Witchcraft Today

One may ask, what in the world does quantum physics have to do with witchcraft? This article discusses some of the revelations of contemporary theoretical physics and how those ideas inform our ideas concerning Wicca. Wiccans believe in the existence of other worlds, both the internal and the external, the physical and the non-physical. These beliefs are usually couched in antiquated or occult terms, such as the Spirit World, the Astral Plane, or the Dreamtime. Theories differ as to whether we are delving into our subconscious, or moving in other ethereal realms, but with the perspective brought to us by contemporary science, we are confronted with the realization that those worlds, which seem so subjective and ephemeral to our everyday worlds, are just as real as the place we wake up in each day.

Tegmark’s Alternate Universes
Max Tegmark of Penn State university recently described four distinct types of parallel universes. The first type is what he calls “Beyond our cosmic horizon.” If the universe is infinite in all directions, and there are only so many possible arrangements of matter, then there is a point in which the universe starts repeating itself, in effect creating separate and distinct universes that all follow the same basic rules (gravity, electromagnetism, nuclear forces and so on). These places are so far away that the light from our sun will probably never reach them, but they exist nonetheless, and are exact copies of our universe, as we know it. Our universe, then, is infinite in all directions, and contains an infinite number of these “known universes,” a small portion of which are exact duplicates of our universe. Now, that’s a lot to absorb by itself, but the more they came to think about things and crunch some numbers, scientists came to realize that our universe is a distinct entity or object in itself, that is comprised of an infinite amount of three dimensional space, but according to what they knew about the birth and development of the universe, it wasn’t the only possible universe. What else could there be?

Way back, when the Big went Bang, space began to expand, and our universe was created. But, at the same time, other universes were created because space kept expanding, faster than even the speed of light. Now, in this space were collections of matter and energy, that sort of formed into bubbles, as water will bead, and each formed its own universe, each of which contained an infinite three dimensional space, housing an infinite number of Hubble volumes(known universes), a small portion of which contain exact duplicates of our universe, as we know it. This is the second level of alternate universes, and doesn’t have a poetic name like the level I’s. It is called “Chaotic post inflationary bubbles.” These universes never interact with each other (at least directly), because the expansion of space is forcing them to move away from each other faster than the speed of light. Since nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, nothing from our universe could make it to the other universe.

The level three multiverse is different from the other two, in that it is much closer to us, but it is the same in that they still exist in a place where we can never interact with them. This is the Quantum Many Worlds level. Grab a coin and flip it, but don’t reveal it yet. Is it heads or tails? You won’t know until you reveal it. Until you do, you cannot say whether the coin is heads or tails, so in truth it exists in a state of limbo where it is neither, but has an equal chance of being either. This limbo-like state of both-and-neither is generally referred to as quantum superposition. Now reveal the coin. Let’s just say it came up heads, and once you see it you can definitely say which of the two possible states it now exists in. That means that the superposition of the quantum world collapsed down into one state of being, by your perspective. That is, the coin came up either heads or tails for you. But, when that superposition collapsed into a position (heads or tails for you), it also collapsed into the other possibility at the same time, not witnessed by you, but by an alternate you in another quantum universe. Every time you flip the coin, then, you create two distinct universes, one in which it came up tails and the other in which it came up heads. These two universes never interact with each other, and you only perceive one of them, but both exist nonetheless. The same principle applies to any situation in life where there could be more than one possible outcome, whether it be through your choices, or random events. In each case, alternate universes split apart, each one expressing one of the possible outcomes. Now we have three distinct levels of alternative universes, each existing side by side with our own, and each following the same basic rules. But what about universes with different rules?

Which leads us to Level Four. Up to now, each of the types of alternate universes have had some common ground rules, if not in their development, then in their starting conditions and the rules governing their development. This type of multiverse breaks all those rules. The theory behind this level holds that mathematics is so useful because the universe is inherently mathematical, as opposed to the idea that the universe just is, and math is a close approximation to it. Each universe can be defined through a mathematical formula. These formulas can be incredibly complex,with a near-infinite number of variables, such as our own universe. But a universe doesn’t need to be that complex- other universes can be described through much simpler equations. At this level, virtually any universe you can imagine exists. These can be universes that are large empty polygons, or could even be a realm that would look, feel, and in all other ways resemble the Fairy lands of mythology. The defining point here is that the rules that govern the universe can differ from our own drastically. While Tegmark contends that in most of those universes, there would not be conditions that would life to form, it inly requires some imagination to realize that some of them must contain life, and some of those universes are exact duplicates of our own.

With these ideas, we establish that there may be a factual basis for literally any creation of the human mind, and for many things that no person ever thought possible. Although we are separated from these other worlds, either through vast cosmic distances, or through displacement on the quantum level, we can visualize them and construct them in our minds. Our science is telling us that they must exist in order to satisfy conditions in quantum field theory and relativity. In other words, if these other worlds don’t exist, then science as we understand it is fundamentally wrong!

Having defined the other worlds of witchcraft from a scientific perspective, we shall now move on to explain how magic works, through the interpretation of quantum physics. See part 2!