I think so many people fail to understand magic because they think it is imaginary. The thing is, it is, but there is a difference between imaginary (not real) and imaginary (of the mind). Magic is the latter, and the difference is important.
This is why I think the best way to understand magic is not through one specific tradition, but rather magic in its most deconstructed form: Chaos Magic.
The name is kind of cringe and edgy, but the chaos is just your mind, creativity, and imagination. Let me explain.
To put it simply, imagine you are a painter. Traditional magical practices might be like following a paint-by-numbers template, where there is a specific outline you are supposed to follow, using particular colors in predefined spots to create an image. These “rules” might come from specific religious or occult practices, mythology, and rituals that have been followed for ages.
Chaos Magic is more like abstract painting. There is no set pattern or rules to follow. You can mix and match different styles, create your own methods, use different tools, and the resulting “image” is unique to you. This could involve pulling in elements from various belief systems, creating your own rituals, or even using modern concepts like quantum physics, depending on what works for you.
The core idea behind Chaos Magic is that belief itself is a tool. It is not necessarily about what you believe in, but the act of belief itself is what holds the power. By flexibly adopting and discarding different beliefs as needed, practitioners can achieve different magical results. This is often summarized in the phrase “Nothing is true, everything is permitted” (but do not take this to mean immorality is good, karma is still real).
I would add to this that a core magical belief is that the beginning of magic is your imagination and creativity itself, transcending the dispute between real and imaginary. This is also how you can learn something like remote viewing.
This may still not make any sense, and it is because magic only makes sense (and I would argue only works) when you understand (or believe) that the mind and the universe are connected somehow. This is also the basis for Tarot, Manifesting, Ouija, and many more divination practices, and even stuff like the human consciousness work that is built off an assumption from a paper showing humans can affect the outcome of random number generators with their minds.
So a materialist or an essentialist simply would not be able to agree to any of this, and if that is you then I am surprised you stuck around this long.
Thanks for reading :)