The Young Magician

The Young Thomas was now a teen, and very much enchanted by the magical arts. He was now a young “Sir”.  “Sir Thomas”, the young mage. As a side job he would perform tricks and illusions for birthday parties and school fundraisers. He did a big performance in his high school auditorium as a fundraiser for his school’s French club and Ski Club. He was a good Catholic boy. He was an altar boy. He went to confession when needed, never missed church on sundays. He went to Catholic training during the week. But he was studying his sciences as well. He was engulfed in being fascinated by geology, chemistry, and the earth sciences. He loved to dissect frogs, make chemical compounds, make his own firecrackers, launch model rockets into the sky, and explore historical archaeological sites. That year, he took his first “Introduction to Archaeology” class in high school. He excavated an old World War II dump – mainly bottles, broken glass, medical containers, and he did find an old gravestone that he hauled into his class with some fellow classmates. He was very interested in Egyptology and wanted to be a Egyptologist and geologist when he grew up. He started to explore the Egyptian Mysteries, began to teach himself Egyptian hieroglyphics, and started to explore the myths and folklore of the Ancient Gods and Goddesses. Confused about why there were so many “Gods” and “Goddesses” in Ancient Egypt, he consulted his bible. He couldn’t find any answers to why there were mention of so many other Gods and Goddesses when Catholicism professed there was only One God. Though the bible forbade worshipping any other Gods. “Thou shalt not have any other gods before me.”  He read in Genesis, the phrase “God created Man and Women in their image, they created them.”  The bible definitely suggested “other Gods” existed. But he pondered, “why are we ignoring them then?”  Soon enough he discovered that the Catholic Church had turned all the old Celtic Gods and Goddesses into “saints”. Now he was very perplexed. He went to his priest and asked him. The priest responded wrongly … “I’ll tell you when you get a bit older.”  That did not set well with Sir Thomas. He began to live up to whom he was named after, “Thomas, the doubter”. He doubted that this book was the authority. He began to delve into science and archaeology, which led him to unexplained mysteries.

Later that year he went on a summer camp trip across the southern half of North America. The bus they were on dropped into the French Quarter of New Orleans. It was here, wandering down the streets that Sir Thomas wandered into “Marie Laveau’s House of Voodoo” and a witchcraft shoppe next door. Intrigued by the magical potions, spellbooks, brooms, and voodoo dolls. He picked up his first magical spellbook. He made his first (and only) love potion. It backfired. He gave it to his girlfriend and it made her go crazy insane over him. Even when he didn’t want to date her anymore, she would not take “no” for an answer. He wound up having to consult with a Santaria/ hoodoo priestess from a city very far away to break the spell. It was then he learned that there was a “real” magic, as opposed to the “fake” magic he was doing for side income. He began to study the occult. He learned about karma. He learned that everything you put out there comes back at your 3-10 times. He learned very quickly that you only use magic for good. Studying classical witchcraft, he quickly discovered the hidden “magical” side to Catholicism. Magical practice was alive and well in the Catholic Church. His priest even told him, “just don’t let the other Catholics know you are doing it, and it must always be done by prayers to the saints”.  As long as Sir Thomas still held “God” above all others, continued with Catholic classes, came to communion often, and let the priest know how things were going, and attended mass every sunday, it was alright. Perplexed, he continued on with his studies … and his magic … both the fake and the real.