Consulting Webster's New Twentieth Century Dictionary-Unabridged, we are let with a vague understanding of what Magick really is. The range of definitions vary from it being the art of illusion to harnessing energy to produce apparently supernatural powers. Other definitions have also been just as vague, attributing magick from the devil, from God or Goddess. I recall seeing one advertisement late in the 1980's claiming magick would let you manipulate the powers of nature. In Pagan circles, I have often heard magick defined as creating change in ones life. Another person I talked with attributed magick as simply a Psychological event. So what is this thing called Magick, that has not only shaped many ancient traditions, both Pagan and Christian, but has also been the subject of literature, music("That Old Black Magic", "It's Magic" etc..., science, religion etc...?

Is it energy? Many people see it as such. In Christian traditions, as I have mentioned before in prior articles, Magick and miracles are one and the same, just the name has changed. Clergy and lay person alike speak of terms of physical energy which they can feel. In New Testament the Holy Spirit is depicted as flame, Christ felt the power leave him when his robe was touched by the sick women, a direct reference to energy felt with the sense of touch. Many Christian and Pagan beliefs often use touch as a source of healing, transferring healing energy from one source to another.

Science produces magick all of the time, through a set of structured circumstances, we can reproduce acts of nature such as lightning and atomic explosions. A + B =C is a magic formula, for ultimately math explains to us how the universe works, albeit in a limited fashion, but has allowed us to prolong life, as well as push the human race to the brink of extinction. No scientist can explain atomic power, but they are only able to tell us how it behaves under certain circumstances. No Christian research can tell us how life started, only that it came about through the words of a higher power. No theory of science has enabled science to duplicate the primordial conditions under which life began, only that under certain conditions it happens.

As I counsel with clients, one of the things I have them do in stress management is to visualize peaceful places, peaceful events, people etc... I let them determine where and who these things are. From the depths of their unconscious forms appear and they have conversations, gain insight, and problem solve. When they leave my office, their stress is decreased, they are more relaxed and they are able to reproduce these events out in the world outside of the clinic I work at. I have done nothing special, other than to help them relax. Yet, often their world is markedly changed because of this. It can be argued I engaged in magick, for I helped them harness energy inside of them and in turn it has changed their life. My job in many respects is no different than the ancient Shaman's. I assist client's in the journey through their own underworld, battle dragons, find their holy grail. It is not uncommon with many to help them understand their higher power, whoever/whatever it may be. I help them develop rituals to make life more meaningful, and even help them re-structure ritual which has become destructive to their life.

Perhaps metaphorically, like Free Masonry, magick is using the principles of Architecture in a metaphorical way to better our lives. We lay solid foundations in which to build our life upon, we take the measure of our life, level it off and balance it out. Pursue the aspects of not only internal integrity of the framework of our life, but make sure the outside reflects the inner beauty and one supports the other. In sacred writings, we are told our bodies are temples. My particular temple resembles a plump pagoda at the center of my body, a Buddha in the making? What we take into our bodies, food, thoughts etc... must be holy for desecration of the temple means the desecration of our life. Rape is not only a physical assault upon the body, but a scaramental violation as well. If our bodies are truly temples, then we house the divine inside of us. Each one of us has a presence lamp, sacred space, inner sanctum etc....
Thus treating other human beings as if they were vessels of holy power, presents some exciting events for Psychological(both inner and outer) transformation.

All of these forms are magick in one form or another. The events are supernatural, they are transforming, they touch both the outer and inner senses, the personal world and communal world are impacted in many ways both observable and unobservable. There are events which none can explain, yet nevertheless they happen. Studies continually show the importance of symbols in our life and how deeply they move and shape us. When the simple presence of a pentegram or cross can cause such a mixed reaction, ranging from hate to adoration there is magick at work. It is observable, it is touchable both on the inner and outer senses/emotions, it produces change in our life because we are effected by it. We choose to let it affect/effect us even if it means we choose not to feel it at all, or remain aloof from it. Our behavior has changed simply from the encounter.

Through various means, scientific and non scientific we predict the course of our world, the course of human behavior, the causes of illness, and say there is such a thing as infinity but can only explain it as never-ending in the symbol of a horizontal 8. How do we know there is no ending? We just know, or do we? Is it because our computer just keeps computing out numbers if we let it, or because our sacred writings talk of the Summerland, Heaven, Valhalla?
Is the boundary of a circle an actual physical barrier produced by visualization and the burning of sage, or is the boundary a psychological one created in the minds of those present, or is it simply understood to be a metaphor for something greater, an experience with the gods/goddess. Is the wine of communion actually transformed into blood and flesh or is it a psychological event of transformation which occurs through the use of the very power of symbology? In any of the above instances does it really matter?

When you see a child grin at the ending of a story, or when shadow shapes appear upon the nursery wall from your hand in front of a light bulb, for that child magick has occurred. Not the magick of illusion, but the magick of wonder and of happiness or awe at the world. When my two year old spoantanously reaches over and kisses the head of my three month old daughter. The amount of gentleness used and the effect it produces is magick, in the very deep and ancient sense of the term. How dare I teach my son it is simply stimulus and response to stimuli which he/both has experienced. THAT would be a sacramental violation. How dare I tell my niece, that her questions about the wind being an actual entity are false, for her questions are much deeper than many adults I have come across in my life. Her wisdom may be deeper then mine and as she grows is it my wish she retains that deep wisdom and insight. Any prayers for her to do otherwise is a Sacramental violation.

Many are afraid of the term magick. Many use the term magick without an understanding of what exactly they mean by it. For some it is simply trendy to be "magickal", an exercise in fashion and being with the "in crowd". For some it is an excuse to violate the rights of others, to promote hatred, to provide an excuse to manipulate others for whatever reasons. Many view magick as a relationship with their higher power, an experience of life as opposed to a manipulation of it. Magick, a healing of life on the inner and outer planes of existence.

The concept of magick is important for us to have in our lives, for it not only exposes those dark places in our life but it also provides us fertile ground for spiritual and personal growth. It reminds us our knowledge is very limited about this world, and the unseen world which is behind it. The cosmos is not to be manipulated, it is to be lived with. Regardless of us being simply a spark of energy, or a being in which the divine lives, we are holy and sacred just from our special place in this universe. Magick then can be said to be an expression of who we are, which comes about naturally without prompting on our part. Regardless of what we do, it will happen, it will shape us.