SLFK 215 &endash; Thursday, August 28, 2003
Who are magic people?
Guy who pulls rabbit out of hat?
Saws assistants in half
Does card tricks?
If this is what you want &endash; wrong course
Last semester did course on magic acts
To a certain extent we all believe in and practice magic
More traditional:
Penny
Step on a crack
Wishbone at Thanksgiving
Candles on birthday cake
More modern &endash; basis of commercials
Wear Gap jeans and your ass will look like Madonna's
Use Aleve painkiller and you will be popular
That was last semester &endash; what EVERY person does
Focus was on magic thinking
That special manner of thought that says "what if"
That makes links that are not necessarily logical, but lead to belief in magic
This semester &endash; the SPECIALIZED
Not what everyone does, but what certain people can do, though they often do it for or on behalf of others
Note a lot of body stuff on the syllabus (which we will get to in a minute)
The special thing that magic people do is achieve ecstatic states, in the old sense of the word
They transcend the physical (the body)
They access the world of spirits
In many belief systems, in order to transcend the body, something must be done to the body, like wounding
Whether you do it to yourself for the sake of transcendence
Or whether it happens to you
Wounds, being crippled
Near-death experiences
Blindness
In most belief systems, reason for transcendence has to do with the body
Magic person heals, sets things right
Very different understanding of health &endash; which I would like to look at
Health is not of the body alone
Physical and spiritual balance
Functioning of the human being in a larger cosmos
Ill health is the result of an imbalance between the person and something in the environment
Need for spiritual well-being in general, not just for the sake of physical health
With that intro: Mechanics of the course
Syllabus
Web page
Lecture and section
Introduce Alexis and self
The work they will do &endash; attend lecture and section
Lectures will PARALLEL readings most of the time
Will not lecture on the books directly
Discuss books in section and also matters that come up in lecture
Short response papers to the books
Midterm and final &endash; take-homes
About one month before the end of the semester I stop lecturing and they do a collection project
Benefits &endash; change is as good as a rest
COLLECT own data &endash; something you seldom get to do, but VERY important skill
SELECT from the data &endash; when you have a lot, how to pick and chose what is most relevant
PRESENTATION &endash; write-up, data in appendix, poster
And the projects you get to do are LOTS of fun
Interview magic people
Those who do tattooing, piercing
Alternative therapies, whether at the school of nursing, or
Woman who has degree in homeopathic medicine
This does not mean you can't do other things &endash; ecstatic religious groups
Medical professionals who deal with people who cut selves or people who are addicted to cosmetic surgery
People with a physical disability (blindness or other) &endash; attitude toward them and how they are treated
Recall the personal and individual magic I mentioned at the beginning
A lot of it has to do with luck and lucky objects
Difference between a lucky object and a magical one
Magical object perhaps more powerful
Element of control
Lucky object MAY do good things (or bad as the case may be)
Magical object SHOULD
How about magical people &endash; people who CONTROL &endash; not luck
Not random and uncontrolled
What is a magical person like?
NAME some magical people
Witches, sorcerers
What are their characteristics?
Appearance
Face
Body
Age
Gender
Occupation
Surroundings, location &endash; where they live
Connection to religion
Halyna and the egg ceremony
Look into the distant past
And actually not-too-distant &endash; Pavlo Suprun
Special category of person &endash; the blind minstrel
Take a look at these
What they do &endash; go to a village
At a fair
At a home
Their supposed magic powers
To pray for the soul of the person who gives alms &endash; expiate sins
To pray for others who are near and dear to that person
To pray for those who might be unquiet dead
Die violently
Die young
They act as a conduit &endash; their prayers go more directly to heaven
How people view them
As if what they see in the home and at the fair is all that these people do
They have no home life, no family, no children
Live on the road
The Perebendia complex
The reality
Necessary distancing
Why is this true?
Other distancing
Your faculty
Actors
Or &endash; look in reverse, people who are distant are more easily seen as magical