What is magic

.:MAGIC IS COMMUNITY:.

Angela M. Sá nchez | UCLA alumna

"I'm not a stage magician; I don't have the budget for tigers or making buildings disappear," Angela M. S á nchez said with a laugh. "I'm a close-up magician and one of the original co-founders of the Magic and Illusion Student Team at UCLA."

She originally got into magic because it was her father's hobby. After rifling through his magic books and watching some TV specials, a 12-year-old S á nchez asked her dad how a certain card trick worked.

"He showed me the whole trick from start to finish and then handed me the deck and said, 'Now you figure it out,'" she recalled. "I fumbled with it so many times before I finally got it right - kind of. I had to immediately go show my friends at school and started carrying around very basic pocket tricks."

As she grew more skilled, S á nchez realized she was equally fascinated by the history of magic. Both interests dovetailed when she arrived at UCLA. On campus, she bumped into biochemistry major and magic fan Jason Chang, and when he showed off a silk vanishing trick, she followed up with some card magic. The pair immediately drew a crowd. Not long after, along with economics major John Manion, they formed MIST, which regularly performs on campus, at UCLA events and for patients at UCLA hospitals. (See them in action above.)

On the academic front, S á nchez, recognizing the degree to which men dominated the field of magic, decided to focus her senior thesis on the role and representation of women during the golden era of magic, from roughly 1870 through 1930. (You can read it on her website. ) The reception was so positive - she won awards for her thesis - that she went on to create and teach a UCLA Undergraduate Student Initiated Education course on a related topic: racial identity and cultural appropriation in magic history.

S á nchez would graduate with a bachelor's degree in history in 2013, followed by a master's in education from UCLA in 2015. She was also accepted to Los Angeles' famous Academy of Magical Arts at the Magic Castle as a magic historian and co-founded the organization's Women Magicians Association, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary.

"In my day-to-day life, magic for me is about community," S á nchez said. "It's really a social activity, even though there can be a stereotype that magicians are weird, lonely people - and to be fair, you do have to spend a certain amount of time practicing alone in front of a mirror to get good.

"But magicians need other magicians. Mentors. Audiences. In an age of social media, I think magic's more relevant than ever as an outlet where we get to share something special and to be present together," she added. "And in today's age? Being present is freaking magical."

​.:MAGIC IS TEAMWORK:.

UCLA Magic and Illusion Student Team | UCLA current students

Members of MIST, including Nathan Chu (pictured above) share their magical perspective.

.: MAGIC IS CONDITIONAL:.

Henry Ansgar Kelly | Distinguished research professor of English

"One person's magic is another person's science," said Henry Ansgar Kelly, who has long been interested in how history and humanity have been impacted by a belief in the supernatural.

In particular, he's followed two threads of Western historical-cultural study: the pervasive belief that magic is only possible through demonic means, up to and including possession, and the study of common folk remedies and protective charms, including how these practices were tolerated, or not, by the church. The echoes of these threads continue to be felt centuries later, he said.

"Healing magic was important in the field of medicine, especially working out what plants and other substances produced effective remedies for diseases. Alchemy developed into chemistry, astrology into astronomy," Kelly said. "The idea that witches and sorcerers were using evil spirits, on the other hand, led to the horrific witch persecutions."

He's recently completed a book on the trials of Joan of Arc, who was accused by the English of being a sorceress who achieved her military feats with infernal help.

When it comes to real-life examples of reputed magic users, Kelly finds few that have not been exaggerated, a phenomenon he explores in his book "The Devil, Demonology, and Witchcraft: The Development of Christian Beliefs in Evil Spirits."

"For instance, Simon Magus is spoken of in the New Testament as a celebrated magician noted for his astounding deeds, which are not detailed," Kelly said. "He becomes a Christian, but missteps when he sees St. Peter conferring the Spirit upon converts, and he offers him money to gain this power for himself. Peter rebukes him for trying to purchase a spiritual gift, and Simon is abashed and repentant." Ever after, Kelly noted, this sin of buying spiritual benefits was known as "simony."

"But in later made-up stories, which were widely circulated as true," Kelly said, "Simon was portrayed as an evil magician assisted by invisible demons who made it seem that he could fly through the air - until Peter ordered the demons to drop him."

Ultimately, Kelly sees parallels between how writers over the centuries embellished and invented magical incidents to support their worldviews and agendas and how people in today's more secular era do the same - look no further than the 30 billion-and-counting views #WitchTok videos have garnered on TikTok, for example.

"Once belief in the devil and demons faded, there was not much chance of a return to the diabolical magic of old," he said. "Most of what can be seen nowadays is 'sympathetic magic,' the 'felt connections' between things that hopefully will cause cures and lift moods and bring serenity."

.:MAGIC IS AWE-INSPIRING:.

Janine Baijnath-Rodino | Director of meteorology and adjunct assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences

As a powerful force that shaped lives, it's no surprise that there is a long tradition linking weather and magic through mythology, fantasy and even religion. It's easy to see why lightning, for instance, is commonly depicted as either a weapon deployed by magic users in various media or even as a visual representation of magic itself.

"As for me, I never really thought about the weather as magical. I see magic as all about illusion, and as an atmospheric scientist, I want to know what is happening behind the scenes," said Janine Baijnath-Rodino. "I want to identify the facts and the physics influencing the weather and climate around us."

Even so, there seems to be a bit of an underlying superstition about weather that has maintained its appeal over the centuries. There is no shortage of rituals children in cold-weather climates perform to usher in a snow day from school, for example.

"I recall as a kid during recess, I would lay on the grassy fields and stare up at the fluffy cumulus clouds. I would stare long enough at a cloud and try to convince myself that I could make it move in a particular direction," Baijnath-Rodino said. "That is one of my first memories of becoming aware of my surrounding environment. Perhaps it was the magic of the 'unknown' at the time that ultimately inspired my fascination with weather."

And while our increasingly sophisticated understanding of weather may continue to help shed insight into this "unknown," she believes that ultimately, it will dovetail with this enduring element of transcendent awe.

"There is something magical in the sense of seeing a gorgeous sunset over the vast ocean or the development of a powerful hurricane," Baijnath-Rodino said. "Being reminded that we as humans are vulnerable to the stronger forces of nature that still exceed our understanding and science is humbling and important."

.:MAGIC IS US:.

Bethany Simpson | UCLA alumna, former UCLA adjunct professor and current assistant professor of art history at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar

"I grew up in the '80s with a very active imagination, very interested in all those fantasy and sci-fi movies that were big at the time: 'The NeverEnding Story,' 'Labyrinth,' 'The Dark Crystal,' 'The Last Unicorn,' 'Willow,'" said Bethany Simpson, who graduated from UCLA with a master's and a doctorate in archaeology. "It was a swirl of all kinds of dark, mythic themes, with lots of folklore and ancient religion thrown in. And, of course, 'Star Wars.'"

Steeped in all this, it never felt like a stretch to Simpson that magic might be real - or maybe once was, long ago, in some form. As she got older and became more interested in various historical traditions, she was drawn to these themes. Simpson studied as an archaeologist of Greek, Roman and Egyptian cultures, and as a graduate student worked on a dig site in Egypt, excavating a town that was 2,000 years old.

"There was evidence of magical practice there - symbols and amulets that were worn for protection, for luck or to ward off evil. Some were clearly religious, but the lines between religion and magic didn't seem very definitive," she said. "They were all ways of making sense of the big, confusing universe. And it all seemed very important - very human and personal, and I was in the middle of uncovering the real lives and experiences of people from millennia ago."

This deep focus on humanity through the lens of magic was transformative for Simpson, and for her teaching. While working as a UCLA adjunct professor, she was asked to teach a course on magic in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. She and her students dove into the material.

"We had lots of discussions about the ancient physical practices of magic: how spells were cast, what materials and ingredients were considered powerful and why," she said. "Luckily, there are whole surviving collections of magical texts from the ancient world - particularly in papyri found in Egypt - that explain different methods of curing diseases, lifting curses. There are an overwhelming number of love spells - most of them actually framed as curses, as threats: 'Until this person comes to me in love, let them burn in agony!' It's not always nice stuff."

The key to the course, she realized, was to approach the topic with the knowledge that, for many ancient people, magic was real; it explained how the universe worked. And so a lot of the class involved students gaining a deeper understanding of how this worldview might have shaped lives. As an optional activity, Simpson invited them to create a modern adaptation of an amulet for "protection" on the midterm exam.

"That was a lot of fun and sparked a lot of discussions, including whether aluminum foil was a reasonable substitution for a lead tablet," she said. "Other students were less hands-on, seeing some aspects of magical practice as conflicting with their personal or religious beliefs, and so they'd study and learn about the ancient contextual logic of a spell, academically, without actually doing any of the steps."

Simpson, now a faculty member in the department of art history at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar, hasn't taught about magic since, but she continues to be fascinated by the topic. "I'd like to point out how very enduring ideas of magic are, even today. Many people around the world still believe in it," she said.

In fact, it's highly unlikely a belief in magic of some sort hasn't shaped each of us - or at least our forebears - in some way. Thinking about the supernatural, it seems, is one of the most natural things a human can do, and it seems to have always been thus.

"Throughout history, people have really wanted to understand the world around them, to feel connected to it and empowered by it," Simpson said. "On a very basic level, magic is about 'what can I do to change things? How can I take some control over the world around me?'

"And whether you want to categorize that understanding as part of scientific inquiry or religious faith or metaphysical concepts that include 'magic,' it's still a deeply human thing to want. Exploring that shared aspect of human nature is always going to be revealing and valuable."

.:MAGIC IS NUMERICAL:.

Oleg Gleizer | Director of the UCLA Olga Radko Endowed Math Circle

"Magic is math, math is magic," said Oleg Gleizer.

Look no further than his "magic trick" YouTube video, where Gleizer shows how he is able to read his assistant's mind to determine any number she chooses. (Spoiler alert: the secret lies in a knowledge of binary numbers. ) He was inspired to create it because he believes that the universal appeal of magic is its promise of control - something his field offers an unprecedented window into.

"Math is the language that gives a knowledgeable person real power over things and processes, from nuclear energy to predicting the direction where society is heading," Gleizer said. "Hence, they should have been speaking math at Hogwarts if they wanted their spells to work."

.:MAGIC IS LOVE:.

Teo Ruiz | Distinguished research professor of history

For 50 years, Teo Ruiz taught a course at UCLA that explored the revival of magic in the Renaissance, particularly the tradition that came to Europe through the Picatrix, a seminal Arabic collection of magical and astrological knowledge and practices.

"I became interested in magic because I was interested in religion, and magic is the first religion of mankind," Ruiz said. "The magician wants to control the world through magical incantations; religion is the realization that you cannot do anything about nature and have to accept God's designs."

In European thought, it would not be until the 17th century that the lines between magic, religion and science became well delineated and "magic" was denigrated as mere superstition or worse, he said. But to really understand each, it is important to recognize their shared history - something Ruiz has been fascinated by since he grew up in Cuba and developed an interest in the complicated interplay of magical elements in the island's popular Santería religion.

And maybe when it comes to magic, understanding it means understanding ourselves.

"I think that there's something deeper here. In your life, you are confronted at times with things that are inexplicable or that really move you in the sense that there is another sphere at play," he said. "The greatest and most important of these magical experiences is love. Why does it happen? How does it happen?"

Ruiz refers to the end of Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," where Elizabeth Bennett asks Mr. Darcy when he fell in love with her.

"He said 'I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.' And that's the magic that occurs to us, whether it's a relationship or piece of music or experience that moves us," Ruiz said. "It echoes back to religion - that intimation of a world beyond you that is bigger than you, to which you belong but do not know it until you're in the middle of it."

.:MAGIC IS NOT MYSTERY:.

Ranga Ram Chary | Executive director of the UCLA SPACE Institute

"I have looked at my horoscope in the newspaper, back when I was in school," Ranga Ram Chary said with a laugh. "It's extremely entertaining, but that's all it is.

"Look at it this way: If we say there are 12 signs of the zodiac and there are 7 billion humans, the odds of that many people having roughly the same event happening to them on the same day just doesn't make sense."

But even if he doesn't believe the movement of the stars and planets carries any mystical import for life on Earth, Chary does see many parallels between magical stagecraft and astronomy. Both rely on visual acuity, rewarding careful, observant viewers who are discerning enough to realize that you can't believe just anything you think or want to see.

"That's where advanced space technologies come in - to give us a more holistic, complete picture of what's actually happening in the universe," he said. "There's so much to space that isn't visible to the naked eye, like dark matter and dark energy, that requires scientists to find new ways to detect phenomena."

And while it may seem as if discoveries in outer space have little to do with earthbound lives, there are countless ways in which this work will benefit us all - both now and in the future. After all, there's something quite magical about considering the shared lot of every living thing on our planet and how we're protected from the seemingly endless vacuum of space by a series of factors that have produced the tiny blue-and-green speck on which we live.

"Most of the atmosphere is between zero and 10 kilometers from the Earth's surface; the radius of the Earth is 6,400 kilometers," Chary said. "Think of what a tiny fraction of the Earth's radius and mass keeps us from being totally obliterated; think, too, of how much we have left to discover out there."

It makes sense, he adds, that our forebears had such a complex relationship with space, often infused with the idea of magic - lives literally depended on the rising and setting of the sun or the changing of the weather - and looking up at the stars to find patterns. Even today, with human knowledge of the universe having increased dramatically over the past century, so much of it still remains a mystery.

And that subtle distinction between words is important for Chary.

"I see the universe as full of mystery, not magic," he said. "Magic, to me, is something which is an impossible phenomenon, a fun evening in Vegas. It's mystery that drives us and always has, to try and get the complete picture of concepts we don't have; science is the way we can get closer to that picture."

But for any of us who think the universe is magically sending us signals or sharing opinions of any sort, Chary shakes his head again.

"I can say with a high degree of confidence that it's not," he said. "Outstanding claims require outstanding evidence - so one should assess the evidence critically."

.:MAGIC IS A MIRROR:.

Robin Derby | UCLA's Dr. E. Bradford Burns Professor in Latin American Studies

"It wasn't like I went looking for magic," Robin Derby said, "although this particular form of sorcery I've been studying of demonic animal narratives certainly added to my interest in researching different kinds of monstrous apparitions."

For her upcoming book "Bêtes Noirs: History as Sorcery in the Haitian-Dominican Borderlands," Derby explores "devil pact" narratives she heard while conducting research in small subsistence communities. Unlike in European witchcraft lore, where devils and demons might appear as a black cat or goat, she found that in these narratives in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, demonic animal hosts were more likely to be cattle, horses, dogs or pigs. All of which, she points out, were brought by Christopher Columbus.

"This was the largest Native American population in the Caribbean; their diet was either tuber crops, which were decimated by the rooting behavior of pigs, or corn, which was decimated by the cattle. The dogs were used as slave-catching tools, and from atop a horse, the Spanish could literally shoot thousands of Indigenous people," she said.

"So I'm arguing that the trauma of conquest, of the dispossession of the Indigenous population, passed to the Africans who came to replace them in the mines and the sugarcane fields. These particular animals have become spirit demons partly due to the so-called 'curse of Columbus.'"

And so, Derby argues, many monster narratives actually reflect fears of other humans rather than of supernatural entities. For example, her influential article on the chupacabra myth in Puerto Rico traced how one tradition held that it was a genetically engineered specimen created and deployed by the CIA to wreak havoc on the island.

"I think one reason people are interested in magic - and conspiracy theories - is that they can be tools for the disempowered," she said. "Some people argue, too, that in former colonies where agency was affected from afar, where there was action from a distance affecting daily lives in ways that weren't always easily seen, these ideas resonate.

"It's also a deeply American thought: we were once a colony as well, and this paranoid style of American politics goes back very far, farther than 9/11 or the assassination of President Kennedy," she added. "We see this today, too, with a lot of the MAGA rumors of massive conspiracies. At the end of the day, I think this has a lot to do with the disempowered trying to explain things or effect change in ways they otherwise can't."

Ultimately, Derby continues to be fascinated by the complex, ongoing legacy of sorcery - a term she finds more culturally appropriate than "magic" - in Haiti and the Dominican Republic because of the deeply human need it reveals.

When her research assistant in Haiti suggested placing sweets and coffee on a household altar to feed the spirits, Derby followed the connection to the two products - coffee and sugar - that made Saint-Domingue (Haiti) the richest colony in the French empire in the 18th century, but at the horrific cost of slavery and other atrocities.

"Sometimes what's happening in Vodou and with one's altar is a kind of recrafting your own history related to these commodities; in a way, it's about subaltern agency remaking a painful past," she added. "The term I use in my book is to 'recycle' them in ways that are productive, that solve people's needs in contemporary everyday life."

.:MAGIC IS EVERYWHERE:.

Stepfanie Aguillon | Assistant professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology

"I'm delighted to talk about this, because I'm a huge fan of fantasy, science fiction and Dungeons & Dragons," said Stepfanie Aguillon. "To me, being a scientist is pretty magical."

Wonder and creativity are central to her work, she adds, as magic can often be a way to describe things humans don't understand yet, providing both a framework and avenue for curiosity and exploration that can lead to scientific discovery.

"I study birds. As we know today, many temperate birds migrate south in the winter, but for earlier thinkers, it was a huge mystery when these birds would just disappear - where could they have gone?" she said. "One of the theories that gained traction was that they fly to the moon. Starting from a magical answer is pretty common across history and has sparked important science."

Two of the scientific threads Aguillon explores in her lab are how and why new species form in nature and the genetic basis of color in birds.

A special focus of Aguillon's work revolves around carotenoid pigments, which produce the bright reds, oranges and yellows we see in birds, but cannot be created by their bodies and so must be ingested by eating things like berries or insects. She's working to better understand the genetics involved in the complicated processes that allow flamingos and cardinals, for example, to attain their distinctive appearances.

In many ways, this example epitomizes Aguillon's perspective - how magical is it that, with the right diet, the vast, unseen interior universe of a cardinal can produce bright, glossy red plumage? How magical is it to encounter the crimson flash of a cardinal in the wild? How magical is it that we exist in this world together? How magical is it that this world exists at all?

"Science shows us how everything is multilayered, and we as humans seek to understand and describe these layers," Aguillon said. "We want to, and we will always keep trying. But at the beginning and in the end, I think there's awe. There's wonder. There's magic."

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UCLA College Magazine Winter 2024 Edition