It doesn't stop being meowgic even if you know how it works
So, what's my deal? If you've read my Home page, you'll have noticed that I look like a pretty stereotypical science nerd, except for the fact that I also call myself... a witch? In this day and age??? Well, yes, why not. Also, "this day and age" is exactly part of the reason, but let's start from the beginning.
I've always been one of those kids who want to know the "why" of everything. I guess all kids are, but the difference for me was that my grandpa was a professor of chemistry and wasn't going to let nonsense such as age dictate his answers. No sir, when I asked about that weird squiggle on the cover of the book he was reading, he proceeded to explain atomic structure to me. I also remember hearing about black holes, volcanoes and, of course, animals. And then I remember pulling down a huge Reader's Digest volume full of articles on all sorts of topics, including some mysteries of the paranormal kind. I was hooked.
At that time, there wasn't much difference to me between the mystery of the Big Bang and the mystery of the Bermuda triangle. They both defied possibilities, demanded investigation and were both, in my mind at least, possible. I approached both types with the same logic and the notion that one day science will find the answers.
Growing up I was disappointed to find out that many of those paranormal "mysteries" were fabricated and spread in bad faith, but this only redirected my curiosity. I joined a sceptic society. I was still wanted to know the truth, but I wanted it for myself. I wasn't interested in spreading it, as much as I was interested in understanding why did people believe in what they did. What did they get out of that belief? What holes was that story filling? What did it reveal about their views, their wishes for the world? Because I know what those answers look like for me.
I think as of 2026 we've all gotten the memo: people don't believe in the paranormal, or the occult, or "alternative facts" because they are stupid, but because the paranormal, the occult, the conspiracies are easier to swallow than the truth. If we miss that, we miss not only an opportunity to connect, but the opportunity to change harmful beliefs.
On the other end, I also don't understand mystery for the sake of mystery. I don't know why some people think that science ruins the world by explaining it. I'm sure it's disappointing if your favourite mystery gets a "mundane" explanation, but insisting on a different one won't change reality. But the good news is, you can just find a new mystery, for there is no shortage of them. The idea that science would one day explain everything has also been debunked.
So, yes, I believe being a scientist and being a witch are not mutually exclusive. We need both rationality and fantasy to experience our world in all its colours, we just have to make sure we don't mix the two. Believing in meowgic won't ruin your brain, and rationality won't ruin the meowgic of the world. I still enjoy the sight of a rainbow, even if I know the mathematical formula that describes it. I still love gazing at the starry sky, or looking at a crow in the eye and wondering what she's thinking. Heck, I wouldn't have made it through five years of college and four years of PhD if not for the fact that I can't stop gazing at the starry sky. Yet, I also believe that the Universe is sacred, just because it's our home and everything we know and ever will know.
So, maybe meowgic is all our science cannot explain yet.
Maybe it's just the feeling we have when looking at the sunset.
Our experience will always feel more than the sum of its physiological processes, and maybe that's meowgic too.
Maybe we just have to look closer.
Note: "It doesn't stop being magic just because you know how it works" is a quote from Terry Pratchett's "The Wee Free Men".