Magicians know through personal experience that spirits exist and that they are people. Despite this, one will rarely see magicians defend the legal personhood of spirits in various legal systems, governments, and the secular world in general. Indeed, many occultists find something faintly ridiculous about the idea of doing so, despite the interactions they have had with incorporeal entities and the relationships that they have had with them. Were the magician speaking of a human friend that they had, it is very unlikely that they would be unwilling to serious defend said friend's existence. But when it comes to spirits, we often compromise on that fact for reasons of maintaining social cohesion. One might ask: why is that? While I do not think that I can cover the entire topic in a single post, I do think that there are several identifiable factors that lead to occultists, and people in general, to adopting such attitudes. These factors include social ostracization, the artificial separation between the religious and empirical worlds that extends further back than the Enlightenment, and internalized prejudice towards the importance of magic and its status as a skill.
First and foremost, I would like to clarify several matters. First, any good magician, and any emotionally-resilient person in general, should not be affected emotionally by someone claiming that spirits do not exist. That much is obvious. In general, one should understand that people will necessarily lack information, and experiencing anger at the ignorance of another is not fruitful. There are many persistent attitudes in society that go against the Good, and over the course of one's life, one becomes fairly inured to them. However, that does not mean that they are right and just, and in a perfect world, one must admit that they would not be present. And any magician who has seen God will know that perfection does exist.
Second, I know that using academic language that usually applies to racial minorities might be off-putting to many readers. Self-victimization is diametrically opposed to the very spirit of magic, and it should be made clear that I am not supporting that sort of attitude. This post is coming from the perspective of practical magic and philosophy, not contemporary social movements. I use the term because it is accurate, and because that theoretical construct can help us examine a problem that is surprisingly widespread, even in the current period of occult revival and the reinvigoration of thaumaturgy. Every occultist knows how received truths must be challenged by the light of gnosis, and I hope that the following discussion can serve as crucible through which are praxes can be strengthened.
The question is simple, at the end of the day. Why are people unwilling to treat spirits as people, even those who regularly contact them? One would imagine that occultists would be foremost among individuals advocating for the recognition of spirits, but magicians are scarcely any better than religious individuals and mystics in that regard. The reason is obvious, of course; it seems very difficult to demonstrate the existence of spirits to other individuals, and to the public at large. That, however, begs another question; why should that affect how you interact with the world and with other individuals?
If the reality of Venezualans was seriously at doubt in society, would you act like their existence was an open question? Would you do so if you had personally met a Venezualan? I can guess with some accuracy that you would not, because that would be fucked up. Venezualans are living, breathing people. They exist. Spirits also exist. And yet, in all likelihood, the existence of the former group would be defended to a greater degree than the latter group. Like it or not, in many ways we have a real bias towards humans, and that is something that is quite interesting to note, particularly given how magicians often claim to hold more non-anthropocentric worldviews.
Entwined with this is the general matter of people not treating spirits in the same way that they do humans. In many ways, that behavior is tied to the general sort of handwaving away of suffering when theoretical constructs are endangered that one can see in many religions and magical traditions. In many ways this can easily be seen as a psychological defense mechanism; one could scarcely function in life if they were constantly fretting over the ultimate liberation of every mote of dust that they saw in the air or animal that they saw on the ground. However, just because it serves an obvious purpose in defending the human mind does not mean that it is just. It does not matter if incarnation serves some grander purpose in the cosmic scene of things; a soul incarnating into an insect is condemned to indignity and suffering, full stop. They should not have to be an insect. When it comes to humans we are far more concerned about general moral rights, even when they come into contact with salvific concerns. But when it come to animals, inanimate objects, and spirits, we are very often more willing to overlook suffering.
One example of spirits who are often overlooked even by occultists are pre-existent souls. The general ignorance of their existence by the public is also insulting to human dignity. People are uncreated. People exist before they are conceived. That is essential to human dignity, and it is something that should be recognized.
A significant factor in the general overlooking of spirits and the unwillingness to really think about the ramifications of their existence is the antipathy that a great deal of the contemporary occult community has towards theology and philosophy. In some ways this is good, as magicians generally tend towards emphasizing personal experience of the sacred and practical steps toward liberation, admirable things that are often ignored in many other religious traditions. However, in recent decades, this pragmatic and mystic approach has come at the cost of the more Apollonian and intellectual side of things, something which itself has always been a part of magical traditions, just as theurgy and thaumaturgy is. If one looks back at history, John Dee was not just a magician; he was a polymath who tried to reconcile his model of magic with the theology, philosophy, and science of the time. Theology is not something that is totally abstract from reality. In fact, whenever a magician makes any claims about the existence of spirits, God, magic, and other sacred objects, they are making theological claims. Occultists nowadays are often unschooled in the basics of philosophy, and that is not only sad, but something that can be an obstacle to their own magical progress. Magic has made some progress in keeping up with the times, and despite some of the excesses of attempts to model magic with scientific theories, the spirits of such efforts is noble and true. Occultists should not just be trying to comb through Nature for ideas that they can draw parallels with in magical traditions, they should also be doing the same for philosophy and theology, as many of predecessors who they revere have.
Finally, magic is a skill, just like metalworking, carpentry, programming, architecture, and anything else that we see in the contemporary world. Sure, a lot of people may not believe that you are skilled in it. But that does not mean that you should not take pride in your art.
If you really want to challenge society towards greater growth, if you really want to just be real in your interactions with others, then you should start with the people who are the most ignored. Spirits are real, and we should respect them as we do the living.
Condiscipulus Gemmo