Imagining Magic

"Those who do not believe in magic will never find it."
-Roald Dahl

Magic.  To everyone, I think, magic is a little bit different.  To me, magic is spells and fantastical creatures, bubbling potions and talking animals.  Dragons soaring high over grassy fields and craggy mountaintops, and questers sent to find some magical item.  My idea of magic comes from long hours spent reading fantasy stories.  Stories such as The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Harry Potter, Song of the Lioness (and anything else set in Tortall), and many others.  Oh, and we mustn't forget about The Princess Tales, and Ella Enchanted.

I believe that to everyone, magic is different.  To some it may mean knights in shining armor slaying dragons, and to others, it may mean traipsing through dense forests on a quest to find the Fountain of Youth, or something of the like.

But I think that believing in magic is what makes these stories feel so true, makes you feel like you're right there, with the characters.  Some may not believe in magic, that is true.  But they are also the type (or so I have found) who read the same kind of book over and over again, and it is never fantasy.  Because magic is imagination.  Believing in magic allows you to let your imagination roam over unseen lands, lets you piece together places you've never seen, people you've never met, creatures you've never even imagined before.  And it makes them real.  Magic is imagination, because those who lack imagination have difficult believing that maybe, just maybe, there are faeries and elves, dragons and wizards.

I spent my childhood in my backyard, brandishing a stick and wearing a cloak, pretending I went to Hogwarts. I spent my childhood pretending I was a seamstress to a queen in a made up kingdom.  I spent my childhood pretending that I was a pirate, or an adventurer, a dragon rider, a princess.  Because I believed.  I believed that perhaps magic did exist, and even if it didn't exist in the 'real world' it definitely existed in my mind.

Magic.
Magik.
Magyk.
Magyc.

Magic for me, is my imagination.  It allows me to go anywhere, any time, be it real or imaginary, be it my own creation or someone else's.  The very idea of magic is important to me.  It was such a huge basis of my childhood, and has shaped who I am today.  I am proud of the fact that magic has shaped me.  I know some people think that fantasy stories are 'ridiculous' because 'they're impossible'.  But who cares about impossible in the real world?  It's what happens in your imagination that matters.

{Photography and editing by me}

The Dandy Lioness