what the heck is magick?

Back in December 2019, I was reading essays from Donald Tyson’s “Serpent of Wisdom” & thinking about the term magick.  Magick is one of those things that can be hard to define.  It’s so simple, yet complex, & it has different meanings for everyone.

Most folks I’ve seen like to quote Aleister Crowley’s definition: “Magick is the Science & Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will.”  This is a definition that I myself had used in the past to describe magick to folks who didn’t practice witchcraft.

Tyson stats that he things Crowley’s definition is too broad in scope because it could be applied to mundane acts – like making coffee.  I “will” to have a pot of coffee, so I take the actions to brew the pot, pour the liquid in a cup & drink it.  Nothing too magickal about that, is there? 

So, because of this, Tyson offers up his own definition: “Magic(k) is the art of causing transformation in the manifest universe through the universal medium of the Unmanifest.”

Well, holy smokes. This definition, while not as catchy & easy to memorize as Crowley’s, actually makes a bit more sense to me.  What Tyson is trying to emphasize here is that magick is the art of working with energies not in our physical/tangible world to effect change or transformation in our physical/tangible world.  The key is effecting that Will by working with unseen forces.  I’m not doing that in making a pot of coffee.  However, I AM doing that when I charge a charm bag to support & sustain my energy so that I don’t need coffee.

Magick is a complex thing to describe I think, because we have so many ways of performing acts of magick. We also have a multitude of magickal systems.  In fact, I’ve begun to explore a number of those different systems this year (Solomonic Magick & Chaos Magick, for example).

How do YOU define magick?  Or, more importantly – how do you experience magick?  Do You agree with Crowley, Tyson or do you have your own definition?

Brightest Blessings,

-Cory