Magic as a Cultural Bridge

Magic has changed over the past several centuries in terms of how it shows up in people's lives and how it’s discussed: in the 21st-century modern-day, the term magic is used to describe illusions and unknown facts, whereas before magic was tied more into superstitions about higher beings and religion. Nevertheless, every culture has been influenced by magic. Even before travel and technology allowed information to be widespread, magic was a part of people’s lives, whether it be to protect a tribe on their hunt or a magician trying to earn a living. Even though secular magic is quite recent on the timeline of history, secular magic can still tap into the same feelings that non-secular magic has had on people. People try to understand what they can’t and deal with stressors in their lives in many ways, and magic in its various forms has provided this filler. Throughout this paper, I’ll be discussing magic’s role as a bridge between cultures. I looked for various explanations of magic’s history and the impact it’s had on people throughout, to be able to compare by culture and over time, and how magic has served as cultural bridge, bringing people together, creating new conversations, and sparking similar emotions across all people such as awe and wonder.