Holiday Magic
For about 2 billion people on the planet, December is a pretty magical month. Those are the 2 billion folks who celebrate Christmas. It’s one month, that for a myriad of reasons, magic seems to become more tangible to the mundane and we have woven stories of miracles, kismet, and holiday spirit that shape the narratives of so many lives.
For magic practitioners this is a fascinating time to watch. All of a sudden, the energetic batteries are at higher capacity, fueled by belief. Look at Santa. A benevolent, god-like supernatural being who has power of space and time, connected to the subconscious workings of children where he deems their morality based on his rules of naughty or nice, with magical creatures like flying reindeer and elves all based out of the North Pole – arguably his Mount Olympus. And an estimated 85% of American children under 10 believe in him and are taught about him from their folks. We even created lore and rules around his powers and “childhood wonder” etc. And for one month, this being called Santa, has power.
This year alone, I’ve seen probably 30 Hallmark and Lifetime movies. 40% of them involve a child sending a Christmas wish to Santa – also known as a prayer or supplication – and in exchange for an offering of Milk and Cookies, Santa will honor that wish if you’re nice. The trend in these stories now is not that for bikes or easy bake ovens, but for love for the single, widowed parent, or to save the Christmas tree farm, or love for their divorced parent, or to not have to move after Christmas, or for love… you get the idea. A lot of the time, they want this being to meddle in the affairs of adult human lives for love.
In one Netflix movie, Santa caused the wind to knock a woman off a mountain, giving her a traumatic brain injury that caused amnesia, all for her to be found by a man who she fell in love with (the title is of course “Falling for Christmas”) and all because a girl put a Christmas wish on the wishing tree and she was on the Nice list. A generous but maybe not so benevolent figure, this Santa.
In our real world, during December, we attribute things to Christmas miracles all the time. Or Solstice or Hanukkah or a myriad of other holidays, but the miracles and magic battery is primarily fueled by the 2 billion Christmas celebrants. And regardless to your personal holidays or beliefs, that energy is accessible to everyone. Like all magic, belief is a key component to power. It’s the intention and the hope around things. And so we have one month of cozy lights, trees, manger scenes, snowmen, and magic and sometimes, those improbable things do happen. This is probably why January is so hard for so many folks. After that New Year’s moment, it’s like all the air leaves the room and all of that magic leaves in a whoosh because the energy fueling it almost immediately gets cut off and we’ve collectively moved on.
All of this to say, that as practitioners we should be aware of this and tap into for our greater will working. There is magic in Christmas, and although you may not believe in Jolly Old Saint Nick, enough folks do. That can give give that power and intention and to boost spirits and hope and make magic happen.
