What is magick, anyway?

The answer is as frustrating as it gets: it depends on who you ask.

The easy explanation is that we all come to our own conclusion based on individual, innate understandings of the world around us.

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Over time, this instinct mixes with specific cracks we see in society and reality itself that eventually shatter a layer of our perceptual window, giving way to something much more satisfying than pure reason. A portal to a world previously imprisoned in our mind as pure fantasy begins to show itself.

The premise from there is simple: if we reach inside and cross some wires, we can expect certain effects to appear in material reality.

An Agnostic Approach

One day, I was experimenting with a mugwort balm into the late hours of the night. Exhausted and triumphant, I decided to meditate before bed—and what I saw was incredible.

Crystal clear visualizations immediately filled my head. I felt myself drifting into a deep, otherworldly state. I’m in a loop of falling asleep and being jolted to life by the sensation of toppling over. After what feels like five minutes, my thirty minute timer goes off.

What the hell was going on? I replayed the day back in my head, and realized I had been saturating myself in one of nature’s most potent hypnotics every time I tested the texture of my balm.

If I could have such a powerful experience while unaware of mugwort’s visualization properties, could magickal workings be successful without knowing why, if one were to saturate themselves in certain symbols and plants corresponding to planetary energies?

The answer after several months of testing is a resounding yes.

Chaos, Ceremony, and Consciousness

Think of it like this: chaos magick and Wiccan rites rely on how powerfully you can manipulate the universe; ceremonial magick and deity worship use symbols to draw the universe towards you; magickal executables and meditation tune your body into an antenna with more bandwidth for these two forces to meet.

Magick ultimately requires three things of us: time, attention, and alignment. Belief is a byproduct of taking responsibility for your entire existence; unnecessary, but helpful.

From there we must ask ourselves where this power comes from. This is where the study of consciousness comes into play.

Science and mystical frameworks can give us an idea: we are all emanations of an infinite and incomprehensible force. The magician seeks to play the instrument of the universe to return home.

This means growing out of viewing magick as a way to attain wants. To discover that if we live in such a way that is true to ourselves without impeding the path of those around us then somehow we forget what we want and receive what we need.

The largest barrier to fully letting go of magickal adolescence is learning to distrust everything around you. Easier said than done when your mind is constantly subjugated by complex algorithms trained in dark magickal combat.

So then where is the line drawn between discernment and paranoia? How can we swim in the waters of eternity without losing our minds, as so many before us have? The amount of joy you feel when doing the most menial of tasks is a decent enough gauge.

It is by a mixture of our own practical experiences and what others have discovered that we grow closer to our beginning.

So, what is magick, anyway?

Read, practice, and know fear only to conquer it. Come to your own conclusions, fight for them, and spend your entire life building a more complete picture of the world.

Control your mind and train yourself in the disciplined use of symbols to guide your experience, one decision at a time.

To me, that is magick.

What is it to you?

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