There’s no doubt that to even the most casual observer of popular culture in the last decade, magic has become a firm favourite in books, movies and television. Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Lord of the Rings – these have all been enormous commercial success magical stories, and across a number of media, yet they are magical stories which take us into another world. Wizards, magical terminology, and mythical creatures have become part of the vocabulary of children, and of course the young at heart. But why are stories about magic so popular again, in what is undoubtedly a high-tech age? What is it that they communicate to us? What is it that captures our imagination, and which sparks our curiosity about the magical and the unknown? Maybe, just maybe, there are elements contained in these stories, which are not so unknown at all. Maybe what’s happening is that we are recognising things we’ve always known, and understandings about how the universe really operates.

If we look at these magical stories, they have certain things in common. ..

Firstly, magical beings seem to be able to bring things into manifestation, just like that! A wave of a wand, a sprinkle of fairy dust, and BLING – what your heart desires just appears. What the magician is doing is manipulating the elements, to bring into form what they want. But is this so different from how things really manifest? Actually, not really. We may think in our 21st century mechanistic world that things happen in a straight line, but that doesn’t mean that’s true. Life doesn’t happen on a conveyor belt! The elements come together in synergy, and this is how manifestation occurs. Let go of control, focus on what you’re bringing into your life situation, and see the magic happen yourself…

Secondly, we have the phenomenon of serendipity. Serendipity happens all the time in magical stories, and yet, it happens all the time in our so-called everyday lives as well. Just start a conversation some time at work or at a party about ‘magical co-incidence’ and almost everyone present will have a story to tell. The more you focus on relaxing and letting go of control in your life, the more often you’ll see moments of magical co-incidence happening, especially when, paradoxically, you don’t look for them! That’s the secret with serendipity – you focus on generating the energies you most need, and those magical coincidences will happen, just when you need them most.

What about incantations? The power of words! There’s a beautiful scene in one of the Harry Potter stories about something called the ‘Ridiculus Charm’. Without giving it away totally, just in case there are some people in the English speaking world who haven’t seen or read the Harry Potter stories, the ‘Ridiculus Charm’ is particularly useful in dealing with something called a boggart, which takes the form of the thing each person most fears. So what do the children use to face their fears? Laughter! The ‘Ridiculus Charm’, as its name implies, turns your greatest fear into something absurd, and of course, nothing dissolves fear, or any conditioning for that matter, more quickly than laughter! So by naming your intention in as clear a way as possible, you bring forth a very creative force, which can be used in any difficult situation. The power of naming is undeniable.

But what actually is the magic ingredient in all of this? Well, really, the magic ingredient is intention. In connecting with your deep intention to harmony, the most amazing things will happen in your life. Because in connecting with that flow, you connect with a vast world of possibilities. Maybe the characters and beings who populate our most loved magical stories are beings we remember in our hearts, from another time and place, where the knowledge of harmony was still very conscious and obvious. And if we scratch the surface of these stories just a little, we’ll discover why we’re so drawn to them. Why? Because they show us how to make magic real!