Spell Craft: Sympathetic Magic

Sympathetic magic can be defined as action taken on a representative of the target intended for a specific result that is manifested by chains of causality.

This is the most common form of magic practiced today. The sterotypical image of a practitioner with a poppet* is the most blatant image of sympathetic magic. However, if one uses anything to represent their target rather then the target itself, one is practicing sympathetic magic. As such, the candle burned to break a hex can be the image/representative of the target. The mechanism by which sympathetic magic works, I described earlier in my discussion of direct magic.

Sympathetic magic relies heavily upon the axiom 'Like calls to like' or as it has been more famously postulated: As above, so below. In some cases, one could argue that the action of sympathetic magic could be described as a measure of quantum entanglement on the Newtonian scale, but there has been no in depth study to determine if such a thing could be upheld. The principle, however, could be described as the ideological predecessor of the concept of quantum entanglement.

Examples of sympathetic magic includes:

• Poppet magic
• Most forms of candle magic
• Enchantments ala Macbeth

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* Known variously as voodoo dolls, spirit dolls, or mommets, the poppet is a doll in a human form that is frequently used as a 'stand in' for the target of a spell.