Magick
From MagickWiki
Magick, also spelt Magic, is a conceptual system that asserts human ability to control the natural world (including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena) through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. The term can also refer to the practices employed by a person asserting this influence, and to beliefs that explain various events and phenomena in such terms. In many cultures the concept of magic is under pressure from, and in competition with, scientific and religious conceptual systems. This is particularly the case in the Christian West and the Muslim Middle East where the practice of magic is generally regarded as blasphemous or forbidden by orthodox leadership.
Magick, in the broadest sense, is any act designed to cause intentional change. The spelling with the terminal "k" was repopularized in the first half of the 20th century by Aleister Crowley when he introduced it as a core component of Thelema. The "k" was used partly to differentiate it from other practices, such as stage magic.
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[edit] Etymology
Through late 14th century Old French magique, the word "magic" derives via Latin magicus from the Greek adjective magikos (μαγικός) used in reference to the "magical" arts — in particular divination — of the Magians (Greek: magoi, singular mágos, μάγος), the Zoroastrian astrologer priests. Greek mágos is first attested in Heraclitus (6th century BC, apud. Clement Protrepticus 12) who curses the Magians and others for their "impious rites." Greek magikos is attested from the 1st century Plutarch, typically appearing in the feminine, in μαγική τέχνη (magike techne, Latin ars magica) "magical art."
The Indo-European Root magh-, "To be able, have power" is possibly the origin of the word, in the suffixed form *magh-u- magic, magus, from Old Persian magu, member of a priestly caste (< "mighty one"). (Pokorny magh- 695.)
It is also possible that there is a connection with the Indo-European Root meg-, meaning "great", for example through the Greek megistos, greatest, as in Hermes Trismegistus.
[edit] Definitions of Magick
There are many and varied definitions of magick. The follow are definitions of various people or groups:
Wade Baskin: "The art and science of magic is based on three basic principles. 1) one may communicate with other realms, or planes of existence, through the medium of the Astral Light; 2) the power of the magician is unlimited; 3) external characteristics (signatures) are signs through which everything internal and invisible can be revealed."
Morris Berman: "Magic is not necessarily gnostic in nature, since it is not particularly dualistic, and it never includes the notion of an outside savior or redeemer, which Gnosticism (particularly in its early forms) sometimes does."
Helena Blavatsky: "The art of divine Magic consists in the ability to perceive the essence of things in the light of nature (astral light), and - by using the soul-powers of the Spirit - to produce material things from the unseen universe, and in such operations the Above and the Below must be brought together and made to act harmoniously". (The Secret Doctrine); "Magic is spiritual wisdom. Arcane knowledge misapplied is sorcery."; "Magic was considered a divine science which led to a participation in the attributes of Divinity itself."
Peter Carroll: "All events are basically magical, arising spontaneously without prior cause. Physical laws are only statistical approximations. Consciousness, magic and chaos are the same thing. Consciousness also makes things happen without prior cause."
Aleister Crowley: "All Art is Magick"; "The Goal of Magick is the knowledge and conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel."; "the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will."; "Every intentional (Willed) act is a Magical act."; "Magick is the Science of understanding oneself and one's conditions. It is the Art of applying that understanding in action."
Nevill Drury: "Magic is the technique of harnessing the secret powers of Nature and and seeking to influence events for one's own purpose. If the purpose is beneficial it is known as white magic, but if it is intended to bring harm to others, or to destroy property, it is regarded as black magic."; "High Magic is intended to bring about the spiritual transformation of the person who practices it. This form of magic is designed to channel the magician's consciousness towards the sacred light within, which is often personified by the high gods of different cosmologies. The aim of high magic has been described as communication with one's Holy Guardian Angel, or higher self. It is also known as Theurgy."; "Whereas science deals with empirically observable causes and effects, occultism deals pragmatically with methods of altering consciousness to produce certain effects. One of these is the assimilation within the self of the characteristics of a deity, another is the separation of consciousness from the physical body."
Dion Fortune: "Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will."
Kenneth Grant: "Magick is the apotheosis of the Irrational, the acme of the absurd, and the reification of the impossible."
George Ivanovich Gurdjieff: "...I decided to call those undertakings which required intentional action of higher centers - those centers which are properly the feeling and thinking centers, capable of emotional sensing and of mentation respectively, but which are ordinarily unformed through absorption of their rightful impressions by the false emotional and intellectual centers of the psyche - objective magic, having as its result the obtaining of real knowledge."; "I thus separated this objective magic from its ordinary counterpart, 'magic of the psyche', in which purely fantastic results are obtained, and self-calming and amusement are the only attainments. Under this category I placed my former endeavors as a medium and psychic, as well as those results obtained by theosophy, occultism and so forth, all of which up to then had quite fascinated and attracted my attention."
Eliphas Lévi: "The Arcanum of the Magnum Opus is the mastery or government of Ignis."; "Would you learn to reign over yourself and others? Learn how to will. How can one learn to will? This is the first arcanum of magical initiation..."
Edward Berridge: "To practice magic, both the imagination and the Will must be called into action, they are co-equal in the work... The Will unaided can send forth a current... yet its effect is vague and indefinite... the Imagination unaided can create an image... yet it can do nothing of importance, unless vitalized and directed by the Will."
John Middleton: "We may say that the realm of magic is that in which human beings believe that they may directly affect nature and each other for good or ill, by their own efforts (even when the precise mechanism may not be understood by them) as distinct from appealing to divine powers by sacrifice or prayer (i.e. religion)."
Paracelsus: "The exercise of true magic does not require any ceremonies or conjurations, or the making of circles and signs; it requires neither benedictions nor maledictions in words, neither verbal blessings or curses."
Diane De Prima: "Look at the forces behind the things rather than just at the object or event. If I have a working definition of magic it's that behind every single thing in the world an infinite tunnel opens of reference, cross-references, and forces, and how these things interlock in nets. What I basically say is, yeah, learning to see force... learning to see the etheric and the astral, etc. to the thinner and thinner layers of stuff. And learning to work off those layers rather than ... if you want to push that rock you don't necessarily have to go out there and put your shoulder to it."
Martin Del Rio: "An art or skill which, by means of a non-supernatural force, produces certain strange and unusual phenomena whose rationale eludes common sense."
Grant Morrison: "All you need to begin the practice of magic is concentration, imagination and the ability to laugh at yourself and learn from mistakes. Some people like to dress up as Egyptians or monks to get themselves in the mood; others wear animal masks or Barbarella costumes. The use of ritual paraphernalia functions as an aid to the imagination only."
[edit] See Also
[edit] External Links
- Pop Magick
- Magical Path - offer free lessons in Magick
[edit] Translations
- Arabic: سِحْر
- Chinese: 魔力
- Czech: čarodějná moc
- Danish: magi; trolddom
- Dutch: magie
- Estonian: nõidus
- Finnish: taika
- French: magie
- German: die Zauberei
- Greek: μαγεία, μάγια
- Hungarian: varázslat
- Icelandic: töfrar, galdur
- Indonesian: ilmu gaib
- Italian: magia
- Japanese: 魔法
- Latvian: maģija, burvestība
- Lithuanian: burtai, kerai, magija
- Norwegian: trolldom, magi
- Polish: magia
- Portuguese: magia
- Romanian: magie, vrăjitorie
- Russian: волшебство
- Slovak: čarodejná moc
- Slovenian: čarovnija
- Spanish: magia
- Swedish: trolldom, magi
- Turkish: büyü, sihir
