I was recently asked by a reader why I emphasize integrating mundane actions into magical work, especially when no one else really seems to write about it. Doesn’t taking mundane actions defeat the point of doing magical work? Why should we marry the mundane to the magical, if magic is supposed to allow us to pull off the impossible.
I can’t speak for why other writers mostly ignore integrating the mundane into their magical work. I can tell you why I do it and write about it. I’m a very practical person in every aspect of my life, and that includes the spiritual work I do. But I also don’t really separate the mundane from the magical. The mundane actions I take are part of the magical work I do. Making a distinction between specific actions and categorizing those actions as magical or mundane ignores something pivotal to life itself: How we live our lives is informed by how we define our lives.
Do I define my life as compartmentalized sections? Or do I define my life by how I truly want to live it…a magical life where every choice and action is magical?
I define my life as a magical life, where every action done can have magical relevance and with that understanding I don’t see mundane actions as purely mundane, because they aren’t. They have magical significance. That significance is discovered by recognizing how a given application can be applied to magic.
For example, if I’m cleaning my home, I can make that act of cleaning a magical act. I can do the same thing with foods I cook, games I play, and anything else for that matter.
Now someone might be tempted to reply, “If all actions can be magical, why practice magic as a ritual, etc?”
In order to make a given action magical, you necessarily need to know how magic works. The value of ritual is that it teaches you how to recognize the experience of magic. But once you recognize that experience and get better at it, you can map that to any action you take and make what you’re doing into an act of magic.
In my case, I take the various activities I do each and every day and feed them into my magical work to sustain and support that magical work. I still make time to do ritual and meditate each day, but I also look at my mundane actions and ask myself if there’s a way to take those actions and either turn them into magical workings or fuel for ongoing workings. And all of this is possible for any magician to do. It just requires a fundamental shift in how you think about and practice magic.
