Definition of magic

[EverChanging]

How do you define magic? Do you practice it?

How many left hand pathers here do not practice magic?

I am a little hazy on the definition, though I am fond of one that goes something like causing "change in conformity with Will." In that sense I practice magic.

But I practice ritual magic hardly ever unless prayer counts. There are some forms of magic that involve prayers, so sometimes I'm unsure of the difference.

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I think that definition is the best for modern Western ritual magic. But historically, I think such magic is a spin-off from monotheism.

If you look at what the Greeks called mageia and the Egyptians hik, both were basically trying to get spirits to fix things for you. Similarly, the Chinese practice that gets called magic by westerners usually involves binding a spirit to a talisman.

Modern magic starts in the Middle Ages with grimoires like the Picatrix. You still had the practice of trying to manipulate spirits, but you got a new procedure which was an attempt to make pagan prayer acceptable to monotheists. Instead of praying to Ashtart, you carried out a ritual to attract the power of the planet Venus; that way you could swear to the imam that you really were not a polytheist. You can see a direct line of descent from that "spiritual magic" as practiced in the Renascence to the Golden Dawn. Of course, they also had the "demonic magic" inherited from the grimoires, like the Abra Melin ritual.

I did dabble in ritual magic in my youth, but I'd now agree with Ronald Hutton:

Strictly speaking, religion can do all of the work of magic, and the fact that humans have sought the latter in addition has been the result of modesty (not wanting to trouble deities), frustration (the deity has not responded), double insurance, pride and curiosity (the desire to work spiritual power directly), and considerations of convenience and expense.

 

[1137]

Greater magic is about causing willful change in the self that then effects the objective universe and those in it.

Lesser magic is about changing things like looks, attitude, modification, etc in order to influence others in a certain way.

 

[Orias]

I define magic as an extension of ones will. It's all around us. It allows us to manipulate the things around us, also become manipulated or protect us from influence or manipulation.

There are different kinds of magic, but there is a base platform through which they can all communicate and interact. It's like some neutral energy floating about the air that changes in your presence, or maybe it's not neutral and it's been sent to you by someone else, or it's sentient force operating on it's own.

Magic is as real as opening a door for someone, it's like asking someone to hold the door for you, they become an extension of your will, or you extend your will to become an extension of themselves. This interaction we could call alchemy, an exchange of wills that manifest on a chemical level within our biology and the environment around us.

 

[EtuMalku]

“Magick is the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.”
– Aleister Crowley

“Magic is the Science and Art of causing Change, on a material as well as a spiritual level, to occur in conformity with Will by altered states of consciousness.”
– Frater U.:. D.:.

“Magick is just the art of changing the focus of consciousness at will.”
– Robert Anton Wilson

“Magick is the practice of imposing one’s will upon reality in order to create change. The changes created by magick can take place in the outside world, but the most potent changes occur inside the self – changing attitudes, expanding abilities, pushing accepted limits – all through the exercise of willpower.”
– Michelle Belanger

“To ascend and Become. In a Luciferian sense, Magick is to strengthen, develop and initiate the self through balanced forms of Willed Change.”
– Michael W. Ford

“the change in situations or events in accordance with one’s will, which would use normally accepted methods, be unchangeable.”
– Anton LaVey

“Lesser Black Magic (LBM) is the influencing of beings, processes, or objects in the objective universe by the application of obscure physical or behavioral laws.”

“Greater Black Magic (GBM) is the causing of change to occur in the subjective universe in accordance with the will. This change in the subjective universe may cause a similar and proportionate change in the objective universe.”
– – Dr. Michael A. Aquino

“Magick is the consciously directed alteration of one’s environment through obscure means or the apprehension of the First Forms/Principles of the universe.”
– Etu Malku
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[LadyBaphomet666]

Here is my own Simple Definition Of Magic. Magic is The Essence Of Everything and Magic Is also The Essential Energies. Of Everything Living Or Not Living and last but not least Magic is The Irish Goddess Of Witchcraft/Battle Named Hecate/Morrigan.