Q. What’s the Difference Between a Psychologist and a Magician?

A magician pulls rabbits out of hats, while a psychologist pulls habits out of rats!

At least, that’s the way AI tells it.

So, AI wrote (or maybe plagiarised) this joke in answer to my question above. The irony of using an artificial intelligence to assist with a question about magic is not lost upon me. This will be a familiar concept to some (gratuitous pun intended). However, others may believe that psychology is magic, or at least a form of magic. According to Granny Weatherwax in Wyrd Sisters, “Most magic goes on in the head. It’s headology,” (Pratchett, 2000, p. 363), whilst that great wizard Albus Dumbledore points out, “Of course it is happening inside your head Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?,” (Rowling, 2007, p. 579).

Once-upon-a-time I too was a sorcerer’s apprentice; a neophyte in the Temple of Set (ToS). This was an off-shoot of Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan (CoS) founded in San Francisco in 1966 to cater to non-theistic, hedonistic, and rebellious antinomians who could join the Church in return for a membership card and lapel badge (yet more irony). The ToS, founded by Michael Aquino in 1975, aimed to re-introduce the supernatural and theistic back into the modern Luciferian mythos. Naturally, there were various degrees of occult animosity and members of the Temple of Set were sometimes referred to as ToSsers. I left when my mentor demonstrated this by boasting that, by using magic, he could obtain any woman he wanted. That goal seemed far too risky to me. After all, women practically invented magic.

I moved on and joined the Servants of the Light (SoL) an occult organisation working within the Western Mystery Tradition. That was where I came across the works of Walter Ernest Butler. Only years later, when exploring psychosynthesis as part of the Integral Experiential Learning module from the course in Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology, did I see the connections between Assagioli’s spiritual psychology and Butler’s ritual magic. During this course I wrote two essays. The first, entitled The Contribution of Western Esotericism to Transpersonal Psychology, argued that the roots of transpersonal psychology lay in Western Esotericism, and the second, Roberto Assagioli: A Transpersonal Magician? Connections with W.E. Butler and Western Esotericism, focused on the example of Roberto Assagioli and psychosynthesis. Both of these articles have now been published in the Transpersonal Psychology Review and the second of these is my own answer to the question, what’s the difference between a psychologist and a magician?

I only ever dabbled in the occult depths; dipping a toe into the cool darkness of the ToS and raising my face to the warm glow of the SoL. Perhaps I learned that apparent dualities are merely an illusion and questions about differences are sometimes the least important questions one can ask.

References
Pratchett, T. (2000). The Witches Trilogy: A Discworld Omnibus. Victor Gollancz.
Rowling, J.K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury.

Mike Rush Member since March 17, 2022

Mike Rush is a director of the Spiritual Crisis Network, a Trustee of the Alister Hardy Trust, and a member of the BPS Transpersonal Psychology Section Committee. He holds a BSc in Biomedical Science (Keele), an MA in Religious Experience (University of Wales, Lampeter), and a PGDip in Consciousness & Transpersonal Psychology (Liverpool John Moores). He is a qualified hypno-psychotherapist, registered with the CNHC and National Society of Talking Therapies. Mike completed his PhD at Christ Church Canterbury University, supported by the Professional Development Foundation and Alef Trust. His research focused on spiritual crisis—self-identified spiritual or unusual experiences that may cause distress but hold potential for growth. His work included a service evaluation of the Spiritual Crisis Network, an IPA study on grounding, and a Hero’s Journey case study of transformation. He also works full-time as an ICT Service Desk Manager in local government.

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