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Can anyone say Magick?

Sundance

Sundance

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Hello, everyone! Here's the sitch: recently, I've been into something called 'Chaos Magick', and so far, I think it's very interesting, but I've never dealt with Magick ever. What is Magick? What's its purpose? Do you utilise it in your own workings? Just what the heck am I in for? All comments are greatly appreciated, peace.
 
Iti oj

Iti oj

Global warming is real and we need to act
Premium Member
DJ_sXe said:
Hello, everyone! Here's the sitch: recently, I've been into something called 'Chaos Magick', and so far, I think it's very interesting, but I've never dealt with Magick ever. What is Magick? What's its purpose? Do you utilise it in your own workings? Just what the heck am I in for? All comments are greatly appreciated, peace.
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as a fellow chaote i suggest inventing your own deifinitons or borrowing ones you like.
 
Quintessence

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
"What is magick" is a more complicated question that you might be imagining right now, DJ_sXe. There are some relatively standard definitions used within the Neopagan and other Western occult communities, but when we take the broad view of an anthropologist, things get messy very quickly. More than one anthropological work I've previously read on the subject of magic has remarked on the fundamental problem of defining what that is, in part because the word "magic" has other usages in the English language that are variously seen as relating (or not) to the practice of magic (which I prefer to call spellcraft).

But to make things really uncomplicated and put things in simple, everyday terms, spellcraft is essentially about control. Across cultures and across historical eras, the practice of magic (aka, spellcraft) has always been about controlling something. To distinguish it from other behaviors, or from things like technology (which is also all about controlling things), we can also note that spellcraft specifically attempts control through occult methods, or via preternatural or supernatural means. It involves thinking acausally, or seeing patterns of causes and effects where our post-Enlightenment society would reject such patterns. Put another way, it involves rejecting the idea of coincidence and seeing all connections as inherently meaningful. Unsurprisingly, acausal thinking is frequently denigrated in our culture as "irrational" or as "superstition" and "magical thinking." Yet the fact is, there's not a human on the planet that doesn't think acausally, or establish causation in a non-scientific manner. What a spellcaster learns to do is make these connections mindfully to weave new patterns or change into their lives. It requires rejecting of the sterile, mechanical thinking imposed by Enlightenment values and seeing meaningfulness in non-linear ways.

This strongly corresponds "magical thinking" to ways of thought required of religion. Religion, too, involves thinking more like an artist does - non-linear, acausal, pre-rationally, and so forth. It's worth remarking on the relationship between spellcraft and religion at least briefly, because it's been featured in the literature quite often. For the most part, the modern understanding is that it is neither appropriate nor realistic to divorce these two from each other. Going into the nuances of that is beyond what we need our scope to be here, but this is especially critical to keep in mind for Neopaganism. While Abrahamic religions have pretty much denied their magical elements, contemporary Paganism does not. The same techniques used for spellcraft are used to commune and develop relationships with one's gods, and it is not uncommon for ritual worship to be suffused with elements of controlling or blessing the world (aka, spellcraft).

To go back to our idea of spellcraft essentially being about control, or the desire for humans to control, I'll leave things off here with a more personal thought, a line from my Book of Shadows that I think captures more of what it means to embrace the idea of being a practitioner:
Spellcraft is not for the faint of heart, it is for those who are not afraid of their own power and who trust themselves enough to use it.
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Adramelek

Adramelek

Setian
Premium Member
DJ_sXe said:
Hello, everyone! Here's the sitch: recently, I've been into something called 'Chaos Magick', and so far, I think it's very interesting, but I've never dealt with Magick ever. What is Magick? What's its purpose? Do you utilise it in your own workings? Just what the heck am I in for? All comments are greatly appreciated, peace.
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All Magick no matter what it is called; white magick, black magick, chaos magick, spellcraft, witchcraft, etc, is all about causing change to occur in accordance with the Will, usually in some kind of ritual setting.

Magick = the Art of changing or altering the equilibrium of the subjective universe in order to produce a similar or proportionate change in the equilibrium of the objective universe in accordance with the Will.

There is a three-fold process in the practice of Magick:

I. Origination - all Magick originates from within the mind. Abstract and subjective thought.

II. Manifestation - the refinement of the Will through Ritual Magic employed by the Magician and to make his/her Will known to the Universe.

III. Crystallization - the realization of the Magicians Will in a definite form within the fabric of the objective universe. Subjective thought becomes objective reality.

As for your last question, "what the heck am I in for?" Try it and find out. Use some of those techniques you have learned in your study of Chaos Magick, you might just open for yourself the door to a larger Universe. ;)
 
U

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
DJ_sXe said:
Hello, everyone! Here's the sitch: recently, I've been into something called 'Chaos Magick', and so far, I think it's very interesting, but I've never dealt with Magick ever. What is Magick? What's its purpose? Do you utilise it in your own workings? Just what the heck am I in for? All comments are greatly appreciated, peace.
Click to expand...
To me, magic is the physical, spiritual, and in some sense psychological practice that uses nature and motivation of body, spirit, and mind to influence, ask for, and manipulate, natural forces/life to bring an result, bring a blessi g to oneself or others, send protection, and so have you. I dont know chaos magick and, in a non neopagan sense, I dont think magic and magik are different other than what context it is used.
 
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