If the science aspect interests you, there are a lot of successful studies and reports on distant intent, healing, mind reading / telepathy, psychokinesis / telekinesis, astral projection, lucid dreaming, near death experiences, out of body experiences, and more.
There is a huge difference between what people blindly believe in, and what is real or what can actually be done.
My favorite thing to say is: Prove it.
Try not to confuse the mental health issues of the popularity crowds, the fake beliefs of many religions, and the delusions of many authors, with reality or actual magic.
Some practitioners are wishful thinkers and have severe ego issues. Living in a fake Harry Pothead world and making claims doesn't give them any powers, and most of them can't manage to escape from the wet paper bag that is their life.
So, you simply approach all of this with a healthy amount of skepticism and keep it real, while learning about all the brain scans and tests that have been done for a very long time, and that mainstream science is bent on covering up.
You never have to accept the word of someone else, or the writings of someone who likely had untreated syphilis. There is a lot of garbage and disagreement on all subjects.
You can just surrender your common sense and critical thinking and dive in, trying things out blindly, or you look for the people who actually can do things and read what they wrote or what others say about them. There are the "can do's" and the "wish I could fantasy minded"...
You might be surprised at the 'Can Do' crowd, and how much they don't even know about what they do.
The bottom line for me is, there are skilled people who can, and that doesn't mean that others can even learn to do what they do. Energetic configurations, brain neural networks, and many other things decide what people can and can't do, not what they choose to practice.
Not everyone is meant to be a practitioner. It is up to people to find their own skill set.