astral work and reality shifting.

For example, I suppose you can argue that my approach is ‘physical’ since I have an established magical practice utilizing tools and techniques that are tangible in the here and now (not that they couldn’t also be used out of the current timeline or on the astral) and I work to better our current and shared reality. I don’t really assert that the ‘physical’ or ‘astral’ distinction has to be made but if people feel that they need to use those labels, I think the community has to do a better job explaining the difference in approaches.

But I am curious of what that actually entails? Like, I don’t expect that many of those who say they can ‘physically’ transform undergo a spontaneous magical transformation sequence that others can witness. Rather, I think any magical hero can use costumes, tools, theater techniques, or even glamours to undergo a transformation that they can employ at any time. Maybe I’m just not understanding the need for distinction.

But it could also be that I’m just approaching things from a different perspective, since I personally do not subscribe to ‘the law of attraction’ and the movement(s) that followed from that idea. I can admit that it is difficult sometimes to discuss these kinds of practices while coming from different paradigms.

This is not to say that I am belittling anyone who works with these kinds of manifestation and affirmation techniques; I think they can be helpful and if it works for you, that’s great! I do believe there are other ways to manifest change, however.

Can someone explain to me the actual difference between ‘physical’ and ‘astral’ magical heroes? Most of the folks that I have come across that label themselves ‘physical’ heroes don’t really seem to have a practice rooted in or working in this reality? They seem to still rely heavily on astral work and reality shifting.

For example, I suppose you can argue that my approach is ‘physical’ since I have an established magical practice utilizing tools and techniques that are tangible in the here and now (not that they couldn’t also be used out of the current timeline or on the astral) and I work to better our current and shared reality. I don’t really assert that the ‘physical’ or ‘astral’ distinction has to be made but if people feel that they need to use those labels, I think the community has to do a better job explaining the difference in approaches.