Magick Trying To Formulate An Answer To A Question
I was asked today, after someone picked up a copy of Gareth Knight's "The Abbey Papers"* from my bookshelf, so what is magick? I've always struggled to give a comprehensive answer to such a question, so each time I try I formulate it a little differently. The following is a very Thelemic definition of magick which I feel happy enough with so I thought I'd share the answer to my question with a larger audience through the blog.
MagickWhat Is It?In this world of reason and science it is difficult to bring ourselves to say we believe in that which cannot be seen, smelt, touched, heard or otherwise observed or measured. Here we find ourselves in the very scary realm beyond science, beyond what the world has taught us as real, yet in these realms beyond the veil of orthodox thought we find many others who for one reason or another have also been drawn on the journey down the rabbit hole. In the occult we find ourselves not in the company of the ignorant and insane, but in the company of intelligent and well-informed minds who make a strange sort of sense.
The author Arthur C. Clarke stated 'any sufficiently advanced science would appear to be magick to the less advanced observer', and as such it is neither supernatural, nor the unnatural, simply an aspect of nature currently unrecognised by conventional Western science. But why does this discipline, which by scientific standards is superstition at best, draw the minds of modern men and women?As wonderful as science is, and of the many questions it has answered, it has failed to answer all questions, and it has failed to quench mans desire to look beyond what he can see and touch. Our search for spirit is something inherent within each of us and shows a subconscious knowledge of the force of deity in our lives.
In the occult path we approach these questions methodically, recognising we cannot see or measure deity, but we can see the exertion of spiritual energy, which we actively work with.Rudolf Steiner referred to the occult as Spiritual Science and the esotericist Aleister Crowley stated 'our method is science, our aim is religion'.The term occult means hidden knowledge and our work with that which cannot be seen shall bring us to a deeper and more fulfilling understanding of the hidden nature of the universe than any other.
Western esotericism is the vehicle through which I and many others choose to experience the spiritual sciences and due to the wide expanse of the esoteric tradition I focus on the Western esotericism and magick.
Magick is, by the definition of the occultist Aleister Crowley, '...the art and science of causing change in conformity with will'. Certainly upon first glance this definition would seem to say all willed or desired acts are magickal but Crowley had a special understanding of the term 'will'.By Crowley's definition 'will' is the most high and perfect expression of the purpose of the individual. This was expressed as 'Do what thou wilt be the whole of the law', the causing of change in accordance with will is the entirety of the human purpose. This statement was supplemented by "love is the law, love under the will". Every action led by the higher will is an act of union between the individual and the higher purpose or cosmic will, of which the individual and their individual actions when properly led, form a unique and vital part.
Magick is therefore the art of active spiritual science, working with the cosmic forces to cause change in accordance with Will.And of its methodologies? Magick as we understand it in the Western esoteric tradition is a discipline of rigorous daily activity involving combinations of self discipline, meditation and ritual.
The purpose of these devices is an open dialogue with the deeper aspects of consciousness, and through this medium an ultimate dialogue with the super consciousness, or cosmic will. This can and has been referenced variously by different groups and individuals, but its essential nature is the same.
The art of magick goes beyond the bounds of devotion or mere knowledge of the existence of the cosmic and divine hierarchies, it is the active spiritual experience of working with and manifesting the cosmic will.Yes, certainly the techniques of ritual, meditation and so forth could be considered magick in a less philosophical and more material/manifest sense, but these methodologies are a bridge to the cosmic will and a means through which one can manifest it and should not be considered in any way a lesser block of the work of the esotericist.
Magick is the great work, of which every man and woman has their own unique role to play.
"Love is the law, love under will"
*which is highly recommendable
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