How magic/psychic abilities work

Not sure if this is the right place, but it’s come to my attention that rewilders tend to have a certain degree of belief in what’s usually considered the paranormal. Perhaps I can brainstorm a few things here. I write science fantasy purely for my own amusement (specifically I guess it’d be surreal erotic horror survival science-fantasy; there’s a reason I don’t do genres), and I’m currently designing my world’s magic system, which I want to follow real-world physics as closely as possible while still being hella awesome. I love writing challenges like energy requirements and obstacles. I also believe anything is possible, rare as it may be. So what exactly would be physics and biology behind such things as auras, forcefields, telekinesis, pyrokinesis (ESPECIALLY pyrokinesis), and telepathy? Clairvoyance is pretty obvious, just seeing outside the human linear perception of time. (this may take 2 posts, wonky flip phone browser formatting)

But as for the prior list of psychic/magical abilities, what would be the nature of the required energy? How would one use it to manipulate the world around them? Where would this energy come from? What would be the caloric requirments for the psychic, if any? Any input or links would be appreciated, but my phone doesn’t do videos. Also, bear in mind that I graduated high school barely passing 7th grade math, so some things might have to be dumbed down for me.

I’m not sure this is very helpful to you but I have two thoughts on “magic”…

First, that everyday life is magical. Everything people do and encounter is almost unbelievable when I really consider it and not let everything blend into the background. Eating and digestion, our own bodies, other sentient beings, the natural intelligence in everything. Just amazing!

Second, I have been reading a lot of Stephen Buhner lately and really fascinated by his method of communicating with plants, organs, etc, as well as his explanation of sensory gating. That may be something you want to check out. I can’t remember which of his books talks most about communicating with plants, organs, etc - Possibly Sacred Plant Medicine or Secret teachings of Plants. The gating explanation (where, essentially, culture limits our perception of reality from the FULL spectrum of perception we are born with), limiting certain types of perceptions, is really explored in Plant Intelligence and the Imaginal Realm. I believe his original title for that book was “Gaia’s Mind.” An example of gating is, say, a child spends hours talking with plants. Adults tell them that it’s not possible to talk to plants because they are inanimate. So that child grows into an adult who has lost the ability to talk to plants.

So maybe, some of these “supernatural” phenomena are simply perceptions/abilities that we have gated to be able to function in civilization.

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I encourage you to read two books - Design in Nature by Adrian Bejan which offers an explanation of these kinds of effects in terms of flow system thermodynamics, and after that Your Dog is Your Mirror by Kevin Behan and points the previous flow system complexity directly at animal behavior and the emotional flow system that is all life.

They sit in the overlap between ‘mechanistic’ thinking and ‘complex systems’ thinking where the kind of phenomena you’re talking about can be grappled with in modern terms. I think you’ll enjoy them.

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