Ok so I have watched Harry Potter (and my what a fine bod that chap has!) and know about spells etc - but what about real magic?


What is it?
How does it work?
Where does the power come from?
How do you do it?
How do you learn how to do it?
What do you do magic for? e..g can you do it for monetary gain etc?
Is it dangerous?

Cars aren't dangerous. Car drivers can be...
Ditto guns.
Will get back to you on this one.

Magick is that sublimation of cause and effect where one does not necessarily have to "physically" go the distance in order to achieve a result. Mind you, this result can only be as good as the brain's ability to conceive it!

What is it?
Etymology: Middle English magique, from Middle French, from Latin magice, from Greek magikE, feminine of magikos Magian, magical, from magos magus, sorcerer, of Iranian origin; akin to Old Persian magus sorcerer

How does it work?
By the use of means (as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces, magic rites or incantations

Where does the power come from?
From the universe around us and within us.

How do you do it?
Not telling!

How do you learn how to do it?
Practice, study, study, practice.

What do you do magic for? e..g can you do it for monetary gain etc?
Not telling!

Is it dangerous?
Can be!

...which brings us to Lesson #2 of Metaphysics 101:

It is nonetheless subject to the Laws of Nature as anything else in the Cosmos.
Mess with it and it will mess with you in ways you'll wish you hadn't!
(cue the diabolically wicked laughter)

It's a method of making a change in the physical world without any physical action taken by those wishing to see a change




By utilising either internal will, or borrowing will from an external source (willpower or using anothers will to achieve a change)



From yourself... from the earth... from supernatural beings... from the St Christopher around your neck.... from the lucky rabbits foot in your pocket.... from the heartbeat of the univers...everything has power



There are a myriad of ways... from a child making a wish blowing out the candles on their b'day cake..... to doing a crowley and buggering about with menstrual blood in a carefully drawn circle of half forgotten symbols and black candles..... everyone has "used magic" to some extent.... tho' it's often called "luck" "coincidence" "happenchance" etc these days




d'pends wot you want from it and if you are wanting to utilise your personal power or nick it from some external source



I don't... i'm living a human life... so i'll face it with the gifts given to all humans (and the flaws, o'course )



Doesn't everything we do have an element of risk?

Magic is using the energy of the universe to bring about a desired effect.

It works by changing the energy in what you are doing your magic on.

The power comes from you and/or the universe around you.

You do it in as many different ways as there are witches and magicians.

Practice lots.

You can use magic to acheive just about any goal you can think of.

It can be dangerous yes.

What magick is and how it works and what it can be used for and where it comes from... are all interesting questions. But unfortunately also difficult to answer since every Pagan will have a different answers for these dependent upon their beliefs. Therefore those are questions for you to find answers to upon you path. However as best as i see it, magick is the manipulation of the physical world by the power of the will and this is achieved through many methods including visualisation, altered states of conscious, prayer, petition, and raising and focusing energy (ie through drumming, chanting and dancing). The energy we are talking of is a natural subtle energy which runs through the universe and can often be said to be part of the Gods/God again dependent upon what you believe. But this energy must be learnt to be accessed, through various techniques i.e meditation, energy exercise, exertion of will and discipline. Magick is not simple. Spells do no simply consist of words of power, spells are a series of actions resulting in a focus of will and energy on the desired outcome. Try visualising a football and holding the image for more than five minutes, you'll see how difficult magic is. After all if you can't visuaise a football how do you intend to visualise money arriving at your door?? If you can't see it you can't have it so to speak. So first of all magick is nothing like Harry Potter.

Can magick be used to monetary gain. Simple answer yes it can. Do i use it for this, only in times of desperate need as it is immoral, and seems a waste of time and energy in many ways. After all magick is not about being selfish. Magick can also be used for love (though this is a tough moral area), healing, protection, success and much more. My main recommendation for learning would be to find a book and give it a read. If you just want to learn magick find a book which focuses on ceremonial magick and the art of energy manipulation. If you want to work with spirits look at a book on Shamanism, if you connect with nature look at Wicca and/or Druidism. If you like ritual Wicca again.

Not a simple answer but magick isn't simple. Hope i've helped in some ways.

Blessed Be
Rich
x

"but what about real magic?"
Reality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Magicality is a state of being attained (usually) after years of practice.
As to how one "does" it? Ah, the million dollar question!
One IS = one "does".
Intent. Excercise of will. Questing. Respect. A sensible amount of fearfulness. Faith. Practice. Arte.

FAR too big a question.

Its everything everyone here has said and more. You need to read some more on your own Eagle.. proper reading... not Harry Potter *grin*. Or find yourself a mentor.

*wanders off muttering* Massive.. question.. HUGE... I mean b i g.

Actually you know just thinking about it.. it might even be the wrong question.

So what is the right question?
Was that a rebuke?

LOL! I don't think my friend Xalle meant any rebuke

Trying to explain definitively what magick is, is like trying to explain the meaning of life, the universe and the gods. It's just too big, too huge for mere humans to grasp. It's like trying to imagine the infinity of space. It (magick) is as intrinsic to living as air and water. It just is. It comes from within and without, from around, above, and underneath. It's in the molecules of the universe and in the moss round the rock. It's as natural as breathing and as instinctive as learning to walk.

It is, seriously, so hard to define, you'd capture a snowstorm in a blanket before you can really narrow down the what, why, how, and wherefore of it.

It is, at the end of the day, in all of us.

Unfortunately it's not like learning an O Grade subject or studying for your Highers. There's no curriculum, no exam, no certificate.

The advice I would give, is get out there and feel it.

While reading this ... at first I was very much going to give the 'surface' answers (which I will still give later in thia post) but then, as Xalle and Pomona posted... I got to thinking, Yeah they are right, it is a HUGE subject. Complex to the N th degree and thus very hard to reduce to a few simple lines of text. But that complexity does not either detract from its beautiful simplisity, but neither does it help to explain it or answer your questions...

But... I'll try...

'What is it?
How does it work?
Where does the power come from?
How do you do it?
How do you learn how to do it?
What do you do magic for? e..g can you do it for monetary gain etc?
Is it dangerous?'

It is life. It is the sun rise and set, it is birds in flight, it is the lion at his kill, it is the mother with her child, it is your evening meal. It is the energy that makes this world / universe be HERE. But all that is all too big for a mere mortal to deal with... so it is also the little touches that you can make, the will that you can muster to change the little things without apparent physical interaction.
It is the application of imagination and will.

The power comes from both within and without. Within it is the strenght of me, my mind, my will, my life.
Without it is the strenght that is lent to me by everything from a green lawn or a moon scudding in the clouds, a thunderstorm or a Divinity that feels inclined to answer my call and offer thier help.

There are a million different ways to do it... but I tend to keep things simple. I prefure to be outside, I prefure to be alone, I tend to have thought deeply about what I want to achive for quite some while before hand... sometimes months, and this is also part of the magic/spell, but I don't tend to have a fixed ritual or plan per say. I rarly case a 'formal' circle, but I do prefure to have a 'space' in which to work. I normally introduce myself to the world at large (here I am, hear me please, suport my magic, I open my heart so that you see my full/true intent) as part of that 'space' creation. I get in the right mood, breath, be still with the thoughts of what I am doing, what I am going to achive. Sometimes I speak, sometimes I am just still witht eh thoughts/will/magic. It is like touching gossomer threads of light and just changing the pattern... When it is really working (for me) it is almost physical, I can 'feel' 'see' 'smell' 'touch' 'hear' 'taste' it. I find it works better if the changes are subtle, working with nature / natural law, but it is rule bending and there are always consiquenses.

It is not something to be lightly or friviously undertaken. So while I could use it to gain money and the like... I doubt I ever would. It would not be worth the effort/consiquenses. I formally work with magic, as in casting a spell VERY VERY rarely... as in I have been on this path for well over a decade and I know I have only got this deep into magic less than five times.
'Small stuff' (not that there really is small stuff...) like putting a wish for strenght/ health into a meal you are serving or blessing a patch of ground where you are planting, or (as ozz says) the wish as you blow out the candles. Well that is almost daily. Pehaps like a Christian saying grace before eating or a prayer before retiring to bed... normal, instinctive, part of life (which is why I say magic is part of life / is life).

There is danger involved in using magic... not prehaps as crude and obvious as a gun, but more subtle like the over expectation, arragance, the looseing of Self. Which are just as deadly as any gun in the wrong hands. When you work with something as potentially BIG as magic, as the Universe... there is a risk that it will slap you and if it does that is going to HURT. Just a matter of scale.

As to how I learned... well I am self taught, and I just followed my insitncts. I believe anyone can do magic, that humans are magical, but most of us shut off from it. Thinking that it is just wishful thinking or something for children and fairey stories, or do it without awareness, calling it Luck and so forth.

Hope that helps somewhat...

As for reading, well Harry Potter magic is very much fantasy, But a lot of Pagans have some kindred feeling with the magic as discribed by Granny Weatherwax in various Pratchett books... so prehaps you might enjoy those as an 'educational' read.

Be bright, be bold
Fillionous

Yup, Fillionous tells it like it is.

No no... no rebuke, just like Pomona says its so very very hard to define. Its a different thing to each person who experiences it. Theres no right way or wrong way to start.

So, no, not a rebuke hon!

It's not a million miles away from the truth to say that it was Granny Weatherwax (and of course the inimitable Nanny Ogg) who first made me realise I was interested in witchcraft. Now there's a witch who understands balance, and when to use magic and when not to.
Badger's Moon
xx

Magick

1. What is it?
2. How does it work?
3. Where does the power come from?
4. How do you do it?
5. How do you learn how to do it?
6. What do you do magic for? e..g can you do it for monetary gain etc?
7. Is it dangerous?

---

1. Magick is defined as the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with Will.

2. The Universe acts as if it works, i.e. using art and science to cause change to occur in conformity with Will.

3. The power, i.e. acting agent, is Will.

4. Discovering (in the literal sense of that word) your Will is what you are doing, whether you are a rugby coach or a couch potato, a Magician or an Accountant.

5. The Will is discovered by a process of exhaustion, that is, experimentation with approaches to life, theories, tests, rituals, reviews, until what you are left with is incontrovertible in your experience.

6. You do it anyway. Being a Magickian is taking responsibility to do it by recognising that the Universe is a magickal place (see 1, 2, 3) and refusing to be under any other illusion (see 4, 5, 6).

I don't understand question 7 at all in the context of the answer.

In the Great Work

Silenus

In the terms of my religion, it is wyrd. You go with wyrd. Working against wyrd is a fool's game, and fools will try it.



I prefer to be inside, and might have only thought about it for a week, or a couple of days. but nowadays I don't move unless there's a god willign to help, and I listen to their suggestions. And boy - does something happen.

And the work itself - that takes hours. Oh, it's taken less, once, when I simply followed orders. But that left me drained and unable to move. The more normal way is slow, steady focussing, over a long period of time. Until it comes down to what I should be doing. And that's different every time. Changing wyrd, so something reverberates outwards. Sometimes the effects are startling in their speed and unexpected means of achieving their outcome.



Once I was tempted. A god who came to help also tempted me to go too far. He and I walked around the edge of a volcano and he told me that, if I went over the edge, what I was doing would be far more effective. Perhaps so, but I would also lose myself and be someone I didn't think I could live with. So I refused, and he laughed and helped me. I don't think he wanted me to take up the offer; or rather, that he preferred the company of those who refused.



It takes experience, patience and application, IME. With that, yes; anyone can do it.

I think I feel some more research comming on... wryd, sounds like the word I have been looking for to encompase the magical essance of the world... but before I start using it willy nilly I'll endevore to understand the terminology.

It sounds like the time scales for our magical workings are not that different... basically both of us are saying that it takes considered time, effort, real work and only of proper value when in real need and with the right 'tools' be that a God's guidance or the right presence of heart/mind/will.

I feel sometimes like my magic is like dropping a pebble in a lake... the ripples spread out and affect all the other little ripples on the surface... but there are also things going on underneath... even to a point there is a minute diferance in the depth of the lake as the water is displaced by my pebble... and the bigger the pebble, the more and bigger the ripples... but the more effort I need to heave it into the right place in the pond to make the ripples spread in a 'pleasing' / effective pattern.

I understand what you are saying about temptation... sometimes the greatest power is to step back, knowing your limits... I think the Devine does respect those who know thier limits and respect the power of magic. And then lend thier help to make the magic goto the fullness of it's posibilities, without endangering yourself.

When I followed my insitncts in to this path... it was not a hurred or unconsidered thing. There were many years of watching, listening, feeling the world and the magic around me before I even attempted the smallest working. That learning has not stopped, and nor should it.
So yes within the constraints of patience, experiance, and ultimatly application anyone can do magic.
I think this time of study, and the lack of it in some 'insta witches' is what deeply anoys, frustrates and worries some of us who have learned the long slow hard way to work magic, with skill and subtlety. Thier magic may work... but the collatoral damage is messy to say the least and the harm to themselves is often sorry to see.

(Ok I'll stop there before this becomes a rant)
Be bright, be bold
Fillionous

Magick is what you make of it.
i learnt it by myself.
you know when you've done it right when the thing/s you want come true.
Magick is one of those things that you have to learn by yourself
(by the way anyone with any ideas of how I can stop my dog barking other than having her debarked).

Ah. It's the 'web' that holds things together so the butterfly's wings cause the hurricane. It connects all things.

Cause and effect: for every action there is a (or a number of) reaction/s. No morality; it just is, like gravity.



Right on, Fill. The sheer effort is one of the main reasons I work so infrequently. The last piece of work I did took seven hours, non stop. And I prefer to work alone, so I wait until my partner's not around, so as not to inconvenience him - it's hardly fair to throw him out!

Each working is different - it might be with different gods, or different combinations of things, or sometimes completely original and off the wall. It depends what comes to me, when I ask them.



Yep. That's wyrd.



In that case it wasn't the limit of my ability; it was more a case of whether I was willing to change a part of myself in a way I wouldn't like to achieve what I wanted ('sell my soul' as a Christian would have it). I said no. I have no idea what difference that made. All I know is that, within 24 hours, everything changed for the better in that particular situation. In fact, amazingly so.



Yes, the understanding is the first essential. To know oneself and one's own limitations. To be able to 'feel' the flow of wyrd so as to know when, and how, to work. To be able to tell the difference between what the gods are telling one and what comes from one's own desires and feelings.



Heh - don't we all see that one!

So, i know nothing of this magick at all.. but has anyone had any results? I mean either for yourself or others?

im just interested

Yes

is it rude of me to enquire as to what the result of the spell was? i believe it would help me to understand more about this magick.

Well, I've done several spells over the years for various things, and they've all worked. And required, and were, different types of magick. As to specifics, um... It's one of those topics which, in my view, is a very personal one, so it's not the kind of thing you run around talking about.

Let's see... my friend's cat went missing, it was very unusual and she was absolutely distraught. A few hours later he turned up - she (friend) had a visit from a deeply apologetic neighbour a fortnight later. Turned out the neighbour was on holiday, but a few hours after she left for said holiday she had this odd feeling that there was something in her house that shouldn't be there, and called her brother from the airport to just check her house to see. Lo and behold, one cat. She couldn't explain why she had this urge to get her brother to check the house, and she still can't. Nor should she.

You may choose to believe it's coincidence, my friend believes that, so does her friend.

*shrug*

Oh! So a form of magick is that strange niggling feeling you get when you feel somethings wrong? And could another be... when theres danger afoot and the hairs on the back of your neck lift up, even when you don't know of the danger? So a bit like a sixth sense? Is Deja-vu (premonitions) a part of that too? Because i have deja-vu all the time. Of course i know the subject is so broad, and this is not all magick is but are they forms?

They can be, yeah. They can also be prods from the Gods. They can also just be your own sixth-sense. Or nothing.

Sorry, it's as difficult to pin down to an explanation and definition as I imagine you're now realising...

Yes. It seems i was very mistaken. I was very sceptical about magick. i wanted the magick from all the books i read to be true, but i knew they weren't. This page has made me realise that, through magic we project for help from the divine, (in some instances) basically being helped. It is not some impossible, unbelieveable thing it is within a human beings capabilities. It has opened my eyes somewhat. And to my surprise i find i unknowingly have used or been subject to magick many, many times. Or as you say prodded by the Gods to do something.

For example, im tall and strong but not naturally violent, i can be goaded into a fight, but i would never target someone freely. Well, some people had been annoying me for some time and one lad ran up to me and spayed deodrant all over me... i looked at him in disgust then turned back to my friends. But a feeling took over me a few seconds later a feeling that something or someone was telling me to attack the lad, so after a minute of trying to wrestle with the feeling he came out of the classroom he had gone into. I turned and asked him in a very impolite way (not how i do things) then smashed him round the face. however even thogh my blow made him fly into the wall behind he was with about 12people, all who wanted revenge i turned hit one of them, then rammed into the others. Surprisingly they were all too scared to hurt me while i was in "beserker mode" About two seconds later a teacher appeared sending me to the headmaster. i was punished but afterwards no one bothered me. They still don't bother me. I believe that higher entity aided me that day, told me that by fighting a small battle i would win the war. Now i beleive it was Thor, but it could have been any number of Dieties or Gods. But not the Christian god. I was taught he hated violence of any kind. That was a step away from Christianity for me.

Sorry about the long post

Magic for me is like a feeling, sometimes its a presence, I didn't recognise it as such because it feels so natural. sometimes its like gut instincts but with a bit more info about a specific thing. Some would say thats just being 'psychic'. Then sometimes its like a sound when I sense natural things around me, and again there is that presence. sometimes I attribute that to the livingness of nature.

and then there's gods...I am still debating that one, so am not gonna go into it.

and then there are some things that just give you plain ole warnings from the otherside. which I can't begin to explain. in fact most of its hard to pin down like pomona says. and I am probably not doing a very good job of explaining it.

some describe that making magic happen is about the person manipulating some kind of energy. and I suppose that makes sense, but sometimes I think there is a receiving element (ie like receiving information)...and that leads to a big question...who or what is doing the sending?

aaah well I guess I'll have to ponder some more....

i feel like that also! hehe, but the god thing im done pondering on that it stumped me for about 3 years and then i just accepted that it could be possible.

O and btw i totally agree with your signiture fizzyclaire!! Sex is SO good hehe.

Hmmmmm....

I have to say I dont think what you experienced was magic, I dont think it was premonition and I dont think that it was "six sense". I think it was you thinking "what the hell" having had enough of being picked on. The fact that they dont bother you has little to do with magic either other than the common knowledge that if you fight back with a bully they tend to leave you alone because they are at heart.. cowards.

Couldn't agree more! (If attacked, hospitalise at least one of them!)
However it was an epiphany, and made him realise there might be more to survival than all this "turning the other cheek" stuff. Which is a magical realisation whichever way one looks at it!

Yeah, i know what you mean by the "what the hell " moment. But this felt very different. My anger is normally snap! then i'll do something which if i thought about it i would deal with in a very different way... It could be my anger developing but the feeling i got when the presence told me to hit him was very alien it didnt feel like me.

meh!

everyone share their Magick experiences, if you wish to ofc. I'm just interested

will,

Im not going to repeat all the questions again, they have been covered in far more elegant ways than I can manage.
But as someone who is intensely interested in magic but doesnt yet perform what I call major workings, I have some things for you to consider. As has been said, magic requires study, care, preperation, more often than not large amounts of focus and energy. So before you even begin to lookk down that path, consider magic, really sit take the time to think about it. You have made an important step by seeking info here, but you need more than just this.
Why do you wish to look into it? What brought it to your attention?

The biggest change magic has brought to my life (remembering that I dont perform it yet) is that it made me really consider myself. It opened up deep assesment of both 'the person I am' and the 'person I would like to be'.
It has caused me to face up to my limitations, my faults and to accept them (try to atleast!) to look at my fears and where they come from. There has been a long and ongoing search to find focus, clarity, understanding of myself and other people. What we do has a huge impact upon our lives and other peoples. It can bring Hope, Love and Light, or just as easily Hate, Fear and Mistrust.

It can be wonderful, also terrifying, it is not a journey that should be started lightly or recklessly, but I wish you luck an good sense in your search.
Blessings Ethe