What Is Magick?

Magick (We spell "magick" with a "k" to differentiate it from the magic of stage magicians) and spellcraft are one of the most important aspects of Wicca. However, what the term "spell" actually means, is widely misunderstood. Spells are similar to positive thinking, combined with self-awareness and a clear understanding of exactly what one hopes to achieve. Spells are used to create needed change in one's own life or the life of a others (like those times when people believe they will get well from sickness so strongly, that they actually do). You might consider the spells Wiccans cast as being similar to prayers. We believe the divine exists within ourselves. Whereas, when most people pray, it is to an external deity somewhere. Spells, then, are the channeling of our own selves and our own energies, to create the change. Someone once told me that love is the strongest magick of all. All the "tools" associated with it- candles, incense, etc. are merely "props" to get one in the "mindset" so that the "magick" can happen. Magic is the direction and use of "psychic energy," those natural but invisible forces which surround all living things. It is sometimes spelled "magick" to distinguish it from slight of hand entertainment. Starhawk states what she believes it is to work magick:

"To work magick is to weave the unseen forces into form; to soar beyond sight; to explore the uncharted dream realm of the hidden reality; to infuse life with color, motion, and strange scents that intoxicate; to leap beyond imagination into that space between the worlds where fantasy becomes real; to be at once animal and god. Magick is the craft of shaping, the craft of the wise, exhilarating, dangerous-the ultimate adventure."