Celebrating Queer Magic
Seeing queerness as the special nature it is
Queer folks are magical.
Like fairies, we live outside the mundane, prescribed world. Our existence breaks the expectations of the patriarchy. It defies the logic of the social order we’re all raised to believe in. And thriving in that environment requires remaking our lives.
To do all that, we cast spells. We draw on our innate powers, granted us at birth. We develop our arcane knowledge to exist fully as we should.
Queerness invokes three magical traditions. Some of it is physical sorcery; some of it is spiritual sight. But it’s all a type of enchantment that is inseparable from the state of being LGBTQ+.
Alchemy
In the ancient and medieval periods, magicians sought the power of transmutation. They attempted to transform base metals into gold, brew the Elixir of Life, and discover the key to all change, the Philosopher’s Stone.
Queer folks have mastered this ancient art.
It starts with the simple alchemical reality of same-sex attraction. It is the result of a chemical reaction in the development of the individual. A complex combination of genetics, in vitro hormone exposure, and environmental factors drive the development of homosexuality. It is an inherited trait.
That is magic! In surveys, 93% of men and 87% of women identity as completely heterosexual. That leaves a significant portion of the population that experiences some level of same-sex attraction. Those feelings may never be acted upon, but they are there. Seven percent of men and 13% of women possess the alchemical magic to transform reality and expectation.
Gender-nonconforming folks engage in an even deeper form of this enchantment. Hormone Replacement Therapy (ironically developed to improve the lives of cisgender people) has become a kind of modern Philosopher’s Stone. Through HRT, it is possible to transform one’s body into the sex that matches the inner vision of the individual. Gender-affirming surgery can further enable a trans individual to alter their physical form.
That’s the very definition of alchemy. Especially since, it only takes a year of HRT for a person to become chemically indistinguishable from a cis member of their sex. From the view of a trans individual, this is turning lead into gold. The base metal of their assigned-sex-at-birth becomes the precious substance of inner truth given physical form.
This is true magic in the 21st century. Queerness is the power of transformation, of altering the basic building blocks of life into something new and exciting and beautiful.
Divination
While divination is often interpreted as the ability to see the future, it has broader meaning. It’s really about perceiving and discovering unseen truths. An oracle interprets omens and signs. They seek insight into situations, personalities, and behavior in a quest to understand a reality obfuscated from everyday sight.
The very act of understanding one’s queerness is divination.
To be LGBTQ+ is to have an identity different from the societal norm. And the structure of our culture is so heteronormative, so driven by the value of conformity, that recognizing the essential truth of being queer requires magic.
Most LGBTQ+ folks know who they are from an early age. Those with same-sex attractions figure it out pretty early. Most trans individuals know their assigned-sex-at-birth does not reflect whom they really are. This sort of inner sight in the face of a world insisting there is only one way to be is magical, especially for children, who rely on adults to tell them what it is real.
Indeed, I had the opposite experience myself. Raised in a hyper-masculine, fundamentalist church, in a world that reviled queer folks, and a household with rigid rules of behavior, I was unable to divine the truth of my identity for decades. I knew I was different. But with the social and familial messaging I was getting, my True Sight was blocked, as though a curse had been cast on me to keep me in the dark. All I understood was that I was not like others.
Eventually, other queer folks would share their magic with me, so that I could see who I was, at last. And that is the very definition of divination. They didn’t use tarot cards or crystals. They asked me questions, leading to the opening of my own third eye, the mystical element that sees beyond the mundane and into the spiritual realm where truth may be observed.
The greatest expression of this type of magic is nonbinary, genderfluid, and genderqueer individuals. They are the ones who most clearly see gender as the social construct it is. They perceive that gender exists on a broad spectrum, not a simplistic binary. And they exist on their own particular location in it, moving freely as best suits them.
Genderfluid folks can shift from one space on the spectrum to another, remaking themselves like a Heraclitean river – always the same, ever-changing. Being able to see themselves in this way, as existing outside of the cis-normative world, is divination of the highest order. It’s magic most people can barely conceive, let alone perceive.
Likewise asexual, aromantic, and demi people view truths foreign to the assumed biological imperative of procreation and the socio-normative expectation of romantic partnership. They divine a reality wherein sex and romance are not the principal drivers of happiness. Where platonic friendship, autonomy, and individualism are ideals, not problems or consolations.
Queerness is seeing beyond the limitations of ordinary sight. It is finding the hidden truths of the universe and expressing them through one’s unique identity.
Healing
Magic has always been sought to heal. From Reiki and massage for physical ailments to blessings and even exorcisms for spiritual wellness, among the primary purposes of magic is to make a person better.
Queer folks have a lot of wounds. It is the rare LGBTQ+ individual who grows up in a fully supportive environment. And even those who do must still endure a society of rejection and hatred for being different. Being magical is not always met with acceptance or love.
But the flipside of that coin is that accepting queerness is its own type of healing. When I at last understood that I was gender-nonconforming, the sense of relief I felt was profound. At last, the mysterious truth of why and how I was different was revealed. I didn’t have to wonder anymore.
When my marriage ended and I didn’t have to navigate how to live this reality with my spouse and children, I was able to accelerate my exploration of my true identity. After my father died, I believed there was no one left to hide from, and I started living fully out.
And this simple act of existing openly as a queer human being healed so many of the wounds I’d been carrying most of my life. I wasn’t ashamed anymore. I wasn’t confused. I didn’t lie awake at night trying to figure out who I was. I knew. And that made me happy.
I’ve yet to meet an LGBTQ+ person who wasn’t happy to be living authentically. It isn’t easy. We live in a world that hates us. But hiding from our truths, living a lie, is damaging. And choosing to be whom we are, to embrace our queerness, invokes healing magic that nothing else can. It is an enchantment of delight that salves the wounds of hiding from truth.
Magic in a Dark World
Being queer isn’t a prescription for happiness by itself. We do not yet live in a society that appreciates magic. We marvelous fey creatures are still hunted by those languishing in the misery of mundanity.
But magic is special and having it is cause for celebration. The alchemy of changing to reflect inner identity outwardly, the divination of seeing beyond simplistic perceptions of gender and attraction, and the healing poultice of self-acceptance all bring enchantment to queer existence. We possess rare magic, and we are beautiful as a result.
That is light in the darkness, and it is a beacon for us all.
Phoebe Ravencraft is a transfemme author of queer fantasy, who discovered her identity later in life. Writing While Trans chronicles her life as an LGBTQ+ creator, her ongoing quest for magic, and her fiction. Her latest book, The Black Mage, is available for preorder here.