Magic and Media: or, be careful what you wish for!

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by Jaq D Hawkins.
It has long been my observation that the world of magic(k) attracts a lot of cre
ative people. Writers, artists, musicians and all sorts of creatives have a simi
lar openness to pattern that is necessary for the successful attunement to the p
atterns of magic.
It is not surprising then, that a magicians involvement in an aspect of popular m
edia can work quite naturally within the same rules and parameters that one migh
t work with in an act of magic. When the magician chooses to use magic, to in so
me way cause an effect within the world of media, the possibilities for a smooth
and successful operation can be far too easy.
But magic comes with a price, especially magic that seems to be too easy. And me
dia is a world where obsession may be necessary to gain the desired result. A ma
rriage of the two can easily result in the magician becoming part of an all-enco
mpassing world that takes over his or her life, as my own foray into this realm
has shown me.
As a writer, I have spent many years heeding the standard advice given to all wr
iters: Write what you know. Writing about magic brings a certain satisfaction th
at can only come from expressing ones deepest thoughts and experiences in a mediu
m where others might share in those experiences and even learn from them, in man
y ways becoming part of the authors inner world in a remote manner. But the reaso
n I became an occult writer was originally because I wanted to be a writer, as y
oung as age fourteen, and it just happened to be the subject I know best. Many o
f my early writings that the world has never seen were in fact fiction.
Ironically, it would be fiction that took me into a new realm of magic, where ev
erything I had learned from my years of magical study would be required to maint
ain a hold in the roller coaster world of media.
In early 2005, I had finished the last book of my Sprits of the Elements series
and had begun work on Women of Power, which I had hoped would have much to say t
o other female magicians. The series had taken over my writing for several years
, I had made no attempt to write fiction for more than a decade. I had no though
ts at that time of returning to my favoured world of fantasy fiction as a writer
any time soon.
I had also become mildly involved with Pagan activism in response to an election
overseas that promised to be detrimental to the general health of the world, as
the influence of the US and its presidency has an effect on many nations outsid
e of its own. But my foray into activism had shown me another world of small fac
tions, where people were as divisive as the super powers themselves and too few
were willing to work together towards a common goal.
In the sort of musings one indulges in while walking home from the supermarket,
I was contemplating the progression of events in the world around me and how thi
ngs should be, when suddenly a single line of dialogue went through my head. We a
re not like you. We have no need to have power over our own kind. Or imagine tha
t we do.

Within that line was an entire attitude, a philosophy that thought outside of po
litical structures, and saw into the imaginary hierarchies that allow such socia
l structures to exist by consent of all who participate in supporting these arti
ficial hierarchies. It was a statement of a true Anarchist.
But in the real world, such groups of Anarchists are few and relatively small. T
here were no nations of Anarchists that would make this argument against another
nation. My writers mind slipped into the alternate world of fantasy where I have
found much recreation in the imaginary worlds of other writers, and found an al
ternate reality of its own. The speaker became a goblin, speaking to a human who
could not possibly grasp the concept of non-hierarchy, and the first glimpse in
to the world of Dance of the Goblins was born.
A scene began building around the dialogue; a human captive, not in any real dan
ger but among goblins who tormented him for trespassing into their world. An old
wise one among the goblins speaking the words. A world outside, to which he wou
ld be returned, more dialogue as the goblins played with him, and a way to make
him forget where he had been and how to get there for the protection of the gobl
ins.
By the time I got home and furiously typed out the first chapter, the goblins ha
d become the innocent Shamanic people who lived underground living in a peaceful
world of Anarchy that works, based on a society I had experienced that organise
s squat parties on a large scale in London. Their spirituality was found in ecst
atic dance, hence the title Dance of the Goblins. Soon this would tie in with a tr
ibal lifestyle that included storytelling as their means of education and entert
ainment, which also ties in with the Dance. And the humans, were as humans had a
lways been. Too quick to try to destroy that which they dont understand or cant co
ntrol. In my fantasy story, the goblins were the good guys.
In four months I had a completed novel and notes for two sequels. I hadnt just wr
itten a novel, I had created a world. The creative side of me is well-balanced w
ith the practical (Im ambi-dextrous), I could not help but see that this creation
had extensive commercial viability. Sequels, films, conferences where people dr
ess up as the characters, the works.
Best of all, I had managed to write about magic without making the mistake I hav
e seen too many occult writers make when trying to write fiction; trying too har
d to teach magic through the story. I made no attempt to teach, but only threw s
ome magician characters in to see what they did. They quickly took over, and bec
ame the ruling class. The story of how this came about is one of the more amusin
g points in the book, and not something Ill give away to those who may enjoy read
ing it in context.
But first the story had to get published. My publishers for my occult books didnt
do fiction. My knowledge of the writing business suggested that the best move w
ould be to find an agent. My attempts to do so however, were unusually obstruct
ive. As a magician, Im familiar with the patterns that happen when something is m
eant to, or not meant to happen. It as not a matter of rejections so much as ev
ery agent in Britain saying they didnt do genre fiction and refusing to read it.
Considering how many popular fantasy authors use agents, it was unusual.
But I had a certainty that the story, and the series, was meant to blossom. It w
as time to move back into the world of magic to work out how.
I began to contemplate a spell for finding the right agent or publisher when a c
hance comment on an internet forum brought Ganesha to my attention. I dont always
work with deity forms in magic, in fact very seldom, although Ive had some spect

acular results with Egyptian deities. At the time, I had never been drawn to Hin
du deities at all. But Ganesha seemed ideal. God of obstacles and overcoming th
em among other things, relatively benign as a contemplative and peaceful god. Of
course what I didnt know at the time was that he is also a trickster god.
I planned a ritual and began looking for a small Ganesha icon. I had bought an i
ncense burner as a gift for someone a year before that would be ideal, so I went
to the same shop to get another one as it was usual stock. They didnt have one.
The city where I live has several shops that would be likely to carry a similar
item, and I scoured them all. No Ganesha was to be found, in any form. Even the
more unlikely gift shops were checked, with no result.
Then, after popping into a local small grocer to pick up a few things before goi
ng home, my eye fell on an overpriced lapidary shop that I would normally avoid.
I had been in there before, and knew they had a cabinet with carved stone anima
ls. Immediately, I knew he would be there.
I went into the shop, browsed perfunctorily for a few moments and made my way to
the cabinet in the back. Im short sighted and have always had trouble with the r
efraction of glass, so I had to look very carefully among the clutter of small c
olourful animal carvings to look for my Ganesha. I started at the bottom shelf,
knowing with more and more growing certainty that I needed to look closely beca
use he was there somewhere.
I worked my way up slowly, contemplating the cost in the back of my mind as I wa
s rather skint at that moment and the gemstone carvings were far more expensive
than I had intended to manage when I had left the house that morning. As I worke
d my way up the shelves, I saw that prices for the small animals averaged 40 - 60
which was going to be a hardship, but I had a credit card. Just as I reached the
top shelf, I realised that a stone icon was going to be ideal, and I would find
a way to deal with the cost.
Magicians will recognise the process of what happened next. As my eye wandered t
o the top and last shelf, the exact phrase that went through my mind was, Whateve
r it costs, Ill pay it. At that moment, my eye fell on him. Five inches high, beau
tiful sparkly Adventurine stone carved into a perfect sitting Ganesha. 175.
I almost hesitated. This was well beyond what I could afford, even on the credit
card. But I had said it, and the timing was unmistakeable. I bought the statue.
Of course the next day, I received some money in the post that I had forgotten
I was expecting to receive sooner or later, and that made up for it. Its always t
he next day
I performed the spell that night. During the operation, I received a very strong
feeling that I should forget about the agents and go for a small publisher. As
it was a Friday night, I decided that I would enjoy my weekend and start lookin
g for such a publisher on Monday. Besides, I had a social engagement on Saturday
evening. What did I just say about the next day?
To make a long story short, I went to my social engagement on Saturday and happen
ed to sit across a table from someone that I hadnt met before. He was a new publis
her, looking for manuscripts. A chance comment about having just finished this n
ovel led to a conversation that resulted in him publishing my book. But the stor
y is far from finished there. It also happened that he had gone to college with
a well-known celebrity who I had envisioned playing a major role in the film ver
sion. A series of coincidences was just beginning.
I still dont remember the exact wording I used in my spell with Ganesha, but ther
e was something about getting the story out there. In part 2 of this story, I wi
ll tell how this series of unlikely connections led to an occult writer transfor

ming into a film producer, and having her life completely taken over by a world
she never imagined stepping into before, a world where fantasy, reality and magi
c all intertwine in a creative twist of fate.

Originally published in abracademia No2