The *existence* of magick is a cultural universal

But the process and practices of magick is most certainly not.

Stock photo reminiscent of me being messy with herbs.

I’m not going to talk about the bugaboos of cultural appropriation in this post (or the way it’s been subverted from the intention of showing respect to the gatekeeping by people not even part of the cultures appropriated.)

Magick exists and is (mostly) acknowledged in, as far as I know, all cultures. Only the industrialized West pretends it isn’t real. Everywhere else mostly accepts that magick is real, and that the ineffable whatever-it-is can and does make changes in the worlds of the physical and the spirit.

Yes, it’s everywhere, immanent, inescapable.

The way people access that magick differs not just by continent, but by state, city, tribe, and individual. Some people innately grasp what magick is and connect the symbolic languages available to the energies everywhere. Other folks need to study piles of books and follow elaborate paint-by-numbers. Yet others need initiated traditions, built by ancestors of a different time, meant to ensure the continuity and prosperity of their descendants.

There are no single formulas. There is no single set of spells to know. It’s all quite fluid and situational, drawing on a mix of invention and tradition. You can learn the traditional Wiccan way, you can have the animist spirits teach you a whole different approach, you can look at the principles of magick and physics, and make a spell that goes “Boom!” and brings about a cataclysm in your life.

One person may cleanse your house with Reiki. Another might walk through with a cedar bundle. Yet another may speak to the animistic spirit of your house about hospitality and healthy gatekeeping. (That last one would be me.)

When you approach a professional spirit worker, especially one with a cultural specialization, you’re likely to get something other than what you expect. In the US, at least for the mayo set, the cultural touchstone is a hippie with a sage bundle. But you might get a Heathen. You might get someone who practices an African Traditional Religion. You might get me.

The magick is the same all over the place - but the way we access it, and the refinement of out techniques - that may be wildly different from worker to worker.