Where the Magic is: Ceremonial magic as a Design Perspective for Mixed Reality Immersive Experiences

Abstract

Ceremonial magic and technology have been flirting since the dawn of the new millennium. ‘Technowitches’ like Patricia Telesco and Sirona Knight promoted the wide range of domestic appliances such as mobile phones and microwaves that can act as magical media (Telesco/Knight 2002). Neopagan authors have encouraged city-dwellers to form a psychic bond with electrical and mechanical objects, pushing for an acknowledgement of our techno-centric reality. In recent years, when video call media, such as Zoom, and social media are being extensively used for ceremonial magic, ceremony masters who also go by the name ‘occult technologists’ combine art, magic, and technology to innovate experiments in theoretical and applied sorcery.