What decades of paganism taught me about magic

Yes, it works, but no, not the way you probably think.

Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash

I spent more than two decades as a practicing modern pagan. The Wiccan reverence for nature offered a compelling framework for my environmentalism, and I found the community far more tolerant than other faith groups. Eventually I acknowledged that at heart I am a rational atheist with no…