WHAT IS MAGICK?

Magick is the martialing of divine and diabolical forces achieve oneness with your higher power and yourself.

No, wait…

Magick is the unity of the soul with nature, flowing with the river of changes yet being able to change the flow.

No, wait…

Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in comformity with the will.

No, wait…

Magick is theatrical psychotherapy, using dramatics and exaggerated actions to affect change in one’s self.

No, wait…

Magick is the attempt to connect conscious with subconscious using symbology, ritual, repeated actions, altered states of mind, and metaphor to create unity.

No, wait…

Magick is the play of reality, using integral forces within and without to bend the real.

No, wait…

Magick is the control of your own perception to ride waves of probability to attain the goals you seek.

No, wait…

I can continue like this indefinitely. The interpretations change with each practitioner and each tradition. Ask what Magick is to a Druid, Chaos Magician, Wiccan, Pagan, or any other flavor you run across and you will receive a different answer each time.

What does this tell us? That Magick is a fuzzy concept that, because it cannot be singularly defined and is often contradictory to itself, is merely a pretend concept?

What if it is? Does that mean it doesn’t work?

OKAY, START AGAIN. WHAT IS MAGICK?

Let’s begin with what Magick actually is:

Magick is older than modern humans. There is evidence in the funerary practices in Neanderthal burials and other early humans. Carved fertility goddesses date back 40,000 years (the ivory Venus of Hohle Fels, carved out of Mammoth horn). The limestone Venus of Willendorf dates back 30,000 years. There is evidence of ritual behavior in Botswana dating back 70,000 years worshiping the head of a python.

This is not to say that their systems were anywhere near as complicated as the modern concept. The Magick and Rituals were undoubtedly simplistic and it’s doubtful that they had a unified cosmology. Mind you, finding 70,000+ year old evidence is extremely difficult, so there are massive gaps in our understanding.

The important thing is that Religion and Magick are irrevocably intertwined. They were once unified in the soul of humanity, and as human society became more complicated, so did the perceptions and rituals of humanity.

Even today, there are elements of both in Religion and Magick. Both are worshipful actions by people who are trying to connect with something larger than themselves. Call it God, Soul, Universal Love, Power, Nature, the Tao, etc. Pick your metaphor.

Because since we are trying to form thoughts through three pounds of gelatin and electricity, what isn’t metaphor? In short, it’s a mess trying to make a single definition for such an ancient concept.

Instead, allow me to share with you potentially once of the most powerful Magickal phrases I have ever heard:

EVERYTHING is True in some sense, False in some sense, and Meaningless in some sense.

-Robert Anton Wilson

When applying this statement to any phenomena, I believe this gets much closer to the heart of the matter of Magick.

Magick IS theatrical psychology, meaningful ritual, connection to the greater other, connection to Nature, directing the will towards a goal, the marriage of conscious with subconscious, nothing but a placebo effect with bells and whistles, the mustering of energy inside and outside to connect with self and others, the conversation with the Holy Guardian Angel, the unification of Soul with Nature, and so on.

It is possible to be an Atheist and still do Magick.

We are taught that contradiction is indication of falsehood, but this is not the case. Aren’t you contradictory? Isn’t your mind a paradox? You love, but you hate. You heal, but you harm. You are a walking contradiction, but here you are existing and real.

We are generally taught to be afraid of contradictions in our life when our whole lives are paradoxes. It is the untenable mix between Nature and Nurture. In you is every voice you’ve ever heard, every sentence said to you, and every truth you assumed upon you. Mixed into this is the the wisdom and trauma of untold generations in your DNA. There is nothing “straight forward” about any person who ever lived.

Embrace contradiction and own your Soul. Dig deep for healing yourself and others around you. Unify your subconscious with your conscious. Embrace unconditional love for your Self first, then move it to all others. Own your reactions and accept and embrace your shadow. Unlearn all of the nonsense pounded into you from the past and embrace your ability to manipulate your reality. Seek everywhere for wisdom and skill, from any source around you no matter how absurd. You may even make friends or lovers doing this.

This is what Magick is.