What is Magic?
Magic is …
“…the Highest, most Absolute, and most Divine knowledge of Natural Philosophy, advanced in its works and wonderful operations by a right understanding of the inward and occult virtue of things; so that true Agents being applied to proper Patients, strange and admirable effects will thereby be produced. When magicians are profound and diligent searchers into Nature, they, because of their skill, know how to anticipate an effect, which to the vulgar shall seem to be a miracle.” - The Lemegeton (or Lesser Key of Solomon)
“…the Science of the control of the secret forces of Nature.” – S.L. MacGregor Mathers
“…the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity to the Will” – Aleister Crowley
“…the art and science of changing consciousness according to Will.” – Dion Fortune
“…a science and an art of comprising a system of concepts and methods for the build up of human emotion, altering the electrochemical balance of the metabolism using associational techniques and devices to concentrate and focus this emotional energy, thus modulating the energy broadcast by the human body, usually to the affect of other energy patterns.” – P.E.I. Bonewits
“…any sufficiently advanced technology will appear to be magic to those with lesser technologies.” – Arthur C. Clark
“…the forces of nature being understood and used by one whose knowledge penetrates to the hidden side of Nature and to the workings of these powers commonly called occult” – Doreen Valiente
“…the science and art of causing change (in consciousness) to occur in conformity with will, using means not currently understood by traditional Western science.” – Donald Michael Kraig
“…a method of taking advantage of the relationship between consciousness (knowing), information (being) and energy (doing).” – Bill Whitcomb
"…the use of natural and supernatural forces and elements surrounding us to alter reality and promote change within our lives and environments." - Yasmin Galenorn
"…the art of working with change, predicting it and shaping it by our trained will." - Marion Green
"…the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with will. This change can occur 1) in the outer, manifest world; 2) in the magician's consciousness; and 3) most often in both, for changing one often changes the other. Magical change occurs in a way that is not currently understood by science because it works through the unmanifest - through subtle manipulations of the invisible, spiritual realms. However, the workings of magic are subject o natural law. The workings of magic are not limited by the constraints of time and space." - Chic & Sandra Tabatha Cicero
"…the production of desired effects, whether in the person of the magician or exterior to it, by means of a deliberate and special use of powers and faculties within the psyche." - Melita Denning & Osborne Phillips
"…concerned with the conversion of universal energies into practical frequencies that can be utilized according to the needs of the occasion. These energies in themselves are totally neutral, having no affiliation with any belief, system or personality either here on Earth or anywhere in the cosmos, their manifestation at the magical level being coloured entirely by the nature and intention of the user." - Murry Hope
"…that which God created before all things when he said: 'Let there be Light'" - Eliphas Levi
"…the art of persons who claim to be able to do things by the help of supernatural powers or by their own knowledge of nature's secrets." - New Merriam-Webster Dictionary
"…the production of desired effects, whether within the person of the magician or exterior to it, by means of a deliberate and special use of powers and faculties within the psyche. This may include effects produced by the agency of entities or energies which do not belong to the psyche of the magician: but if the action is to be described as magick it must be entirely under the command, and according to the will, of the magician." - Denning & Phillips
Magic with a "k"
Some confusion has arisen regarding the use of the word magic when spelled with a "k". The alternate spelling was initiated by Aleister Crowley, possibly for two reasons. According to Richard Cavendish, the addition of the letter 'k' by Crowley represented the sexual aspects of his magical studies, the letter 'k' being the first letter of kteis which is the Greek word for female genitalia. However, others hold that the reasons for the spelling change were purely numerological. Either reason seems likely and acceptable, though it has also been documented that he changed the spelling "to distinguish the Science of the Magic from its counterfeits" (Crowley). Since Crowley, numerous groups and individuals both with and without connections to Crowley's system of Thelema have adopted the spelling. Though the noun "magickian" has also made an appearance, the spelling that would have been contemporary with "magick" was actually "magitian". Additional alternative spellings of magic, including "magik", "majick" and "majik" have also appeared.