Pam Grossman, author of “Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity”

Pam Grossman is a writer, curator, and a teacher of magical practice and history. Her latest book “Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity” is published October 14, 2025 by Penguin in the US and Hay House in the UK. It sees Grossman explore how thinkers and artists across the centuries – spanning Hilma af Klint, Leonora Carrington, David Bowie, and Sylvia Plath – have drawn on magical techniques to summon creativity.

“I think people…find it very affirming that those brilliant people were tapping into some higher energy or larger spirit, and therefore, perhaps any of us can strengthen our connection to the immaterial realm,” says Grossman, adding that she’s seeing “a big swing back toward an attitude of re-enchanting the world and re-enchanting our relationship to the world.” Here, Grossman discusses how magic can aid creativity, spirituality’s role as AI rises, and how people can cultivate a connection to the magical.

You write in the book about how magic has always been part of your life; what led you to write this book now?

We're in this time of a lot of questioning of systems that I think people sort of took for granted that, ‘oh, these systems work. They're always going to be there.’ And now we're seeing a lot of these systems - whether it's government, business or…organized religion - are fallible and that it's just…human beings who are running those systems. And therefore, we have the power to change them or come up with alternatives, whether they're new alternatives, or we are wanting to resurrect older, more ancient models of engaging with the world and with each other. We certainly see historically that in times of deep questioning and conflict, people often turn to spirituality. And I think that's certainly happening now…[spirituality and magic] allow for people to have agency over their lives and to really, I think, dream bigger than a lot of the systems that they're finding so limiting.

Magic Maker Cover — “Magic Maker: The Enchanted Path to Creativity” is published October 14, 2025 and currently available for pre-order

You explore many techniques in the book to allow people to access creativity through magic. How would you encapsulate how magic fosters creativity?

I think one of the key principles is just allowing yourself to entertain the idea that creativity is a collaboration with something beyond yourself. And I like to call whatever that Spirit is, capital S spirit. Sometimes I call it creative force. Whatever name you give it, the idea is that you are surrendering to something beyond your small ego self and that together, you are creating something that is then an offering to the world. And whether or not you believe this literally or it's just a thought exercise, the results are remarkable. Because what happens is you kind of learn to get out of your own way. And all of the self-consciousness, the self-criticism, the perfectionism - those voices tend to quiet down because you realize that it's not just about you…and therefore there tends to be a lot more freedom and a lot of really surprising and often delightful things come through. [Compared to] when you're trying to control everything as your more material self.

Is that difficult for people to understand, in an age of promoting oneself on social media?

I don't think it's about erasing yourself, because you are part of the relationship. Your own tastes and your own intentions are very important, your own editing after whatever comes out…you're shaping it. You're a very important part of the equation, but it's not only about you. I do think in general, spirituality offers this alternative to a world that tells us that everything needs to be driven algorithmically. That it needs to be generated based on, you know, metrics, because magic tells us, no, we need to be doing the work of the spirit and soul. And I do not believe that is something that AI can take over. I think that what makes us human is our spirit as much as anything else.

How does this magic-led approach to creativity fit in amidst the influence of AI? Do you think a digital world means people will be more drawn to the spiritual?

I think we're seeing it already. There's a huge backlash to AI. [But] I don't think all AI is terrible. I think there are ways to create AI systems that are ethical and that are hopefully environmentally sound, and I just think the people in charge of it don't seem to care about that right now. So it's not necessarily about the tool. It's about the people who are making the tool. But as creators, I think that we can infuse any of our making with magic, and that includes making things digitally. But I do believe that our connection to Spirit is something that cannot be replicated by machines.

When it comes to a new wave of spirituality, we’re seeing a particular interest among younger generations. Are you finding the same with magic?

For me, it's definitely across demographics. Younger people seem to be craving it, but…I'm in my mid 40s, and I have so many people around my age who are also turning toward their more magical side as they age. Because as you get older, you also start to look at the world a little bit more critically, and you start to realize, wait a second, we can question things and we can do things differently, and why not explore other modes of meaning-making than the ones that I was served as a child? [But] I think young people are very interested in magic, and there are lots of young women and young queer people in particular, who gravitate toward witchcraft. I think that's because they're looking for alternative models of spirituality that are more collective, that allow them to have more agency, that celebrate people of all different genders and lived experiences, and not just a patriarchal model of power as so many organized religions hold up.

Are there ways that brands can tap into some of the ideas around magic and creativity that you talk about in the book?

I would say to brands and publishers…that if they're going to go in that direction, just to make sure they're working with people who actually are very experienced in this world, that it's not a superficial trend. This is about engaging with intuition and with the spiritual realm in a very deep way. And so just to make sure you're partnering with people who are real experts in that.

I often say, it's not a moment, it's a movement…So this [interest in magic] isn't going anywhere. I think people are really looking to deepen their own spirituality, and they're looking to…live lives of purpose and hope. And I think that people are waking up to the fact that the world as it is needs to change, and a lot of that change needs to come from having a more spirit-centered outlook.

Cannes Lions 2025: Unbounded creativity

The Mad Men era is over as new powers emerge

Read Article

Insight

Faith, redesigned

Cool, new religion is connecting and healing Gen Zers.