Magic?
Magic.
This particular statement came as a feeling as I took a pause from studying to look out the window across campus.
The next question was where to even start.
I hadn’t planned to ask him, but at the end of our session when he left the door open for any other questions I asked him.
He was my academic advisor, a professor in the Philosophy department, and a Jesuit.
So I asked him.
What surprised me what that he didn’t miss a beat, and continued along as if I had asked him about something rather mundane.
Alchemy.
I was to start with alchemy, as it was the most recent expression of the art in the West, and from there work my way backwards across time until I arrived at Egypt.
Naturally, being a Jesuit, I was assigned a paper on alchemy to write.
First draft due in two weeks.
It wasn’t a question of being serious about the subject matter, but rather how to pursue it at an undergraduate level as no major was offered.
I’d have to adjust my course load and approach it as a dual major.
Classes in philosophy, mythology, theology, art history, and the ancient world.
Latin and Classic Greek also.
He could recommend the professors who would be understanding as to why I was taking the class.
That and additional papers for him to review over the coming semesters.
This foundation was also to stress a particular point.
I would not amount to anything getting lost in the maze of personal interpretation and self-cleverness. I had to be able to read certain texts and understand the world-view of the author and of magic at that point and time.
Otherwise it would only be an exercise in academics.
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