I’ve read many stories—in both short and novel-length forms—that have touched me, lifted me up, taken me on memorable treks, and enlightened me.

One that I remember having an instant and lasting impact was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. In particular, it was the scene in Chapter 11 when Meg and the other kids are on planet Ixchel, and they take part in a “conversation,” without speaking a word, with the Aunt Beasts—a name first given to one particular Ixchel creature with whom Meg has bonded.

As a soothsaying, claircognizant, energy-shifting Word Witch, this is not fiction to me. I read A Wrinkle in Time as an adult, to my kids, and remember the profound sensations I had at the time. Reading that scene depicting a meaningful interaction between characters without the use of dialogue validated my lived experience and confirmed my belief in some humans’ abilities to move through the world a little bit different.

Science has only recently started explaining what storytellers have always known— that words can alter reality. Alan Moore, English author of Watchmen and V for Vendetta, put it this way…

“There is some confusion as to what magic actually is. I think this can be cleared up if you look at the very earliest descriptions of magic… Magic in its earliest form is often referred to as ‘the art.’ I believe that this is completely literal.

“I believe that magic is art and that art, whether that’d be writing, music, sculpture or any other form is literally magic.

“Art is, like magic, the science of manipulating symbols, words or images to achieve changes in consciousness.

“The very language of magic seems to be talking as much about writing or art as it is about supernatural events.

“A grimoire for example, the book of spells, is simply a fancy way of saying grammar.

“Indeed, to cast a spell, is simply to spell, to manipulate words to change people’s consciousness.

“And I believe that this is why an artist or a writer is the closest thing in the contemporary world that you are likely to see to a shaman.

From The Mindscape of Alan Moore—documentary film created and directed by DeZ Vylenz.

Story Is in Our Blood

As Jonathan Gotschall argues in his book, The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human, we are built for narrative. It is deep- and hard-wired in us.

Humans have always spent an astonishing amount of their lives in story. From ancient firesides—when cave drawings were the sole means of communication—to daydreaming to TikTok, watching films to reading books, we pass on not just facts, but meaning.

Gotschall points out that evolutionary psychology says stories were our first survival tech. We need stories to survive.

If art is magic, then stories were our earliest spells—protective charms against chaos.

Fiction as a Flight Simulator for the Soul

Reading fiction is like mental/emotional rehearsal. It lets us experience loss, danger, love, betrayal without the bruises.

The work of Psychologist Keith Oatley, author of Such Stuff as Dreams: The Psychology of Fiction, and others have shown this to be true. Their work also found that empathy increases through reading fiction because we practice living through characters’ experiences.

Writers craft these simulations through the manipulation of words—a precise kind of spellcasting.

The Moral & Emotional Workout

As Gotschall notes, fiction, like dreaming, lets us safely test our values and beliefs against imagined challenges.

Oatley describes fiction as a kind of mental simulator, where readers can try on “possible selves” and inhabit other minds.

This is the shamanic role—guiding people into altered states where they can emerge with new insight.

The Magic Trick of Fiction

Our brains react to fictional experiences as though they’re real. Heart rates rise, tears fall, joy emerges—from symbols on a page.

A spell works by altering consciousness. Fiction does the same. Every novel, every short story, is magic at work.

Your Role as Writer-Magician

As a writer, the page is your ritual space, the pen your wand. The science validates it, but the soul has always known.

When you write, you are not just telling a story—you are changing someone’s mind, heart, and perhaps their life.

What magic will you make today?