“Where there is a woman, there is magic.”     —-Ntozake Shange

One of the most famous magical textbooks is The Key of Solomon the King. Like the quest for the Holy Grail, the search for Solomon’s secret manuscript containing his spells, invocations, talismans, formulas, diagrams, and rituals has tantalized and tortured practitioners of the esoteric arts—-from alchemists to mathematicians—for centuries. The thought of what he could do with Solomon’s jottings kept Sir Issac Newton up at night; nonetheless he managed to accomplish quite a bit on his own during the day. That is because Newton, considered the modern world’s first and greatest scientist, was also a passionate mystic and one of the world’s last and greatest magicians.

Michael White tells us in his biography, Issac Newton: The Last Sorcerer that he was not the pure scientist of lore. Unknown to all but a few people, he was a mystic, an alchemist and he dabbled in the occult. He did not discover gravity by watching an apple fall—in reality, Newton’s great theories were grasped within the charred base of the crucible and the alchemist’s fire. Nor was Newton the idealistic puritan he has been portrayed to be. He risked his health in his unrelenting search for an understanding of the Universe.  He studied the Bible for divination and not dogma, he practiced natural magic, he studied astrology and numerology when he conducted mathematical experiments.

Newton did not live a very happy life, because he had to present himself to the world as a pure scientist. His discoveries and revelations would not have been believed otherwise.  He feared having his scientific contributions discredited and his work amounting to nothing. He feared damage to the intellectual alchemy that transformed mankind’s view of the Universe and our place in it.

So Newton hid a large part of himself to be accepted by society and the church. Women today often have to face the same pressures and the same inability to be real to the world. How often do you play like you have no real opinions because friends do not want to hear them? How often do women ignore there gifts and accomplishments? Not only ignore but play them down. Women ask themselves if they are really worthy of being called intelligent, gorgeous, talented. In truth, each of us women are a child of the Universe. We are the child of The One. When women play “small” we are not helping the Universe. When a woman shrinks into the shadows she is not being enlightened. Men have always stood up proud and loudly proclaimed their accomplishments. Each man and woman has gifts from The One that we are to give from the world. Don’t hide, use what you have been given to help the world. Shine your light and give the world the benefits of the gifts you have been given to share.

Remember that as women we are not less than. Women have accomplished much in the world but have felt they have to hide it.  So whatever your gift, even the ability to spread the magic in the world or to sing and bring tears to someone’s eyes. Magic is simply the ability to use the energy that flows around us here on our planet and throughout the Universe. Open up to all that you can find in the Universe. And share it with all the other people you meet in your life.

       Be the magic in the world!