At the beginning of the semester my
knowledge of magic was only that of common knowledge due to the representation
of what has been shown through modern movies and books. Upon entering the class
i had the hopes of learning why and where these beliefs and displays had
originated from. Now i have the answers to my question...I think? As
we learned in the early stages of the class magic was used by those who were in
the eyes of the church, devil/demon worshipers. How can this be since the
way people view magic today is a "gift" and those who can see the
future or make things disappear are paid for their services as well as almost
worshiped by youth who read books such as Harry Potter and the Lord of The
Rings. As we learned this correlation is false as magic that was used in
the past was not at all similar to the common form presented today.
Overall I enjoyed reading many of the stories and excerpts provided
throughout the class with the exception of a few (mainly from Kors and Peters)
they presented many different views on the development of magic.
In the past magic was primarily used as a
form of gaining an advantage over others by destroying their crops or causing
illness to suddenly fall upon an enemy. The readings progressed and
showed that people who were capable of such magic were not "gifted"
as this type of magic required learning and practice, which began to cloud my
understanding. This soon passed as we read the many different stories of Merlin
and finally I had read about someone who was born with the “gift” of said
knowledge. Unfortunately as stated in
the readings Merlin was born with his powers because of the actions of a demon
and the devil which brought disappointment.
The only readings which were able to bring light to my question were
actually books in which I had previously read but through reading and
discussing them in class I was able to finally understand why Harry Potter and
the Lord of the Rings showed such need for the use of magic as a “gift”. The need for such wizards like Gandolf in
Lord of the Rings showed how those with such little power in the world like the
hobbits on their journey would be lost and alone without him guiding them
through their journey. And through Harry Potter it displayed that a boy who had
been through so much pain and suffering, some of which he did not even know,
was able to have magic enter his life and finally make him feel normal and
accepted for who he is.
A quote that my grandfather has always
said to me throughout my years of schooling is that “knowledge is power, and power
leads to success, so learn all you can while you can and never stop”. This is a quote that I can greatly relate to
our class and the transitions of magic which I think has helped me tie all of
these different concepts. As magic was
displayed in the readings of Kors and Peters there was little knowledge in the
world at this time as only those with access had power to influence those into
believing the horrors of witchcraft. As
the world progressed those who were previously without knowledge were now able
to learn and they began to understand what powers witchcraft actually contained
changing the world view to what it has become.
The worlds of Harry Potter and Lord of the
Rings may be fictional which may be why it is easy to accept them and make them
popular but now I realize that that magic actually had a place in the real
world which differed very much and at one time was a serious issue. In some ways there are similarities between these
real world issues and those presented in fictional stories but now I can sort
of piece them together and understand how these applications have relevance and
shape our view of magic’s current place in the world…I think.
