User:Charlie/Graduate Proposal

✧ Project Proposal ✧

✦ What do you want to make? ✦

Protocols for Magic aims to create introductory frameworks for the development of idiosyncratic Magic practices through artistic expression. In other words, this project investigates how creative exercises and artistic play, in the form of protocols, can act as didactic tools to facilitate a user's/audience's personal relation to Magic.

The desired end result of this research is to create a compounded publication. Possibly in the form of a booklet, workbook and other print-based objects. Which include parts of my thesis research, general information on Magic I collected, and the Protocols for Magic. With each section containing one or several related protocols for art-based Magic, as a way to explore different types, forms, practices, within Magic, through different perspectives and artistic mediums (e.g.: visual vs. written, experimental vs. structured, individual vs. collective, etc).

✦ How do you plan to make it? ✦

The intertwined amphiptere ✧ symbolizing my interest in combining art and magic in my practice. An emblem I have used in previous projects and publications.

① The basis of the project is partially informed by theoretical research, done through the thesis. Such as the different approaches to defining Magic, and it's relation to Art. Including existing classifications of different types, forms and practices within Magic (e.g.: High vs. low Magic , Sympathetic Magic, etc). As well as, other texts and resources on more specific practices and tools, that may not be discussed in depth within the thesis. Which are used and adapted to form Protocols for Magic. I.e. exercises, prompts and templates that help introduce and let a user explore different aspects of Magic through art and creativity.

② The second and most important part of the project is the prototyping of the Protocols. Which means: Actively experimenting with and testing a large variety of protocols with an audience/user(s). Whether through individual test sessions or through workshops, both including a formalized feedback section. Using the findings and feedback to reflect on:

• how people engage with the protocols
• how different artistic mediums can intersect with different forms of Magic
• how the protocols can act as a learning tool/support
• how it may potentially shape people's own relation and understanding of Magic, as a whole

③ The third step is the documentation of my research through archiving the results on my dedicated wiki-pages (f.ex.: Protocols for Magic and Process Log).

The insights gained from the prototypes (process, observations, feedback, reflections, etc) will contribute to my thesis and research question, specifically discussed in Chapter 3, as a way to answer: What lays at the intersection of Art and Magic, as a grounds for forming novel and idiosyncratic Magic practices through creative expression?

First Prototypes..

Prototype#1 ✧ Magic Circle Worksheet ✧

This prototype includes 3 components: A worksheet with a spell (interpretative sentence), a magic key (diagraph-like magic circle with explanation) and a table of symbols (abstract terms as symbols).

Protocol:

✧ Transform this spell into a Magic circle using the given key and table of symbols ✧

The main goal of this prototype was to test out the base idea of "doing Magic" in an exercise-like format.

The magic key and circle work with an internal/abstracted logic. The user is prompted to interpret the given sentence/spell intuitively. The table of symbols adds another degree of abstraction by breaking down the sentence into abstract terms/symbols.

Prototype#2 ✧ Workshop ✧

The main goal of this workshop was to investigate how to introduce people to different Magic practices/concept through descriptions, examples, analogies and most importantly: Active protocols for individual and collective experimentation. This workshop therefore includes a variety of prototype-ideas for Magic protocols.

The protocols explored spell-writing, sigils, collective correspondences and the making of talismans.

➭ Protocols for Magic

• 
• 
• 

Prototype#3+ ✧ Try-Out Night (to come..) ✧

For the upcoming Try-Out Night, I plan on creating 3 to 4 more worksheet-type prototypes for visitors to try and give feedback on. Some current ideas include:

• Protocols for Poetic Spell-Writing..
• Protocols for Magic Circles 2.0..
• Protocols for Dialectic Hex..
• Protocols for Altarcation..

Design and Visual Components...

Some current visual inspiration for a composited publication..

✦ What is your timetable? ✦

Timeframe	Dates & Deadlines	Tasks
September - December	21 Nov: Graduate Proposal Thesis Outline 1 Dec: Try-Out Night 8 Dec: Assessment 19 Dec: Thesis Chapter 1 (Draft)	Preliminary research < 21 Nov ☑ Workshop#1 - 13 Oct ☑ First Prototypes < 21 Nov ☑ Additional Prototypes < 1 Dec Theory outline for prototypes < 19 Dec (w/ thesis chapter 1) (optional: Workshop 2 < 19 Dec)
January - February	31 Jan: XPUB ZineFair 13 Feb: Thesis Draft 1	Workshop#2/#3 < 31 Jan (xpub zinefair) Publication & Design Prototype #1 < 31 Jan Add. artistic references < 13 Feb (w/ thesis chapter 2) Documentation and reflection (Draft) < 13 Feb (w/ thesis chapter 3) Protocols prototype ++ < 17 Apr
March - April	6 Mar: Thesis Draft 2 20 Mar: Second readers' comments 17 April: THESIS FINAL	Formulate main take-away(s) & reflections < 6 Mar Publication & Design Prototype #2 < 17 Apr Formulate goals and plans post thesis < 20 Mar - 17 Apr
May - July	Project assessmentGraduation show	FINALIZE PROTOCOLS & PUBLICATION < Grad show

✦ Why do you want to make it? ✦

Through the Protocols for Magic research, I aim to deepen my own understanding and relation to Magic through Art. But also to directly connect this artistic research with a public audience, as an artist and designer, by taking on the role of facilitator and educator through the creation of new tools and frameworks for engaging with Magic as a practice.

I have been fascinated with ideas of Magic, the Occult and anything whimsical or fantastical, since childhood. And as I've developed as an artist and illustrator, it has always continued to inform my artistic practice in varying ways. Whether through creating magical objects and artifacts through art and crafting, or incorporating aspects of Magic and Occultism in my personal and professional work. In other words, practicing art-based Magic and magic-based Art in varying ways, myself. A fascination which I would like to share through this project.

However, parts of my motivation in investigating this research question also emerged from an apparent lack of readily available resources and publications on practicing Magic that are separate from, or not directly reflecting, established religions or codified belief systems (e.g. Wicca, New Age spiritualism, Neo-Pagan beliefs, etc). Despite my deep interest in Magic and learning about many existing movements and beliefs around it, from past to present, prior to this project, I have always approached the practice of Magic with a degree of skepticism and reluctance towards any form of dogma. Especially in the form of superstition or supernatural beliefs tying Magic to higher powers/forces/entities, etc.

As such, this project is aimed at an audience who may feel similarly to Magic as myself, and who may have an interest in exploring their personal relationship and interpretation of what Magic is or can be.

"[...] it may be the very act of designing and making the object and the considerations of its form, decoration, and materials that comprise it that enliven and empower it. It is a marriage of art and meaning but with the purpose of magical function. Symbolic and ritual occult artifacts help people to connect with the magic they aim to undertake, and the art of making can be a symbolic and transformational ritual in itself." (Bellisario, 2025, p.404 )

✦ Who can help you and how? ✦

• Sarah Bellisario ✧ Is a freelance artist and illustrator, as well as an academic researcher investigating art as a healing practice, and magic through art.
• Fellow XPUB students ✧ Are great research subjects and give useful feedback
• Lidia Pereira ✧ Supervisor, great giver of feedback, references and recommendations

✧ I would like to find and get in contact with more people as I go.. ✧

✦ Relation to previous practice ✦

My artistic practice often focuses on merging cross-media art (mixing analog and digital tools) with illustration and print-making techniques. Experimenting with a lot of different mediums and methods to create images, stories and experiences.

These are elements which I want to incorporate into this project in the form of bricolage, crafting, and possibly other forms of low-tech and accessible artistic mediums. As one cebtral goal of this project, and my practice as a whole, is to create and facilitate interaction with art that is accessible and approachable to a variety of audiences outside of the academic or institutional (arts) setting.

The project also reflects aspects of SI#25 Sounds Of Marmalade and SI#26 3DS-Zine projects' methodology, wherein we took existing tools and concepts, and investigated/explored/adapted/re-contextualized it, with an audience. — Subverting existing frameworks to explore them through a new perspective or context.

Some previous projects..

✧ Ornamenta Magica ✧

A risograph publication which presents intricate paper-cuts as a form of Sigil Magic.

Paper ornaments are a very approachable method for exploring the interpretative and evocative potential of ornamental abstraction. With one piece of paper and a cutter, they can be as simple or complicated as one wants. Ornamental shapes may carry meaning through through visual codes and composition, and can therefore function in similar ways to sigils.They may also speak to our intuitive and emotional interpretations of shapes and forms through aesthetics.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

✧ Artficss ✧

CSS-based ornament generator as an "alternative divination tool". A way of interpreting and diving through randomized constellations of shapes and colors. (An ongoing project in slow progress.)

Similar to the previous project, this project aims to speak to intuitive and sentimental interpretations, as a divinatory tool, based on ornamental abstraction through code.

✧ Almanac'34 ✧ Special Issue 27

Almanac publication as a collection of future predictions based on collected hopes and wishes for the future (Xpub students). It reflects the fears and worries of today, but twists them to become messages of hopefulness, even if at times absurd.

➭ Almanac'34

Almanacs' have a long tradition within divination practices like astrology, and nature based magical practices. It posed as an interesting framework for subverting the idea of divination into speculative fiction, to address and counter real life/real time social issues and concerns that came up through the Special Issue.

• 
• 
• 
• 

✦ Relation to a larger context ✦

This research is informed by varying definitions and understandings of what Magic is, and the complex history of Art and Magic as intersecting fields within human history, explored within the thesis. And sets out to analyze and adapt existing concepts within Magic to form templates, exercises and other frameworks with which to introduce, explore and learn about Magic through Art.

(...)

While the project explores many varying approaches to defining Magic, and its relation to Art, it ultimately positions Magic within the inherently complex and idiosyncratic nature of the human experience, and its participatory relation to the universe. Magic exists through connecting and understanding with the world around us. Meaning, it lays in the understanding that the human body and consciousness is itself part of greater systems. And can therefore be influenced by, and effect influence, on "it". Positioning Art as one of its tools/a proactive means/a conduit with which one can engage and connect with oneself, others and the world at large.

As I have continued to develop my own relation to Magic, Art has always been a keystone within my personal practice. Whether through using arts-and-crafts to create magical artifacts and objects, or incorporating occult and magical elements in my (private and professional) work as an artist and illustrator, as examples. I have always felt there to be an innate link binding Art to Magic — A mode of connecting one-self to the other. Revealing the inner to the exterior by giving it a material form. And vice versa, processing the world by capturing and reflecting fragments of it through creation. An endless cycle of impression and expression, directly interacting and shaping perceptual reality itself. Making Art a form of Magic, and Magic a form of Art.

• Magic and Art as mode-of-thought, distinct from religion & science
  • Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
  • Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization

• Persistence of magic in art and popular culture, and "underground" movements
  • The Return of Magic in Art
  • How magic survived the disenchantment of the world
  • Art and Magick in the 21st Century; Reflections of a Neophyte
• Folk Magic and Bricolage/crafts as marginal practices
  • Contemporary Visions: Refiguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic
  • Enchanted Objects: Agency in the Magic and Contemporary Art Practice
• Idiosyncratic Magic vs. established/codified believes
  • (...)

✧ ✧ ✧

✧ References ✧

Gosden, C (2020). Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present.

DK (2020). A History of Magic, Witchcraft and the Occult.

Williams, L. (2025). Compendium Of The Occult - Arcane Artefacts, Magic Rituals and Sacred Symbolism.

Sutcliffe, J ( 2021). Magic

Bever, E., Styers, R. (2017). Magic in the Modern World: Strategies of Repression and Legitimization.

Bellisario, S. (2025). Contemporary Visions: Refiguring The Esoteric; The Transformational Act of “Making” Magic.

Davies, A. (2023). Art is Magic.

Moore, P. E. (2019). Art and Magick in the 21st Century; Reflections of a Neophyte. TULCA Festival Of Visual Arts, TULCA, Galway, IE. Available at: http://www.padraicmoore.com/art-and-magick-in-the-21st-century-reflections-of-a-neophyte/ [Accessed 15 Nov. 2025].

Gilhooly, J. (2010). Enchanted Objects: Agency in the Magic and Contemporary Art Practice.

Speltz, A. (1980). Ornamenten- van prehistorie tot en met biedermeier.

✧ Glossary ✧