Honoring the "In-Between": Magic and the Work of Sense-Making
Giovanna Parmigiani
Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft September 1, 2026 DOI: 10.1353/mrw.2026.a1004074 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Ethnography Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Contemporary spiritual practitioners in Southern Italy |
| Key findings | Argues that for contemporary spiritual practitioners in Southern Italy, "magic" is not a belief system but a mode of being grounded in felt knowledge, affective attunement, and embodied orientation within an expanded present. Contends that meaning is co-created through relational and sensory engagement, and that "magic" is an essential category for understanding epistemologies that resist separating knowing, feeling, and being. |
Abstract
Abstract: This contribution reflects on the usefulness of "magic" through the lens of participatory consciousness and the expanded present, as theorized through my ethnographic work among contemporary spiritual practitioners in Southern Italy. For my interlocutors, magic is not a belief system but a mode of being—one that enables a form of sense-making grounded in felt knowledge, affective attunement, and embodied orientation. In this expanded temporality, meaning is co-created rather than deduced, emerging from relational and sensory engagement with the world. I argue that "magic," in this context, becomes an essential category for understanding epistemologies that resist separation between knowing, feeling, and being.