Thursday, January 24, 2013

Magic in Fiction?

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It is time to study again -- and I wrote that like there was ever a time to stop studying. Tumblr was alive and well today with new ideas and inspirations about magic, and I feel just slightly better today than I have in a while. Tumblr is a great resource, I'm telling you.

So what I want to talk about today is finding inspiration for magic in fiction, and more specifically -- fiction where the worlds are created from scratch by the author. (And this doesn't apply to books only, movies, television and video games count, too, I think.)

Maybe you sink into a meditation and end up in Arda. Or Narnia. Or wherever you happen to end up. There are certain rules of the world we understand when we read/experience the writing (whatever kind.) Can we use those rules while experiencing this "Other Side" for magic? Is what we may see a product of the imagination only or is it a tangible place, like the astral might be?

I'm going to roll out a theoretical example, however terribly. This hasn't happened to me; my brain is just working (or not, depending on how you look at this.) 

Let's say we met up with good old Tom Bombadil if we travel to Tolkien's Middle-Earth as we meditate. He is a confusing person to the fellowship of the ring, but if you meet him in such a meditation and he acts the same way as he does in the book and gives some advice... are you making it up? Or is he a sort of...um... egregore?

We know that, among others, the Istari and the Elves are capable of magic in Tolkien's Middle Earth. They follow certain constraints and rules as to how that magic works. If we learn them or attempt to understand them from this...er.. UPG ... would it be possible to use it back on our own side? 

What kind of magic would this be called? How can it be built off of? If it isn't a religious experience (as people sometimes have with their Gods,) what would it be? Would our own concept of magic work in these worlds? What can this be classified as? (It's okay to answer insanity, I totally understand.) 

No, I don't think I've had enough coffee today, but it was worth a thought. ;3)

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