As Stewart Clark said "For those who believe no proof is necessary for those who don't believe no proof is possible"
If you are looking to prove magic is real to your friends and they really don't believe there isn't much you can do to convince them. If you are trying to prove it to yourself, I'd suggest you jump in feet first and see what happens.
Makes sense, honestly, I just wanted to see if anyone had any proof because this friend (for lack of a better word) is arguing they have physic powers and refuse to believe magic is real. It is just mildly annoying that while there is no scientific proof for what they are talking about, some stuff in witchcraft has been proven. Although you do make a good point thank you.
To be perfectly honest, I don't think anyone really knows for certain how magic works unless we're talking about pure psychology. We have all sorts of personal theories about how magic affects the world outside of our heads, but nothing concrete. I could tell you how I think magic works based on things I've read, but that's what makes sense to me and it might not even be true.
This makes magic something a bit difficult to prove. Magic doesn't even work 100 percent of the time unlike many things we can explain with science. It's like prayer, which some say is just another form of magic. If you pray and something happens, did it happen because of the prayer or would it have happened anyway? Same with a spell. It's possible that we just don't have a branch of science capable of explaining magic yet. Maybe if we did it wouldn't be magic anymore though. Magic used to be seen as science before we had science.
As for crystals, I'm not aware of any scientific proof that they really do change the vibrations of things around them. That all seems energy based anyway. Does that mean that they don't? No. It just means there's no scientific proof that they do.
The closest thing that has any scientific proof that I know of is herbal medicine. Herbs do have physical affects on the body. Do they also have energetic affects? Again I don't know and I don't know if it can be proven.
As far as herbs are concerned, their use is provable, at least when used therapeutically. This is because it is a chemical action of compounds within the plant. For example; black willow bark has acetacylic acid and so can be used for treatment of the same kinds of things aspirin is used for. ... Because it basically *is* aspirin.
The scents of certain flowers also have measurable effects on people, because scent is very closely linked to both memory and emotion. So certain scents like lavender or vanilla, or other sweet smells can be calming. While sharper, citrus or bitter smells like lemon or coffee can be invigorating or inspire alertness.
Basically, they have aspects that can be verified through physical means and measurements. Meanwhile magic, energy working, and other spiritual concepts are by nature and focus separated from the physical. This makes them very difficult to test well.
But. Some interesting attempts have been made;
Power of human observation- In laboratory tests it has been found that light changes its behavior and likely nature simply by being observed. When tested without observation it behaves like a wave/energy (a non-physical thing). But while observed directly it behaves as a particle (a physical thing). It has opened all kinds of thoughts regarding if humans are changing or even harming the universe around us simply by trying to observe it.
Power of sound and music- there have been experiments performed with plants grown from seed, where each plant was exposed to a different genre of music 24 hours a day. Each plant appeared to be affected in its health and growth speed, including some outright dying even if exposed shortly after sprouting (to rule out bad seeds).
Power of energy/intent- There have been experiments performed with people actively projecting both good, ill, and neutral intent into test tubes of bacterial cultures for a period of time each day over several days and observing the population/culture growth. Ill intentions and negative thoughts correlated with stunted growth while positive increased it.
Humans as producers of light- it has been established that humans (and many other things) produce light. Though it is in such small volumes as to be nearly individual photons and therefore unable to be seen. However they can be measured/counted in lab settings, and a brief experiment was done to see if mental state, meditation, and/or spiritual practice could affect the output. If memory serves, intense emotion, meditation, and people who were generally more spiritually focused in life produced more light.
Quirky trivia side note; The pineal gland has photoreceptor cells. So yes, we have a literal third eye in our brains. Though it is in no way connected to visual processing. It will never 'see'. It is more likely linked to circadian rhythms and associated behaviors.
*back on topic* This isn't even including experiments done with use of 'emf', ultraviolet, and 'flir' recording equipment to attempt to capture or visualize the heat, electro-magnetic, and other fields a body produces.
One source that is highly un-scientific, but has been known to capture intriguing moments, is on ghost hunting shows. You need mountainous heaps of skepticism-salt, but things do happen. A personal favorite is when Zak from ghost hunters is talking with a psychic while the crew was messing with infra-red, and it captures a wave spreading from Zak towards the man. The psychic, during the conversation, sweeps a hand downwards and Zak's field drops down with it as if pushed to the floor. Proof? ... No. But pretty neat.
The real trouble with all of these experiments is they are frequently performed by students. Or on machinery that is new technology, customised, or re-purposed from a different intended use. Like using an Xbox motion capture device to have figures register on walls where a ghost might be. Or, the tests are not repeatable (which is one of the critical scientific requirements) or partially (but not totally) debunked, or have had process and control issues that could be argued to cause a loss of accuracy in results because they might be influenced by un-controlled or un-considered factors.
So a body of experiments does exist, but the flaws in them mean they are open to debate until repetition and refinement can bring about repeatable, predictable, controlled results. It is just too early in this kind of field of study. Too few experiments spread over too great a period of time (and resulting jumps in technology) with no peer testing/repetitions to give a sense of veracity.
Well, there is proof. It's just it's not like Harry Potter, like you curse them and watch their life get turned upside down, you could have them place their hands between yours and on either hand create a bubble of energy and have them feel it. When I show people that's what I do and they can actually feel it.
I just re-read the posts here, and only now realized that you mention your friend claims to have psychic ability, but also is skeptical of magic. The validity of both of these things is pretty equally insubstantial.
It might be worthwhile to have this person explain what it is that acts as proof or otherwise makes psychic phenomena valid. Not as a counter challenge, but so you can get an idea of his/her criteria. It will give you an idea of what kinds of information (or experiences) this person looks for in order to believe in something.
How far apart are the hands from the friend's hand? If they're too close, the friend could be feeling your body heat instead of the type of energy we're talking about. That's the issue I have with these hand exercise type things. Body heat is energy, but it's infrared.
Like, their hands are between yours but far apart enough that you don't feel body heat. Then create a sphere of fire energy or water energy and have them put their hands between yours
