Two weeks before Halloween — a night full of mystery and magic — may not be the best time to incur the wrath of a wizard. But the Christchurch city council in New Zealand has decided to take the risk. The official Wizard of New Zealand, perhaps the only State-appointed magician in the world, has been struck off the public payroll, ending a spell cast 23 years ago. The wizard, who goes by the name, Ian Brackenbury Channell, had been contracted to promote the city through “acts of wizardry”, such as rain dancing during droughts. The reason for his dismissal is suggestive of efforts to transform the image of the metropolis: Christchurch is embarking on a new — promotional — direction to “showcase a vibrant, diverse, modern city that is attractive to residents, domestic and international visitors, new businesses, and skilled migrant workers”. A wizard, the city council seems to think, will stick out like a sore thumb in this tryst with modernity.
Witchcraft, wizardry and magic are often presented as relics of the past, as irrational residues of a primitive sensibility from which modern man needs to distance himself. This claim, however, requires examination: for magic remains deeply rooted in modern life and cannot be exorcized easily. In societies on the cusp of rapid, unsettling transformations, magic can be an effective source of fortitude and reflection, allaying fears and anxieties of the collective in the course of a violent uncoupling with all that is familiar. Anthropologists working with animist societies like the Sora tribe in India or with Siberia’s Reindeer People have shown how shamans can ease passage into modernity while maintaining a reassuring link with the past. That witches, wizards and druids can be vested with a therapeutic gift is unlikely to go down well with the rationalist enterprise. Indeed, some of the concerns of this constituency merit serious introspection. In India, with its patchy record in the spheres of education and health, psychological afflictions are often explained away — and even punished — as possessions. Witch-hunts are still a reality in parts of the country. These dark arts notwithstanding, the conflation of magic with an anti-modern ethic stems from specific prejudices.
European colonialism was instrumental in chastising Oriental beliefs in and traditions of wizardry. Yet, magical beliefs and practices did not simply survive but, on occasions, developed and grew in the form of resistance against the imposition of colonial modernity. Traditional beliefs in protective magic and spirit possession were deployed in the context of postcolonial independence movements and mobilizations in a number of colonies, including India. Even the post-modern — West and East — remains enchanted: what else explains the stupendous cultural and commercial success of Harry Potter and his friends?
Magic’s endurance — New Zealand’s health ministry still promotes Rongoa Maori, a traditional healing practice — is a reminder that the human mind can be receptive to the world of reason as well as to that nebulous sphere that challenges rationality.
