Magic and the Postsecular: Disenchantment and Participatory Consciousness

Postsecularism challenges the Weberian idea that modernity inevitably leads to the disenchantment and decline of magic. Magic persists in the West, but has been transformed through psychologization. The concept of participatory consciousness explains how everyday life blends secular, spiritual, and religious aspects. Drawing on ethnographic studies of Wiccan rituals, the paper shows that practitioners transition from an ordinary to a magical worldview through ritual performance. This involves analogical thinking, imagination, and affect, fostering a holistic, enchanted worldview with meaningful connections between people, events, and objects. Wiccans blend nature-oriented spirituality with modern technology and individualized paths.

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Abstract

This paper examines postsecularism, magic and disenchantment in the West with an emphasis on Wicca. Following a discussion of postsecularism, it provides a critical overview of the Weberian notion of disenchantment which describes the decline in magic in modernity. Magic, far from disappearing in the postsecular, has been transformed through a process of psychologization. While there is substantial evidence for the persistence of magic in modernity, the question is how it persists. The notion of participatory consciousness is deployed to account for its persistence. Participatory consciousness allows us to understand the ways that everyday life blends secular, spiritual, and religious aspects—a central theme of the postsecular condition. This paper deploys secondary ethnographic data pertaining to phenomenological studies of Wiccan rituals. Wiccans demonstrate an interest in spirituality that aligns with nature. There is a complex relationship between secular and religious ideas with a blending of spiritual practices with modern technology and individualized spiritual paths. Through the performance of rituals, practitioners transition from an ‘ordinary’ to a ‘magical’ worldview—a form of participatory consciousness involving analogical thinking, imagination, meaning and affect associated with an holistic and enchanted worldview where there are meaningful connections between people, events, and objects.