Do You Believe in Magic?
The majority of examples from the show certainly falls under the rubric of evil, but one need only peruse the likes of the Munich Handbook, the Grimorium Verum or Le Grande Grimoire to note that the bad guys were also keeping busy during this epoch of high magic. And since we’re on the subject of evil and necromancy, I present unto thee Crazy Jesus Lady, Sue Ann Le Grange and The Stops Reapers Dead In Their Tracks Cavalcade of Whimsy. Ancient ritual? Check. Altar? Check. Blood? Check. In her own fundamentalist way, she more than met the criteria for asceticism.
Further examples include Meg in Shadow utilizing the full spooky paraphernalia in summoning the daeva. Given their power, one can safely assume that such a spell is best avoided by the unprepared:
DEAN: Anyway, here’s the thing—these Daevas, they have to be summoned, conjured.
SAM: So, someone’s controlling it?
DEAN: Yeah, that’s what I’m sayin’. And, from what I gather, it’s pretty risky business, too. These suckers tend to bite the hand that feeds them. And, uh, the arms, and torsos.
SAM: So, what do they look like?
DEAN: Well, nobody knows, but nobody’s seen ‘em for a couple of millennia. I mean, summoning a demon that ancient? Someone really knows their stuff.
Lilith’s spell to force the witnesses to arise is another dose of heavy duty rock n’ roll, as is Lucifer’s serious mojo to, you know, chain Death itself, but the scholarly snag hits with Neil’s zombificiation in Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things and Walter’s ghostapalooza in Hollywood Babylon. Presuming that the previous two examples require a jolt of extradimensional juice that humanity simply cannot possess, if one needn’t run on specific, arcane knowledge (though one could quibble that Neil’s expertise in ancient Greek meets one criterion) and purification of body and soul but simple love/obsession/revenge, then we can only conclude that the definition of magic in Supernatural is quite flexible and, more importantly, accessible. An authority no less than the Wickedest Man in the World® agrees.
All My Friend’s Know the Low Rider
“The Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with the Will”
— Aleister Crowley, Magick, Book Four: Liber ABA
Jimmy Page’s favorite wizard believed that magic by definition included the mundane, and this unexpected, everyman view is the primary one espoused by the self-contained Supernatural universe. It doesn’t take a lifetime of study and seclusion to summon a crossroads demon, just a few everyday items. What, like you don’t have a supply of black cat bone sitting on top of your fridge.
Access to folk magic isn’t privileged to the rich and/or educated. Such lore is usable without any prior experience or special skill set, i.e. protective amulets, charms, salt. Anyone who can pour can lay down a line of the white stuff to ward off spooks and spectres. Anyone who can read (and who just happens to carry around a book of Church Latin) can exorcise a demon. And anyone can cast spells to do what thou wilt.
The suburban coven in Malleus Maleficarum, in addition to knocking off enemies various and sundry, employ the dark arts to win local contests and gain a lower mortgage rate. Granted, the source of their power stems from a tome brought by demon in human disguise, but this merely proves the accessibility of magic in the Supernatural world. Typical American suburbanites are not likely to follow a rigorous program of cleansing and concentration, nor is one apparently required. The correct verbal and material components were all that was needed for hoodoo (Playthings) to prove its efficacy, and the same goes for a cleansing ritual (Bad Day at Black Rock), or even summoning an honest-to-Satan demon (In My Time of Dying, No Rest for the Wicked). An extra stout devil’s trap requires a copy of the Key of Solomon – probably not available at your local library, I’ll admit; try Amazon – a pen or pencil and a functioning hand.
Despite the murky allure of magic, both high and low, in history, it takes on an even darker tone in Supernatural precisely because of its accessibility. Sure, a certified expert such as Pamela Barnes isn’t immune to personal harm, but what of the George Darrows and Evan Hudsons of the world? At least they brought that upon themselves, but, echoing the Satanic Panic brouhaha of the 1980s, a little dab’ll do ya wrong.
Consider: Bobby was able to summon Castiel. What if Cass was a big boss demon, or Godzilla? Silver weapons ain’t gonna stave off that radioactive flamethrower. And, perhaps most dangerous of all, was the extremely ill-conceived youthful machinations of Gary Frankle and friends that presumably could have jumpstarted the apocalypse a few months early. He was talking about monsters, but when Dean said, way back in episode number one, that “of course you should be afraid of the dark! You know what’s out there!†he could easily have been referring to magic. Amateurs, it’s only as far as the nearest musty old book. Be careful.
Randal,
That was entertaining as well as enlightening! Until you start listing all the times that summonings and aspects of rituals (bones, altars, incantations, etc.) I’d forgotten how much magic is intertwined in Supernatural.
The suburbanite witches reminded me ever so slightly of the Charmed ones…living amongst the ‘norm’ with no one the wiser (perhaps they should have watched Charmed…never cast a spell with personal gain…bites the hand every time!)
Thank you for this entertaining look into the magical world of … magic!
Randal, magic? Yes, magic! Thank you for this great account of the magic in Supernatural and its background.
As you know, I have an extensive library at home, but some books you mentioned I had a look at but would not dare to keep them at home. I come from a Balkan background and people there still believe in magic and black threats. So I grew up in that mode of thinking and am superstitious in some ways.
I do practice some rituals myself (that being said, I might still be a pagan at heart), like – the night you call Halloween, is believed to be a sacred night, not a night to party but to honour those who died, as the veil between the worlds is thin then. I always put some food on a plate on a table, as a ritual, with a prayer, in case the dead come to visit and are hungry. (I don’t know, though, what I’d do, if I found an empty plate there in the morning :o)
There are more rituals I have grown up with, heard of. So the world of magic in its simplest form has always been familiar to me, but I needed to grow up and read about it to understand it.
I do believe there is more between heaven and earth, as Shakespeare said, and I have a lot of respect for that. I would never even dare to tackle it for an experiment Рyou will never hear me say the Mary-words to a mirror or take part in a s̩ance.
Perhaps when we die, we will find out what it’s all about. Perhaps not.
But, as you wonderfully showed in your article, it has been a topic, people have tried to wrap their minds around – and some of the books you mentioned should have never been written, in particular the Malleus Malleficarum. Don’t get me started on how much damage that did -ah, you know that, brilliant mind that you are.
I better stop rambling. My migraine is better and here I am, babbling again… :-).
Cheers to you Randal for this awesome stuff! Jas
Thanks, gang!
elle2, there are tons of instances, more or less depending on how one defines magic. I do think from a storytelling standpoint, that the higher forms requiring a bit more work can be a useful plot element, but from a dramatic standpoint, the fact that *anyone* has access to this crazy stuff w/o knowledge and/or experience, can make for good TV.
Jas, just make sure that whatever food you put out for Santa Claus is spiked with arsenic. You don’t want to end up a meal for any pagan gods. 😀
My take on the here and now and the afterlife differs from yours, but in the end, that’s almost a moot point. It’s these cultural artifacts that enrich our lives. Would Macbeth be as groovy without the witches? The Odyssey without Circe? These are mirrors upon ourselves, and we need them.
Dany, well I thought about writing something psychological, but then Jas, after having cursed me for treading on her expertise, would diagnose me as certifiably nuts and have me locked away as further revenge. 😉
To further your point, which I agree with, we would also have not-very-entertaining teevee. Asceticism is kinda boring to watch.
Hi Randal
Loved the article.
Looks like Supernatural has dabbled into both the High and Low world of magic.
I like the idea of the amulets, charms and the pouring of salt. I think I could even handle the drawing of the devils trap and the anti possession tattoo, but citing rituals or exorcising anyone, no way. Pronouncing any words over six letters or in another language, I would definitely be in trouble. Instead of sending a demon away I would probably translate it to an invite for dinner. Or end up summoning up a ferocious animal like Monty Python’s killer rabbit or a rabid chipmunk.
So I think I will stay away from any books on Witchcraft, the Dark Arts, even if they were called ‘Witchcraft for Dummy’s’ or ‘Black Magic for Beginners’?
I wonder if these old musty books came with a warning of any kind.
‘Only to be used by a professional’, ‘Use at own risk’, ‘May cause greed, intensify the need for power or induce murderous tendencies’. 😕
Randal, dear, you are not afraid of me, are you? Should that worry or please me? 😀
Don’t worry, I never venture into dark magic… 😯
abracadabra… Jas
I think it was Stephen King who once said something along the lines of when he was young his mother (or brother) told him that if he slept with his foot outside the bedcovers, a monster would grab a hold of it, drag him under the bed and eat him. Obviously, being a kid, he believed it. Now he’s older he KNOWS there’s no such thing as monsters under the bed but there’s no way he’ll ever sleep with his foot out, just in case, one night, a cold, slimy claw reaches out and grabs his ankle…..
That’s my attitude to magic. There are no monsters under my bed but my foot is staying in, just in case. The Bermuda Triangle, Stull Cemetery, King Tut’s Tomb etc; do I believe in these? There’s about 98% of my brain that says ‘Magic, monsters, curses; no way. Science has proven…’ However, then there’s the remaining 2% of my brain that’s saying ‘Tim, you sure about that…’ and that 2% is wicked persuasive. So despite all the science and physics etc I’m going to err on the side of caution. Let’s face it, being stuck on a boat over The Bermuda Triangle would be an awful bad time to realise you were wrong!
Today, words like magic and wonder are taboo. Fact and reason are the new religion. This religion is tangible, it can be handled and it sates our desire for superiority because we can now ‘explain’ everything. But let’s face it; it’s not too long ago we were burning witches at the stake and making sacrifices to Gods and this was considered the norm. These beliefs must have had some concrete foundations because let’s face it, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time!
That’s what I like so much about this article. It gives the ‘fact’ behind the magic and it satisfies my desire for curiosity. Thanks Randall!
Karen, just remember to pronounce Latin Cs as hard, not soft, and you’ll be alright. 🙂
Jas, my lips are zipped!
tim, dude, every time I see your name my mind is going to replay that scene. 😀
I don’t buy magic whatsoever; I’m firmly in the Scully camp when it comes to this stuff, but I think as stories, as myth, as a reflection of our humanity, such tales and conceits have an important purpose.
To pick the most vital example, love can be boiled down to a complex series of chemical reactions. Doesn’t mean poetry doesn’t have its place or that a kiss from a loved one doesn’t move us. I think therein lies the magic, the abstract space that bubbles up from our unconscious mind. It doesn’t matter what enzymes are interacting, as long as the sentiment is ‘tangible.’
That was fun and very informative, Randal. I had never stopped to think about how accessible magic, and some extremely powerful magic at that, is in the Supernatural world. Rank amateurs can cause just as much trouble as the demons and witches and people who actually know what they’re doing.