Magick is…?

Author:   Darksky  

Magick. We are all here to do magick. Call it what you will… spells, circle, ritual… it’s all magick. It’s all the same… high magic, low magic, candle, poppet, herb, and so on and so forth. Magick. In a nutshell: Magick is the ability to manipulate your surroundings within your environment, to manifest your desires, and protect yourself from outside unwanted energies. That is how I define magick.

So, if we are going to manipulate our surroundings and our environment, don’t we need to be in a position to do so? Meaning, don’t we have to have our spiritual house in order? Is the true magician able to manifest his or her environment even if their inner space is in turmoil? Does magick require us to first have ourselves in order before anointing a single candle or casting a circle?

Circle casting has a great deal of importance placed on preparation. Why is that? Is it about the tools, altar cloth, food, participants, the right moon phase, or even the right time of day and color? They are important factors to consider, but I feel they are adjuncts to the Magick itself, not the whole of the equation.

We chose to pursue a belief system that has no rules per say but yet has numerous procedural protocols. Protocols are merely guidelines. Isn’t it about energy and intentions? The preparation starts way before we check to see what phase we are in or if Mercury has gone retrograde. The prep actually starts with that initial spark of a thought to cast, conjure, and manifest.

I believe magick starts by challenging us to master ourselves. Being able to place our consciousness in another realm, another plane of existence is more than colors and oils. It’s magick; regardless of your practice — Gardenerian, Dianic, Wiccan, Luciferian, Thelemite, Asatru, to name a few — still at the core, it’s magick.

The practice of manipulating your environment has to start from the inside out. All of the belief systems have varied circle/ritual celebration, spells, and different types of celebration. The belief systems start basically the same… meditate, and find yourself so as to not have doubt in your abilities, understand the path and purpose you are on before pursuing the practice of magick and attaining higher states of consciousness.

Magick, in all its various forms, is all around us in everyday life. We are just moving so fast at times that we don’t realize or appreciate it. Some folks don’t even know they are doing magick in everyday life. Take for example church-going folk… they deposit a few dollars into the collection box, take a long match, then choose just the right candle, light it and then kneel and pray. They are empowering that light. They are transferring their intentions to the candle, be it for health, money, peace, or guidance. They are performing candle magick without knowing it.

Does magick have to be ceremonial, with a full circle cast? If magick is the manipulation of one’s environment to manifest one’s desires, is blowing out the candles on a birthday cake after making a wish, magick? What about a coin in a fountain, blowing on a dandelion, a shooting star?

I believe some will disagree, that to manipulate, to be able to manifest, starts within ourselves.
Magick seems to be at work whether we are conscious of it or not. Vibes, intentions, desires, emotions… they are sent out from us every day in staggering volume. How many thoughts would you say you have in a 24-hour period? These emotions, intentions, vibes, and desire flow from us, both positive and negative. We sometimes don’t realize how much magick we do.

“If you realized how powerful your thoughts are, you would never think a negative thought.’ –Peace Pilgrim

When we cast spells, perform ritual, and/or commune with our Gods and Goddess, we are emitting energy. We are sending out vibes, intentions, desires, and energy that is emotionally charged. Sending up smoke, burning oils and incense, offering food and drink… all charged with our energy, our essence. Think about it. We should not just go through the motions, to perform a circle/ritual/spell (or whatever your belief system may do) . It’s not to just be “performed”; it’s the essence of the practitioner that envisions, builds, executes and completes the act of circle/ritual/spell.

Magick requires a certain level of commitment. Magick is a living, breathing, consuming thing. Most all belief systems have some rules, mantras, or credo (for example, in the Wiccan tradition, the statement “in perfect love and perfect trust bide the Wiccan rede we must”) . How far does that go? What is that applicable to? Is it just for magick or everyday life? Do we light candles, cultivate herbs, dress our altars, cast our circle, have ritual and then turn that off? Is magick a ready-made thing? Just add water, break glass, needs no batteries? Or is magick and being a magician a lifestyle?

My wife and I took some classes a while back and they where very informative but we were taken a back at the teacher and with the other people in the class. It was not what we expected. It was a coven atmosphere, there was a HP and a HPs during class and ritual. Almost everything seemed to be in its proper place — a general feeling of respect, reverence — but the gossip and petty drama that ensued was confusing. Perfect love and perfect trust? Karmic pattern? Three-fold law? Is it all just words?

Magick, I think, needs to be a way of life. Not a controlling facet, but one that is integrated into everyday life, actions, words and deeds. Magick, I believe, is correctly executed when we mesh with the universe. Magic doesn’t have an on and off switch. Magick must flow uninterrupted, without obstacles placed in its way by us.

Witches are not a rare breed. We were here long ago and shall endure the ignorance of others and their belief systems and persevere, prosper, and pass on our traditions. Being accomplished at anything takes time, patience, commitment, and practice.

If you look at some of the most astute and learned people in any chosen field, notice a common thread: the path they walk, the call they answered, the vision they saw, is a lifestyle. It’s not a hobby; they are manipulating their own environment to manifest whatever it is they want. They perform magick.