If the Spirit Moves You...
A Primer on Mysticism and Magic to Create New Worlds and Unforgettable Characters
Welcome all you new curious people who have joined over the last 30 days. I’ve magicked up a great discussion this issue with fellow Substack writer Kimia Madani. Check out her Cosmic Kudos stack below for great writing.
Let’s Talk about Mysticism
Star signs, tarot cards, crystals, spells, magic objects, spirits, mantras, meditations, and more are associated with mysticism.
Mysticism is thought to be as old as humanity. It involves the practice of becoming one with God or a higher power through a connection such as prayer, belief, or intuition. Keep in mind, God is not always the Judeo-Christian God. Many people who were raised in a particular faith seek meaning beyond call and response prayers in a house of worship.
Some people chart their stars to inform their life’s decisions. Others casually read their horoscope for fun. Mysticism, whether you believe in anything or not, is part of our lives, in our popular culture, and even on our money.
The creepy pyramid on the dollar bill (US currency) is the Eye of Providence. This symbol is connected with conspiracy theories like the Illuminati and shows up in movies. And if you’re a fan of Disney’s Gravity Falls cartoon, you may know the symbol better as Bill Cypher.
Mysticism and magic ignites the story telling imagination.
The Magic Genres
Magical Realism
Fantasy
Fables
Fairy Tales
Mythology
Super Heroes
Sword and Sorcery
Stories in these genres often take elements of the understood world and infuse them with beliefs and objects. I wanted to learn more about mystical elements at the belief and practice level to allow me to consider how to create authentic characters.
An Enlighted Conversation with Kimia Madani
Kimia Madani is an Iranian-American writer, poet, and editrix from the Bay Area, California. She has a special interest in the topic of transformation—how it can show up on both an individual and sweeping collective scale—and is most passionate about unpacking issues of modern spirituality, astrology, manifestation, mythology, and magic. She looks at personal growth through a more inclusive, trauma and healing-based lens.
Kimia’s mystical practice takes many forms. She consults her personal star chart, feels a connection to the Earth through crystals, has had a complicated relationship to tarot, and practices a mind-body connection through yoga. She’s not a high priestess of anything. She’s an intelligent, funny, down-to-earth human with serious creds as a technology and lifestyle writer (daddy Google as she calls it) and has an MFA in fiction. In her own words, “I believe in science, though I admit I’m woo, woo.”
Her current work in progress is a novel that straddles the genres of magical realism and fantasy. The setting is a magical version of San Francisco, a place she knows and loves well. The protagonist is a young witch who is exploring a complicated family dynamic including a relationship with her grandmother who has a form of magical Alzheimer’s. This story line draws directly on Kimia’s mystical beliefs.
“I look for spiritual and magical connections in the everyday parts of my life. We have to keep our bodies in a place of acceptance to draw things in.”
Kimia and I could have talked for hours about mystical elements and no doubt, we will speak again. Here are some of her thoughts on mysticism and magic as it relates to writing (and life).
Image courtesy Pixaby
On Astrology
Astrology provides a blueprint of possibilities. Your birth chart is specific to you on the day you were born. Astrology allows us to see patterns in the world and society. You should take what resonates with you and push aside what sounds like BS. One of the biggest events in a star chart can be a planetary return. This happens when a planet returns (transits) back to the position it was in at the time of your birth and can usher in major life changes, especially the Saturn return, the first of which corresponds to when we consider the beginning of adulthood in our late 20s.
On Crystals
Kimia grew curious about crystals in college. She says there is a lot written about crystals and whether they are good for energy or healing, etc. People are told to avoid specific crystals in their rooms if they want to sleep, or conversely choose calming stones. She says, the first crystal she was drawn to was an amethyst and she can’t quite describe it, but when she held it in her hand, it was like a little piece of the Earth’s heartbeat. “The crystal made me feel safe and attached to my body in a way I didn’t feel before.”
On Tarot
Tarot asks you to tap into your higher self, ask tough questions, and to be open to answers. You may repeatedly pull a card over and over that is foretelling a change, but that doesn’t mean you know when that change will happen. The tarot has no time period. Kimia cautions that tarot can be negatively addictive. People can find a lot of tarot information and readings online and she admits to going down a bad tarot rabbit hole and took a break.
On Social Media
Okay, so social media isn’t mystical (maybe for some) but Kimia cautions that there is a lot of negative energy in social media. It’s easy to binge on videos or specific personalities, like tarot readings and astrology. What’s most important is that BS filter she talks about. The questions and answers you seek must be authentic to you.
On Fiction
Kimia works with mythology and folklore in her writing and likes Celtic folklore as well as witchcraft and magic. Personally, she’s interested in cosmic witchery related to astrology and birth charts.
She points to the idea of the dark night of the soul as emblematic of mystical elements. The dark night is the part of a story where the protagonist loses all hope and belief due to a traumatic event. The protagonist must find “something” to go forward and that is often a spiritual belief.
She says fiction reveals great truths. By including mystical elements in stories, characters can be richer. She cautions against using mysticism as a gag or as a tired trope. She is most interested in narratives that put logical characters in conflict with spiritual ones, a twist on good vs. evil.
She is talking about conflict, the engine of all successful stories. So the next time you are cooking up a situation, new character, setting, or motif, consider the magic that could reside in a story world. Flip a tarot card, who knows what question your character will be asked to consider.
Image courtesy Pixaby
Kimia’s Suggested Readings and More
Fiction and non-fiction
Angela Carter’s the Bloody Chamber
Anthologies like The Mythic Dream, reimagined myths in short story form such as reworking Little Red Riding Hood in the desert.
The Encyclopedia of Crystals by Judy Hall
Websites and People
Chani Nicholas - astrologer. Visit her site to explore her app and book You Were Born for This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance.
Gabriela Herstik witchcraft and other practices
My Thoughts
I prefer my yoga without the OMs, my starry nights without meaning, and my rocks not to communicate with me. Kimia didn’t change my mind about my beliefs. However, she opened my mind to people who do believe. People who seek meaning in the day to day. She mediates daily to find the magic that connects her moments. That sense of personal stillness and willingness to ask tough questions…that’s power.
As a fiction writer, I want to understand these beliefs and explore this journey and create exciting, authentic characters who may inhabit a world of magical realism or a fable. As a non-fiction writer, I want to respect people who find this inspirational, a hobby, maybe just fun. It’s impossible to ignore mysticism and magic in our lives. It sits in our wallets, in the pages of our favorite stories, and on our screens (hello Marvel Universe).
Mysticism and magic can and should provide inspiration for stories. Fiction is an escape, a way to connect, and who knows…maybe something more.