boccaderlupo

Consider this a working hypothesis for how spiritual influences come to be manifest in the sublunar world (our "everyday" lives).

Loosely speaking, there is an unseen world populated by myriad spiritual entities. These extend in hierarchies, the nature of which those far wiser than I can speculate about; the main idea, however, is that those entities lower down in the hierarchy are subject to and participate in those above them.

The material world of our everyday experience, matter, the regularities of which are ably captured by the standard model of physics and the other branches of science, is not adjacent to the spiritual cosmos, but is downstream from it, inasmuch as the spiritual gives rise to the material.

The spirits—daemons—are intelligences with wills much like ours, but are disincarnate and have limited purchase over matter.

If we imagine the EM spectrum, however, we consider the various energies going from shorter wavelengths (gamma rays) down to longer wavelengths (radio waves). We might regard matter, the brute particles that comprise our bodies and the physical objects we interact with on an everyday basis, as a further extension along that spectrum—mass energy that moves with velocities less than the velocity of light. These gross substances, then, are not fundamentally different than the radiant energy farther "up" the chain.

If we deem us mortals as having souls, spirits, and bodies, it is in this way that the "fine ether" of spirit (ultimately being manifest, say, as neural connections) bridges the gap between our souls and our physical bodies.

It is in this sense that theories of spiritual rays and their corresponding sympathies with "incarnate" substances hold. Although we might try to distinguish between spiritual magic (magic explicitly invoking spiritual intelligences) and "natural" magic (which merely tries to manipulate and align those sympathies), they are fundamentally both the same: they are attempts to align correspondences so as to manifest spiritual action in our mundane lives...incarnation, effectively. (Ex. The color red, part of the spectrum of visible light, resonates with Martial spirits; the operator singing or vibrating a particular note; etc.)

Some of the anecdotal phenomena associated with, say, haunted places suggest the limited action that spiritual intelligences have in the sublunar world. For instance, there may be disruption of electronic devices (visible light, fairly "high" along the EM spectrum), or knocking (sound waves). Some devices may even pick up faint sounds of voices, etc. Spiritual sensitives may be more apt to feel the "vibes," but the more manifest disincarnate entities become, the more they are able to produce physical effects.

I argue that disincarnate spiritual entities have a greater purchase over shorter wavelength features, such that they are more readily able to produce optical or auditory manifestations; this is why many "paranormal" events leave scant to no physical evidence. In those instances where one does find spiritual intelligences having a foothold in grosser material substances, you will find haunted objects, places—and people.

This is where the will comes into play, because in the case of a magician, the operator's will is instrumental in attempting to exploit the aforementioned correspondences. The alignment of sympathetic substances and symbols is enough to precipitate action, but the involvement of the will is critical to the operation.

It's in this same sense that the Church warns against magic, because the will is the door by which disincarnate intelligences can overtly (rather than distantly) impact the physical cosmos. As Padre Pio notes, the demon has only one door—the will.

Given the nature of free will, a person can deliberately shut this door and cast out any unwanted spiritual influence (including, I suppose, the benevolent (CF atheists)).

Returning to the magician, the operator must cultivate both knowledge and the will to action. In a Christian context, the operator may think that he or she is in some way controlling these influences, but, given the nature of participation, things "higher up" the chain will most likely prevail over the will of things "farther down" (us mortals). The operator can produce haunted objects that allow spirits greater purchase in the material; likewise, the operator's will may gradually become captured by and subject to those intelligences, commonly called possession. This is often a gradual process whereby spiritual actors, welcomed into the will, gradually overtake the mortal, who may, despite his or her best intentions, become unable to dispel them. (Think of an addict who may halfheartedly wish he or she could quit their addiction, but find themselves unable to cast out that lingering urge that continues to burn within; alternately, the wills of some psychopathic killers and cult leaders may become so subsumed by the spiritual intelligences they have invited in that their original personalties are not discernible.) At such a point, only an appeal to a higher actor along "the chain" can do the trick (exorcism).

Malignant daemons ("demons" proper) tend to be more obstreperous than benevolent spirits, which is why the Desert Fathers, many of whom had serious battles with the demonic in the wastelands, advocated against trying to visualize spiritual entities or discourse with them altogether, since even malevolent intelligences can masquerade as "angels of light," as it were. Thus we have stories of monks who effectively ignore the charisms afforded them, in their ardor not to be led astray by bad spiritual actors, and, so it is said, thereby obtain greater virtue.

Magic is the study of correspondences between the material and immaterial realms. 

Any sufficiently effective advertising is indistinguishable from magic.