I am not a mage, but I am a magick user. Similarly, I am not a mechanic, but can change a tire and my oil. I’m not an electrician, but I can rewire a lamp, if not a kitchen. I sing, but I’m not a singer. I have a great deal of knowledge, but no degrees. And that’s OK. Occasionally I have had psychic flashes, but by and large, what I can do is what everyone could do if they learned how (mostly healing and divination). Everyone is psychic- we live and are part of a world of energy as well as matter. Everyone should know how to ground and center, and become aware of their own abilities enough that they can use them when they are useful. Not everyone is going to be able to speak to animals, to see the future or past lives, to do major healing with touch. (Not everyone is going to be able to run a four minute mile, or hit a high C either.) But because we all have the energy in us, and that energy heals, if we can learn to direct it, everyone can give a little of that energy to another person who needs it to heal an injury or illness. Everyone.

If I couldn’t sew on a button, cook for myself, drive a car, read, write and do basic math, I’d be handicapped in getting on with my life. We teach kids the things that will make their lives easier. People need to know a lot of things to get by, different things depending on where and when they live. (Not everyone needs to know how to build a fire or wildcraft food these days, and if I was back in time, knowing how to drive a car or do a web search would be a pretty useless skill.) But the more we know how to use our innate abilities, the better off we are.

I have only casual interest in Ceremonial Magick, but kitchen witchery is useful in my daily life, and things like herbalism, and knowledge of what phase of the moon to plant, and other ‘magick related’ things have been part of people’s life in every culture throughout history. They are magickal and they are practical. No one has all the talents, and you may never meet anyone with some of the more rare ones. But we, as a group, tell stories about people so that we can remember that these things are possible, so when someone realizes that they have one of these talents they can recognize it and develop it. That helps the whole community. We need our diverse talents. We need the healer, the medium, the animal whisperer, the finder, the wisdom keeper, and the shaman, just as a town needs a smith, a potter, a weaver, a builder, and a protector, as well as food producers. Our diversity allows us as a group to benefit from all our talents. It allows those with greater talents to develop them and use them to help the whole group.

Meanwhile, each of us learns to use all our normal abilities to simply live life. So kids should be taught to ground and center, to share and move energy, to be aware of the energetic properties in the world around them. In the current world, a lot of that needs remedial training for adults. In these days when modern medicine is beyond the reach of so many, we need more healers who use energy and herbs. The “Post-Enlightenment” world tried to deny the energetic component of the world, but it didn’t go away. My father totally denied the possibility of any psychic or spooky phenomenon. On the other hand, he accepted that it was a normal ‘talent’ of a salesman to somehow know what sort of music or hobbies his clients liked. People who dismiss all supernatural ‘foolishness’ still accept that a ‘water witch’ can find water or hidden power lines.

So don’t worry if you can’t cast spells like witches in movies, if you can help someone heal faster from a migraine or broken leg, or find a lost wedding ring, you’re using the magick you need to use.