What Magic Is This?

One of the most unique facets of the Jinn, is that they are attested to and given a complete history within both the main and supplementary scripture of Islam. In the Qur'an, the Jinn are there right at the beginning of creation, along with humans and angels. From this special status comes many stories and lore which informs not just more legends, but also shaped individual supernatural experiences through the centuries. To billions of people on this planet, the Jinn are very active participants in life and this world. Helping put them into context for us is author, artist and magician J. M. Hamade.

What Magic is This? Podcast will be entering some unfamiliar territory. For the Islamicate world, a whole other group of beings share this reality with us. They are the Jinn, beings made from smokeless fire that share many attributes with us mortals. Yet before we acquaint ourselves with the Jinn fully, it would be good to have a guide bridging the European and American traditions with that of the Islamicate world. Host of Spirit Box Podcast and friend of the show Darragh Mason went on a journey in 2016 to Delhi, known to many as the City of Jinn, to see how Jinn affected the lives of believers there.

It always felt somewhat incomplete; the Fistful of Fairies series here on What Magic is This? Podcast was in need of a revisitation. While the series went in many major and important directions, an overarching History of the supernatural entities which we call fairies just wasn't there. And so, for the 7th anniversary of the podcast, and with the release of the wonderful book Fairies: A History by Dr. Francis Young, as well as with his help- this oversight shall be addressed and the Fistful shall be completed.

There are very few books within the Western Magical Tradition which have had an impact and legacy beyond the tradition itself. In 1584 a book appeared written by a country gentleman that was unlike anything at the time and unlike anything since. Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft was a massive work which saw Reginald attempt to shine a light on Witchcraft in order to discredit the common belief that Witches and Witchcraft had as much power as people believed it did. In exhaustive detail, Scot put many spells, enchantments and rituals in his book which only saw his work be used for Magic as opposed to against it. Simply put, The Discoverie of Witchcraft is one of the most important books in Magical History. Period.

Playing cards have always been magical. While not as ubiquitous and long tenured as dice and other means of games and gambling, card games have been a part of western culture for over 600 years. Inevitably, as soon as something gets used for games, it immediately gets used for divination and fortune-telling as well. This form of divination has been called Cartomancy and since the 15th century it has an incredibly diverse and fascinating history, one which currently sees it as the second most popular form of divination in the western world.