To New Age magi, magick is the art and science of causing change in accordance with the will by non-physical means. As such, magick is associated with all kinds of paranormal and occult phenomena, including but not limited to: esp, astral projection, psychic healing, the cabala, chakras, and various symbols (such as the pentagram) as well as a variety of symbolic ritual behaviors aimed at achieving powers which allow one to contravene the laws of physics, chemistry and other natural forces. To the New Age magi, there is white magick (good) and black magic (bad).
The religions based on the Old and New Testaments have long associated magick with false prophets, based upon the belief that Satan regularly exhibits his powers to and shares them with humans. Using powers which contravene natural forces is good if done by or through God, according to this view. Such exhibitions of divine power are called miracles. If done by diabolical forces, it is evil. To the pious of these religions, there are miracles (good) and there is magic (bad).
The idea of being able to control the weather or one's health by an act of will is very appealing. So is the idea of being able to wreak havoc on one's enemies without having to lift a finger: just think it and thy will be done. Stories of people or beings with special powers will always be appealing. But for those contemplating becoming a magus, consider this warning from an authority on the subject:
...magick ritual (or any magick or occultism) is very dangerous for the mentally unstable. If you should somehow 'get out too far', eat 'heavy foods' as previously discussed (lesson on chakras) and use your religious background or old belief system for support. But remember too, that weird experiences are not necessarily bad experiences. [jounsmed]Those are words of wisdom to live by: the weird is not necessarily bad. On the other hand, the weird is not necessarily good, either.
The magic of performing magicians is related to magick in that performers use tricks and deception to make audiences think they have done things which, if real, would require supernatural or paranormal powers, e.g., materializing objects such as rings or ashes, doves or rabbits. Some magicians have attributed their feats not to magic but to supernatural or paranormal powers, e.g., Sai Baba in India and Uri Geller of Israel.
Wishful thinking and human gullibility should not be discounted as essential explanatory factors in understanding why a pseudoscience such as Magick continues to have widespread appeal in this Age of Science. Many of us seem very uncomfortable in the face of what seems inexplicable. We seem to have a need to make sense out of everything, to prefer supernatural or paranormal explanations to mundane scientific ones and bad theories to none at all. In any case, there is evidence that even when properly informed and educated, a significant number of people choose to believe in the magickal rather than in the scientific. Several studies demonstrate this point.
One of the studies was done by psychologists Barry Singer and Victor Benassi at California State University at Long Beach. They brought in performing magician Craig Reynolds to do some tricks for four introductory psychology classes. Two of the classes were not told that he was a magician about to perform some amateur magic tricks. They were told that he was a graduate student who claimed to have psychic powers. In those classes, the psychology instructor explicitly stated that he didn't believe that the graduate student or anyone else has psychic abilities. In the other two classes the students were told that the magician was a magician. Singer and Benassi reported that about two-thirds of the students in both groups believed Craig was psychic. The researchers were surprised to find no significant difference between the "magic" and "psychic" classes. They then made the same presentation to two more classes who were explicitly told that Craig had no psychic abilities and that he was going to do some tricks for them whereby he pretends to read minds and demonstrate psychic powers. Nevertheless, more than half the students believed Craig was psychic after seeing his act.
Singer and Benassi then asked the students whether they thought magicians could do exactly what Craig did. Most of the students agreed that magicians could. Then they asked the students if they would like to change their estimate of Craig's psychic abilities in light of the negative data they themselves had provided. A few did, reducing the percentage of students believing in Craig's psychic powers to 55 percent. Then the students were asked to estimate how many so-called psychics were really fakes using magician's tricks. The consensus was that most "psychics" are frauds. The students were again asked if they wished to change their estimate of Craig's psychic powers. Again, a few did, but the percentage believing in Craig's psychic powers was still a hefty 52 percent.[Douglas Hofstadter reported on the studies in his monthly column for Scientific American in February 1982. They are reprinted in Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern, (New York: Basic Books, 1985), chapter 5, "World Views in Collision: The Skeptical Inquirer versus the National Enquirer". The Benassi/Singer research findings are printed in "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time," in the Winter 1980/81 issue of The Skeptical Inquirer].
For many people, the will to believe at times overrides the ability to think critically. Apparently, to such people the world seems a more interesting place if it is filled with psychics, magi and sorcerers. To many scientists, however, the world's beauty and magnificence diminish the further one moves from science towards pseudoscience. "The mystery of horoscopes, psychic phenomena, and biorhythm cycles never vanishes, no matter how much you delve into the `research' on the subject. There are no underlying principles to understand."[Radner and Radner, p. 100.] Yet, it is just those underlying principles that reveal the beauty and magic of nature.
Of course, the beauty and magic of nature has nothing to do with magick. There is the magic of the birth of a healthy child; the magic of true love. There is the magic of getting out of bed in the morning through an act of will. Unfortunately, this only seems to be magic to those who do not have this power. Those of us who can direct our bodies through acts of will too often take this power for granted. We fail to see the wondrousness of simple things, like wiping the sweat from one's brow. We take for granted the act of opening our eyes to feast on the sublimity of glaciers and oceans or the beauty of sunsets or meadows of wild flowers. These are truly magical deeds and, when contemplated, hold enough wonder to fill universes. But for many, it seems, such real magic will never be enough.
See related entries on miracles, satan, wicca and witches.
further reading
A Book on Magick by someone at the University of Turko, Finland. It has 11 chapters on such subjects as astral projection, esp and psi, chakras, the cabala, psychic healing, pentagrams, rituals, etc.
Abstract from Magick in Theory and Practice by Aleister Crowley
Carus, Paul. The History of the Devil and the Idea of Evil (La Salle, Illinois: Open Court Publishing Company, 1974), unabridged reproduction of the original 1900 edition.
Hicks, Robert D. In Pursuit of Satan : the Police and the Occult (Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1991).
Radner and Radner, Science and Unreason (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1982), p. 100.
Sagan, Carl. The Demon-Haunted World - Science as a Candle in the Dark, ch. 7 "The Demon-Haunted World," (New York: Random House, 1995).